By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Laboral Kutxa’s coach Velimir Perasovic who recently extended his contract with the Spanish club will not coach the Croatian national team and Atlanta Hawks assistant coach Neven Spahija seems the ideal man for the job.
As reported by Croatian media, a delegation of the Croatian federation which travelled to Vitoria and included legendary former player Dino Radja met with Laboral Kutxa’s president Josean Querejeta in order to discuss the matter. Querejeta confirmed that due to the Liga Endesa rule – no club coach can also be a national team coach – Perasovic, whose contract with the national team ended last summer, can’t be also his country’s national coach.
So who will lead Croatia in the upcoming pre-Olympic tournament? At this point, no contact has been made with anyone, but the best candidate in the eyes of many is Neven Spahija who is currently an assistant in the Atlanta Hawks, but has been a head coach in many top clubs in Europe and even the Croatian national team coach in 2005. It remains to be seen if he will cross his sword with an other NBA assistant, who will be the coach of his national team, Italian Ettore Messina.