Unicaja Malaga assistant Antonio Herrera to join Clippers coaching staff in NBA Summer League

Antonio Herrera, one of the most promising young coaches in Spanish Basketball, knows perfectly well that this sport demands constant investigation and updating. Details, tactics, motivation or group management are all the time renewed, redefining both the play and its preparation. In basketball wonderland, like in Alice’s, you must run as fast as you can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that. It is then not surprising that good coaches are aware of the need of being in a permanent formation process in order not to go back.

It’s years since Antonio Herrera wanted to have the experience of taking part in the American Summer League as a splendid way of going on running as fast as possible. For a professional like him, who has got this very Season 2016-2017 the possibility of embracing the warm metal of the Eurocup with his team, Unicaja de Málaga, the Summer League represents an invaluable opportunity to increase and polish his resources; and also to observe, learn and reflect. Setting off for the USA implies a momentary giving up of what’s known with the aim of clearing a way for a different but stimulating professional logic.

“It matters quite a lot to me to learn of their ideas on training techniques, on how they pay attention to details involving individual technique, on how they give instructions to their players, on how they lead matches –.”

Antonio Herrera’s American adventure will take place in Los Angeles Clippers. He will have there the possibility to closely observe players that can be playing in Europe very soon. He will also be able to see the ways they choose to correct errors or pay attention to how they tackle the same concepts usually worked in Spain.

In Summer League’s previous week, Herrera will get everything ready and try to know the plan completed for the team concerning nutrition, injuries’ prevention, rehabilitation,  effort recovery, and so on.

 “I want to realize, for instance, how does the head-coach get adapted to players coming from other teams (Europe, NBA, NCAA) and how does he integrate them in his team and in his programme with such a little time margin, making them show their talent.”

For somebody like him so much worried about group management and about foundation and cohesion of the different human elements of this sport, the time in the USA is going to allow him to investigate in team culture. On the other hand, there’s no doubt that also the LA Clippers are going to enjoy those days the extraordinary experience of working with this important assets of Spanish basketball.

“I’m deeply grateful to Clippers for this opportunity. I would like to return showing them which are our working methodologies and contributing to widen their knowledge of European players’ market. I hope our exchange to be as productive as possible for both sides.”

Summer League seems then to be a round-trip experience and a privileged exchange that has to provide sport richness to the competitions of both sides of the Atlantic.