Brad Greenberg: I’d love to help build and coach a high level professional team in Europe

Sportando had the chance to interview former Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Jerusalem head coach Brad Greenberg (official website coachbradgreenberg.com). 

The coach won the Israeli title with Maccabi Haifa beating David Blatt's Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2012-2013.

How do you judge the two seasons you had in Israel? With Maccabi Haifa you won the Winner League beating Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The experiences and successes of the last two seasons in Israel was more than I could have ever imagined. I don’t believe any coach in Israel outside of those fortunate enough to coach Maccabi Tel Aviv has ever had back to back seasons taking over two different teams and won as many games including a championship as the two teams I coached won the last two seasons.

The championship season with Maccabi Haifa was magical. To take a team that was last in the league the previous season and win a championship was exciting and very rewarding. We made history with the clubs 1st championship in it’s 60 year history. To beat Maccabi Tel Aviv in the championship game and be voted Coach of the Year not only in the league but also by the Sports Ministry of Israel is perhaps the biggest moment of my coaching career.

I loved coaching last year in Jerusalem because we not only had talented players but the players were of such high character. It was a joy to work with them. We had a great season. The previous year the team had a losing record and last season we re-invigorated the club and it’s fans. We led the league in scoring, assists and assists to turnover ratio on our way to a 21-7 regular season record. We had a historic road win beating Maccabi Tel Aviv by 28 points in Nokia (their worst ever loss at home) and beat championship teams from many countries making it to the Final 8 in Eurocup. Unfortunately injuries hit us in the playoffs and it cost us a shot at the championship. We lost two starters in the playoffs (center Artsiom Parakhouski now with Euroleague’s Nizhny Novgorod & forward Lior Eliyahu who is back with Jerusalem) and we just weren’t deep enough to advance for a shot at the championship. It was the most talented group I’ve ever coached and our body of work for the season was tremendous. I really believe we could have won the championship had we stayed healthy. But injuries are a part of the game and something every coach has to deal with.

What is the difference between coaching a National Team (he was Venezuela NT associate head coach in 2011 & 2012), coaching a college team and a professional basketball team?

When you coach National Team you are usually focused on one or two major events. With Venezuela we were fighting for the South American Championship and an Olympic birth in the FIBA Americas and later the Pre-Olympic Qualification tournament. You really have a specific goal and the entire country is focused on that goal as well.

College is very different than international ball. Players are younger. You have to recruit them and they are also students. There’s a lot more going on than just playing basketball with a young man on a college campus away from home for the first time in their lives.

Professional basketball is a different world. Basketball is the main focus of the players as it’s their livelihood. When coaching internationally you have to take a diverse group from different parts of the world and help them “connect” on the court. This is was I enjoy the most and this is what happened in my last two seasons. I had two diverse groups playing together for the first time. And getting them to play unselfish team basketball was the key to our successes. The level of cooperation among those two teams was remarkable.

What about your future: you are open to coach again in NCAA or you are just looking for a job from a professional basketball team in Europe?

I really respect and enjoy the level of the competition in Eurocup, the Israeli league, and what I’ve been able to watch of the Euroleague and VTB. I watched a lot Euroleague basketball both at the Nokia Arena when Maccabi Tel Aviv was playing and also on TV.

I really enjoy the basketball and life as head coach of a professional basketball team. So my strong desire right now it to help build and coach a professional team in Europe and fight for a championship in a fiercely competitive league.

Earlier in my career I spent a lot of years in the NBA in various positions and I would consider an opportunity to be involved with a NBA team again. I keep an open mind.

But as I mentioned, I’d love to help build and coach a high level professional team in Europe. When I was Director of Player Personnel with the Portland Trail Blazers I had a direct hand in bringing Drazen Petrovic to the NBA and I from that time forward I have always been a strong advocate for the quality of basketball played internationally. My appreciation of and respect for international basketball is genuine.

How do you judge the decision of the Cavaliers to hire David Blatt as head coach? You have played against him the last two years?

I am sure David will do an outstanding job. The Cavaliers made an excellent choice. David will do a great job. He has got some pressure and high expectations but he is used to that. He is mentally tough and his teams usually reflect that. David’s teams play hard and are disciplined. The Cavs will have a very strong season if they stay healthy.