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Pablo Laso opens in what was supposed to be only an interview and turned into a marvellous and enlightening conversation.
As gentle as usual, proud of a past with no rivals and looking for a captivating future.
The Pablo Laso we met after the first leg of the italian double round is a bench ace as always. Perfectly aware things can change in a while even after 11 years with 33 finals in 44 competitions lifting 22 trophies and winning 659 games out of 860 coached for the “casa blanca”.
It was supposed to be a classical interview but it turned in to a 90 minutes basketball conversation touching on so many topics. If you think we are blessed, yes you right, we are.
It’s still a little weird watching Pablo wearing colors different from “los blancos” so sometimes we were just looking at him and trying to understand… but now “la leyenda” is in Munich, so our conversation started exactly from the “bundesliga”, a tournament so different from other european leagues.
«It’s really interesting catching all the differences between all the leagues. I usually watch a lot of ball and actually I can say the german league has some specific features. Let’s take Liga and LBA as examples: Liga is definitely of higher level but many players could play in both leagues, while “bundesliga” is far different with a crucial impact by the pointguards. High tempo, many triples, it’s so interesting and I’m blessed I can live this experience».
And sometimes those high tempo games come after a double round week in EL, with rivals that could practice all week long and prepare the game in the best way, while you are on the court after long trips with just a 24 hours rest to study your opponent…
«That’s what happens so you just have to adapt with the energy you still have».
So, a kind of little NBA?
«Somehow yes. And I want to add that some players, accustomed to this league, when they play out of Germany, they need additional time to adapt».
The conversation moves to Pablo’s career and the fact that is so unusual in this era to see a Coach on the same bench for 11 years. Is there a special moment when you realised that Madrid was over and you were sitting on a different bench?
«I’d say not a single moment, it’s more about a process. One year without coaching helped me about this because I could study the games without the urgency to prepare it against an opponent. So transition was a bit more quiet».
«Then I signed with Bayern so my whole thoughts and efforts where about how to make my best for my new club, trying to figure out what they were expecting from me and what I could do for them».
Back to the past, the night of the comeback to Wizink Center maybe was perfect to realize what definitely changed in your life…
«Well, it was so emotional. The main reason was the love and affection I received from the crowd. No one made you applaud, so if you do it it’s because you believe. “La aficion madridista” is used to winning but in this case they showed me love and appreciated 11 years of hard work. That’s when I could completely realize the value of what I did».
Actually in Munich there’s a serbian executive (Marko Pesic), an italian GM (Daniele Baiesi) and a spanish coach: plenty of experience and a great mix of basketball culture but it’s somehow necessary to find a kind of common ground. How do you describe this “team”?
«It’ so important. All of us has precise skills. Tactics, signing players, budgeting, issues we can face on the players’ market with far higher budget clubs… We talk a lot and we seek common ground».
«If I want to sign a player and we cannot do it for different reasons, there’s someone who looks for a similar profile covering the need of the roster. And I have to be aware of what we can do and what we cannot. It would really easy to say “Please sign Lebron James…”. With Marko and Daniele we have a shared responsibility and that’s perfect for a great club as Bayern».
Your team fought till the end in almost every game, maybe only in Barcelona and Madrid you didn’t. You could have won 3-4 games more just without missing some details. It’s more about experience or chemistry?
«Sure. In Barça game we didn’t show up, in Madrid we kept an acceptable distance but in the most important moment they made the decisive run. The right plays and the best attention in the clutch moments is what we missed».
«Coming back to Wizink Center was so emotional thanks to the love I received from the crowd. If they applaud you for 5 minutes…»
Can you give me some more details…
«Let’s take the Bologna game as an example. We controlled the game for more than 30′ and I’m pretty sure we lost that game when we were up by 9. We should have been up by 15 or 18 because we perfectly knew that if you keep the door open to very special guys like Toko, Belinelli, Hackett or Dunston, they will not lose the opportunity to come back into the game. They have talent, they have experience: if you want to defeat them you have to be perfect for 40′, not 30’».
«We need a little more time, it’s like you said about experience, chemistry and knowing each other».
We checked some stats (update after R18) and found you are the best rebounding team (53,6% of grabs), you are last per free throw made (10,1 per game) and then, something I guess you do not particularly like, you are 4th in committed fouls (21,2) and 4th to last for drawn fouls (18,6). Is this something you are particularly working on ?
«Rebounding is the key for us because we can control the rhythm of the game. Sometimes we want to run, sometimes we prefer half court offense and we can do that through the control of the boards. We do not have 15 boards’ players, we can have 3-4 guys grabbing 5-6 rebounds per game».
«As about fouls obviously I’d like to turn this stat into a positive one but we have to improve the way we play, committing less and being fouled more».
Talking about Coaches, it’s getting more and more usual to split in two different categories: coaches who are mostly considered as managers and those who are considered as really coaching the team. I’d say it’s too simple but nobody better than you can describe these two important aspects of a coaching job on your experiences in Madrid and Munich basis.
«Coaching is about both of them, managing and coaching on the court. You cannot be just one of the two things. You need to be able to do both and to find the right balance between both situations».
I’d also say that sometimes we hear something really ingenuous, but I’d use harsher words, a kind of tagging I do not agree with. The most used example is about Chus Mateo and his team: many people say he just has to manage since coaching is not needed due to the fact that it is an unbelievable team so talented and deep… Chus is doing such a great job that those thoughts sounds so stupid…
«I definitely agree. Sure Real is a great team but as a Coach you have to do both, managing and coaching. Chus is doing great and he knows what to do with the different players he is coaching, because you know every guy is different».
You talk about great players, you coached so many champs, so I’m asking you how is important to build the greatest confidence possible with them and mostly how is important to listen to those champs?
«Basketball is sometimes so easy and those champs know it very well, even better than coaches. I clearly remember one time “el Chacho” talking to everybody on the court and explaining why one play was better than another, chosing the most simple just because there were many other great players that could enjoy the advantage created by his pick and roll execution».
«A coach can never stop learning»
«That’s the moment when you have to show confidence in your players and you have to understand they can choose the best for the team. It’s far more important than any talk with your staff. If one of my players suggests something and he is doing that since he owns the game, I have no problem to follow his suggestion. You have to give that confidence so that you will have it back in the clutch moments».
«What you say, the way you say it, it’s basic to build a team and a healthy and safe environment where everyone can give his best. If you make mistakes in communicating to your players it gets tougher and tougher, especially the way we live today».
«Let me add the most important point: a Coach can never stop learning. Once you think of imposing your ideas and rules without taking care of you players’ skills, believe me, you are way off».
So Pablo, I’d say that a coach should never think of being the key of the team, or even feel superior to the team itself without thinking of the human material he is dealing with…
«Exactly like that! You have to respect the role of the players and you have to use them in the correct positions so that anyone can give his best. If you do like that so you really get important, if not crucial to your team. If you just impose, it can’t work».
«To Mike James I’d say it was a bad shot, he will agree but… he will score»
So I wanted to ask how do you manage the great challenges of change in sports and in the relationships with your players and the way they act?
«It’s about adapting and it’s about doing that keeping your principles with an open mind. A simple example? Today players are used to warming up with earphones. Many years ago I saw a player doing that and I was guessing why he wouldn’t have played… Today they talk each other far less, everybody with his mobile or tablet. Communication changed so much, personal relationships are far different and you have to catch the right moment. Then obviously I love when I see my whole team watching Euroleague basketball, it shows a lot about our guys».
«Sure you need to have clear rules, it’s necessary if you want to manage the best way. Tonight (jan 4th) the guys are free to have dinner wherever they want. I trust them, I know how professional they are. We travel 200 days per year, some freedom and self-awareness is definitely important. We woke up this morning in Bologna, we practiced with some shooting and tactics and then we left to Milan. There’s nothing bad in being free for dinner».
What about the press? That relationship changed too?
«I’m completely opened with the press. Feel free to ask whatever you want to ask about basketball and games, it’s my duty to answer politely as far as I’m concerned and as far as I can control something».
It’s time to laugh because I remember a question I asked to Pablo the day after the 2019 EL semifinal lost in Vitoria: “24 hours after Cska game do you have a better idea of what you should have done to win that game?”. His reply was a masterpiece: «I loved our offense, I loved our defense, we could have done little things, some details better but I loved everything we could control». Classy message to the refs…
But if Pablo said that we can ask whatever, that’s an assist like the ones he was dishing as point guard… Carsen Edwards benched so long in the second half yesterday night after great 20′: can you explain that choice?
«You know, as a coach you can make mistakes but in any can we have to make choices and sometimes it’s about offense and defence, pairings, your team and your rivals».
Danko Brankovic, the Croatian giant, is walking in the hall of the hotel, so he is an inspiration for a quick question: which kind of player can he become?
«He can play, he needs to add some athleticism but he is so big and I believe he can be a very good player». Believe me, Danko is really big, since while Devin Booker is walking close to him, “Book” looks so small…
If we talk about great players, what about some name you did not coach in your career so far?
«Spanoulis, he was a Coach yet while playing, Mike James, to whom I’d say it was a bad shot, he’d agree but he’d score, then Vasa Micic, the way I saw him dominating the games».
What about some young Coach you like and for whom you imagine a great future?
«Alimpijevic (Besiktas) is doing very good, then Ibon Navarro, even if not one of the youngest. Anyway I feel like in our job it’s a matter of being in the right place at the right moment. There are plenty of examples of coaches doing great in perfect environment while we have as well great coaches that have so many problems in other environments and it looks like they are not working well. But obviously it’s not as simple as that».
The conversation continues with a lot of anecdotes, the serbian derby is about to tip-off and it’s ime for that “free” dinner.
Pablo told us that “A Coach can never stop learning”, so “Gracias Leyenda” and be sure that statement is so important for us too, definitely blessed for this conversation.
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