By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net/ Twitter.com/AStroggylakis
“I haven’t called my family yet”, David Blatt was murmuring while walking from one interview to the next following last night’s victory of Darussafaka Dogus over Crvena Zvezda. His single complaint after a match where all worked perfectly for him and his players.
Everyone wanted a conversation with the architect of the Turkish team’s qualification to the EuroLeague playoffs. A first-time achievement in the history of the franchise.
“But it’s because of a good thing right?”, he told Eurohoops. Indeed. It wasn’t the first time and it probably won’t be the last that he will have to postpone talking to his own folks following a success because journalists are piling up to get a taste of his thoughts.
In this case, to discuss the length of what Darussafaka Dogus had accomplished by joining the EuroLeague Top 8 after winning in a “do or die” match of the last round of the regular season.
“Well, this is a big moment for this club,” he said to Eurohoops. “And I signed on to coach this team because of the vision, because of the fact that I had the opportunity to work with professional people. Basketball people like Ibrahim Kutluay (Executive Committee Member) and Mithat Demirel (General Manager) who understood what it would take for us to be a competitive team at the highest level. ”
Blatt’s career is characterized by many moments of triumph. His biggest masterpieces thus far, the EuroBasket 2007 gold medal with Russia and the 2014 EuroLeague title with Maccabi Tel Aviv, were also the kind of “David (pun intended) against Goliath” victories, since both these squads were rightfully regarded as underdogs before reaching a glorious finale in their ventures.
With the Russian national team he also won the bronze in the 2012 Olympics, the only medal of the country’s basketball squad in the Games.
His trophy case also includes more than a dozen domestic titles in Israel with Maccabi and in Italy with Benetton Treviso. And, of course, there’s making it to the NBA Finals with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2015.
Although leading Darussafaka to the EuroLeague playoffs doesn’t even come close to the above accomplishments, writing a new chapter of history for a franchise that belonged in Turkey’s second division a couple of years back, means quite a lot even for a coach that has won pretty much everything there is to win in Europe.
“Obviously what we did tonight (7/4) is not the EuroLeague title, it’s not the NBA Finals,” says Blatt. “It’s not the European championship or an Olympic Medal. But it’s something special because it’s the start of a legacy. It’s a different kind of accomplishment than the ones that I’m used to. It’s something that I will always cherish and value. Because I know of what has gotten into it,” he says.
After being relegated in 2010, Darussafaka was struggling to return to Turkey’s top division for a couple of years. Everything changed when economical behemoth Dogus Group was involved with the club, beneficially transforming the team’s fate.
Last year, Dacka made its debut in EuroLeague and last night it advanced to the quarterfinals during what is generally considered as the most demanding, competitive and difficult version of the competition… ever.
Traditional powerhouses like Barcelona or Maccabi Tel Aviv lost the race to the playoffs weeks before the final round of the regular season. Despite various ups and downs and a sometimes quite notable inconsistency in its performance, Darussafaka endured and clinched the playoff berth in the very last stretch.
“We try to build something here that will sustain. That will last and will grow. It’s very important because this is the beginning of a legacy for a team that maybe one day it will be big for many years. And these things begin with making it to the EuroLeague playoffs.”
Blatt led Dacka to the quarterfinals of the top basketball league outside the NBA by implementing a kinda unorthodox style for European basketball. Endless isolation tactics by taking advantage of the “one vs one” remarkable strengths of the Brad Wanamaker/Will Clyburn vanguard and not much ball circulation (Dacka finished the regular season with less assists than any other team, averaging 14.3 per game).
That system has received a certain amount of critique regarding its durability and potential. Thus far, it has worked fine enough to check Dacka a postseason ticket. Even at the regular season’s photo finish.
“There’s two schools of thought when it comes to coaching philosophy. One is to be coach of a particular system you will use no matter where you are and what players you’re coaching. Another is that you modify and you change the way you do things according to your philosophy. Neither one is right and neither one is necessarily better. I’m not saying mine is right. It’s just the way that I do it. We play the way we have to play in order be successful given the personnel that we have. And I can say we’ve done a pretty good job so far.”
It was growing late, and the lights of “Volkswagen Arena” would soon shut off. But we just had to ask David Blatt about his opinion on the recent issue of resting players in the NBA.
“Since I’ve done it myself It would be irresponsible of me to say it’s a bad thing. On the other hand I’m very-very sensitized and really conscious on the fact that NBA fans… deserve better. They should be respected. You do what you have to do in the best interest of your team and towards helping your players. But…the NBA is such a big business and the product is so important to so many people. Going forward we all have the responsibility, players and coaches alike to serve the fans. They fill our seats and pay a good deal of money for their tickets. “