The Basketball Podcast: EP218 with Martin Schiller on International Coaching
In this week’s coaching conversation, former G-League and EuroLeague head coach Martin Schiller joins the Basketball Podcast to share European and G-League coaching takeaways.
Austrian professional basketball coach who last served as head coach of Žalgiris Kaunas of the LKL and the EuroLeague. From 2010 until 2015, he served as an assistant coach for the Artland Dragons, and afterwards for the Riesen Ludwigsburg of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). On August 23, 2017, Schiller was named the head coach of the Salt Lake City Stars of the NBA G League.Schiller has also been an assistant coach for the German national team since 2015, where he worked with Jazz assistant coach Alex Jensen.
Schiller was named the NBA G League Coach of the Year for the 2019–20 season after leading the Stars to a 30–12 record.
On July 14, 2020, Schiller was announced as the new head coach of BC Žalgiris. Under Schiller’s guidance, the team won the 2021 Lithuanian championship as well as the cup title. On October 8, 2021, Schiller was fired by Žalgiris. According to the club, the decision was taken, because the team did not play “at the level that everybody wants to see”. In EuroLeague play, Žalgiris had lost its first two games of the 2021-22 season, while the team was unbeaten in the LKL (4-0), when Schiller was dismissed.
Listen Here:
Martin Schiller Coach Quotes:
“It all starts with the goal setting. What’s your goal? And then, if you’re set with that goal, how do you pursue achieving that goal? And how resilient are you with pursuing that?”
“What I have enjoyed [about] visiting coaches throughout the last couple months, is preparing myself for the visit and thoroughly studying the teams I’m visiting. I thought it gave me very cool, clear things to look at and understand. And then go there with that knowledge. And then, you go there, you watch them, and then as the season continues, you keep watching them with a different view than before.”
“In general, on the European level, many more teams push into the screen rather than icing pick-and-rolls. And it is interesting in the NBA right now that a higher percentage of teams are actually pushing into the screen.”
“The rules in the NBA/G league are very, very offensive oriented. They are pro-offense . . the physicality is not allowed like it is allowed in Europe. And therefore, a lot changes tactically.”
“Working in the U.S., for me, the transition part in the G League was so important that it was a complete absolute that it had to be touched [upon] in every practice . . I felt that in Europe, I was going to use my time a little less on that.”
“To me, the big takeaway from the G league model and the practices is that it’s even more important to be on point and very efficient with what you do. And . . time plays a big role. How long is the athlete in the gym? You want to be effective, efficient. One thing is the physical piece, but the other is also the mental piece.”
Martin Schiller Breakdown:
1:00 – Career Management
4:00 – Network and Knowledge
9:00 – Managing His Knowledge
13:00 – Being Around Coaches
15:28 – 16:07 – JUST PLAY AD
17:00 – Professional Side
25:30 – Personnel
28:30 – Denial
30:00 – Offensive Rebounding Concept
31:00 – Referencing Practice
35:00 – Experience Playing Different Places
39:19 – 40:01 – DR. DISH AD
41:30 – Integration of Sports Science
49:00 – A Better Evaluator
56:00 – Specific Examples
Martin Schiller Links from the Podcast:
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