הראיון הזה עם בגאצקיס מאוד מאוד מעניין. נשמע כמו אדם שממש תפור לטפל בחוליים של הקבוצה שלנו, למען האמת.
His success as a legendary and prolific scorer in his native Latvia led him to teams in Norway, Poland, France, Lithuania, and Russia. Now, the coaching career of Nizhny Novgorod boss Ainars Bagatskis is no less globe-trotting. Since first taking over the bench at Barons Riga in 2005, Bagatskis has coached in a total of five countries, too: Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Georgia and Ukraine. Along the way he has learned a lot, from the standpoint of both a coach and a player, about developing the roles that make teams work, the subject of his contribution to Coaches Corner.
When you talk about roles, every situation, every team is a different story, because of the level of the players. For example, if I had players like Teodosic, like Spanoulis or like Rodriguez, then I would go in a little bit of a different direction because of the way those players play for the team. But the most important thing is to prepare your players physically and motivate them for the job. I always say the key is to enjoy the basketball, enjoy the competition and the time they spend together, enjoy the whole season.
Defining the roles on any team starts early. Usually, before signing a player, you try to get as much information as possible. I call former coaches, GMs, scouts and even ex-teammates. It's always interesting. Information is the most expensive thing in the world. I try to talk to the player himself, too, before we sign a deal. I explain how I see his role, and then he can decide. Sometimes a player has not played at the level he can, perhaps for some other reason like coach-ability or team chemistry. Sometimes, though, you take the risk. Ultimately, it's most important that the player and coach are going in the same way. If not, there won't be good results and you won't enjoy basketball.
Always before each season, I talk to each player and try to explain his roles. Many, many times, you can find players who were stars in one league, with good stats, but on a new team, they go in a different way and don't play so good. The reason often is that they can't find their role or that their cooperation with teammates and coaches isn't so good as before. At the same time, you find players coming from small teams who are motivated to prove themselves. They go into practices and games wanting to be better. Before this season, I looked for players who enjoy basketball and wanted to go to the next level with Nizhny Novgorod.
In looking for such players, I am a little lucky. My coaching career at a high level is short, and the teams I have been with, we always go for a little risk. We try to sign players before anyone in Europe knows them too much. Malcolm Delaney in my last job, with Budivelnik, is a good example, one of the best players at his position, but few people knew about him. This year we have others: Trey Thompkins came to us after a long injury, and he hadn't played for almost two seasons, which is a risk. I talked to colleagues who said he wants to prove himself. Artsiom Parakhouski is another player who was motivated and wanted to show his best. Of course, if someone brings you Teodosic or Rudy Fernandez, you also buy them if you can. They are guarantees. Basically you buy results, but you have to find the way to motivate them as well. To do that you need to know players. That's important. From people like David Blatt and Mike Fratello, I have learned a lot about how to communicate with players, how to look at them. I am supposed to know players. So I try to make sure that I do.
For a player, of course, it's important that the coach trusts you. One example is Taylor Rochestie. When we signed him last year, I discussed our situation with my team boss, Sergey Panov. We were looking for our best option and for me it was Taylor, so when we signed him, I was happy. Right now, you can say that Nizhny Novgorod is Taylor's team, but last year when he was with us for four months, he didn't play like he has been playing this year. At the beginning of this season, it didn't look like he was going to do what he's doing now, either. But he's a motivated, ambitious player using the opportunity that Nizhny Novgorod has given to him. He has the work ethic, the desire to play and the motivation: he wants to be the best and to prove it every game. At the same time, he enjoys basketball. Nothing comes from one side, but rather both. The club is giving the opportunity to Taylor, but he is using it. Many times, a player gets a green light but doesn't use it. You have to be smart and mentally ready to use it. Taylor has proved this year that he belongs at the next level.
You have other players who are not getting all the shots or all the minutes who are often called role players. On Nizhny Novgorod now, these guys for the moment don't need extra motivation. They are not all young, either. We have two Russian national team players who have experience, but who still want to prove that they can be part of a big success in the Euroleague. Maybe we have players who are more gifted on offense, but we are a talented team on offense overall. We also have to force our way on defense a bit. Our team defense, we change every game, depending on our opponent. We try to surprise our opponents a little, to play hard and outsmart teams. And that's where our other players who don't score much are so important. It's never the case that all your scorers play excellent in the same game. So, we have to change the rhythm of the game with defense, and for that, all our players have a big role.
For a team like ours, adjusting roles when you have injuries or other unpredictable changes is very complicated. For big teams with 10 players on the same high level, it's not such a big deal: you put another great player in for a short time or some extra minutes. In our case, the coach has to find a way to keep things going when a top player is out. But looked at another way, that's a good opportunity for those other players. And anyway, during a season, roles can change. Different coaches, I think, can see the same player in different ways. If I see a player can do something and he accepts mentally that he can, we will try to make it happen together.
Finally, I would like to say that team success is impossible if players are not cooperating with each other in the locker room. One part of basketball is what you do on the court and in practice. Another is what players do in the locker room. I try to find on my teams who will be the boss in the locker room. In this team, I can say that Semen Antonov is doing a big job in this regard with his desire to win, the example he sets, the team chemistry he creates between the Russians and the foreigners. Good play and good results are impossible if the players in the locker room don't talk and act like they're in church. You need more to have a team: some dinners, some jokes and so on. I am not saying they have to love each other, but they are supposed to respect each other for the 10 months they are together. I like to say that basketball is a show, and if they enjoy it, they will have more success. I hope that is what we are seeing with Nizhny Novgorod in its first Euroleague season.
