By Cesare Milanti / info@Eurohoops.net
MALAGA, Spain – During the 2023 Basketball Champions League Final Four semifinal between the hosts Unicaja Malaga and Telekom Baskets Bonn, a fan managed to film the German bench watching Ibon Navarro’s timeout, and shared the videos on Twitter.
During today’s official press conference involving Telekom Baskets Bonn’s head coach Tuomas Iisalo, the BCL Coach of the Year explained the whole situation. “That’s a very interesting question because it’s a statement and not a question. So you should probably frame it as a statement and not as a question, first. But I’d excuse you for that”, he replied to the journalist who made the question, or statement, as he said. “The first thing is that we use live tagging during the games. We always have one coach who’s going situation by situation, which I think every top-level team pretty much uses”, he went on saying.
“The only feed we have is the feed that’s provided to us. That’s the live feed from the games. We go through different situations, for example, defensive choices that the opponent makes during the timeouts. So the video coach will come and inform one of the assistants, who will then relay the message to me, on what type of changes the defense made. That’s a very normal part of the game”, Tuomas Iisalo calmly explained.
Telekom Baskets Bonn’s 40-year-old head coach kept on talking by comparing their way of taking advantage of the opponents’ timeouts to what it’s done in the NBA. “You look at NBA games, they have iPads on the bench for the player when they come in, so they have a mental image of what is going on over there. What you assumed is that we are watching the timeouts, but we don’t see any reasons why our assistant coaches should close their eyes for the timeouts if this is part of what the media and the competition wants. If they want to change the format, then go ahead. But as long as this is happening, it is there for everybody to see, and I don’t see any type of issues with this”, he finally stated.
Acojonante esto, asistente del Bonn con la retransmisión para ver los TM de Unicaja. pic.twitter.com/WcYjM6RsHs
— SoldadosOkouo (@SoldadosOkouo) May 12, 2023
Kendrick Perry’s opinion
Following the Ceremony Awards in which he was named into the All-BCL Second Team, Kendrick Perry spoke to Eurohoops about the whole matter, giving his opinion on the dispute. “It was this hard to see after the fact that as competitors we’re learned to win and lose ethically, in the right type of way. It caught me underhanded, I’m not sure of the legality of it. But if it is, maybe we should redefine what legal is. I guess it’s okay, but we’re taught to learn to win and lose with dignity. As long as it’s not interfering with the rule, it is what it is. It’s just unfortunate”, he first said.
“If it’s in the rule book, it does a disservice to the game of basketball, to Bonn as a team, because they’re a very capable good team to beat anybody, as they’ve proven through the season. It was really just unfortunate when you see these tactics being used in such a pivotal game and I get it, stakes are very high, and you want to win in any way possible. As someone who enjoys the purity of the game, it didn’t feel right to me”, Unicaja Malaga’s own added.
Before talking to Eurohoops, Kendrick Perry mentioned the tweet from the fans. “This is really unfortunate. Not only for us as Unicaja but for the Bonn players and the game as a whole. Bonn is a very capable team of beating anyone without underhanded tricks and tactics like this. I’m not sure how legal this is but if it is in fact legal then maybe we should reevaluate what is and is not ok. As competitors, we’re taught to win and lose with dignity. In no way am I taking away from the players of Bonn. They played a hard-fought game and deserved to be in a position to win. But as someone who loves the game of basketball, it’s just disheartening to see. But it is what it is”, he tweeted.
PHOTO CREDIT: Basketball Champions League