By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The president of the EuroLeague Head Coaches Board, EHCB, Dimitris Itoudis met with NBA champion Joe Mazzulla on Tuesday evening.
Mazzulla, 36, was last season’s surprise lecturer in the EHCB Coaches Academy. Itoudis thanked him for his participation and congratulated him for winning an NBA championship ring with the Boston Celtics.
On Tuesday, the C’s wrapped up the 2024 NBA Preseason schedule with a narrow loss to the Toronto Raptors in Scotiabank Arena.
Itoudis, 54, was invited to Toronto by the Serbian head coach of the Raptors, Darko Rajakovic, who was present at the last EHCB Coaches Congress in Greece.
The Greek tactician was elected as the new president of EHCB in 2022, succeeding Zeljko Obradovic. A two-time Turkish Airlines EuroLeague champion with CSKA, his contributions to championship campaigns in Europe’s premier club continental competition extend to working as an assistant under Obradovic for the 2000, 2002, 2007, 2009, and 2011 titles won by Panathinaikos.
Mazzulla took over the Celtics as the interim head coach before the 2022-23 season and was later promoted to permanent head coach. In his second campaign as head coach, he guided the storied franchise to the NBA championship. His coaching career also includes three years as an assistant coach in Boston from 2019 to 2022.
Rajakovic, a Cacak native, has been the head coach of the Raptors from the top of the 2023-24 season. He previously worked as an assistant coach at the Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, and Oklahoma City Thunder.