By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Kenny Atkinson spent most of his playing days and started coaching in Europe, before leading the Cavs to the NBA best record and making them title contenders.
So, during his media availability during the recent All-Star Game, he presented his case for a global game, mandatory FIBA windows, and also his love for the idea of a European expansion.
In an interview broadcasted by Greek NBA rights holder COSMOTE TV, Atkinson spoke highly of coaches he has worked with in Europe like Gordon Herbert and Ilias Zouros, players like the Gasol brothers, Nicolas Batum, and also Nikos Galis, Zarko Paspalje and current EuroLeague CEO Dejan Bodiroga – “if he was now 25 years old, he would be an NBA All-Star” – plus answered everything related to FIBA and the European expansion.
“I pray for the day when there will be a team in Athens, Madrid, and Paris”, said Atkinson. “I’ve told my wife that I hope I can last a few more years to work for one of these teams. Maybe not as a coach, but if I can help in some way? You know, the NBA is an amazing product, a great market, but we need… I hope I don’t get into trouble, I would like it to have a presence in Europe. I know Adam Silver has some initial discussions about expansion. I think we need the Concordes back, right? The two hours flight would help. David Stern was a big supporter of the idea. I hope Adam sees that as part of his legacy. Having two teams in Europe, it’s a dream for me to see it happen and I pray it happens”.
Atkinson who was also an assistant for the French national team in Paris, is highly in favor of the FIBA windows and even suggested that they should be mandatory even for NBA players: “I would like it to be mandatory, because players get better through the FIBA game. I think we saw it with the American players, we saw it with the French players, all the great Spanish players, I think of the Gasols. FIBA basketball makes you better. I would really push for that, it would be amazing, to open more windows and make it mandatory.I think they do that in football, right? Everything stops, you have to go to your national team, not going is not considered good. And again what I think is the development of the players. How do you get better? Through the international experience, the FIBA experience completes you”.
That’s why Atkinson is in favor of the rules unification, with the NBA adopting the FIBA goaltending rules, eliminating the defensive three seconds violation and even having 40-minute games: “When the ball is in the rim, you should be allowed to touch it. I think that’s the most important thing. And Adam Silver said that it could be done, I’m not sure why it hasn’t changed. And I would like to see the defensive three seconds eliminated, like in FIBA. What we need is for the rules to be the same in FIBA and the NBA. I think it would make the “product” better. It would be better for the fans, they wouldn’t have to go back and forth, if it’s FIBA, of if it’s the NBA. If the rules were the same, we’d have a better international game. I like that Adam (Silver) is pushing for that, yes. That’s just my opinion but let’s go back to the first point I mentioned, the unification of the rules”.
Atkinson used the recent Olympic tournament as an example: “The global perception of the game will be better, we will all be together, the quality of the game will be better. And we saw it in the Olympics, right? In the France-USA game, I got a lot of messages saying “this is the best basketball I have ever seen”. Watching the Brazilians, Japan, where we almost lost the game… It’s a 40-minute game, every possession counts and I myself sent a message to Adam (Silver) and said ‘Adam, I am so happy that you are so open to doing something like this'”.