The World
Through the eyes of Ettore Messina. Long regarded as the best coach outside North America, is Messina now free to pursue a career in the NBA?
If so, he insists he would come to the NBA to serve as nothing more than an assistant coach.
"It would be interesting," Messina said Wednesday from Spain, where he shocked European basketball by resigning as coach of Real Madrid two weeks ago. "But I need first of all to see if I could be a good assistant after many years of not being an assistant. And then it would have to be made clear that I am not going there to steal anybody's job."
Messina does not delude himself about becoming an NBA coach. Whenever the topic has come up over the years, he has shot it down quickly by referring to the fundamental differences between the leagues of Europe and the NBA.
"It might be an interesting opportunity," said Messina, a 51-year-old Italian who speaks excellent English. "A few years ago I didn't see it like this, but now, getting older, you understand. You see it differently because experience gives you a different point of view."
His recent experience with Madrid opened the door to new possibilities. After a loss to Siena in a meaningless Euroleague game that didn't alter Madrid's place in the standings -- Real was No. 1 in its group going into the playoffs -- Messina decided to resign with one full year remaining on a contract that paid him close to $3 million annually.
Messina had a fundamental problem with the mission of Real Madrid, which was Europe's most successful club in soccer and basketball in the last century. The club was so focused on the end result that it ignored the process of building a championship team.
He compares the mission statement of Madrid to that of CSKA Moscow, where Messina won two Euroleague championships before moving to Spain in 2009. He said the mission statement on the wall of the CSKA arena read, "We are here to win" -- implying that the team had done all of the hard behind-the-scenes work to position itself to succeed.
The mission statement at Real, according to Messina, was focused on the end result: "In Madrid the only thing that counts is winning."
Messina has no problem with seeking to win: He has won four Euroleague titles overall.
"The sentence at CSKA says we are here to win -- which doesn't mean we will win," he said. "It's a big, big difference. We are here to win, but we cannot guarantee that we will win."
The statement in Madrid represented a myth of arrogance that winning was a right of the club. But Messina was overseeing a young team, including 20-year-old Nikola Mirotic, a 6-foot-10 power forward who is being scouted by the NBA. He was trying to create an environment of humility that would eventually position them to succeed, but he was convinced the habits couldn't form at a club that wasn't invested in the process.
There are very few clubs that have the budget and ambition to help Messina fulfill his vision for how a team should be built. If he can't find a promising offer to remain in Europe next year, he may be open to spending a season or two on an NBA bench, where he could learn a new perspective while also providing his team with different strategies. In the meantime, Messina plans to accept an invitation from San Antonio to spend eight days with the Spurs -- and his former star at Bologna, Manu Ginobili -- later this month.
"I'm really excited to see a couple of practices, some games, watch some films with the team, and of course to see Manu," Messina said. "I've never had the opportunity to see Manu during the season."
Read more:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/ian_thomsen/03/18/playoff.matchups/index.html#ixzz1HKfVwXac