Mr.Bottomtooth
06-10-2007, 12:44 PM
Blatt leaves Treviso, NBA could be next
June 10, 2007
TREVISO, Italy (Ticker) - Coach David Blatt has finally announced he is leaving Benetton Treviso after two seasons with the club, and a move to the NBA could follow.
Late on Saturday, Blatt, who steered the Italian giants to the Lega A title in his first season and this year's Italian Supercoppa and Coppa Italia, confirmed his decision in a statement on the club's official web site, benettonbasket.it.
"Today (Saturday) we decided with (Benetton Treviso general manager) Mark Atripaldi that I will not continue my contract with the Benetton, Blatt said.
The decision of the American-born Blatt, who is also Russia's national team coach, comes as no surprise because he and his players suffered a horrible finish to the season after a 12-point deduction in the Lega A standings.
The punishment stemmed from an administrative mistake in the signing of Erazem Lorbek on loan from Unicaja Malaga, a move that put them over the limit of registered players.
The club's subsequent attempt to fix the error led to the penalty, ultimately preventing them from taking part in the playoffs and knocking them out of next year's Euroleague in the process.
Blatt and his players did nothing wrong in the whole affair.
Earlier this week, Blatt revealed he had received "a few tempting offers from clubs in the NBA", but he did not offer any details.
Blatt, who moved to Israel to play basketball after graduating from Princeton University, said in his statement he has not made up his mind about what comes next.
But he felt Benetton should no longer wait on him as it needed to begin preparing for next season.
"I still do not know about my future, hopefully at the greatest levels in the Euroleague or the NBA," he said. "Today (Saturday) is a very sad day because it was really hard to take this decision."
Despite the bad ending to the campaign, Blatt said he had been fortunate to work at the club and paid tribute to former general manager Maurizio Gherardini - now with the Toronto Raptors - and club president Giorgio Buzzavo.
"It's been a decision taken by mutual agreement" general manager Marco Atripaldi said. "I am not happy about the end of the collaboration with David, believing we have done all that was possible to keep him on our bench and prolong his contract.
"David had a lot of time available to consider our proposal, time that he fully deserved for everything he did in these two years. It makes me unhappy not to be able work with him, but now it's necessary to turn the page."
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=txnbablatt&prov=st&type=lgns
June 10, 2007
TREVISO, Italy (Ticker) - Coach David Blatt has finally announced he is leaving Benetton Treviso after two seasons with the club, and a move to the NBA could follow.
Late on Saturday, Blatt, who steered the Italian giants to the Lega A title in his first season and this year's Italian Supercoppa and Coppa Italia, confirmed his decision in a statement on the club's official web site, benettonbasket.it.
"Today (Saturday) we decided with (Benetton Treviso general manager) Mark Atripaldi that I will not continue my contract with the Benetton, Blatt said.
The decision of the American-born Blatt, who is also Russia's national team coach, comes as no surprise because he and his players suffered a horrible finish to the season after a 12-point deduction in the Lega A standings.
The punishment stemmed from an administrative mistake in the signing of Erazem Lorbek on loan from Unicaja Malaga, a move that put them over the limit of registered players.
The club's subsequent attempt to fix the error led to the penalty, ultimately preventing them from taking part in the playoffs and knocking them out of next year's Euroleague in the process.
Blatt and his players did nothing wrong in the whole affair.
Earlier this week, Blatt revealed he had received "a few tempting offers from clubs in the NBA", but he did not offer any details.
Blatt, who moved to Israel to play basketball after graduating from Princeton University, said in his statement he has not made up his mind about what comes next.
But he felt Benetton should no longer wait on him as it needed to begin preparing for next season.
"I still do not know about my future, hopefully at the greatest levels in the Euroleague or the NBA," he said. "Today (Saturday) is a very sad day because it was really hard to take this decision."
Despite the bad ending to the campaign, Blatt said he had been fortunate to work at the club and paid tribute to former general manager Maurizio Gherardini - now with the Toronto Raptors - and club president Giorgio Buzzavo.
"It's been a decision taken by mutual agreement" general manager Marco Atripaldi said. "I am not happy about the end of the collaboration with David, believing we have done all that was possible to keep him on our bench and prolong his contract.
"David had a lot of time available to consider our proposal, time that he fully deserved for everything he did in these two years. It makes me unhappy not to be able work with him, but now it's necessary to turn the page."
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=txnbablatt&prov=st&type=lgns