RE: Conversation with Chris Wallace

["Sean Giovanello" <sgiovanello@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

***
One of the foremost evaluators of basketball talent, Chris Wallace is
entering his seventh season as General Manager of the Boston Celtics.
***

I feel sick.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-celtics@xxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-celtics@xxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of wayray@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2004 10:04 AM
To: celtics@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Conversation with Chris Wallace

The Jewish Ledger
Conversation withChris Wallace
By Ricky Greenfield
	
Basketball has global appeal, says Celtics' GM

March 26, 2004 - One of the foremost evaluators of basketball talent,
Chris Wallace is entering his seventh season as General Manager of the
Boston Celtics.

Wallace was in Miami before coming to Boston and was a scout looking for
talent both domestically and internationally before being promoted to
the position of director of player personnel. Prior to joining the Heat,
Wallace was also was involved with Portland, Denver, the LA Clippers,
and the New York Knicks. He also worked as a draft consultant for the
United States Basketball League. Sports Illustrated named Wallace as one
of the most influential members of the college basketball media in 1991.
He has also served as an expert witness in basketball-related
litigation. A native of Buckhannon, West Virginia, Chris and his wife,
Debby, have a son, Truman.

Wallace still travels extensively around the world in search of
basketball talent and goes to Israel regularly. We recently caught up
with him during one of his many trips.

Q: Chris, you've been an observer of the international basketball scene
for a number of years now. How would you describe its development and
what's been happening there recently?

A: Basketball is now a truly global game. That the NBA now has over 60
foreign-born players coming from over 25 different countries says much
about where the pro game is going and what's happening to basketball
overseas. 
	
	
Q: How do you explain all of this talent suddenly coming into the league
from outside of the United States?

A: Basketball is being played by more and more people around the world
and the huge numbers being added to the talent pool is bound to increase
the amount of talent that comes out of it. More kids are playing the
game in more and more places so that the NBA now has players from places
like South America and China as well as Europe. China for example has
immense numbers playing the game and over time the demographic weight of
those numbers will produce more players. Yao Ming is only a start of
what we'll see from there.

Q: What's the major difference between the American game and the
European one?

A: The games are coming closer together, but there's a big difference in
the way players develop in both places. In the U.S., players come out of
a school-based system while in Europe, kids come to the sport through a
club system. Clubs aren't tied to academic institutions and are
dedicated to the sport they were put together for. That means that
European kids aren't constrained in their development in some ways U.S.
kids are. For example, American kids in an NCAA program can be in the
gym to practice or play games only so many hours per week. Rules
determine what they can and can't do with their school based team in the
off season, before the season starts and after it's over. A club system
doesn't. That allows a club youngster to train all year round and be
supervised by the same coach during that time. Fundamentals and skills
become much more important when they are a constant focus. American kids
focus most of their attention on games, and Europeans stress skills and
dev!
 elopment. The European youngster gets to shoot the ball thousands of
more times than an American does in any given year.

Q: You make a number of trips to Europe and Israel regularly. Tell us
about the European League and Israeli basketball.

A: Every European country has its own set of teams and leagues, but only
a few teams play in the top league, which is now the European League.
There are 24 teams from various countries and Maccabbi Tel Aviv is
Israel's one team in the League. In 2001 Maccabbi won the European
championships in Paris and it has been competitive every year for quite
some time. Championship contenders are determined by a point system and
not a "one and done" system like the NCAA we're watching today. This
builds up to the exciting European championships. Maccabbi Tel Aviv is
hosting this year's European championship in Israel at the end of April.

Q: How seriously does Israel follow this team?

A: Fan support for Maccabbi Tel Aviv is tremendous. I don't think I've
ever seen anything as intense as when Israel won the championship in
Paris a few years ago. European basketball fans are very passionate and
Israeli fans are no exception. Blue and white flags are all over the
stadium whenever they play. Your readers, I'm sure, will remember Nadav
Henefeld and Doron Sheffer who played for Coach Calhoun at UConn several
years ago. They both ended up playing for Maccabbi Tel Aviv and were fan
favorites.

Q: What can we expect to see Maccabbi Tel Aviv do this year?

A: While just about anything can happen in the playoffs, Maccabbi is
considered one of the top teams in contention. A number of observers
feel that they could win the title this year. But again, that's not a
certainty, but at the very least they should be one of the top teams in
the finals.

Q: Why is Maccabbi so competitive?

A Basketball has become one big melting pot of nationalities and
Maccabbi Tel Aviv finds itself right on top of the talent pool. It looks
for players wherever it can find them. Tal Brody, is the legendary head
of Maccabbi Tel Aviv and has been a guiding force for Israeli
basketball. He's as astute a basketball man as there is and the
program's success reflects that. This year the team's being coached by
Pini Gershon, but long time coach David Blatt who played ball at
Princeton as an undergrad and is from Framingham, Mass, is still
involved with the program.

Q: What does the NBA think about the rapid international development of
this sport?

A: The NBA is the engine that is drawing the rest of the world to this
game. David Stern has been as aggressive a visionary as any professional
sports commissioner has ever been and is responsible for knocking down
all the barriers to basketball so that it flows into just about every
corner of the world. While the U.S. is enthralled by March Madness and
the college game this time of year, the NBA is always the focus for the
international fan. They know the players, the teams and the game.
Whether its Spain, Turkey, Israel or Italy, fans in those countries know
the NBA cold. Much of the credit for that belongs to David Stern.