By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos travelled to Istanbul on Wednesday morning ahead of its EuroLeague Regular Season Round 20 game with Fenerbahce Beko. David Blatt talked about the match and went on commenting on the high number of EuroLeague teams that have changed head coaches during the current season. He stressed on the lack of respect and long-term thinking involved with these decisions: “I can’t understand it, It’s not my place to accept it or not, but I sure don’t like it”.
“We have a long history with coach Obradovic. I think we have a very respectful, enjoyable and competitive history, which is one of the greatest things in this game. We both have been coaching for a long time in the highest level” he also said and added: “Honestly it makes me think about how angry I am when I see what’s happening to the EuroLeague coaches this year. Specifically the seventh coach out of the sixteen teams that was just released, Giorgos Bartzokas, one of the best coaches in our EuroLeague and all of Europe”.
He continued: “This isn’t the first time we talked about it, about a high-level coach that has brought good results being released. I don’t understand it. I don’t think it’s respectable. Obviously I don’t make the decisions. It’s not my place to decide. It just seems to me that there is something very wrong in terms of how head coaches of high-level teams are treated. The lack of respect and long-term thinking is involved with these decisions. I live among these guys, I know what great coaches they are, how they work and what they do, who they are. How do 50% of the people in your job get fired in two or three months? It just doesn’t make any sense to me”.