By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Ettore Messina returned to his throne in Moscow and CSKA will hunt once more time the Euroleague title next season. The Italian coach had led them the Russian to their two last titles and his goal is more than obvious. After all, that’s why he returned to Europe and Eurohoops.net had the chance to… interrogate him with the help of Euroleague during his visit to Barcelona for the EBI basketball rules summit.
– It was a surprise for us last year when we learned that you were leaving Europe for the Lakers. What was the most unique experience that you had as a coach in the NBA?
“Well it was a unique experience, first of all because being part of the Lakers, working with those players, those coaches, participating in the NBA season, specially this year that we had 66 games. So it was different. I think that to prepare and take part to the play offs was surely a very big and interesting challenge”.
– It was also a surprise for us to see you come back. Many teams wanted you and you decided to come back to Moscow. What was the motive behind this decision?
“Well, it was a matter of…Maybe I was not in the right age to start thinking to develop my career over there. It was probably not the best choice for me, my family, my kid, so we decided that it was better to come back to Europe. This decision was made even easier when I had the opportunity to go back to CSKA Moscow. I know the people, I know the environment and I like the way they do things there. They organize their club, team and it was a no brain decision at one point, even thought it cost me a lot, because I really enjoyed taking part in the NBA this year with the Lakers”.
– How much did you miss European basketball and what will you miss from the NBA?
“From the NBA you can miss a lot of things. I will miss the competition, the great players, the challenge with all the other coaches, the fact that the game is so followed all over the world. You really feel part of something special. At the same time Euroleague is establishing year after year probably as the second best competition. For sure our play offs and our final four are second only to the NBA play offs. So I missed all this competition, I missed that drama, I missed that “devotion”, I missed taking part in such a competition”.
– If you could bring a player from Lakers to Moscow besides Kobe Bryant, who would that be?
“We had a lot of great players and it would be a very difficult choice. I would say with the players we have (in Moscow), I just hope not to lose too many of them to the NBA”.
– Zeljko Obradovic will not work next season. You have joked in the past that he is Achilles and you are Hector, because that’s your name. With Achilles now out of the picture, how far can Hector go?
“Hopefully it’s an enemy less. It’s not going to be an easy season, because a lot of players and teams are around and CSKA usually is one of the teams to beat. So, it will be a big challenge and I am sure that Zeljko will be back soon”.
– And what does your wife believe now, because you said that he thinks Zeljko is better coach than you…
“She probably thinks that Zeljko is much better coach, but probably she also thinks that this would be a more relaxed season”.