By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
Igor Kokoskov has been in the NBA for almost 20 years and when he took over the Phoenix Suns last season, Kokoskov became the first European head coach in the league history.
The current Sacramento Kings assistant coach traveled to Belgrade for a basketball clinic which will also feature Stan Van Gundy, Milan Tomic and Aleksandar Lukman.
He used the opportunity to talk about many things including the gap between Europe and the NBA as well as how does the FIBA-EuroLeague conflict affect it:
“It has a strong impact on the quality of basketball in Europe. Unfortunately, it’s a conflict that exists and the bigger it is – the better for the NBA because they have an additional production of players. So from our aspect, when I talk in front of the NBA, it absolutely doesn’t affect us because we know that young players will play basketball but in the end, come to the NBA. However, it’s far from good for our European basketball but I don’t see a solution in the near future. In the meantime, us Serbian coaches shouldn’t be dealing with global politics. There should be an initiative but before all, we should be dealing with the ongoing things and working on players. What I know is that the problem won’t be solved for a long time”, Kokoskov said, per Mozzart Sport.
The 47-year-old coach also said that the NBA is far ahead of Europe regarding the organization and finances:
“NBA is organizationally and financially 20 years ahead of us, everything is unfortunately directed that way. So I think that they have a big army of players who are ready to play much sooner than here. They have the best system and production of young players in the sense that a lot of young people play basketball in high school and college. Along with that production and marketing but above all the financial power the NBA has, that business is only going forward. From that aspect, I say that they have a big advantage. We have talented players and phenomenal coaches but they are financial, organizational and marketing wise ahead of us 20 years. But everything is changing and moving, the market is changing and I believe in European basketball”, he said.