By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
With the Olympic basketball tournament officially over and the Games themselves as well, many of the masterminds behind the 12 teams participating in the men’s 5X5 tournament are heading towards a different challenge at the club level. From the NBA to European club competitions such as the Basketball Champions League and 7DAYS EuroCup coming up.
Gregg Popovich is an example of this path. He guided the USA to gold and now puts the San Antonio Spurs and the next NBA season back to the center of attention. The Tokyo Games, despite critics of Team USA, became more than successful for the experienced head coach.
From Olympics to Europe
European teams ERA Nymburk and Virtus Segafredo Bologna held an additional interest in the Olympic Games as their head coach Aleksander Sekulic and Sergio Scariolo, respectively, were in Japan.
The Slovenia boss after working with superstar Luka Doncic and leading his home country to fourth place is expected in the Czech Republic for the training camp ahead of the approaching BCL season. Very few experts managed to predict his national team as the best offense in Tokyo. The Czech champs fans certainly approved.
Scariolo, 60, following his Toronto Raptors stint and a quarterfinal run with Spain in the Olympics, is heading back to Italy for Virtus Bologna. Apart from the domestic league, his side at the club level is heading to the 7DAYS EuroCup.
Remaining bosses
Nigeria head coach Mike Brown will continue as the associate head coach of the Golden State Warriors. Australia’s Brian Goorjian returns to the Illawarra Hawks and Iran’s Mehran Shahintab back to Shahrdari Gorgan.
France captured the silver medals with Vincent Collet in charge. He is currently a free agent at the club level but is likely to get back in the action ahead of the 2021-22 season as a late offseason hiring.
Italy’s Meo Sacchetti, Germany’s Henrik Rodl, Czech Republic’s Ronen Ginzburg, Argentina’s Sergio Hernandez, and Japan’s Julio Lamas are also without a team outside the international level.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL