Ettore Messina 82
The many trials of Ettore Messina
The Olimpia Milano head coach is in the twilight of his career and things look miserable. Ettore Messina’s side are off to a dreadful start in Euroleague and look lost. Emmet Ryan on how this could be a sad end to a magnificent career in basketball. He’s one of the most decorated coaches in the […]
Messina needs to deliver a masterpiece
Ettore Messina is coming home to Italy after a wildly successful itinerant coaching career to take on a job with all kinds of issues. Emmet Ryan on how Olimpia Milano’s hot seat is the Harrenhal of European hoops Game of Thrones had one particularly infamous castle that wasn’t noted for any battles or murders but […]
Kokoskov breaking barriers
With the Phoenix Suns announcing Igor Kokoskov as their new head coach, Emmet Ryan on how the hiring signals a breakthrough for non-American coaches in the NBA David Blatt was the trailblazer despite being American. He cut his teeth as a coach, beyond any question, on this side of the Atlantic. Between his successes at […]
Serbia show no mercy in disposal of Italy
Italy came to Istanbul with a plan and their goal was to essentially kill basketball. Sasa Djordjevic was having none of it and neither for that matter were his bigs. Emmet Ryan on how Serbia put Italy to the sword in a clinical display that was their most accomplished of the tournament to date And […]
Messina needs one more miracle
Ahead of Italy’s quarter final clash with Serbia at EuroBasket 2017, Emmet Ryan looks at the challenge facing one of Europe’s greatest ever coaches. In what may prove to be his last ever game coaching Italy, Ettore Messina will need to pull out all the stops to keep the Azzuri alive in Istanbul and there’s […]
VIDEO: Ettore Messina’s coaching philosophy
This is a great find by the crew over at Project Spurs, a 14 minute video of Ettore Messina explaining his philosophy on coaching basketball Yeah, when he opens with comparisons to an orchestra you just know this is going to be good. Then when he gets on to discipline a clearly rights free version […]
David Blatt smashes the glass ceiling
The Cleveland Cavaliers and David Blatt have come to terms, giving the Boston born coach with over 30 years in the European game his first taste of a NBA head coaching gig. Emmet Ryan says this could be a defining moment for European coaches. You don’t have to go back all that far in history […]
Euroleague Final Four: Five burning questions on the CSKA Moscow-Olympiacos match (plus Official Fearless Prediction™)
BallinEurope is sorry that CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos, finalists of that memorable 2012 Euroleague Final Four (one of this association’s best tournaments ever – and readers know just how much BiE hates sports-historical hyperbole) won’t get to repeat their matchup in the climactic game again this year, but at least we get a heckuva revenge […]
Messina on Teodosic: “I’m no Dr. Frankenstein”
Just because the Euroleague is off this week, it doesn’t mean the media is closed for business and CSKA Moscow leader Ettore Messina gave international news a little to chew over during the bye. The coach wants you all to know a few things: He’s not a mad scientist animating cadavers, nor can he get […]
Teodosic watch: Milos clutch in win over FC Barcelona; CSKA Moscow displays awesome arsenal
Going into last night’s Euroleague-closing match against FC Barcelona, Ettore Messina and CSKA Moscow seemed to have deduced the solution to Milos Teodosic’s fourth-quarter woes dating back to the 2012 Final Four tournament: Simply blow out opponents so that no clutch play is required. In hindsight, this game mathematically meant little: Thanks to the week […]
Here come the Men in Red and Blue!
Dear CSKA Moscow Studios, BiE was happy to hear that the exciting new cinematic blockbuster from your studios has now entered the production phase. The choices for leads in the “Men in Red and Blue” (or “MiRB” – nice bit of online-centric marketing consciousness shown there, might BiE say) motion picture are intriguing, indeed. Sonny […]
Podcast: Interviews with Ettore Messina, Viktor Khryapa; ruminations on, well, a lotta stuff
Now up and running is episode #12 of the “Taking the Charge” podcast series, a co-production of heinnews.com and BallinEurope. Amid a lot of chatting on recent events in basketball including the frankly bizarre $250,000 fine handed the San Antonio Spurs for recently not suiting up stars to play the Miami Heat in a televised […]