Mike Batiste names his 3 favorite players to watch in the EuroLeague / News - Basketnews.com

Mike James, Dwayne Bacon, and Lorenzo Brown are the players EuroLeague legend Mike Batiste likes to watch the most in the tournament.

Credit: AFP – Scanpix Credit AFP – Scanpix

Even though it's been almost a decade since Mike Batiste retired from basketball, he's been following the EuroLeague closely.

Mike James

Team:AS MonacoPosition:PG, SGAge:32Height:185 cmWeight:84 kgBirth place:Oregon, United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

Currently an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets, Batiste says that the time difference between Europe and the USA makes it easy for him to follow the events.

"EuroLeague basketball comes on at like 1-2 o'clock over here at day, so it's perfect time to watch the games," he said during the A Quarter with Kyle Hines podcast.

Asked to name a player or players he likes to watch in the tournament, Batiste went to the guys from the same country he's from.

"I'm always rooting for my countrymen, you know what I mean. I love watching Mike James. Dwayne Bacon is also a guy that I coached in Charlotte and Orlando, I liked watching DB down there at Panathinaikos," he told. "I like watching Lorenzo Brown. Those are guys I really really pay attention to."

All three players Batiste picked were in the Top 10 in the league in scoring with Bacon being 4th (16.6 points per game), Brown being 5th (16.4), and James taking the 8th spot (15.9).

Having coached in five different NBA organizations, Batiste doesn't close the window on possibly coming back to become a coach in Europe.

"I've never shut the door down to those opportunities. My name is always linked with Panathinaikos, and you know how that goes, but those are to me just rumors. Nothing ever seriously happened from my end. I'm totally open to anything," Batiste said.

"It's definitely an opportunity that I see myself doing in the future. I don't know if it's next year, I don't know if it's when I'm 60 years old. Coaching is a global conglomerate now, being a coach is an unbelievable honor. We'll see. I'll keep knocking down these doors here and see how far it can take me here. I'd love to be a head coach here in the NBA. If an opportunity arises, I'll take a look into it and see if it's best for me and my family," he concluded.

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