Pablo Laso opens up on coaching habits, Crvena Zvezda's interest, Heurtel's case / News - Basketnews.com

Pablo Laso spoke about a wide variety of topics, ranging from his coaching habits and future to Thomas Heurtel's case and refusing Crvena Zvezda's offer.

Credit: Alfonso Cannavacciuolo/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Alfonso Cannavacciuolo/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

Pablo Laso answered the call of the Basque Basketball Federation, and its president Luis Mari Sautu, to participate in a cycle of conferences within the framework of the XI Iberian Congress and IV Ibero-American Congress held at the Europa Conference Center in Vitoria.

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Looking healthy and having lost some weight, the 55-year-old Basque coach participated in Saturday's session. Laso attended Baskonia-Olympiacos EuroLeague Round 4 contest on Friday night, and gave a press conference before 100 persons.

He structured his talk around three pillars: his personal career, his vision of what the game is and the management of what is important for a coach.

Laso began by talking about his beginnings in Vitoria.

"I remember having to shovel snow in order to play. I was very good at soccer but I switched to basketball. And, contrary to what is usually told, it was not because of my father. My first challenge was trying to play for Baskonia. I went through Madrid, the national team and other teams to complete a career that anyone would have signed up for," the former Real Madrid bench boss said.

Regarding his idea of ​​basketball, he assured that "it is a continuous game in which the most important thing is usually defense because offense is linked to what you have done behind. Those who attack poorly also defend poorly in general," he maintains.

Laso thinks Partizan lost in Vitoria "being better because they did not have a pure point guard. They did not show a clear game idea and Baskonia did.

If Obradovic, who is surely the best coach in Europe right now, happens to listen to me, he'll kill me; but that's what I think. I appreciate him a lot because, in addition, he coached me," the Spanish tactician argued.

Then, Laso brought up another recent story. While watching Baskonia-Olympiacos, he was asked whether Joan Penarroya should play Markus Howard in the game's dying seconds, ignoring the American scorer's bad night.

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"I told them I would play him regardless. He came in and scored a three-point shot, and that speaks highly of Penarroya," Laso commented.

The two-time EuroLeague winning (2015, 2018) coach admitted that he experiences every game with the same passion while on the bench.

"I get pissed off even when I watch the games on television.

The first time I came to Vitoria as Madrid coach they started to insult me. I looked at the stands and saw a guy I've known all my life. Four weeks later, I ran into him in a bar and he gave me a couple of hugs. He was not going against Pablo Laso but against what Laso meant that day.

If you don't have a passion for basketball, you can't pass it on to your players, under no circumstances," he pointed out.

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Pablo Laso said he's in "no hurry to get back into coaching".

Crvena Zvezda's call surprised him since there were no direct talks of the Serbian club with his manager or agent. Laso revealed that he even received some WhatsApp texts from president Nebojsa Covic, but he wasn't convinced to pack his bags.

"It's not a matter of saying yes to the first person who calls you," he pointed out.

The conference ended by Laso talking about day-to-day management and the Thomas Heurtel case.

"The coach often feels very lonely. Pablo Laso did not rule out Heurtel, the truth is that the player ruled out himself. But do you think that the reason I stopped playing him was just he went out one night? It would have been silly," Laso explained.

"Thomas is one of the five or six best players I have coached in my life, but my way of seeing basketball is that we are a team that wins and loses, all together," he went on to say.

Laso stressed that the thing he's mostly proud of regarding his Real Madrid stint is that he "made a team with a recognizable style and philosophy. Those are the things that leave their mark, you have to put in place some signs of identity."

Asked about his favorite player, he did not hesitate. "For me, Luka Doncic is now the best in the world," he said.

Laso described the way his teams prepare for an important game.

"I usually watch two or three games of the next rival but sometimes you have to skip some; for example, some that have played against weak teams in their home country.

I would always prefer to choose my assistants, but sometimes it is the club that gives them to you. In my case, with my assistants, I have always felt very comfortable," he emphasized.

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