Pablo Laso: “Only Mike James can stop Mike James”

By Semih Tuna / info@eurohoops.net

There is something Pablo Laso has this year that he did not have when he took over Anadolu Efes last season.

A summer.

Or, at least, something resembling one.

Laso arrived in Istanbul in the middle of last season and immediately found himself trying to build a team while competing, dealing with injuries and attempting to establish his ideas without the benefit of a preseason.

This time, the situation is different.

Not necessarily easier.

But different.

“Today is a pre-season day so I’m happy and excited,” Laso told Eurohoops. “And for sure happy to recover players. We were a team that had a lot of players on national teams, and step by step we’re recovering them.”

The biggest concern coming out of the international window is Ercan Osmani.

“Sincerely, I’m happy because the only guy who got injured — that was my biggest issue at that time — is Ercan Osmani. He got a hit in the nose and he’s gonna be out for maybe a couple weeks, but the rest are in good shape and that’s good news for us.

“I’m excited to have a new team in a new year, and on a pre-season day there is probably a lot of hard work coming.”

Of course, calling it a traditional preseason would be misleading.

Several Efes players spent the summer with their national teams, leaving Laso and his staff with limited time to bring the entire group together.

But this was not an unexpected complication.

Efes planned for it.

“If we review a little bit our summer, we thought about this. This is not something that just happens; we thought about the situation that we could have a lot of players on national teams.

“And for sure that bothers you because you have, let’s say, two weeks where you can prepare, organize the practice, and build the team.”

That is why Efes deliberately filled its preseason with games.

“We designed a pre-season with a lot of games, because I think everybody will come in game shape.

“Let’s say Dario Saric, he’s been playing with the national team since he came back from the NBA. He played the qualifiers, I think four games in 10 days. Mike James played with the United States national team. Kai Jones played with Bahamas. For sure the Turkish players played with Ergin.”

For Laso, the challenge is no longer getting players physically ready to play basketball.

It is teaching them how Efes wants to play basketball.

“We designed our pre-season understanding that it’s very important that they play with the national teams, but at the same time it’s important that they come in game shape.

“We have to understand as coaches that we have to implement the ideas that we want for the team in the games.

“This is risky because everybody would like to win pre-season games, but right now we are focused on getting ready for a long season.”

“I don’t want heroes”

If Laso and his staff spent the summer studying what went wrong last season, one weakness stood out.

Creation.

“We did a lot of research and study of our problems last year for sure,” Laso explained.

“Despite injuries, which was a big factor for us last year, there was something that we really wanted to improve: we wanted to improve our creation.”

The response was aggressive.

Matthew Strazel.

Fats Russell.

And, of course, Mike James.

“That’s why bringing Matthew Strazel, Fats Russell, and Mike James was very important for us. I think we’re gonna have a line of great creators that even can play together.”

 

Laso even found himself discussing the possibilities with his son, who is also a point guard.

“My son is a point guard — for sure not at that level — but one day he told me, ‘You have three very good point guards.’

“And I said, ‘How about if we’re winning by six with one minute to go and I have all three on the floor?’

“They can play together. It will be very difficult for the other team.”

Creation, however, was not Efes’ only concern.

“We needed to improve our rebounding. Missing Vince (Poirier) with that injury, we needed a force there. We believe Bruno is gonna help us a lot in that. Recovering Papagiannis for sure, Kai, and also Dario can help us in that situation.”

Last season, too much responsibility often fell onto Ercan Osmani.

Laso does not want that again.

“Many times last year we had this feeling that Osmani had to do everything.

“Ercan is a great player, but he cannot be our hero.”

Then Laso stops on that word.

Hero.

“I don’t want heroes.

“I want heroes on the last shot. If I have to win a game on the last shot, that will be a hero shot, and I hope we’ll make it.

“But we don’t need heroes, we need to be a team.”

That philosophy also shaped the rest of Efes’ roster construction.

“This is also something that we were looking at when we looked for our guards. Let’s say bringing Santi, bringing Collin — people with athleticism that can help us in situations that will happen during the year playing EuroLeague and the Turkish league at the same time.”

Mike James can sometimes only be stopped by Mike James

For years, Pablo Laso had to figure out how to stop Mike James.

Now he has to figure out how to maximize him.

And the circumstances that brought James to Efes begin with one of the biggest changes in the club’s recent history.

Shane Larkin is gone.

“If we go back three months ago, losing Shane Larkin is very important for us,” Laso said.

“Shane is a great player, I would be very stupid if we don’t say it.

“But we needed somebody to be a focus for us, and I think Mike is it.”

James arrives with little left to prove individually.

“Mike is a focus with a lot of experience. Probably no one remembers when he first came overseas, but he made his way to become one of the top players in the EuroLeague.

“I played against him many times; he played in many teams and he has always been a winner. He played in the NBA.”

Laso knows what the outside perception will be.

“So for sure, Efes will be recognized as Mike James’ team. Yes, for sure.”

He also knows what every opposing scouting report will say.

Stop Mike James.

“And as a coach, I know that all the teams will try to stop Mike James.

“It won’t be easy because a lot of times Mike James can only be stopped by Mike James.”

It is a great line.

But Laso immediately adds the part that matters more to him.

“That sounds very good, but — and I said it about Ercan before — we cannot only be Mike James’ team.”

That is why the moves around James matter.

“This is why signing Strazel and signing Bruno was very important. Those were our first two moves, and we had it clear that we needed a starting point guard like Matthew, a guy who is at a great age with experience and knowledge of the game.

“We are very happy bringing Fats, who has experience also in Turkey; it’s gonna help us in that rotation. We kept Jordan.

“In those situations, we are happy because Mike will be, let’s say, covered.”

Laso has no interest in building an offense where the solution to every problem is simply handing James the ball.

“It’s not ‘throw a coin and wait that Mike will make every shot.’

“That would put a lot of pressure on him.

“As a team, I hope Mike will make all the shots, but if that day doesn’t come, we will be ready. We have to be ready.

“In my past years, I always had the feeling that Mike can be a difference, but for sure you need a good team around him.”

Why Strazel mattered in the Mike James decision

Interestingly, Efes had already signed Matthew Strazel before knowing that Larkin would leave.

“We signed Matthew. We didn’t know Shane was leaving at that moment, but we thought Matthew could be a great fit for our team.

“Then the Shane situation came up.”

Suddenly, Efes needed another reference point in the backcourt.

“We needed somebody who was a little bit of a reference in the outside game, and Mike was open.”

At first, Laso did not necessarily expect James to be available.

“I remember my first conversation about him because everybody thought Barcelona was gonna sign him.

“Then it was not done, so it was not very difficult to convince him because he was the one who had a vision of being on a good team in a good environment for him.”

The existing relationship between James and Strazel from Monaco only made the fit more natural.

“I’m very happy that he decided to come, because having him here will be good for us as an organization, for us as a club, for the Turkish league, and for everyone.”

But Laso returns once again to the same warning.

“But at the same time, I don’t want everybody to recognize Efes just as Mike James’ team.

“That would put stupid pressure on Mike and he doesn’t deserve that.

“Mike is here and he will be a very important piece, but we are Efes.

“All players are very important to us, just as Mike is.”

Seven seconds left. Down by one. Who takes the shot?

There is an obvious consequence of building a roster with so many creators.

What happens at the end of games?

Does Laso want a strict hierarchy?

Or does he allow the matchup and flow of the game to determine who decides the final possession?

“With seven seconds to go, if you’re down by one and Mike James is on the floor, everybody will think that Mike James will take that jumper.

“Very good.

“If I’m the other coach, I would send three defenders on Mike James.”

And then?

“So Mike James probably is not gonna score.

“He’s probably gonna be smart enough to know that somebody will be open and he will pass it.

“And the guy he passes it to has to make the shot.”

Hierarchy matters.

But basketball is not a script.

“It’s important that everybody understands his role, that hierarchy that you said.

“But then it’s basketball and you have to read situations.”

Laso immediately reaches almost a decade into his memory for an example.

“Almost 10 years ago, we won a game with Real Madrid with Luka Doncic taking the last shot in Belgrade.

“Two days later, we were playing in Malaga and we had the last shot, and Luka came straight to me and said, ‘We play the same play that we played Friday.’

“I said, ‘Luka, if we do that, they know it. I think it’s better to use that as a decoy and attack somewhere else.’

“We won that game with Fabien and Sergio on a layup.”

The lesson has remained with him.

“For me, it’s very important that the team understands that hierarchy, but at the same time I want Efes to win.

“I want Mike James to hit that shot, but I don’t care if it’s Mike James, Matthew Strazel, Erkan Yilmaz, or Ercan Osmani.

“That doesn’t matter, I want Efes to win.

“There will be a hierarchy and everybody will know it, but we all have to be ready because at the end what is important is that Efes wins the game.”

The Rudy Fernandez lesson

Remembering a possession from almost 10 years ago naturally raises another question.

Has Laso changed since then?

Is he now more comfortable allowing players to solve those situations themselves?

“Listen, I think coaches a lot of times — and myself, I think this way — we have to help the players.”

Another Real Madrid memory comes immediately.

“For example, all important possessions when we were taking the ball out of bounds, for me in Madrid, it was Rudy taking it out.

“So one day Rudy came up to me and said, ‘Why do I always take it out? I also want to make the play.’

“I said, ‘Yes, but if we don’t inbound the ball, there won’t be a play.’”

That, for Laso, is coaching.

“That means that somehow you have to help them as a coach.

“Players want to do it right. I don’t know any players who don’t want to play good.

“But you have to put them in the right position and help them, and this is the way I see coaching: try to help the players to become better players.

“If I get better players, I will have a better team.”

The modern player has changed, though.

And preseason might be one of the clearest examples.

“Twenty years ago, pre-season was necessary because your players were coming out of shape from Sundays on the beach.

“You would start pre-season in one week to get in shape.

“Now players are in shape. In fact, I will receive players today that will play tomorrow.”

Laso sees that as progress.

“This is something very good for basketball, because it means that players are worried about being in shape during the whole year, understanding that their off time is important for them to regenerate and work on their game physically, technically, and tactically.

“For us, this is a big advantage as coaches.

“But you cannot change the perspective of, ‘Okay, we’re getting these players, let’s help them to play good and play together.’

“That is our goal as coaches.”

“This kid’s got something”

There is also a 17-year-old on the roster, Darius Karutasu, who has generated significant expectations after an impressive summer with Turkey’s youth national teams.

Laso saw something before that summer.

“Well, we all have a lot of expectations on that issue.

“I had him last year and from the first day that I arrived, I said something that in Spanish is kind of funny but it’s, ‘This kid’s got something.’”

What caught Laso’s eye was not spectacular athleticism.

It was understanding.

“You could see from the first day he understands basketball, he’s always in the right position.

“During these months, he was not in the rotation, but he was in a lot of times in practices and I watched a lot of his game tape.

“My staff and I agree that he’s a guy that sometimes produces just being on the floor.”

That is where Laso’s evaluation may differ from an NBA-oriented perspective.

“If you compare this with NBA scouts, they say, ‘Okay, physically sometimes he’s on the floor and he’s not doing anything.’

“Send me NBA scouts, they look for physicality.

“I think he has a long way to go, but he has a lot of good European basketball traits that can become very important for us.”

For Laso, he is not merely a prospect training alongside the senior team.

“For me, he is part of the team, a guy who can develop his game.

“He needs to play, and for sure we count on him as an important piece.”

And Laso already has a clear idea of where his future lies.

“We believe he’s an outside guy that can help a little bit inside because of his size, but we should force him a little bit to play outside where he can become a definitive, solid player in any kind of rotation in Europe, and for sure with a great future in front of him.”

Dario Saric and the feeling that something good will happen

Dario Saric offers Laso another kind of creator.

One who does not have to be a guard to organize offense.

“It’s funny. I think Dario is a great player.

“He played in the NBA for many years. I suffered against Dario when he was playing here in Efes while I was coaching Real Madrid, and I always had a great respect for Dario.”

But one particular skill separates him.

“If you ask me about something that you cannot stop from Dario, it is the way he sees the game passing.

“This is strange for a big guy.”

Laso puts Saric in a very specific category.

“This is what we like about Alperen Sengun or Jokic or Dario; they can create game.”

And that is exactly what Efes wanted.

“This is something that was needed for us: somebody who can create, also rebound, defend, and score for sure.

“But that feeling of when the ball is in his hands, something good is gonna happen — I think that’s his biggest tool.”

Saric’s return also carries a little more meaning because this is not entirely a new club for him.

“We are very happy that we were able to bring Dario back to our team, a player that has a little bit of Efes blood in his veins because he was here.”

Why Bruno Fernando’s best years may still be ahead

Then there is Bruno Fernando.

His time at Real Madrid came with an obvious obstacle: playing behind Edy Tavares.

“I’ve been following Bruno for many years, and when he went to Madrid I said he’s a great player, he just needs a little bit of patience because being behind Tavares is not easy.

“I think he had a good season, but probably being behind Edy didn’t look that good.”

Laso knows another center who went through something similar.

“Let’s look at the example of Vince.

“Vince behind Edy was Vince, then he came to Efes and he was a major force.”

Fernando then moved to Partizan.

“When he left Madrid and went to Partizan, his season was solid, but here I think he’s still on his uphill.”

With Poirier unavailable, Laso wanted a big man who could establish a physical reference point on both ends.

“My first idea on big guys was, okay, Vince will be out, so we need somebody who can be a reference defensively, offensively, rebounding, and a force that will be difficult to stop on a team that is gonna create a lot with their passing.”

The roster around Fernando should help.

“Matthew’s a great passer, Mike for sure, Dario.

“That will help Bruno to improve his offensive game because he will receive the ball in situations where he will be very effective.”

Defensively, the responsibility works both ways.

“Defensively, we have to help him, but he’s a guy that can be a force on defense and rebounding at a good age.

“I’m very happy that he is with us, knowing that his best years are still to come because the way you see his hunger, I think he can develop into a great player in Europe for many years.”

When does Efes become “Pablo Laso’s team”?

This is Laso’s first opportunity to build Efes from the beginning.

So when will he look at the court and recognize a Pablo Laso team?

“We coaches always ask for time.

“This is normal, and it would be very stupid if no one understands this.”

But Laso knows how quickly that argument can become meaningless.

“It also will be very stupid if I ask for time and I lose the first 25 games.

“Somebody will say, ‘Yes, how much time do we have to wait for the team to look good because we continue losing?’”

So his first demand is straightforward.

“My first point as a coach is I want a team that is competitive from the first day.”

Last season gave him the opposite conditions.

“Last year was difficult coming in the middle of the season.

“I think my first game was in Kaunas, and from that game, I thought I was gonna recover players, but I was losing more players.”

The injury problems became almost absurd.

“I still remember the beginning of February, we were focused on trying to recover players for the Cup.

“I talked with my medical staff about Jordan; he sprained his ankle, they said he’s gonna be out for a few days.

“Then he was out for 15, he lost four games.”

Still, Laso believes something began to emerge.

“Step by step we created the culture that we wanted as a team.

“I think our end of the year was better.”

The health situation is not perfect yet.

“Right now we still don’t have Papagiannis at a hundred percent — he’s doing some work — and we don’t have Cordinier.”

Papagiannis is already doing some team work, but not yet at full speed.

“Not full speed, but I hope that Papagiannis will be ready let’s say by the end of pre-season. We have to monitor that.”

Cordinier will require more patience.

“Cordinier is gonna take a little bit more time.

“He’s okay on his coming back but he will still need that time, maybe 2 or 3 months, and he will be full speed.”

Ultimately, Laso’s definition of his team has less to do with a particular offensive set.

“This year, I want to have the feeling that the team believes in what they’re doing despite problems, because we will always have problems.

“All teams have problems during the year — injuries, bad trip schedules, whatever.”

Identity becomes most visible when those problems arrive.

“When I feel comfortable with a team is when a team is able to be recognized in those situations.

“It doesn’t matter if one player is hurt and another will play. Your team needs to have the same face.”

That is what Laso wants.

“This is something that for a coach is very important, and we have to be a little bit resilient, understanding that the year will be long and difficult, but we need to be together in those bad moments.

“Having the feeling that the team is always competitive despite the problems that you can have on the way will make a coach happy.”

How much time does a coach really have?

There is an irony in Laso asking for time.

He once spent 11 years at Real Madrid.

That kind of longevity feels increasingly unusual in modern basketball.

“That’s a good question. I have a lot of respect for coaches.”

To explain the problem, Laso borrows from football.

“If you are a fan of a football team and the football team has 25 players and one coach, and they’re losing every game, would you fire the 25 players?

“You will fire the coach.

“Easy decision.”

There is no point pretending coaches can escape that reality.

“This is something that we coaches cannot avoid, we have to understand that it’s like this.”

But time still matters.

“Time will help, because it creates a system that a lot of times results don’t let you build because you’re forced to win games.

“Time helps because you’re able to implement things that you want, and cut things you don’t want.

“But if you’re forced to play tomorrow and win tomorrow, then maybe you lose something on the way.”

Modern basketball regularly produces contradictions between long-term promises and short-term patience.

“We saw last year something funny: a team gave a three-year deal to a coach and fired him one week later.

“Is that the coach’s fault? No.

“Is that management’s fault? Maybe.

“If you’re gonna cut him in a week, don’t give him a three-year deal.”

Laso accepts the vulnerability of his profession.

But that does not change how he believes a coach should think.

“Coaches have to accept this, but at the same time we have to be worried about the long term.

“Before we started the interview we were talking about the future.

“I don’t know if in 10 years I will be here.

“But for me, working today has to be productive in 10 years.”

Otherwise, he says, he would not be himself.

“If I’m not this way, it wouldn’t be Pablo Laso.

“My vision is I’m working for this club and helping this club to be a champion and to be good in 10 years.

“Maybe Pablo Laso will lose someday and then he will be out, but coaches have to understand that our job is this.

“Club is much more important than persons.”

What Laso still believes — and what has changed

Basketball has changed significantly over the last decade.

Some of Laso’s beliefs have not.

“Let’s start with what I really believe.

“I really believe in respect.”

And for Laso, respect is not an abstract word.

“If your players respect each other, your team is gonna be good.

“Respect means: ‘I have respect that this guy is gonna give me the ball, and I respect that he didn’t give me the ball because he didn’t see me.’

“I still believe in that.”

What has changed is the speed at which players process the game.

“Something that has changed 10 years ago from now is that now players execute quicker.

“We don’t see a lot of teams that play long plays now; they’re able to execute quicker.”

Coaches have had to change with them.

“This is probably because coaches were adjusting to what players are able to do now.

“They don’t need that much deep understanding of the game, so you have to create a system for them where they perform better.”

Are EuroLeague teams becoming too similar?

Watch enough EuroLeague basketball today and certain actions, spacing concepts and offensive principles begin to appear everywhere.

Does that make creating a unique identity more difficult?

“I think most of the successful coaches want the same things from their teams.

“A lot of them work on spacing and situations that are similar offensively.

“Defensively there are different strategies.”

For Laso, one of the best examples is coaching in Turkey right now.

Saras Jasikevicius.

“I’ll put an example of a coach that I respect a lot coaching in Turkey, Saras.

“I played against Saras in Barcelona.

“Does he play the same in Fenerbahce as in Barcelona?

“No.”

For Laso, that is a compliment.

“That talks very good about him, totally different team.

“In Barcelona, he looked for Mirotic a lot.

“Now here he has Horton-Tucker, he has Wade Baldwin, so he’s more differently oriented.

“Even defensively, there he was able to somehow not switch that quick; here he has big guards so he switches a lot of times.”

The same principle applies to the great coaches.

“I think Zeljko with Panathinaikos, Ettore with Milano — everybody will look at their team and try to find the best solutions for them.”

Basketball trends themselves are constantly borrowed, renamed and adapted.

“As for trends, if you go back to the Spanish pick and roll, who was the first coach playing it?

“Trinchieri with Bamberg.

“And it’s called Spanish pick and roll because Scariolo played it great in the final against Lithuania, and after that, it’s the ‘Spanish pick and roll.’”

That is simply how the sport evolves.

“Those tendencies change with time.

“You see new situations and you try to adjust it to the team.

“Some ideas are good for your team, some aren’t.”

Life after Shane Larkin

For almost eight years, Shane Larkin was one of the defining faces of Anadolu Efes.

Now he is gone.

And not simply gone.

He has joined Fenerbahce.

“My respect for Shane is very big,” Laso said.

“I faced Shane a lot of times in EuroLeague finals and everything.

“Shane for Efes will always be a man to take our hat off to.

“He did great things for us, EuroLeague champion.”

The next chapter will inevitably feel strange.

“Now he’s starting a new way in a team that is seen as a rival for us, Fenerbahce.

“We’ll wish him a lot of luck, but our mind won’t change.”

For Laso, departures of important players are painful but unavoidable.

“Shane has been a leader for Efes for many years, but life continues.

“Shane was not gonna play here in 10 years, so the end of Shane was somehow normal.”

It reminds him of another difficult conversation from his career.

“For me it was very hard the day that I had to call Rodrigue Beaubois and tell him we had to renew the team.

“Roddy understood it.

“Same with Shane.”

Then Laso draws a line.

“Shane is leaving, finished.”

That does not erase what Efes will lose.

“For sure we will miss his leadership, but when we made the team we tried to bring leaders in his position.”

But the club cannot build its next season around the absence of somebody who is no longer there.

“There is no more Shane Larkin in Efes with all the respect.

“Right now we have to look up front and try to build a team without Shane.

“We have to think of being the best Efes possible this year without Shane Larkin.”

What surprised Laso about Turkish basketball

Laso has now coached in Spain, Germany and Turkey.

His experience in Turkey has reinforced one thing in particular.

“The league is very strong.

“There are a lot of competitive teams, recognized players on every team, teams that fight until the end.”

Last season offered plenty of evidence.

“We saw the example last year with Karsiyaka saving on the last possession.

“It talks very good about managements and how they want to improve their teams.”

There is still room to grow organizationally, Laso says, but the level is undeniable.

“Organizationally it’s a good league that for sure can get better, but Turkey’s league right now is one of the strongest leagues in Europe.

“When you speak with an NBA scout, they recognize that the league is strong.”

The national team gives Turkish basketball another reason for optimism.

“Regarding the national team, you guys are living happy moments.

“You have a very good team, a very good coach in Ergin, and I think Turkey is gonna have a very good national team for years.

“Cedi is showing a lot of leadership, Kenan, your naturalized player Malachi Flynn, veterans that are helping, and Bona.

“The situation for the Turkish national team is on a good way and I’ll wish them luck.”

With one exception.

“The day that they play with Spain, I will tell my friend Ergin, ‘That day we’ll see.’”

Basketball ideas can come from anywhere

Laso once described himself as a coach 24 hours a day.

He could read something about economics and somehow connect it to basketball.

So where is the strangest place a basketball idea has ever found him?

“Tough question.”

Then he laughs.

“Women say this about men: when you go to the bathroom, you’re thinking.”

His friends in Spain have noticed another habit.

“My friends in Spain make jokes about this.

“You’re sitting at a table eating and all of a sudden you start moving the glasses to create a play.”

There is no schedule for creativity.

“We think that maybe that idea will come at any moment, so you have to be a little bit crazy about basketball to understand that.

“When you speak to musicians, they’re a little bit like this.

“They thought about a song when they were laying on the beach relaxing.

“You have to be always ready for that creativity.”

Which raises the obvious follow-up.

Do coaches have to be weird?

“I think we’re a little bit weird, yes.

“It has to be in your blood.”

And apparently someone spotted it in Laso long before he did.

“The first one who told me I was going to be a coach was Zeljko in Madrid back in 1995.

“Now almost 30-some years later I’m coaching EuroLeague.

“I didn’t even know it at that time.”

Passion is not enough — but it has to be there

The conversation about strange coaches naturally brings up some familiar names.

Massimo Cancellieri.

Gianmarco Pozzecco.

Ergin Ataman.

All three have been described, in different ways, through the language of passion.

For Laso, passion is essential.

But it is not sufficient.

“Passion is very important.

“You put two examples of Italians that are gonna coach here. I know both of them and they are very passionate.

“Ergin as a national team coach is a great example of passion.”

Still, passion alone cannot make somebody a good coach.

“You cannot be a coach just being passionate, but for sure it’s important.

“Inside of us, it has to be a little bit of passion, but at the same time you have to be focused on what you’re doing.”

And sometimes passion does not look like shouting.

“A coach might be very demanding all year, but all of a sudden the day he’s more calm is in the final of the EuroLeague.

“Why?

“Because that day you’re focused on playing for the title.

“You have to give everything that day.

“You don’t turn around and tell your players ‘Do this, do that.’”

Cancellieri, Pozzecco and Ataman may display that passion differently, but Laso recognizes the common thread.

“Your passion is something that Massimo, Gianmarco, and Ergin have.

“I don’t believe in a coach that is not passionate, but knowledge and understanding and the way you transmit it to your players is also part of the success.”

The one way Laso gets his head out of basketball

There has to be an escape eventually.

For Laso, that means series, movies and music.

“Because I was in Spain during the summer, I’m watching some Spanish series.

“There is one called ‘Muertos S.L.’, a funny series about people who run funerals.

“I watch American series and movies too.”

There is one frustration about living in Turkey.

“Something I don’t like is I’m not able yet to watch Turkish movies because I don’t understand Turkish that good.

“I feel bad that I cannot follow them.”

For someone whose brain can turn glasses on a dinner table into basketball players, switching off matters.

“I am a series and movie addict, and also music, because maybe it’s the only way I can get my head out of basketball.”

His players are often the source of recommendations.

“Yes, players watch everything. Americans watch a lot.”

Anthony Randolph provided one of Laso’s favorite examples.

“I remember Anthony Randolph in Madrid was watching cartoons.

“I joked, ‘Anthony, you’re watching cartoons?’

“His answer killed me: ‘Yes, I have to understand cartoons because my daughter will kill me if I don’t see them.’”

Players’ viewing habits can even become basketball conversations.

“I had a player, Melvin Pantzar, who was watching NBA on all the trips.

“I told him, ‘I understand you watch NBA, but if you really want to watch basketball and learn, watch EuroLeague.’

“He was 18 or 19 at the time.”

For Laso, knowing those details is part of understanding the person behind the player.

“It’s important for us to understand what our players’ hobbies are outside the court.”

“We are Efes”

After all the changes, that may ultimately be the message Laso wants to leave with Efes fans.

Mike James is here.

Matthew Strazel is here.

Dario Saric is back.

Bruno Fernando has arrived.

Shane Larkin is gone.

But the identity cannot belong to one name.

“They should be excited. I’m excited.

“We have a new team, same goals.

“We’re coming from a bad year.”

That makes the challenge straightforward.

“We have to believe in the new players that we have, and the players from before.

“Something we lost a little bit last year we have to recover this year: our identity.”

And after spending the conversation explaining why he does not want heroes, why Efes cannot become simply “Mike James’ team,” and why a club has to remain bigger than any individual, Laso ends with perhaps the simplest version of his philosophy.

“We are Efes, we are ready, and we are excited to have a great season.”