On Friday night (29/11), Mr Vasilis Spanoulis will make his long-awaited debut on the Monaco bench, in the game against his opponent Panathinaikos AKTOR at OAKA for the 12th game of the Euroleague.
The Greek coach spoke to the website of the leading European organization about the reasons why he was convinced to sign for the Principality teamwhile, he made a special reference to coaches who were his role models!
The statements of Vassilis Spanoulis in detail:
As for whether he is already learning French: “Not yet, I’m not ready. I will try to find out. My wife has been learning French for the last 1.5 years, without knowing that I will come to France. So she’s ready to speak French.”
On whether he missed the event: “I missed him. It is the best organization. A lot of great coaches, players, organizations, so it’s the best league. I was a player for many years and my goal when I started coaching was to come to the Euroleague. I’m ready for the Euroleague.”
On whether it was important for him to prove his ability and not go to the Euroleague because of his name: “Always like this. I started low, worked hard, was humble and tried to achieve everything with my work.”
On what convinced him to say yes to Monaco: “The way the owner and general manager approached me was very good. I liked it. They are motivated people. I really like the team’s roster. They are very athletic, players motivated to do well in the Euroleague and the French league. I like that we have experienced players as well as young ones. I like this in my teams. Great potential. I generally don’t like going somewhere in the middle of the season in my life, it’s hard to convey your philosophy, especially when you have so many games every day. It is difficult for players to adapt to new systems, new philosophy. We have to go slowly. We have a lot of games coming up, so my staff and I will try to do the best job we can to get them ready.”
Which coaches he looks up to: “There are a lot of coaches that I took things from. I was lucky enough to work with two of the best in Euroleague history, Mr. Obradovic and Mr. Ivkovic. But also with coach Giannakis at Maroussi, in my first season at the National Team, coach Bartzokas, coach Sfeiropoulos, coach Blatt, all the coaches. You have to keep an open mind and gain something from everyone. But at the end of the day it’s my philosophy, my way. I’m lucky to have had so many experiences with great coaches and now I can put my stuff in and be myself with my teams. But don’t talk too much about me, because I don’t play, the players play and they are the stars of the game.”
On how important it is that he has players who already know his philosophy (Kalathis-Papagiannis): “It is very important because they can tell the rest of the players in the dressing room. It is very important that they help others understand what I want and adapt early. This will be great. The most important thing for me is to give an identity to the club, to the team and to have a winning mentality, to be organized. Teams that have an identity and work hard every day get what they deserve.”
About Mike James: “I’m honored to coach him. He is one of the best, if not the best, players in the Euroleague and for the last 20 years he needs this trophy, he needs one victory to go to the next level. He is a winner, a leader. He has a lot of influence on the team. He has a good character. I don’t know what they say about Mike but I didn’t see anything. He’s good for the team and that’s what I want from him.”
On how important respect is between players and coaches: “In life when you want respect you must first respect others. You earn respect, it’s not given to you. Records are meant to be broken, I’m so glad Mike broke my record. He deserved it. I hope he continues to score and create for the team.”
On his first experience as a coach at the Next-Gen tournament: “With the kids it’s different but it was the first time I realized that I like being a coach. I’m always thinking as a coach, always helping my teammates, being one step ahead, how can I help my teammates, develop them, make them happy, how can we play better. I always think about basketball, 24 hours a day. This is why I lost my hair. This is my life. Family and basketball are everything to me.”
On his debut against Panathinaikos and his first home game against Olympiakos: “Every game is important in the Euroleague. The most important thing for me right now is to give my philosophy to the team, adjust the players and enjoy basketball. At the end of the day if you don’t enjoy playing basketball, playing defense, playing offense, playing as a team is the worst. This is what we love, we are lucky to make our hobby a job and that gamers make a living from it. So they have to enjoy it but at the same time show dedication, discipline, the will to always work every day to get better. For me the most important thing now is to build an identity that will help us in the future to get many victories. And of course we want to win every game, but now I have to see the players, see the mentality that I want.”
Source: Sport Fm
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