By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Euroleague Basketball Advisory Council held its third annual meeting in Barcelona, Spain on Monday to advance the mission of making the game better for Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, 7DAYS EuroCup and Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament fans, players and clubs, now and in the future.
The members present in the meeting were Zeljko Obradovic, head coach of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul; Luigi Lamonica, veteran Euroleague Basketball referee; Paulius Motiejunas, President of Zalgiris Kaunas; Bostjan Nachbar, former EuroLeague player and current Managing Director of the EuroLeague Players Association; Jan Pommer, Managing Director of German Racing; and Yanni Andreopoulos, Commercial Director of Formula E. Aito Garcia Reneses, head coach of ALBA Berlin, and Paul Gils, VP EMEA of New Era, were unable to attend.
The council functions as a think tank charged with studying and promoting changes in the basketball operations, rules and regulations to be applied to Euroleague Basketball competitions.
“For me, of all sports meetings, this is the most interesting, and it is not my first time in it,” Motiejunas said. “We have different opinions with the same goal, which is improving our product… We disagree in some of the questions but it is a lot of fun because you can have a discussion, see all arguments, and see if you can find a common ground. That is why it is so interesting.”
Monday’s meeting addressed such diverse issues as access to the EuroLeague, increasing the integration between the EuroLeague and the EuroCup, player development pathways, proposals for changes in rules and regulations, injury prevention and recovery, and instant replay review scenarios, among many others. The council was joined in its meeting by Euroleague Basketball executives.
“The idea behind this meeting is to provide a better product for everybody – for coaches, players and, of course, for the fans because in the end, the fans are most important,” Lamonica said.
“It is really nice to have the opportunity to participate in this high-level meeting and discuss some proposals that can take the league forwards,” Nachbar said. “I think that Euroleague Basketball made a smart decision by inviting people from different environments to discuss different topics, whether it is regulations, rules or just general improvements of the league. I think it is necessary for its growth and I like this concept. In Slovenia, we say, ‘More heads know more things.’ And I think that this is a great way to apply that to such a high-level meeting.”
Source: EuroLeague