Ettore Messina: This season has been like a non-stop basketball clinic so far

I can’t stress enough how excited I am to open a new chapter of the blog. Because of the lockout, the NBA season kicked off much later than usual. I arrived in the USA on December, 4th. Prior to the training camp the Lakers’ coaching staff had a series of meetings where we discussed how the team was supposed to practice. The camp itself started on December, 9th and lasted for a couple of weeks.

The regular season wasn’t on until Christmas but right now it’s already in full swing. When I’m writing this, the Lakers stand 8-4. We lost our first two home games to Chicago and Sacramento but then rebounded pretty well and went on a series of quality W’s.

I’m currently on the staff that includes five assistant coaches and one player development specialist who runs individual workouts with players. Of course, all of us work on players’ fundamentals to some extent.

Mike Brown to me is among rare breed of head coaches who aren’t afraid to have big staffs with lots of assistants. He actually lets everybody do their jobs, express opinions and even coach on the floor. During team practices all of us have moments when we would stop a play to explain something or introduce a new drill. And all the coaches are expected to contribute to the preparation for games and practices. To me, that’s the most interesting part of the job and we spend so much time on it. We usually meet at least an hour and a half or two hours before practice to finalize all the details.

Professionally, it’s like living one’s dream. So far this season has been like a non-stop basketball clinic where I get to hear different opinions, get to know about new methods and strategies on a daily basis. I digest loads of information that I’ll be able to use when – hopefully – I return to the head coach position with a team some time in the future. Also, I do my best to express my own thoughts and help the team by using the experience that comes from knowing European way of playing and coaching basketball. And I have to say that other members of the staff are very willing to discuss and implement that European know-how, especially when it comes to spacing and timing on offense.

Another part of my job is to review and analyze the games we’ve played. We have an excellent video crew with three guys who help us select clips reflecting all the necessary actions on offense and defense that we show to players afterwards. As soon as we board the plane after the game we can start breaking down the tape, and my duty is to come up with opinions and ideas and share them with my colleagues the following morning.

This may sound a little bit cliché, but every minute of every game and practice is taken extremely seriously by all of the Lakers’ coaches. The team has a new staff trying to install a new system which means there’s no time to waste and every little detail needs to be paid attention to. We’ve surely been building our identity defensively, but our offensive flow remains far from perfect. There’ve been games where we turned the ball over too much, like the one vs. Memphis where we gave it up 27 times.

I believe that the fact that Lakers had been playing the Triangle for so many years actually helps us. The players are really accustomed to passing the ball and moving without it, which is the essence of every good offensive system. Sure, what we’re trying to do today is different, but in my opinion some of the cornerstone principles – like maintaining proper spacing, sharing the ball and advancing it up the court with passing rather than dribbling – are quite similar. What we’re trying to do today is make sure our bigs are involved offensively. And, of course, Kobe Bryant is the team’s leader both on and off the court. Perhaps, this season the Lakers need his experience and leadership more than ever.

We’re lucky to have an extremely professional group of guys on the team. Players always show up early for practices, they put a lot of time and effort into preparing themselves individually. And the practices are long and quite intense, though we keep physical contact at minimum. Even our game-day shootarounds are like full-scale practices with lots of drills and repetitions. I have to say, Mike is very happy with the players’ attitude at the moment.

And the team’s chemistry is great. I know folks here in the USA probably won’t fully understand what I’m about to say right now, but my Russian and European friends surely will – the atmosphere within the Lakers’ organization pretty much resembles what we had at CSKA Moscow several years ago. There’s that sense of unity and togetherness, a family-like bond. That’s also one of Coach Brown’s strong sides – the ability to bring lots of energy and enthusiasm, create an exceptional working environment despite being very demanding of everyone he works with.

From the family standpoint, Los Angeles is really nice. My home is situated on the Manhattan Beach, 5 minutes drive from the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo so when Laura and Filippo come to visit they like it a lot. Filippo is splitting his time this season between Los Angeles and Madrid.

P.S. Here’s a picture of Filippo in Los Angeles. Also, it’s one more way to say hello to all my CSKA friends.