By Niki Bakouli/ Bakouli@eurohoops.net
There are not so many European coaches who have the chance to work, even for few days, with an NBA team. Yiannis Sfairopoulos is one of the lucky ones, after he accepted the offer he got from Arturas Karnisovas, the Houston Rockets director of scouting, who admitted to Eurohoops.net: “It is great to have him here. He is a long time coach in Greece and last year he worked for CSKA Moscow. I met Yiannis this year and I felt it will be great, if he could spend some time here, with us”.
After a while we met Sfairopoulos himself and he sounded really enthusiastic with the experience: “I had an invitation for the Summer League. My first destination was Houston, where I got the chance, the great opportunity, to meet with all the stuff. For five days I had the opportunity to see their system, their way the work and then we came here for the games. We had some very intense practices, where we focused on the technical aspect of the game and tactics. We have many players that are rookies, or coming from the NBADL and we like to see how they fit to the team”.
According to Sfairopoulos from a coaching stand point there isn’t a big difference in the game between Europe and NBA: “They have more speed and like simpler plays, like two screens and then a shot. They don’t have plays with many passes around to perimeter like we do. Of course, it also a matter of the head coach’s system and they want to use the athletic abilities of their players. They like to use the athleticism more, while in Europe we prefer to take advantage of basketball IQ”.
Greek coach still has a bitter taste on his mouth from the Euroleague final, even if CSKA with Andrey Kirilenko on its roster won the Russian League and the VTB League: “We had a great team, we played in three different competitions, but we failed in the Euroleague final against Olympiacos. That’s sports, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I have work with a lot of players, but Kirilenko is a star who is really modest as a person. He is a very simple guy and he likes to help his teammates. He doesn’t feel that he is above them”.
Sfairopoulos work also with Alexey Shved who is ready to sign a contract with Minnesota Timberwolves, something that doesn’t surprise him: “They were scouting him throughout the season. He will work differently here, he wants to do his best and I know that he really wanted to play in the NBA. It was his goal. He has the abilities, but he also have to adapt his game”.
One more European player who has to adapt is Houston’s new center Donatas Motiejunas. Karnisovas said about his compatriot: “He will stay with us for years, probably. He has good size and he can score with multiple ways effectively. He also runs the floor like a guard, although he is 7 feet tall. He is a player in progress and we will see what will happen”.
Maybe the potential of Motiejunas played a role in the decision to amnesty Luis Scola. However, Karnisovas didn’t want to get into specifics about Houston’s plans: “We are staying active, it’s all I can say. We try to make our team better and we will see what happens after the summer”.