Euroleague coach rips NBA coaches for lack of diversity
Some of The best players in the NBA today come from abroadfrom Luka Doncic to Giannis Antetokounmpo, to Nikola Jokic, it can be argued that all the top-ranked players in the league were born abroad. Even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, although he went to college in the United States, is from Canada. This has led to a popular debate regarding the level of basketball abroad and in the country, and current Euroleague coach Sarunas Jasikevicius believes that NBA coaches are not in a good place.
During a recent segment via Eurohoops, Sarunas Jasikevicius expressed his opinion that coaching in the NBA is the same style, a far cry from what he said was a lot of diversity among coaches during his time in the league.
“The craziest thing to me now is when you talk about NBA coaches, I don’t mean that in a bad way, but I said when I was in the NBA … everybody plays the same,” Jasikevicius said. “There were these huge names in NBA coaching, and they all had their thing. Pat Riley was one. You learn from Phil Jackson’s triangle. Then along came Mike D’Antoni with his run, spacing and a little bit of a smaller ball. And it was so nice. (Gregg) Popovich played everything over the other playmaker on Team Dunk.”
“There were always clashing styles. And it was really interesting who was going to beat whom, which is the right way to play basketball,” continued Jasikevicius. “It’s only one way in the NBA now, and this is crazy to me. It can’t be just one way. We’ve got to come up with a new Shaq or (Arvidas) Sabonis, or someone like this, because that part is dying, too.”
Jasikevicius is currently the head coach of Fenerbahce in Turkey. But during his playing days, he played two seasons in the NBA and even went to college in the United States in Maryland where he played all four years of eligibility.
He was with the Indiana Pacers and Golden State Warriors, competing against NBA coaches he appointed. He has he previously expressed interest in potentially coaching in the NBA one day.
2025-12-16 02:22:00
