San Antonio Spurs: Ettore Messina deserves a head coaching opportunity

Diving into the NBA future of Ettore Messina who is recognized as one the greatest EuroLeague coaches of all time and shared success under Gregg Popovich

When you look at the NBA today, you will find a stat that you would never just point out of nowhere when looking at the dynamics of the game. That stat is, there are currently zero NBA foreign head coaches. There are a few such as Mike D’Antoni and Steve Kerr who each have dual citizenship, but none that spent a majority of their lives in another country.

There have been only two head coaches in the modern era that were foreign and they include Jay Triano who coached the Toronto Raptors (2008-11) and Igor Kokoskov who coached the Phoenix Suns (last season). Those two head coaches combined for a 127-263 record as coaches of their respective teams.

So it brings up a point; how does coaching in leagues around the world translate to the NBA? The stats would show, that these coaches seem to be a bit overwhelmed when placed into the NBA setting.

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David Blatt coached many years in the EuroLeague and had much success there and had a good record in the NBA. But LeBron James was in his prime and even with a mediocre coaching staff, he was guaranteed to lead the team to 50+ wins each year. So how much could we definitively say that Blatt helped improve the Cavaliers?

This leads us to the point of an intriguing head coaching option around the NBA by the name of Ettore Messina. Many fans of the NBA outside of the San Antonio Spurs fanbase may not know much about Messina and his track record.

Ettore Messina is 59 years old and was born in Catania, Italy. Messina has spent 25 years coaching overseas and is regarded as one of the greatest EuroLeague coaches of all time and his track record speaks for itself, the guy is a winner wherever he goes.

His resume includes: 4x EuroLeague Champion, 4x Italian League Champion, 2x EuroLeague Coach of the Year, 7x Italian Cup Winner, 5x Russian League Champion, 4x Russian League Coach of the Year, 3x Italian League Best Coach and Italian Hall of Fame member. He boasts a career 279-98 record as a head coach.

His stats are great, his coaching style would be different in today’s NBA game, which could be good or bad. His teams like to run slower halfcourt sets, with the NBA moving in a faster pace that could be a tough task in keeping up with high octane teams.

But Messina’s teams were also known as very good defensive teams and it’s well worth noting that he is now under the tutelage of one of the greatest NBA head coaches of all time in Gregg Popovich. So to say Messina has learned a lot in his time with San Antonio that can mix with his EuroLeague style is an understatement.

One thing Messina does have that has made him such a great fit with the Spurs is his no nonsense nature. He will bench his best player, he will get in someone’s face and let them know when they make a mistake, he doesn’t baby players. Which is a trait I feel in today’s NBA is lacking, some guys are afraid of confrontation, to not make a superstar unhappy.

The one hiccup that Messina has on his record was with Real Madrid where he created some conflict by making some interesting moves when he took over. He coached to a 23-13 record which isn’t bad but he didn’t take accountability for some of the moves made and that could be worrisome going ahead as he looks at head coaching opportunities.

Going forward I believe Ettore Messina should get an NBA head coaching opportunity by a team looking to change the game up and bring a different style. Messina is an X’s and O’s guy that I think can adjust his NBA and EuroLeague experience together nicely to create a solid team.

On top of that Messina is a guy that isn’t just coming from the EuroLeague as David Blatt did. He has four years experience under Gregg Popovich and there isn’t any other coach in the league that you would want to coach under and learn very strong traits that help you become a winner in this league.

Messina is also a guy that likes to play through the post if he could get a guy that plays like Marc Gasol did in Memphis where you dump it in the post and your center can either score or has good court vision his offense could thrive. Ball movement and spacing is at a premium in this league and that’s how Messina could propel his offenses by getting a post player to play through.

The NBA is constantly changing, coaches have different mindsets on how to run their teams and win ball games, not all wins are the same, each team achieves them differently. What matters is there is a “W” in the column after the game, that’s the most important stat.

Messina deserves a head coaching opportunity in this league and I believe if given the right opportunity he could slow a game down and play defensive grind it out games like the 2010-2014 Grizzlies but also have a better offense because of his knowledge mixing EuroLeague ball with the NBA.

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Many coaches are getting NBA head coaching opportunities that don’t have a resume like Ettore Messina. It is time the NBA has another foreign head coach and see if the trend will continue of them being overpowered or if Messina can buck that trend and cash in on the potential that people know he has.

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