Dhe basketball Bundesliga crowned the 2020 German champions at the final tournament in Munich, while the NBA played their champions on the grounds of Disney World in Orlando. While the actors in this country had to spend a maximum of three weeks in the isolation of the so-called bubble, it was a remarkable two and a half months across the Atlantic from the end of July to mid-October. In the end, however, both leagues were able to announce that they had managed to play a champion under difficult but fair conditions.
This is exactly what the Euroleague, basketball’s counterpart to the Champions League in football, did not achieve. After the end of the season owed to Corona, it was not possible to find a place, time and mode to end the season with a title holder. This was also due to the fact that the resistance of the players was relatively high. For Ergin Ataman, the head coach of the best team at the demolition, Anadolu Efes Istanbul, his team was deprived of the chance to conquer the first Euroleague title in the club’s history – a very personal but understandable view. But more important is that this season without a champions has scratched the image of the league. That is a shame because the sporting level was extremely high again last season, so that many basketball purists and insiders are now giving preference to the Euroleague over the NBA.
While the 1-1 game is in the foreground in the North American professional league, in Europe the structures both in attack and defense are significantly more complex. More players are involved in the moves, the ball movement occurs more through the pass than through the dribbling, especially when an initial advantage has been generated. The game offers more tactical refinements and extras. This aspect only plays a subordinate role in the NBA. The marketing takes place to a large extent via the star players. Accordingly, the set of rules is designed in such a way that many measures in the defensive team, which are common in Europe to stop an outstanding individual, are not permitted. As trite as it sounds: In the Euroleague, the teams are the stars.
NBA head coaches are catchers, not tactical geniuses
These different approaches become apparent when it comes to occupying the head coach. The NBA is looking for coaches who are able to manage egos and characters. The tactical work is primarily done by the assistants. A good example was the Brooklyn Nets’ decision in September to appoint Steve Nash as their new head coach. The Canadian, who is in charge of a team for the first time, frankly admits that he still has a lot to learn tactically. But the former player, who did not make it into the league as a star, but has developed into one, is trusted, due to his career, to be able to reach both the bench players and the superstars like Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
What Nash succeeded in doing from scratch was denied Ettore Messina for five years. The Italian was the right-hand man of Gregg Popovich, the NBA’s most recognized head coach, between 2014 and 2019. Despite being interviewed countless times for vacant head coaching positions, Messina never won the contract. The reserve of Americans towards Europeans is also due to the fact that they grew up in a different socio-cultural environment, which makes personnel management, which is so important in the NBA, more difficult. Otherwise Messina brought everything. During his time at CSKA, head coaches from the NBA such as Mike Brown and Quin Snyder traveled to Moscow to sit in with him.
The four-time Euroleague winner has been back in Europe since 2019, taking care of Olimpia Milan, the team that Bayern Munich has so far suffered the only defeat in the current competition. The German championship runner-up is completely surprisingly leader in the European elite class after five match days. So far, the Munich team has completely convinced under the new coach Andrea Trinchieri. This Thursday (9:00 p.m. at MagentaSport) Bayern will compete at Real Madrid. Like many other highly rated teams, the co-favorite got off to a bumpy start to the season. Due to the training conditions impaired by Corona, many clubs are not yet at the level of the previous season. Developing good team basketball takes time. It is all the more remarkable what Bayern have achieved so far. Overall, however, it will not be until 2021 – if the season is not interrupted by the infection process – until the Euroleague has regained its usual quality.
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