My name is Benas and I'm passionate about traveling, sports and coffee. In this podcast I will aim to combine all three of them by 'zooming' around the world and talking to sports professionals and coffee savants around the world while having nuanced conversations about different topics within their profession. If you're interested in hearing the stories and lifestyles of high achievers, the biggest lessons throughout their life, their mindsets within their respective sports then please subscribe to this podcast, buckle up, get your cup of coffee and 'come fly with me'. Thank you :)
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Tim has been a long-time friend of mine, we go way back to 2014 and ended up celebrating our 10year anniversary of our friendship in Colombia together, where this podcast was recorded. Tim has had experiences as a coach early on in his life as a 22 year old in Spain in the lower divisions, learned his ways without speaking much Spanish at the time. Tim has since coached at an elite level in Euroleague for Maccabi Tel Aviv as well as New Zealand National Team as an Assistant Coach and New Zealand domestic league as a Head Coach. He also was the G-League assistant at Delaware as well as the Head Coach at OTE before joining the BYU Basketball program this season.
Today, Tim told us all about his journey, from finding his way to the GLeague via email application to coaching at the World Cup in Spain in 2014 as an Assistant of the New Zealand National Team. He also shared the lessons he learned working under great Head Coaches such as Giannis Sfairopoulos at Maccabi Tel Aviv. Tim also shared his unique perspective on the rookie adjustment issues in Europe and many more topics that we talked about.
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Damjan Rudež is a highly accomplished basketball player who played at all possible levels of basketball and has now ventured into the business side of things with the "Sunset Sports Festival". Damjan started his professional career in Belgium before returning to Croatia to play for Split and later various other teams in the Balkans before moving on to Zaragoza, Spain. Damjan was picked up by the Indiana Pacers in 2014 and played three years for three different teams before returning to Europe when signing with Valencia.
Damjan also represented his Croatian flag in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Today, Damjan opened up about his struggles early on in his career in Oostende as well as his sliding door moment in his workout in front of all the Indiana Pacers staff. Damjan also talked about the struggles of retirement, creating his new identity as well as how him and his business partners started the Sunset Sports Festival, which has become a household event during the summer in Zadar, Croatia.
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Topics:
Championship Mindset
Paris Olympics
Saturation & Retirement
Shooting Slumps
Frustrations after NBA
#57 Sergio Scariolo on Inventing the Spanish Pick & Roll, Communication, "Michelangelo Effect" & More
Sergio Scariolo doesn't need a long introduction, his successes speak for itself especially with Spain's National Team and the countless titles internationally that they have won. 5 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals across Eurobasket, World Cup and Olympic tournaments. He's the winningest National Team coach in the modern era of basketball. Sergio can also consider himself a NBA champion when he won the NBA championship as an Assistant Coach with the Toronto Raptors.
Today, we let all of those achievements 'rest in peace' and talked more about the constructive part of the game, especially when it comes to communication with super stars and his take on it as well as lots of stories around the invention of the Spanish Pick & Roll & more.
This episode had lots of constructive advice for young coaches behind the scenes on how to behave in certain situations as well as avoid doing the mistakes that he did himself during his younger years as a coach.
A very genuine and sincere episode with one of the greatest coaches of the modern era of basketball, please enjoy!!
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Topics:
(0:00) Intro
(3:00) Sergio off the court
#56 Boris Diaw on playing in 11th division with friends, Traded while on a Safari, Wine, Photography, Traveling around the world & more
Boris Diaw is a well known name in the basketball community, not much introduction needed at this point, even after his retirement. He's a winner and a patriot in the most truest sense. Every summer he played for the National Team of France and in 2013 he won the FIBA Eurobasket and followed up in 2014 with a NBA championship playing for the Spurs in a memorable playoff run.
Today, Boris and me talked not only about basketball. We spent quality time together during the podcast and explored our interests of travel, photography, food as well as coffee & wine regions...plenty of delicacies. We also dove into topics such as expectations from Assistant Coaches, emotional balance and his approach to life & basketball in general as well as the summer of 2013. How he went from losing the NBA Finals to winning the Eurobasket with France and winning the NBA Finals in 2014, all within 12 months...what a ride this was, please join us!
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Topics:
(0:00) Intro
(3:00) Coffee, Wine & Travel
(14:15) Impact of Montessori School
(26:10) Impact of Coaches
#55 Tadas Bulotas on the business of a basketball agent & how to sign young prospects
Tadas Bulotas took on the profession of a basketball agent after his father but started his own company together with Arturas Javtokas in 2008 while he was still only 19years old. He eventually sold his business and joined Wassermann agency as one of their representatives in Europe. Besides many international draft prospects Tadas also represents clients in Euroleague as well as Japan and other countries around the world.
Today's episode is centered around topics of problem-solving within the business. Different aspects of his job require a variety of different perspectives in order to resolve problems that occur between the different parties involved. We also dove into recruitment & ethics in this business. Unwritten rules and more....
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Topics:
(0:00) Intro
(2:10) Berlin vs Vilnius
(6:20) Starting as an Agent
(10:00) Impact of Father
#54 Lassi Tuovi - The importance of mentorship for young basketball coaches & Finland Basketball
I want to welcome our new and first sponsor of the show, www.proballers.com
Every basketball geek knows them, it's a statistical platform that carries the top 75 leagues around the world, you can easily access all the information on your phone, which it's optimized for and have fun scouting players and leagues around the world!
#53 Jonas Mačiulis - Transition From Basketball Player To Basketball Executive
I want to welcome our new and first sponsor of the show, www.proballers.com
Every basketball geek knows them, it's a statistical platform that carries the top 75 leagues around the world, you can easily access all the information on your phone, which it's optimized for and have fun scouting players and leagues around the world!
#52 Marko Pesic - FC Bayern Basketball GM, Organizational Alignment & Communication
I want to welcome our new and first sponsor of the show, www.proballers.com
Every basketball geek knows them, it's a statistical platform that carries the top 75 leagues around the world, you can easily access all the information on your phone, which it's optimized for and have fun scouting players and leagues around the world!
"Marko":
Marko Pesic is more than a household name in the European Basketball community, he's a former ALBA as well as National Team player and current General Manager of FC Bayern Munich Basketball. He has countless domestic titles as well National Team medals under his belt as a player as well Manager of Bayern Munich but may all those achievement rest in peace today.
Marko and me had a wide ranging conversation about his life as a coach's son, the struggles of growing up as one and finally finding validation. We obviously touched on communication, which is my favorite subject and that helped us contextualize a lot of details that are 'hidden' in the daily life of a GM. We talked about the communication between him and the Sports Director as well as the Head Coach and how to keep everyone on the same page, which situations matter in regards to communication with players and which situation can't be solved by him. Learning to distinguish of what he can solve and what he can't solve is key to the success of an organization and being aligned with everything that is going on in the club.
#51 Danny Mills - Perth Wildcats GM & "The Process"
Friday, October 6, 2023 • Duration 01:15:22
"Danny":
Danny is a long time friend of mine and currently the GM of the Perth Wildcats, representing the NBL proudly.
Danny has a very colorful background across the world, from playing in Australia to Oregon Tech in the US as well as the Irish National Team to being the video coordinator for the Bakersfield Jam and working in Europe as the International Scout of the Philadelphia 76ers after briefly coaching in Italy. Danny later moved to the US to become the Director of Scouting for Philadelphia before transitioning back to his hometown in Perth as the GM of his hometown team, Perth Wildcats.
Today we had a wide array of topics that ranged from his experience in the NBA, what he took away from his time at Philadelphia, the lessons he learned and what he can apply not only from his roles but also from other sports to his team in Perth. We also veered off and talked about how he balances family & work and what his philosophy in Perth is all about.
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Paulius first joined Žalgiris Kaunas in 2007 as their director of communications but quickly climbed the latter and became the GM in 2013. Paulius lead the organization through two crises, celebrated multiple championships within the Lithuanian League and elevated the status of Žalgiris Kaunas back to where it belongs in Europe, being a playoff contender each season. The organization went from nearly being bankrupt in 2013 to being a Final Four participant in 2018??? and hosting the Final Four event itself in 2023.
In today's 50th episode, Paulius and me talked about several topics that surrounded his job at Žalgiris, especially dealing with coaches, building culture within the organization, protecting tradition as well as using sports psychology as a tool to support the organizational growth from within! We continued to talk about his vision for the Euroleague itself, where it is now, tv rights & finances as well as his optimism and naiveness within the business.
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Lassi is a young and up&coming basketball coach from Finland who started to coach in 2005 and became National Team Assistant Coach as soon as 2010 and has been an integral part of the coaching staff under Coach Dettmann until Lassi himself became the Head Coach of Finland's Basketball National Team in 2022! Currently, he also serves as an Assistant Coach to Luca Banchi at Virtus Bologna in the Euroleague.
Lassi and me talked about various subjects but most notably and most importantly about the topic of mentorship and how important it was in his development as a young basketball coach. We also talked about the transition from Assistant Coach to Head Coach and back to being an Assistant Coach again while serving as a Head Coach in Finland. Other topics were the importance of balance, decompressing, finding a place to work or unwind outside the hotel, reflections on the past and most under-rated actions on the basketball court.
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Today's guest is Jonas Mačiulis, my long time player at the National Team level who became a good friend after his playing career. Jonas is a high achiever and has countless awards to show for across several countries around Europe. Most notably with Real Madrid in Spain and Panathinaikos in Greece. Jonas won countless domestic titles with Panathinaikos & Real Madrid as well as the Euroleague in 2015 with Madrid. He also prides himself with being a long time National Team player and winning four medals, two silver medals (2013 & 2015) & one bronze medal (2007) in European Championships as well as a bronze medal at the world cup in Turkey (2010).
We talked about his road to recovery after tearing his ACL and what made the biggest difference in his support group. Later we went on to talk about the competitive practices at Real Madrid as well as his experience with Pablo Laso. We also covered subjects from his current position with Kedainiai Nevežis and all the lessons he took from being a player that he can apply now, especially in regards to dealing with players and building the club from the ground up.
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We also touched on scouting your own team, observing practices and the qualities to look for in a Head Coach, obviously also dove into the integration of youth players and how to make decisions that involved their development.
We also briefly analyzed a box score from their last game vs Panathinaikos on www.proballers.com and swiftly moved on to talking about his personal life, the balance between family and work as well as his 'information diet' and what influences his thinking on a daily basis.
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