By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Experienced Spanish coach Pablo Laso spoke to Sportal about various topics, touching on the future of European basketball and potential changes in its landscape.
The NBA creating a league on European soil is one of the hottest topics lately, and Laso shared his thoughts on the idea.
“In my opinion, changing the very essence would not be good. As Europeans, I think we understand that basketball and sports, in general, will be what they are to us. You can’t change the mentality here, you can’t lose competitiveness and rivalry because everything would fall apart. It’s important that we can grow as a brand by including everyone — Dubai, even the NBA and FIBA — but it would be bad for all of us to lose the competitive spirit because of that. Right now, that’s what the fans love,” Laso said.
He also spoke about potential EuroLeague expansion.
“Speaking about expansion, the answer is definitely yes. Expansion can only be a positive thing. The EuroLeague has a great atmosphere at every game, and we all need to understand that we’re talking about the best basketball in the world. Every game matters. That’s a great slogan because it’s true. For Baskonia, for example, this applies to every EuroLeague match. I believe Dubai sees this and wants to be part of it. Expansion is good not only for the EuroLeague itself but also for European basketball and sports in general.”
The head coach of Baskonia also gave his predictions for the EuroLeague Playoffs and Final Four.
“For me, the top four ranked teams have a slight advantage in the upcoming playoffs. At the Final Four, as we all know, anything can happen in a single game. It’s hard to predict who will prevail because it all comes down to one night,” Pablo Laso concluded.