By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Ettore Messina has found his Ithaca in San Antonio. However, he is also a member of the EuroLeague Head Coaches Board and he will be present in the first Euroleague Coaches Clinic which is going to be held on July in Badalona.
That’s why he attended the press conference of the EuroLeague Head Coaches Board in Vitoria during the Final Four and he gave a preview of what you can hear from him in the clinic. if you sign up to attend.
Messina got the lion’s share of questions since he is the one missing from Europe more than any other coach and he delivered. Always honest and straight in his answers, Messina explained the nature of the relationship with stars on both sides of the Atlantic: “If you think that in Bologna that was not Dalinovic’s team or not Savic’s team you are mistaken. As professor Aleksandar Nikolic said, you are a great coach if you have great players. We can talk about this for hours, but coach Popovich said that great players, from Robinson, Duncan to Ginobili allowed me to coach them. Meaning that they allowed him being himself”.
Coach Messina has also some pretty interesting things to say about the difference in the approach of day to day coaching in the NBA and in Europe, coach Ergin Ataman and also the main difference between EuroLeague and the NBA, which is athletism. Just press play and enjoy.