{"id":44883,"date":"2019-09-04T08:07:41","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T06:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.demo.olimpia.iquii.info\/getting-to-know-better-tom-bialaszewski-the-summer-addition-to-the-coaching-staff-2\/"},"modified":"2019-09-04T08:07:41","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T06:07:41","slug":"getting-to-know-better-tom-bialaszewski-the-summer-addition-to-the-coaching-staff-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.olimpiamilano.com\/en\/getting-to-know-better-tom-bialaszewski-the-summer-addition-to-the-coaching-staff-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to know better Tom Bialaszewski, the summer addition to the coaching staff"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the shot heard around the world.<\/strong> The shot that is still talked about today, the shot that inspired books and documentaries. 1992: NCAA Regionals\u2019 final game. Kentucky against Duke. The mother of all games was almost over. Rick Pitino against Mike Krzyzewski. All the Wildcats had to do was to keep the Blue Devils from scoring in their last, desperate attempt. The long pass by Grant Hill found Christian Laettner at the opposite end. He got the ball at the top of the key. A turnaround jump shot followed. Nothing but net. Kentucky is eliminated. Duke continues its NCAA championship run. A few months later, Laettner will be the only college player to make the 1992 American Dream Team in Barcelona. Christian Laettner was from Buffalo, New York. Like Tom Bialaszewski, a new member of Ettore Messina\u2019s staff in Milan. A new entry for European basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of falling in love with the game in Buffalo<\/strong> \u2013 Tom says -, it\u2019s not the classic basketball hotbed, but at that time Christian Laettner was playing for Duke. He was living 15 miles from where I grew up. There was a lot of Duke coverage.\u201d Buffalo is in the upper part of the state of New York, a cold place, close to the marvelous Niagara Falls. Buffalo was home to one NBA team in the 1970s, the Braves, before they moved to the other coast. But Buffalo is all about football, with the beloved Bills of the NFL taking all of the attention. And still, Tom Bialaszewski had other ideas and other passions. \u201cI have watched a lot of college basketball since a very young age up to my high school years. During my sophomore year in college, I started coaching high school basketball at my old school for three years.”. And that was the start of a coaching career. “Then, I had a job with the Cleveland Cavaliers and I havee been in professional basketball since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

The longest experience in one single place was the one with the Lakers.<\/strong> \u201cTo work for the Lakers, with their worldwide recognition, their story. with players like Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Steve Nash, was an incredible experience, on and off the court. I had the opportunity to work for three different head coaches, but also an array of assistant coaches who eventually became head coaches, like Quinn Snyder, Steve Clifford and Ettore Messina here in Milan.\u201d At the end of his Lakers years, he was responsible for the \u201cgame planning\u201d. \u201cIn the NBA the games are coming fast and furious, three or four per week in general. I watched the five previous games of every team, analyzing strengths and weaknesses, trying to prepare an attack plan for specific situations according to our base principles.\u201d<\/p>\n

And during those years, Bialaszewski grew closer and closer with Kobe Bryant.<\/strong> \u201cKobe was great. He gave me credibility, When you earn the respect of somebody like him, the rest falls in place. We started to watch his clips at halftime and over time I felt comfortable in asking him questions, giving him\u00a0 \u2013 well, I don\u2019t want to say insights because he knows so much about basketball \u2013 what I saw. This kind of relationships for me, especially because I never played the game, understanding his point of view, what he saw, what he did and why, was important for my development.\u201d<\/p>\n