Sergio Scariolo: Shocked Patrick Ewing, scheming vs Oscar Schmidt & Italian basketball's problems / News - Basketnews.com

Scariolo detailed his matchup against Patrick Ewing and the Knicks, which almost stunned the basketball world. The coach explained how he schemed against scoring greats like Oscar Schmidt. In the end, Scariolo gave his thoughts about why Italian basketball suddenly collapsed despite being on top of Europe in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Credit: AP, Imago-Images - Scanpix, 2017 Getty Images | A.Zaikauskas/BasketNews illustration Credit AP, Imago-Images - Scanpix, 2017 Getty Images | A.Zaikauskas/BasketNews illustration

Sergio Scariolois one of the most coveted basketball coaches in Europe, often regarded as the best national team coach in recent history, and the list of players he either coached or coached against is hard to beat.

Despite his impressive accolades, Scariolo does not currently coach a club following hishighly-discussed departurefromVirtus Segafredo Bologna. While the 62-year-old specialist is still at the helm of the Spanish national team, it's a different period in his career.

Now, Scariolo has time to do the things he loves and the things he usually misses out on during the year, such as watching his son Alessandro play in the LEB Oro league in Spain.

"Basketball-wise, I have a chance to study more, to analyze more, to watch practices, to watch games from different competitions, not necessarily related to the game to prepare, which is basically the limit we have as coaches when we are coaching a club team during the season. I'm broadening my view in that sense," Scariolo said in an extended interview with BasketNews.

It is not the first time when Scariolo has to spend the majority of the season without a job, or coaching only the national team. The first time it happened was during the 2002-03 season when the Italian specialist did not coach a club team after getting dismissed from Real Madrid the previous year.

Next, the same situation arose in 2010 after his stint in Khimki Moscow Region, when Scariolo was only the head coach of the Spanish national team throughout almost the entire 2010-11 season. Finally, Scariolo was once against only a national team coach for a prolonged period of 2014-18.

Despite previously having been in similar situations, this time is different, Scariolo says.

"Honestly, this time was something which I felt was different because of

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