Did Spanoulis Just Outcoach His Mentor? What Went Wrong for Olympiakos

Obviously Coach doesn't think it's a good shot. Look, Malaka. Malaka. This shot was OD. I remember seeing this. The balance and footwork. Michael Jordan spin jumper. Barbecue chicken shot. Welcome back to another Player's Corner. I'm Elijah Bryant, EuroLeague and NBA champion. Here we're going to break down film, and remember, this is not for the fans. This is for students of the game like myself. We're here to learn and grow and get better. Today we're going to be breaking down Monaco versus Olympiacos in the semifinal of the EuroLeague Final Four. And there's a bunch of storylines, a bunch of things to talk about, not just film. So if you want to hear all those things, stay to the end to go to the locker room where we discuss all those things. Let's tap in. This one actually has a cool storyline, just being that Spanoulis played for Olympiacos. Then you have Barzokas, who has been in the Final Four 4 times. So you kind of think this might be his year, and especially since we teach and preach on this channel, faith plus consistency. He's a coach that's living that. So right here, early in the game, obviously knowing Fournier is one of their main offensive threats, and being that his favorite shot is probably coming off right here, step back left, and obviously Tice knows that, he's up to touch, impacting the ball. But the issue on the backside for Boston game guarding the former MVP in 2023 is that he has to tag and get back to a guy who shoots the crap out of the ball. I always believe in this situation, in my opinion, it's easier to go from A to B compared to A to B to C. Does that make sense? Still gets shot off. That's a good look for him. So Tyson, a drop cage. The cage allows you more time to make a decision, so So if they're on white and drop, then cage, then you can snake, you can set a Gortat screen. So see this, like we talked about this before in the last Player's Corner and about the final. If you haven't seen that, go and watch that here. But this type of stuff like Bobanovic was doing in the final doesn't see value early in the game, but it will later in the game. Making the pickup point out here, look, he could have easily just popped out, let him catch it. And he would have caught it at 14. But instead, since he's aggressive, it makes Mike have to work hard. So in theory, his energy bar goes down a little bit and he catches out here. Now the offense is having to be played farther out away from the basket. They're hedging Mike, of course, with the 4. So rule of thumb with the hedge is for Vazinkov, he needs to impact the ball, make the dribbler pick it up or dribble back. When he dribbles back, then Williams-Goss can get back in front And for the offensive player, his rule of thumb is 2 on the ball, get rid of it, so hit the short roll. But you see, since there's pressure on here, this pass isn't as easy. And depending on the coach's game plan, Fournier is super high out. But once he catches it, it's all up to Blossom Game. It's really 3 on 2.5 with him here. He shifts to the corner more, wide open 3. But makes a good read. I like that shot. He's fronting, so what happens when he fronts? Answer in the comments, you know this. Corner guy or dunker guy flashes high-low. Another thing too to realize is that since he's fronting, he can't help and he can screen him in as Diallo drives the baseline. See how he can't help? Good take. Miscommunication here because of a great screen. You obviously don't want to leave the shooter. This is one thing, uh, Steve Kerr talked about a lot, is gravity. Vizinkov has a lot of gravity, and Steph Curry has a lot of gravity because of his shooting ability. So Blossom Games, so worried about Vizinkov, is that he doesn't even think, oh, my player's in an emergency situation, I need to switch. He's like, I'm not leaving Buzinkov. Great shot, take it every time. Great offense. No one picks him up, goes to close out. Not the best defender to Buzinkov. Play the closeout, steps up. Where's he at? And the dunker, which results to a dunk. So emergency situation, I know it's Mike. But a layup is 100%. The best 3-point shooters in the world shoot between 40 and 40-something, 44%, 47%. So Nigel needs to go here, and then Papa Nicolau will go here. You're the back, you're— you see everything, you're quarterbacking everything, you're the fireman in the back. Boom, go. If he doesn't pass it to Diallo and he passes it to Mike, then the next guy sprinting there is going straight No shot into a take foul. Still recovered really well. Blossom came kind of late. He needs to be up to touch, but I'm assuming he's supposed to be hedging because there's a shooter. So the fact that he's in like the wide defense is easy pass for Nigel. Good shot. Like we talked about before, Blossom was supposed to be hedging because he's playing the shooter. So what does that mean? Still keep contact with your man, impact the ball. The best person that I've ever played against at hedge defense is Bryant Dunston. He's so elite at— when I say impact the ball, is getting a swipe at the ball. So I, I don't— when I— when he swipes the ball, I have to pay attention, either pick it up or he actually taps it, right? Which gives him time to get back but doesn't give me time to say focus on hitting the guy with the pass, right? Good, good pass, big. Like we talked about before with the ball one shot at the end of the first or the end of the second, I like this to be off two feet so you have better balance. Look, boom, bump, and get into your jumper. This is me personally, obviously, and this is my perspective. I like this pressure on the defense. Look, we have fouls to give, be super aggressive. They call it, they call it. Whatever. This shot was OD. I remember seeing this. The balance and footwork, that's OD. Michael Jordan spin jumper, elite shot. Barbecue chicken shot. This isn't a very elite thing that I always talk about. Drew Holiday, Lou Dort, Alex Caruso. So he's hit. Instead of keep fighting, which would allow Fournier to get downhill, he spins off of him and right back in front and gets a tip on the ball. Great dive on the floor, sense of urgency. Every game matters. Well, I talk about spacing. I even want you here because that puts him here, which if he comes off, then you can backdoor. This, this pass was elite. You see his pace though? He doesn't come off like full. And the fact that he's, you know, he can hit this shot. Look at all eyes on him. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. This is why high hands matters too. Just by having your hand up. Fournier have hands up. If he has his hand here, if he has his hand here, if he has his hand here, that pass isn't getting through. Oh, and you see his eyes too. Watch his eyes. His eyes aren't looking to Diallo. They're kind of looking at the short roll. So that's why maybe Milutinov's hands were low. Just so you can tell, Walkup doesn't have as much rhythm. He's been out with a back injury. So this right here is a shot, and he would shoot this usually, but considering just checking the game, he throws it literally right to the guy. Pick and roll back screen, also known as Spanish pick and roll to the back screen. Great insight for young players. Always reject the screen, test to reject, to allow the screen to be set legally. Two-foot stop. I love the two-foot stop because it saves them, allows them to not turn it over, to be able to make a second decision. That was a practice shot. That was like a cone shot, like, whoa, I'm this wide open. Footwork elite, left, right. As a big rule of thumb, do not bring the ball down. Hey, if you notice, Strazl was waiting to hear the foul call here, so he went to shoot it. I didn't hear anything, then he passed it. Oh, foul? No. Oh, okay. Hey, and he's going to Harlem Globetrotters out there. Bang! Could have got a charge too for stop spin. That's it. Wait, I love that stuff. I'm a Jalen Brunson package type of guy that I like watching. So the rule for the big, no matter what defense you're in, okay, hedge, he'll get behind you, but definitely in white in this drop defense, you can't let the other big get behind you. So right here, you're done, he's behind you. It's a lob. It's a taco punch. They're just running the same play, pin down. So see how they guard it. See, Nigel, he went to top block, he went to top block, then he realized, oh shoot, I'm the top of the I. His responsibility is probably a tag. This is the I right here. Fournier's bottom, Nigel is top. When he realizes kind of too late. So you can say, oh, he can cheat, but if he cheats, then he, he's just gonna flare right here, and it puts them in a bind on the back end because Fournier has the option to either stunt and get back or full rotate and leave Diallo open for butt-naked 3 or back up for a dunk. What's his shot? He takes those shots. That's obviously— coach doesn't think it's a good shot. Look. Another one of those passes, right? Look at his pace coming off, not super. Eyes looking at the roll, low hands, low hands, low hands. They run this action a lot, this pin-down action for Mike. Bad pass. See how this— so this is little things right here, like watch. Fournier has his hands out so Strazl can't make a great pass. I think he tips it. That should have been a 3-ball. Messes up the rhythm, misses the shot just from his hand being out. Great pass here from Fournier. He goes to pass to Fall, sees the bottom of the eye being tagged, basically kicked out. Great shot. Please like and comment on this video. I am putting in some work for you guys, watching this for you guys. We're watching this growing together. They're spamming this action with Mike. Ball screen into pin down, left right. Notice how they only run it for him to come off going left right. And one, uh, barbecue chicken time. If you notice, he tells Walker to move. Why does he tell Walker to move? Because the help. So what does that do? Give him more space to operate. Pressure on ball creates chaos. So now you feel the momentum shifting to Olympiacos, right? And this is when you gotta get a good shot. This is when Fournier is just getting downhill OD. So rule of thumb, he needs to be helping and then you X out. So if he helps and he passes it to Ladoza, he goes here and he rotates, but no one helps. So another thing here, rule of thumb, if you see the back of your defender's head, great opportunity for you to cut. Smoked it. Oh, he made it. So since he has to help, there's one thing here that Tice could have done better. So he just stands. Instead, he should go boom and hit Milutinov here. That way when he pushes him, he goes here. He almost gets a block, or he should have Oh, he didn't. Nothing happened. That's the reason why. And Fournier still is on the grill. Step back left like we talked about before, his go-to shot. Okay, so here, bonus defense. I want to use all the shot clock from Monaco and shoot a shot at the end regardless. Good shot, bad shot, I don't care. I want to use all the shot clock. I like this. This is such an unselfish— not Knowing that Diallo's having a great game, has a chance to be MVP, Eli not playing as well as he usually does, unselfish, lets him have his moment. So right here, knowing Walkup's not a 3-point shooter, as soon as Peters back cuts, Stroud needs to come right here and force him to have to pass to Walkup, which I guess he does late. That's the ball game. So as you saw, great game from both sides, but let's dive deep and let's— you've now entered the locker room. So here I have a list of questions that you guys sent in, and first of all, I'm going to break down exactly what I thought about the game from watching the whole thing in-game. Olympiacos never really found their rhythm, how they play, and they never let their best player get going and find easy shots. Vazinkov never really had an easy look unless it was in transition, and Fournier got it going late and just didn't have enough time to will them back. How do you gain confidence as a pro? I have a full confidence course coming out. It's going to be free, so just stay tuned for that. It's going to have everything in it for you. Within the next month or so, come out. So this question asks about the threat of European players going to the NCAA. I think it's great. I think it's great for many reasons, one being that these European young players are being developed on the college's dime, which they can come back and then play for their national team, and also receiving great compensation, way more than they would receive in Turkey. So they get resources in terms of money, school, education, development, and they come back and play for your national team. So as the national team, whatever national team you are, I would encourage that because you get your players developed for free. You get better local players. And better local players means better national team, means better local players for your domestic league. So I think it's a win-win for everyone. But I think it might be a loss for these big clubs— Real Madrid, Efes, Fenerbahçe, Barcelona— for their club teams. If I'm a player, why would I stay and play for the club? I can make more money, go to America, and be developed just as much. Again, this is my opinion. Okay, I'll answer this one. I think that's it. How do you personally construct your workouts? So I'm putting together my summer plan as we speak right now, and I'm watching back my games. I've taken a lot of notes throughout the year of things that I want to work on, and I'm figuring out where I'm going to lift, figuring out where I want to be located-wise in terms of living. And then I have a note section on my phone that has a bunch of clips of NBA clips, yearly clips of plays that I want to simulate during my workout. So for example, Jalen Brunson does this one sweep-through move. I'm going to rep that out this summer, and that's how I break down my workouts. I want to catch and shoot every type of footwork. That's how I break down my workouts for the summer, and I'm doing that now, a month away from the summer. For me, it's all about preparation, and if I prepare my workouts the right way, then I will be as efficient in the workouts and as efficient in the summer, considering my resources are limited in terms of time. I want to be as efficient in the workout, I want to be as efficient in the weight room, which is going to allow me to spend more time with my family. And if you know me, I'm a big family guy. Family is way more important to me than basketball and YouTube or whatever that is. So it's my job, um, I'm more than a basketball player, but I'm also a professional. So I'm gonna attack that as if I was attacking anything I do in my life, and I'm gonna be the best version of myself in that craft. I hope you guys enjoyed this Player's Corner. Again, let Remember to always have faith and always be consistent in everything you do. We'll see you in the next one. Love.