Shows
The Benas PodcastEP#84 | Tomas Balčėtis (Žalgiris Kaunas): NBA Champion on Draft, Trades, AI Analytics & CultureIn this episode of The Benas Podcast, I sit down with Tomas Balčėtis — former Denver Nuggets front office member, 2023 NBA Champion, Harvard University graduate, and CEO of Confluence Valley (Tesonet Group).Tomas spent 20 years in the United States, worked inside the NBA, and now connects Žalgiris Kaunas and London Lions, leading AI, analytics, and technology integration in professional basketball.This conversation goes deep into NBA decision-making, Draft and trade processes, basketball analytics, and cultural adaptation in elite sports organizations.🎙 Topics covered in this episode...
2026-01-121h 08
The Benas PodcastEP#83 – Tomas Balčėtis | NBA, „Draft“, kultūra & žmoniškumasŠiame epizode – pokalbis su Tomu Balčėčiu, kuris praleido 20 metų JAV, studijavo Harvarde, dirbo Denver Nuggets organizacijoje ir tapo NBA čempionu (2023).Šiuo metu Tomas yra CEO of Confluence Valley („Tesonet“ grupė) ir dirba su „Žalgirio“ bei „London Lions“ klubais, vystydamas duomenų analitiką, AI sprendimus ir technologijų integraciją.Kalbame apie:NBA organizacijų vidų„Draft“ ir „trade“ procesusKultūrinę adaptaciją AmerikojeRyšį su žaidėjais ir treneriaisAI ir duomenų svarbą šiuolaikiniame krepšinyje👇 Laiko žymos (chapters):00:00 Intro02:05 Bostono ir JAV kultūra08:00 Vidinė NBA komunikacija15:00 „Trade...
2026-01-101h 21
The Benas PodcastEP#82 Regev Fanan (Maccabi Tel Aviv) - Connection between Performance staff & Coaching staffNEW EPISODE!(EP#82)If you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):Support: https://www.patreon.com/c/bmatke Homepage: www.bmatke.comSponsor: www.proballers.com"Reggie":Reggie is currently the strength&conditioning coach of Maccabi Tel Aviv. After his playing career came to an end he became the athletic trainer at Bnei Hertzliya in 2009 and has been with Maccabi since 2013. He became the Euroleague champion as a player in 2005 and champion with Maccabi as the...
2025-12-291h 13
The Benas PodcastEP#81: Mario Fioretti (Derthona Tortona) - 22 year journey from Assistant to Head CoachNEW EPISODE! (EP#81)If you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):Support: https://www.patreon.com/c/bmatke Homepage: www.bmatke.comSponsor: www.proballers.com"Mario":Mario Fioretti is a first time Head Coach after spending 22years at Milano as an Assistant coach under various Head Coaches, most notably Ettore Messina the last 8years. He also spent one season as an Assistant Coach under Bobby Knight at the University of Indiana and learned from one of t...
2025-12-021h 08
The Benas PodcastEP#80 Dan Shamir (Hapoel Jerusalem) - Showing willingness to change roles and grow!NEW EPISODE!(EP#80)If you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):Support: https://www.patreon.com/c/bmatke Homepage: www.bmatke.comSponsor: www.proballers.com"Dan":Dan Shamir always grew up wanting to be a coach until he became one working his way up from being an Assistant Coach with the arguably the best Euroleague team of all time at Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2003-2006. He successfully became a Head Coach multiple times most recently for...
2025-11-021h 11
The Benas PodcastEP#79: Alan Ibrahimagic (DBB) - Winning Eurobasket 2025, Cultural Diversity & Youth SystemNEW EPISODE!(EP#79)If you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):Support: https://www.patreon.com/c/bmatke Homepage: www.bmatke.comSponsor: www.proballers.com"Alan":Alan Ibrahimagic, the interim Head Coach of Germany's basketball National Team who took over the team during Eurobasket 2025 while Coach Mumbru was battling unique health issues and lead the team to a gold medal. Alan is a household name in Germany and now he's known as...
2025-10-1959 min
The Benas PodcastB8 Summit 2025 Vilnius: ROUND-TABLE DISKUSIJA (LT) - J.Valanciunas, P.Motiejunas, T.Okmanas, R.KaukenasSupport 👉 https://www.patreon.com/bmatkewww.b8summit.comŠis epizodas – paskutinis B8 Summit 2025 renginio pokalbis, suvedęs Lietuvos sporto lyderius! Per visą round-table diskusiją buvo paliesta daugybė temų, kurias aptarė Tomas Okmanas, Jonas Valančiūnas, Paulius Motiejūnas ir Rimantas Kaukėnas, taip pat pasidalijo savo įžvalgomis. Išgirdome daug įdomių minčių apie komunikaciją ir žinučių valdymą.Tomas Okmanas išsamiai pasakojo apie dirbtinio intelekto (AI) įtaką sportui ir tai, kaip AI galės keisti @Žalgiris statistikos analizę ateityje. Paulius Motiejūnas atvirai kalbėjo apie NBA įtaką Europai ir Emiratų...
2025-10-081h 37
The Benas PodcastB8 Summit 2025 Vilnius: Giannis Sfairopoulos (Red Star Belgrade)B8 Summit Website:www.b8summit.com If you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):https://www.patreon.com/bmatkeSponsors:www.creapure.com www.proballers.com"Giannis":Giannis is a highly accomplished Head Coach in the Euroleague who was at the helm of Olympiacos Piraeus & Maccabi Tel Aviv and currently is the head coach of Red Star Belgrade. He has won numerous domestic titles with each team and has also experience as an A...
2025-09-2357 min
The Benas PodcastB8 Summit 2025 Vilnius: Daniele Baiesi (Olimpia Milano)B8 Summit Website:www.b8summit.com If you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):https://www.patreon.com/bmatkeSponsors:www.proballers.com"Baio":Daniele is a long-time friend of mine and a highly successful basketball front office executive in Europe. Daniele started his career as a journalist and worked his way up to become widely known as the best expert in his field as the sports director in Eurolegue clubs. Aft...
2025-08-1249 min
The Benas PodcastB8 Summit 2025 Vilnius: Vincent Collet (Team France)Vincent Collet is a house-hold name in the world of European Basketball...especially when it comes to FIBA competitions. Vincent's achievements with the French National Team are second to none! His teams won 4 Eurobasket medals, 2 world cup medals & 2 Olympic medals between 2011 - 2024. His success with the national team is as unique as it gets and rich of experiences of working with stars at the highest level.Vincent came to Vilnius on July 8th to talk about different topics surround his success as well as the youth system in France when players get developed through the federation's program...
2025-07-2857 min
The Benas PodcastB8 Summit 2025 Vilnius: Kostas Chatzichristos (Head of Performance - Olimpia Milano)Kostas is a long time friend of mine and a 3x Euroleague champion in his own right and currently the Head of Performance at Olimpia Milano. He last worked at Fenerbahce since 2022 under Dimitris Itoudis and later Sarunas Jasikevicus and recently signed with Ettore Messina's team in Milano! He started his career in Europe at Olympiacos in 2006 and has been rolling through Europe ever since!Kostas is the best expert in his field of athletic performance and conditioning for athletes, he also worked with athletes such as Theo Papaloukas and Sofoklis Schortsanitis in the past. He came...
2025-07-2051 min
The Benas PodcastB8 Summit 2025 Vilnius: Ibon Navarro (Unicaja Malaga)Ibon Navarro:Ibon Navarro is a highly accomplished Head Coach in Europe and today he came to our summit in Vilnius to talk about the culture he created in Malaga, Spain! The two time King's Cup & back to back BCL championship coach has a lot of experience already and today we spoke about his practice habits as well as the habits he expects from his players. How the team culture is supposed to impact and help new players adapt easier and much more.Today's Topics:
2025-07-1451 min
The Benas PodcastEP#78 Sani Becirovic - From the hardest time of his life to Euroleague championIf you want to support my podcast (Ačiū!!): https://www.patreon.com/bmatkeSponsor: www.proballers.com"Sani Boy":Sani is a well-known former player as well as highly respected personality because of his positive attitude and mindset. Sani was drafted by the Denver Nuggets and played an incredible 20years as a professional, winning his first Euroleague title in 2007 with Panathinaikos. After numerious domestic titles and junior MVPs and All Star appointments he decided to go into the front office after a shor...
2025-05-291h 11
Dyn Timeout#42 Neue Erfahrungen und alte Rekorde - Benas MatkeviciusDie Playoffs sind gestartet und es waren schon spannende Ereignisse mit dabei. Dunks, Blocks und unvorhersehbares. Wir ordnen die ersten Spiele für euch ein und und geben euch einen Ausblick, worauf ihr in Spiel 2 jeweils achten solltet. Dazu ist Benas Matkevicius, International Scout der Boston Celtics, bei uns im Gespräch. Ob er eine Sommerpause hat und ab wann Spieler auf dem Radar von NBA-Scouts auftauchen, das beantwortet er uns.
Was ist der B8 Summit?
00:00 Intro und Spiel 1 in allen Serien
31:15 Ein Flug durch das NBBL-/ JBBL-/ WNBL-Top-Four
...
2025-05-2051 min
The Benas PodcastEP#77 Guillaume Vizade - French system, 'effort oriented' culture, sincere coaching & the 'tag up' systemIf you want to support my podcast (Ačiū!!): https://www.patreon.com/bmatkeSponsor: www.proballers.com"Guillaume":Guillaume is making a name for himself in France and this is just the beginning. After being the Head Coach at Vichy for numerous years he won the Leader's Cup of the ProB in 2024 and was appointed the head coach of LeMans the following season where he also managed to the Leader's Cup of the ProA in his first season. Meanwhile, Guillaume also won 2 gold medals in a row with the French u20...
2025-05-111h 08
The Benas Podcast#76 Linas Kleiza (LT) - apie pasitikėjimą savimi, NBA naujoko gyvenimą, traumas, vaikus ir naujus iššūkius jų tėvamsBilietai į B8 Summit 2025 Vilnius renginį:www.b8summit.comMano podcasto palaikymas (Ačiū!!): https://www.patreon.com/bmatkeRėmėjas: www.proballers.comSvetainė:www.bmatke.com "Linse":Šio epizodo svečias yra Linas Kleiza - jo ilgai pristatinėti nereikia. Be šešių sezonų, praleistų NBA, Linas gali pasigirti medaliais, iškovotais su Lietuvos vyrų rinktine 2007ais, 2010ais ir 2013ais metais! Linui teko žaisti ir trijuose Eurolygos klubuose - Olympiacos, Fenerbahce ir Milane.Šiandien mes su Linu kalbėjom apie jo...
2025-04-211h 09
The Benas Podcast#75 Petteri Koponen - Draft & Stash mindset, Finland Basketball & Coaching in New ZealandIf you want to support my podcast (Ačiū!!): https://www.patreon.com/bmatkeSponsor: www.proballers.com"Petteri":Petteri is a well-known basketball player who was drafted in 2007 by Philadelphia but his rights ended up being traded several times during his career and he never made the final jump. On the contrary, Petteri had an illustrious career in Europe where he played for several high level teams throughout his career (Bologna, Khimki, FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich and more) and ended up winning seve...
2025-04-101h 20
The Benas Podcast#74 Mikko Riipinen - Swedish NT, BG Göttingen Head Coach & Low-hanging fruitIf you want to support my podcast (Ačiū!!): https://www.patreon.com/bmatkeSponsor: www.proballers.com"Mikko":Mikko is the Head Coach of the Swedish Basketball NT and recently qualified with Sweden for the Eurobasket in 2025. He's also the Head Coach of BG Göttingen in the German BBL and is managing both positions at once. Before he joined Göttingen midway through this season, he was the Head Coach of the Swedish top club in Norrköping and won every domestic title there is to win in Sweden. Being o...
2025-04-031h 17
The Benas Podcast#73 Jamion Christian (Trieste) - Do you have the capacity to reach your full capacity?If you want to support my podcast (Ačiū!!): https://www.patreon.com/bmatkeYou can Find "Jamion" here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamion_christian/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamion.christian LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamion-christian-683b54208/ X: https://x.com/JamionChristian Sponsor: www.proballers.com"Jamion":Jamion Christian is an experienced coach with 280+ games as a Head Coach at the NCAA level as well as the pros. Jamion has been a Head Coach at...
2025-03-101h 26
The Benas Podcast#72 Dr. Cheri Mah - How to minimize jet-lag & sleep like a pro!If you want to support my podcast (Ačiū!!): https://www.patreon.com/bmatkeYou can Find "Dr. Mah" here:Website: https://www.drcherimah.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drcherimah/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drcherimah LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drcherimah/ X: https://x.com/drcherimahSponsor: www.proballers.com "Dr. Cheri Mah":Dr. Mah is a highly respected sleep physician and n Adjungt Lecturer at the Sta...
2025-01-261h 16
The Benas Podcast#71 Luigi "Gigi" Datome - Mentality Of A Shooter & Love For BooksIf you want to support my podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsor:
www.proballers.com
"Gigi":
Gigi Datome is a household name in Italian basketball and his journey is a phenomenal one. Coming from a small island (Sardinia) in Italy to playing in the NBA, winning the Euroleague (2017) and being the captain of the national team of Italy.
After winning countless domestic leagues and cups in Italy & Turkey he finally decided to hang up his shoes and move into a new role with the...
2025-01-121h 02
The Benas Podcast#70 Giedrius Žibėnas - Italija mane pakeite kaip žmogu ir treneri!Jeigu norite paremti mano podkastą (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Rėmėjas:
www.proballers.com
"Giedrius":
Trenerio Žibėno kelias iki dvieju LKL čempiono titulu nera iprastas - del to šios dienos epizodas vertas demesio.
Mes kalbejom apie jo kelia ir kaip jo asmenybe keitesi keliaujant po skirtingas šalis. Mes aptarem koks jis buvo gyvenant ir dirbant Lietuvoje ir koks jis tapo po išskirtiniu patirčiu užsienije. Kodel Italija butent turejo didziausia itaka ir kaip merginu komandu treniravimas skiriasi nuo vyr...
2024-12-011h 09
The Benas Podcast#69 Aron Baynes - Career lessons, Injury, Negative Self-Talk & Garden(ing)If you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.proballers.com
"Baynesie":
Aron Baynes is a household name not only in Australia but also in the NBA as well as in Europe. Has been around the globe playing in Europe, NBA, GLeague, NBL & Australia National Team. He's a 3 time Olympian and a NBA World Champion with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.
Aron went through his fair share of challenges in his lif...
2024-10-251h 11
The Benas Podcast#68 Kyle Hines - Process of Retirement#68 Kyle Hines - Process of Retirement
If you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.proballers.com
"Kyle":
My first repeat guest, Kyle Hines, came back to my podcast after being my #2 episode to talk about his process of retirement, being in peace with it and entering the next stage of his life.
This conversation was very sincere and transparent, talking about the difficulties of sen...
2024-10-1352 min
The Benas Podcast#67 Gytis Vilius (LT) - Teisėjo ProfesijaJeigu norite paremti mano podkastą (Ačiū!!): https://www.patreon.com/bmatkeRėmėjas: www.proballers.com"Gytis":Gytis yra labai žinomas krepšinio teisėjas ne tik Lietuvoje, bet ir Eurolygoje. Jis buvo išrinktas geriausiu Lietuvos teisėju 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 metais! 2021, 2022, 2023 metais buvo išrinktas teisėjauti Eurolygos 'Final Four' ir visus 3 kartus teisėjavo Eurolygos finalą.Šiandien su Gyčiu aptarėm labai daug temų, susijusių su šia profesija, daug dėmėsio skyrėm pasiruošimui ir komunikacijai rungtynių metu. Kalbėjom apie konfliktus, apie emocin...
2024-09-281h 18
The Benas Podcast#66 Tim Fanning (BYU Basketball) - Coaching in New Zealand, Spain, Israel, OTE & NCAA while being a life-long learner!If you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.proballers.com
"Tim":
Tim has been a long-time friend of mine, we go way back to 2014 and ended up celebrating our 10year anniversary of our friendship in Colombia together, where this podcast was recorded. Tim has had experiences as a coach early on in his life as a 22 year old in Spain in the lower divisions, learned his ways without speaking much Spanish at the time. Tim ha...
2024-09-181h 15
The Benas Podcast#65 Damjan Rudež - Psychology of Shooters, Frustrations after the NBA, Retirement & BusinessIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.proballers.com
"Damjan":
Damjan Rudež is a highly accomplished basketball player who played at all possible levels of basketball and has now ventured into the business side of things with the "Sunset Sports Festival". Damjan started his professional career in Belgium before returning to Croatia to play for Split and later various other teams in the Balkans before moving on to Zaragoza, Spain. Damjan was picked up...
2024-08-141h 20
The Benas Podcast#64 Simon Cote - The Other Side Of Coaching & Career TransitionIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.proballers.com
"Sye":
My good friend Simon Cote is not only a long time friend but also used to be a long time colleague in the world of coaching. After serving as an Assistant at SMU & University of Tennessee in the late 90s he decided to start his coaching career in Europe and worked with current World Champion Gordon Herbert in Frankfurt. He wa...
2024-07-271h 20The Benas Podcast#63 Sophia Young-Malcolm (Baylor WBB): Journey from Exchange-Student to NCAA Champion & WNBA PlayerIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.ProBallers.com
"So":
Sophia started her basketball journey together with me in Shreveport, Louisiana as an exchange student before she became a superstar at Baylor University. She took the Lady Bears to a National Championship and became the MVP of the Final Four before getting drafted by the San Antonio SilverStars and continuing her journey in the WNBA and later in various countries around Europe as well as...
2024-06-071h 02The Benas Podcast#62 Micah Shrewsberry (Notre Dame MBB) - Coaching differences in NCAA vs NBAIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.ProBallers.com
"Micah":
Micah has a wealth of experience on the NCAA level as well as the NBA level with the Boston Celtics where he spent 6 years as an Assistant Coach to Brad Stevens. Prior to that Micah already served as an Assistant at Butler and Purdue before joining the Celtics in 2013. After his NBA stint, Micah decided to go back to Purdue as an Assistant once aga...
2024-05-191h 03The Benas Podcast#61 Paulius Jankunas (LT) - Ką daro komandos kapitonas?#61 Paulius Jankunas (LT) - Ką daro komandos kapitonas?
Jeigu norite paremti šį podcastą, tai galite padaryti per nuorodą žemiau. Būsiu labai dėkingas!
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Rėmėjas #1: www.Proballers.com
Rėmėjas #2: www.forestdomes.lt
10% Nuolaidos kodas: BENAS10
"Jankis":
Šiandienos svečio ilgai pristatinėti nereikia - Pauliaus Jankūno vardas daug kartų nuskambėjo ir vis dar skamba Žalgirio Arenoje. Beveik visą savo profesionalią karjerą praleidęs Žalgiryje ir su juo laimejęs 15 LKL titulų bei 5 kartus...
2024-05-061h 12The Benas Podcast#60 Martin Kuchalik - Corporate Communication vs Sports CommunicationMartin Kuchalik - Business Communication vs Sports Communication (EP59)
If you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.ProBallers.com
"Martin":
Not many people in the sports business know who Martin Kuchalik is but the people who work with him truly appreciate his knowledge and view on things. Martin is a communication expert and is hired by companies to observe and improve internal communication especially when taking the vertical communication from mana...
2024-04-201h 00The Benas Podcast#59 Anthony Goods - Balancing Scouting&Social life, Creating "Swishcultures" & Crazy Experiences in VenezuelaIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.ProBallers.com
"AntGoods":
Anthony is a former professional basketball player who played in a lot of different places around the world. He played four years at Stanford before transitioning to the DLeague at the time, making his way to Italy later on before coming back to the DLeague again. Later, he finally decided to take his talents to Europe as well as South America and played in coun...
2024-03-311h 39The Benas PodcastCoffee Savant #3 Eskedar - Ethiopian Coffee Culture, How to create a community & Raising Awareness of Exploitation in Ethiopia's Coffee PlantationsIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
"Eskedar":
Eskedar is a good friend of mine and has been living in Vilnius first as a refugee before finally becoming a Lithuanian citizen. Today she shared her crazy and unique story of how she escaped an oppressive government in Ethiopia 19 years ago, got tangled up in an even more restrictive government in Khartoum (Sudan) until civil war broke out before ending up in jail in Lybia and then taking a boat to Mal...
2024-03-1254 minThe Benas Podcast#58 Francesco Cuzzolin talks about NBA & European Basketball, Coaching Health, Data Analysis & LearningIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.ProBallers.com
"Cuzzo":
Francesco Cuzzolin is currently the Head of Performance at EA7 Armani Milano and has a wealth of experience in the field of Strength & Conditioning. He became the first Strength & Conditioning coach in the NBA when he started to work for the Toronto Raptors. Besides clubs he also worked with Italy's & Russia's Basketball National Team and is also serving as a consultant to Technogym as well...
2024-02-121h 31The Benas Podcast#57 Sergio Scariolo on Inventing the Spanish Pick & Roll, Communication, "Michelangelo Effect" & MoreIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.ProBallers.com
"Sergio":
Sergio Scariolo doesn't need a long introduction, his successes speak for itself especially with Spain's National Team and the countless titles internationally that they have won. 5 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals across Eurobasket, World Cup and Olympic tournaments. He's the winningest National Team coach in the modern era of basketball. Sergio can also consider himself a NBA champion when he won the NBA championship as a...
2024-01-2158 minThe Benas Podcast#56 Boris Diaw on playing in 11th division with friends, Traded while on a Safari, Wine, Photography, Traveling around the world & moreIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.ProBallers.com
"Boris":
Boris Diaw is a well known name in the basketball community, not much introduction needed at this point, even after his retirement. He's a winner and a patriot in the most truest sense. Every summer he played for the National Team of France and in 2013 he won the FIBA Eurobasket and followed up in 2014 with a NBA championship playing for the Spurs in a memo...
2023-12-261h 16The Benas Podcast#55 Tadas Bulotas on the business of a basketball agent & how to sign young prospectsIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):
https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.ProBallers.com
Website:
www.bmatke.com
"Tadas":
Tadas Bulotas took on the profession of a basketball agent after his father but started his own company together with Arturas Javtokas in 2008 while he was still only 19years old. He eventually sold his business and joined Wassermann agency as one of their representatives in Europe. Besides many international draft pros...
2023-12-141h 16The Benas Podcast#54 Lassi Tuovi - The importance of mentorship for young basketball coaches & Finland BasketballIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.proballers.com
Topics:
0:00 Intro
2:52 How are you?
5:00 Basketball Beginnings
8:40 Art of Basketball & Standards
12:45 National Team Beginnings
17:00 Mentorship & Big Responsibilities
27:40 Focus & Preparation Process
32:30 New Assistant Coach Responsibilities
37:00 Communication with players
44:00 Expectations from Assistant Coaches
46:00 Under-rated "Actions" on offense
51:30 ProBallers.com
58:05 Protecting mental health
1:04:15 Reflections: Becoming a Head Coach
...
2023-12-051h 13The Benas Podcast#53 Jonas Mačiulis - Transition From Basketball Player To Basketball ExecutiveIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.proballers.com
Topics:
(0:00) Intro
(3:30) Memories as a Player
(6:15) Knee Rehabilitation & Support System
(17:45) Being Hard to Coach
(21:35) Overthinking & Analyzing
(26:40) Pablo Laso & Real Madrid Culture
(37:20) ProBallers.com Search Tool
(42:40) Transition to New Career
(47:00) Helping Players Adapt
(52:52) Scouting Perspective & Details
(57:20) Real's Competitive Practices
(1:00:20) Expectation from Assistant Coaches
(1:04:30) Correcting Jonas
(1:05:10) ATO...
2023-11-271h 13The Benas Podcast#52 Marko Pesic - FC Bayern Basketball GM, Organizational Alignment & CommunicationIf you want to support this podcast (Ačiū!!):https://www.patreon.com/bmatke
Sponsors:
www.proballers.com
Topics:
Coach's Son Exprience
Communication (Management & Head Coach)
Conflicts & Conversations
Building A Culture & Identity
Qualities of a Head Coach / Process
Youth Integration
ProBallers.com
Information Diet
Daily Habits
Family Life Balance
ATOs
NEW SPONSOR:
I want to welcome our new and first sponsor of the show, www.proballers.com
Every basketball geek knows them, it's a statistical platform that carries the top 75 leagues around the...
2023-10-221h 20The Benas Podcast#51 Danny Mills - Perth Wildcats GM & "The Process""Danny":
Danny is a long time friend of mine and currently the GM of the Perth Wildcats, representing the NBL proudly.
Danny has a very colorful background across the world, from playing in Australia to Oregon Tech in the US as well as the Irish National Team to being the video coordinator for the Bakersfield Jam and working in Europe as the International Scout of the Philadelphia 76ers after briefly coaching in Italy. Danny later moved to the US to become the Director of Scouting for Philadelphia before transitioning back to his h...
2023-10-061h 15The Benas Podcast#50 Paulius Motiejunas - Euroleague CEO"Paulius":
Paulius first joined Žalgiris Kaunas in 2007 as their director of communications but quickly climbed the latter and became the GM in 2013. Paulius lead the organization through two crises, celebrated multiple championships within the Lithuanian League and elevated the status of Žalgiris Kaunas back to where it belongs in Europe, being a playoff contender each season. The organization went from nearly being bankrupt in 2013 to being a Final Four participant in 2018??? and hosting the Final Four event itself in 2023.
In today's 50th episode, Paulius and me talked about several topics that surrounded his...
2023-07-1059 minThe Benas PodcastCoffee Savant #2 - Taste Coffee & More (Treviso, Italy)"Taste Coffee & More":
This Specialty Cafe was founded in 2017, downtown Treviso and is one of the most beautiful locations that I've been to. Overlooking a beautiful river with outside and inside seating as well as wifi for those who like to get some work done.
I'm a fan!
Fabio and me had a brief conversation about his Cafe, how he started it, what inspired him to do so as well as his favourite coffee region and the challenges of running a "Specialty Cafe" in Italy. This is just a short & s...
2023-06-1416 minThe Benas Podcast#49 Pablo Laso - Preparation for Final Fours & Communication with Stars"Pablito":
After spending eleven years with the Real Madrid franchise, coach Pablo Laso is a two time Euroleague champion with the club, 2015 & 2018. He also won six Spanish League championships & six Spanish Cups as well as six Spanish Supercup trophies. In 2015 he also added the prestigious FIBA Intercontinental Cup championship and is the winner of countless "Coach of the Year" awards in Spain and Euroleague.
In today's episode Pablo talked to me about his experience as a the head coach of Real Madrid in preparation for the Final Four as well as preparing t...
2023-05-311h 11The Benas Podcast#48 Himar Ojeda - ALBA Berlin Sports Director & How To Build A Culture"Himar":
Himar Ojeda started his professional career as an Assistant Coach at Gran Canaria in the ACB from 1999-2007 before transitioning to the front office of the same club. He also worked as a Sports Director at CB Estudiantes before working as an NBA scout for one season with the Atlanta Hawks. Nevertheless, he chose to take on a new challenge and signed with ALBA Berlin in 2016 and has been the team's sports director ever since. Signing with a club that has a rich history as ALBA Berlin was a challenge in itself especially d...
2023-05-171h 24The Benas Podcast#47 Sergej Maslobojev (LT) - Kovotojo MentalitetasSergėjaus Maslobojevo daug pristatinėti nereikia, tai žmogus, kurio vardą tautiečiai jau asocijuoja su čempiono vardu. Praeitais metais sportininkas iškovojo kikbokso "Glory Light Heavyweight" pasaulio čempiono diržą, 2017m. tapo "WAKO Pro World K-1 Light Heavyweight" čempionu bei nugalėtoju taip pat tapo 2015m. "KOK Light Heavyweight" turnyre.
Su Sergėjumi diskutavome apie iššūkius su kuriais susiduria profesionalūs kovotojai tiek ringe, tiek už ringo ribų. Sportininkas šiame epizode dalinosi kaip atrodo jo varžybų dienos rutina, kaip įmanoma vos su keletų žvilgsnių paveikti priešininką bei koks tolimesnis procesas vyksta po varžybų.
Gero žiūrėjimo!
N...
2023-05-051h 06The Benas Podcast#46 Sir John Kirwan - Mental Health in Sports & Coaching in Japan"Sir John Kirwan":
Sir John Kirwan is a former Rugby legend in New Zealand, played for the All Blacks for ten years (1984-1994) before becoming a coach himself. He had the honors of coaching Italy & Japan national teams and learned a lot throughout that period. John struggled with depression as a player but didn't talk about it much before almost deciding to jump out of a window in Argentina. That's where his healing journey started and until this day he became the biggest advocate for mental health in New Zealand. He's the author of two books (All Blacks Don't Cry...
2023-04-2357 minThe Benas Podcast#45 Hanno Möttölä - HBA Finland Basketball System, Lessons as a Player & Retirement Advice"Hanno":
Hanno Möttöla is a Finnish basketball legend with experiences on all levels of the game as a player. After playing for the Utah Utes in the NCAA and getting drafted in the 2nd Round (40th by the Hawks) to play in the NBA, he continued his career in the Euroleague for TAU Ceramica (now Baskonia) before getting injured. He later played in Italy, Lithuania & other countries before retiring in 2008. After a short stint of away from the game, he decided to give it another go around and played for four more seasons in Finland be...
2023-04-181h 29The Benas Podcast#44 Donatas Urbonas - Sports Journalism at "BasketNews", Trusting Media & Avoiding "Click-Bait""Donatas":
Donatas is a well-known journalist and Senior Staff Writer at BasketNews.com and has been around the game of basketball for a long time. He has been reporting on Lithuanian media outlets since 2011 and has experience of reporting from FIBA European Championships in 2011, 2015, 2017 as well as World Cup in 2014 and Rio Olympics in 2016. He also won Lithuanian Sports Journalist of the year in 2016. Donatas also was one of the first people to start a sports podcast in Lithania, "UrBonus" while he was still working for 15min.lt
Today we talked about s...
2023-04-121h 14The Benas Podcast#43 Mantas Kalnietis (LT) - Įžaidėjo Pamokos"Mantas":
Mantas Kalnietis - visiems labai gerai žinomas krepšininkas, kaip buvęs Lietuvos krepšinio rinktinės įžaidėjas ir kapitonas. Susumavus Mantas net devynerius metus praleido Kauno Žalgirio komandoje, bet pergalės, individualūs ir komandiniai pasiekimai žaidėjo karjeroje buvo švęsti ne tik namuose, bet ir užsienyje. Visgi ryškiausi pasiekimai Manto karjeroje įvyko žaidžiant Lietuvos vyrų krepšinio rinktinėje: 2010 m. Pasaulio vyrų krepšinio čempionatas - 3 vieta, 2013 m., 2015 m. Europos vyrų krepšinio čempionatas - 2 vieta.
Šiame epizode su Mantu diskutavome įvairiomis temomis, susitelkdami ne į pasiekimus, o į kelią link jų. Kalbėjome apie kre...
2023-04-011h 06
Sport VitaminsEpisode 48 - SPORT VITAMINS / guest Benas MatkeviciusWelcome back on SPORT VITAMINS for episode 48! Today's guest is Benas Matkevicius. Born in Lithuania, grew up in Germany, high school in Louisiana, college in Arkansas and then back to Germany before going to the Boston Celtics via Moscow. Benas has now been working for the Celtics as an international scout for almost eight years, becoming one of the most essential parts of the Celtics operation Some of the topics we touched on are: 1:00 Background 6:30 Playing career 16:45 Being passionate about the game 21:00 Transition from playing to coaching 29:00 Lack of effort vs Lack of focus 31:00...
2023-03-271h 01The Benas Podcast#42 Gianmarco Pozzecco - Coaching Himself, Lessons as Assistant & Connecting with Players"Il Poz":
Today's guest Coach Gianmarco Pozzecco is currently the Head Coach of Italy's senior men's national team. "Il Poz" started his professional player career in 1991 and went on to have a successful career on multiple levels playing for teams like Varese, Fortitudo Bologna, Zaragoza and others, winning 2 Italian Leagues and 2 Italian Supercups while also earning himself an Olympic silver medal in 2004 with Italy's fabulous run that summer.
In this episode, Gianmarco told me about his early beginnings as a player, dabbling between soccer and basketball before ultimately deciding to play basketball late...
2023-03-251h 03The Benas Podcast#41 Oļegs Latiševs - Euroleague Officiating, Communication, Manipulation & Disagreements"Olegs":
Olegs Latisevs is a professional basketball referee who is officiating in the EuroLeague, the top-tier European professional basketball league.
Latisevs has been a EuroLeague referee since the 2007-2008 season and has officiated numerous high-profile games in the competition, overall having been a professional referee for over 20 years.
He has also officiated in other European basketball competitions such as the EuroCup and the FIBA Champions League. In addition to his EuroLeague duties, Latisevs has also officiated in international basketball competitions such as the FIBA World Cup and the Olympic Games in London and Rio...
2023-03-111h 09The Benas Podcast#40 David Thorpe - The Art Of Player Development & Importance of Human Decency"Coach Thorpe":
David Thorpe is a highly respected basketball coach, known for his ability to develop and improve the skills of players at all levels. He has over 30 years of coaching experience, and has worked with some of the top players and teams in the game.
As a coach, David has a proven track record of success. He has helped numerous NBA players reach their full potential and achieve their goals, both on and off the court. He is a master at identifying and correcting the technical and tactical aspects of a player's game, and...
2023-02-131h 02The Benas Podcast#39 Liam Canny - Euroleague Commentator"Liam":
Liam is a full time teacher in the UK and a part time commentator in Euroleague as well as past FIBA events. He's also a full time fan of the game and you can hear it in his voice, the love and passion for the game is definitely to be felt.
In today's episode we talked all things commentating the game of basketball. Liam had lots of good stories to tell of how he first got into it and where his passion derives from...hint: "Celtics"...but also talked about the technical parts of...
2023-01-171h 06The Benas Podcast#38 Andrew Trimble - Rugby Ethos, Leadership & Kairos Communication Platform"Trimby":
Andrew is a retired Irish Rugby Union player who spent 13 of his pro years playing for the same team at "Ulster" as well twelve years for the Irish National Team. He was part of the "Celtic League" championship team in 2006 as well as winning the "Triple Crown" in 2006 & 2007 and "Six Nations" tournament in 2014 with the Irish National Team next to countless individual awards. Andrew has a wealth of experience in this field as well as a unique and very sobering perspective on the sport.
Today, Andrew and me talked about the vast differences between...
2023-01-101h 15The Benas PodcastHighlights of 2022: "Šaras", Blatt, Gherardini, Lemanis, Zuretti"Highlights":
This is a special episode that highlights 5 different episodes with examples of the variety of topics that we go through on this podcast!
It starts with problem-solving within an executive group in the NBA Player's Association team and how they approach problems that players have to deal with throughout the season. This was episode #23 with Matteo Zuretti that was recorded in New York at the NBPA headquarters.
The next highlight is a clip from my conversation with Coach Andrej Lemanis and his wide ranging experiences with culture-building. He talked about his authentic...
2022-12-291h 00The Benas Podcast#37 Erdem Can - Transition from Assistant to Head Coach and Lessons from Zeljko Obradovic & Quin Snyder"Erdem":
Erdem has a unique journey that started as an Assistant Coach in Ankara and later becoming Head Coach in Olin Edirne as a 30year old. After losing his job he transitioned to becoming a long time Assistant at Fenerbahce Ulker, first under Simone Pianigiani before he earned the trust of Zeljko Obradovic and stayed with him the rest of Zeljko's tenure. Amongst many domestic championships they managed to win the Euroleague together in 2017. Erdem also spent a year at the Utah Jazz as an Assistant under Quin Snyder before returning to Europe and now being a...
2022-12-121h 03The Benas Podcast#36 Maurizio Gherardini - Career Longevity, Challenges & Communication"Maurizio":
My guest for this episode was non other than the long time Fenerbahce Istanbul GM, Maurizio Gherardini. Maurizio has a long and very successful career as a basketball executive from which he has countless titles to show for. The most recent international title he celebrated was the Euroleague title with Fenerbahce Istanbul in 2017. His front office career began in the early 1980s in his hometown club of Forli, Italy. The success he had there carried him to Benetton Treviso and plenty of domestic titles to come with that role. At Fenerbahce, he had the pleasure of...
2022-11-221h 08The Benas Podcast#35 David Blatt - Basketball Is Life & Life Is Basketball"David":
Today's guest does not need much introduction, David Blatt is one of the most accomplished coaches to ever coach in Europe. One of few coaches to win at every possible level, most notably a Euroleague championship in 2014, Eurocup in 2018, Eurochallenge in 2005, Adriatic League in 2012, European champion at the National Team level in 2007 as well as Bronze in 2011 & Bronze in the London Olympics in 2012. Obviously, he also has countless domestic league and cup titles to accompany those accomplishments.
Also, David Blatt had the honor to represent the Cleveland Cavaliers as the Head Coach in the NBA...
2022-10-311h 27The Benas Podcast#34 Theodoros Papaloukas - The Importance Of Making Mistakes"Theo":
Theo had an illustrious 18year long career in Europe and is well-regarded as one of the best guards of all time in Euroleague. Theo won two Euroleague titles with CSKA ('06 & '08) and has plenty of individual awards to show for, most notably Euroleague MVP in 2007, Final Four MVP in 2006 and many more.
Theo also enjoyed a very successful National Team career with the Greek National Team when he lead his nation to becoming Eurobasket champions in 2005 as well as runner-up in the World Cup of 2006.
Today's conversation turned philosophical very quickly and c...
2022-10-031h 21The Benas Podcast#33 Roberto Iezzi - Strength & Conditioning, Dynamics with Staff & Players, Game-Day Lifts & Sleep"Roberto":
Roberto Iezzi currently is a strength & conditioning coach at Brescia Basket that plays in the Italian league as well as the Eurocup. He also spent three years of his career in Jerusalem working for Hapoel where he trained Amare Stoudamire amongst others. This past summer Roberto also worked with the Italian u20 National Team. He also has two podcasts that he hosts, one is a solely Italian podcast where him and his co-host Andrea interview specialist from their field in Italy and "Sport Vitamins" is an English-speaking podcast where he invites sports professionals from all over...
2022-09-191h 09The Benas Podcast#32 Trent Hotton - "The Team Mechanic" On Leadership & Building A Team Culture"The Team Mechanic":
Trent Hotton is a former AFL player who founded his own company "Team Effect" after he spent two years in the UK where he also opened a business in 'training and leadership' to help him advance in that field. Overall, he spent 4 years in the AFL and after two rather disappointing seasons with Collingwood he managed to return 4 years later and played two more season with Carlton before finishing his career in the Australian Football League.
In today's episode Trent and me spent most of the time talking about various topics around...
2022-09-121h 24The Benas Podcast#31 Ryan Pannone - How To Build A Coaching Career Through Persistency"Ryan":
Ryan Pannone is currently the Head Coach of the GLeague team Birmingham Squadron and already has almost 20 years of coaching experience when he started as a young coach in High School. Shortly after he started to work as an Assistant for David Thorpe as a Player Development coach and quickly realized his passion. Throughout his career he had plenty of responsibilities as a young and aspiring Assistant Coach in Foshan, China which lead him to becoming an Assistant in Hanau, Germany later. He also was a player development coach and coaching staff member at Hapoel Jerusalem...
2022-08-261h 25The Benas Podcast#30 Avi Even - Maccabi Front Office & Coaching Roles, Team-Building, Scouting & Motivation"Avi":
Avi's career at Maccabi started in 2006 when he became Junior Head Coach and Sports Director while coaching the u16 Israeli National Team. In the 2007 he finally was promoted to the Assistant Coach position at Maccabi Tel Aviv! After working as an Assistant for 5 years, the ownership of Maccabi appointed him to lead the front office and scouting department in order to enhance the organization under Coach Blatt as the Head Coach. Not long after the Euroleague Championship was a in Maccabi's cabinet when the team captured the title at the Final Four in Milano in 2014.
2022-08-111h 09The Benas Podcast#29 Anton Gavel - The Road To Becoming A Rookie Head Coach at Ratiopharm Ulm"Anton":
Anton Gavel is a former Slovakian basketball player who became a German National Team player as well as Bundesliga legend. Besides having short stints in the ACB with Murcia as well as in the Greek League with Aris, he spent most of his time winning titles with Brose Bamberg as well as FC Bayern Munich, where he finished his career winning 'The Double' (Cup & League) while being the Team-Captain.
Anton is a five-time German League Champion, three-time German Cup winner as well as countless All-Star and MVP honors.
On today's episode with...
2022-07-291h 10
The Benas Podcast#28 Andrej Lemanis - Authentic Coaching & Building A Team-Culture“Dre”:
Andrej Lemanis, one of the top coaches from Australia joined my podcast today. The Australian coach with Latvian heritage has a rich history of coaching after he stopped playing at a young age. His most notable stop was with the New Zealand Breakers from 2005-2013 where he turned the program around and won 3 NBL championships in a row and took the helm of the Boomers. “Dre” also coached the Brisbane Bullets and currently is coaching Altiri Chiba in Japan.
On today’s episode the “Top Topics” included culture building with a full-time ‘Culture Guy’ during his time with the Boomers, Boomer Ba...
2022-06-301h 32The Benas Podcast#27 Will Weaver - A Coaching Journey Through All Levels (NCAA, GLeague, NBA, Australia & National Team)"Will":
Will Weaver is a long-time Basketball coach who's journey has taken him from the Texas Longhorns program through Sam Houston State all the way to the NBA. Along the road he has coached as a Head Coach in the GLeague and as well as in the Australian NBL leading the the Sydney Kings.
Our common path has crossed several times during our "summer jobs", him being with Australia's National Team and me being with Lithuania's National Team.
Today, we talked about our battles with our respective National Teams in various competitions but...
2022-06-221h 37The Benas Podcast#26 Boštjan Nachbar - ELPA, Rookie in the NBA, Communication with Coaches, Podcasting & MoreDONATE TO UKRAINE:
Lithuania:
https://www.panrs.lt/krasto-apsaugos-ministerijos-rekomendacijos-del-paramos-ukrainai/
Germany:
https://helferschwein.de
International:
https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en/
"Boki":
Boštjan is an accomplished player on various levels, from Europe to NBA, he has seen it all. After starting off as a prospect in Italy and being drafted #15 by the Houston Rockets he spent 6 years in the NBA. The next stages of his career were centered around playing in Europe, going on to play in Russia, Turkey, Germany & Spain while winning various d...
2022-05-311h 18The Benas Podcast#25 Martyna Motum - The Life Of A "Player Wife", Having Own Identity & Career GoalsDONATE TO UKRAINE:
Lithuania:
https://www.panrs.lt/krasto-apsaugos-ministerijos-rekomendacijos-del-paramos-ukrainai/
Germany:
https://helferschwein.de/
International:
https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en/
#25 Martyna:
Martyna Motum is the wife of Brock Motum but certainly she has her own identity and is building her own career in the background. Martyna has finished her High School studies in Denmark, University studies in London and later obtaining a Master's Degree at the Euroleague program later on. After working for Zalgiris Kaunas and creating social media content, she...
2022-05-091h 18The Benas Podcast#24 Simon Iden - Osteopathy, Winning The Australian Open, Foot Strength & FasciaDONATE TO UKRAINE:
Lithuania: https://www.panrs.lt/krasto-apsaugos-ministerijos-rekomendacijos-del-paramos-ukrainai/
Germany: https://helferschwein.de/
International: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en/
#24 Simon:
Simon Iden is of German heritage but currently resides in the US and has experience of working with a variety of athletes, from Tennis stars like Angelique Kerber whom Simon won the Australian Open with as well as various German soccer and basketball stars, one of them being Daniel Theis from the Boston Celtics.
Simon also has experience playing basketball himself and considers winning the u18 European Championships as one of his most memorable achievements of his playing career. After...
2022-04-261h 23The Benas Podcast#23 Matteo Zuretti - From Agent to the NBPA, Culture & Identity of International PlayersMatteo and me first met during his time as an agent while working for the “ProTalent” Agency under the helm of Maurizio Balducci, who served as a mentor for Matteo. Before he was an agent, he took his first steps at the Stellazzurra Basketball Academy in Rome. Meanwhile, Matteo is serving as the Chief of International Relations and Marketing at the NBPA office in New York, working to provide a better perspective and pathways for international players within the NBA.
Matteo has a rich experience of dealing with different cultures around the world and managing all the diff...
2022-04-101h 10The Benas Podcast#22 Thorsten Leibenath - Head Coach at 31 in Scotland, Importance of Identity, Handling Conflicts & “Veto” PlayersDONATE TO UKRAINE:
Lithuania: https://www.panrs.lt/krasto-apsaugos-ministerijos-rekomendacijos-del-paramos-ukrainai/
Germany: https://helferschwein.de/
International: https://www.blue-yellow.lt/en/
#22 Thorsten:
Thorsten Leibenath is currently the Sports Director at Ratiopharm Ulm, which is currently a German BBL as well as Eurocup team. Before he became a Sports Director in 2019 he was the Head Coach at Ulm since 2011 where he was successful and earned “Coach of the Year” honors in 2012 & 2017. His team also holds the longest winning-streak in the BBL, which amounts to 27 wins in a row during the 2016/17 season.
Thorsten started his...
2022-03-131h 22The Benas Podcast#21 Fredrick Kleemichen - Becoming The “Next Dirk Nowitzki”, Surviving It & The Importance of Mentorship#21 Freddie:
Fredrick Kleemichen grew up in Bremerhaven as the son of an American father and German mother, signed his first pro-contract in 2002 with Frankfurt (Opel) Skyliners at the age of 15 and moved to a new city with new hope and big dreams. “Freddie” as we all call him, is not a household name in the world of basketball right now but he definitely used to be! He had a roller-coaster journey from being one of the highly touted prospects in Germany to moving down the latter and playing in lower divisions on Frankfurt’s farm teams while the fr...
2022-02-141h 17The Benas Podcast#20 Šarunas Jasikevičius - Insisting on Maximum, Percentages of Success, Golf Obsession and More#20 Šaras:
Šarunas Jasikevičius is a successful Head Coach at Barcelona and his career is basically just getting started now but he already brought home domestic titles in Lithuania as well as Spain. As a player he has a rich experience between a variety of cultures, starting from the time when he left Lithuania at the age of 17 to live in the US, going from High School to later on joining the University of Maryland. When he returned to Europe as a player, his success just took off exponentially. He played in 7 different countries, in-between he also spe...
2022-02-011h 20The Benas Podcast#19 Claudio Coldebella - Unics Kazan, Observing Practice, Sustainability in Sports, Communication with Head Coach & Players#19 Claudio:
Claudio Coldebella is a former Italian basketball player, GM of the Italian 2nd Division and currently a successful Sports Director at Unics Kazan. Claudio started his playing career in Mestre in 1986 before moving to Desio and Virtus Bologna later on. Claudio also has the experience of playing abroad, he spent 6 years of his career in Greece playing for AEK and PAOK before returning to Italy and finishing his career in Milano in 2006. Claudio also spent many summers with the Italian National Team and was also a big part of the Silver medal in the EuroBasket of 1997. He...
2022-01-171h 17The Benas Podcast#18 Noel Mikaelian - Boxer's Mindset, Armenia, Sparring Your Brother, Dealing with adversity & Mental Recovery#18 Noel:
Noel Mikaelian is an Armenian-German Cruiserweight Division Boxer who is currently on his quest to becoming World Champion and is without a doubt the #1 contender. He held the WBO youth world & WBO International cruiserweight title in 2014 & 2016.
After being born in Yerevan, Armenia he moved to Germany at a young age and started to box early on by watching his step-father Khoren Gevor, who was a world-class boxer in his own right. Noel is currently 24-2 with 10 wins coming by KO. His next fight is coming in the February, where he will continue his quest.
2022-01-061h 24The Benas Podcast#17 Daniele Baiesi - Sports Director Job, Crisis Management, Building A Roster, Internal Communication & Lessons from Joe Dumars#17 Daniele
Daniele Baiesi is currently a successful Sports Director at FC Bayern Munich. After leading Brose Bamberg to multiple domestic titles in Germany he continued his successful run at FC Bayern Munich in 2017 and has lead the team to multiple titles since his arrival as well. Daniele started his basketball career at Pallacanestro Biella in 2003 in the Italian league where he spent 6 years. The Detroit Pistons were his next stage where he worked as their international scout and had the pleasure to work alongside Joe Dumars before going to Bamberg and the rest is history.
...
2021-12-221h 20The Benas Podcast#16 Stefan Weissenboeck - Player Development, Shooting Slump, Brose Bamberg, Brooklyn Nets & Why Nail Length Matters!Stefan Weissenboeck is a player development coach at Brose Bamberg since 2010/11 season and has worked under the coaches Chris Fleming & Andrea Trinchieri most notably with whom he won multiple domestic titles during this period. He picked up basketball through his father and was committed early on as a player in Austria as well as one year at Hawaii-Pacific. After injuries derailed his playing career he turned to being an Assistant Coach before discovering the niche role of a Player Development coach. After playing for Arkadia Traiskirchen in Austria, a short stint in Lissabon and finishing his career at Nuernberg...
2021-12-071h 17The Benas Podcast#15 Giannis Sfairopoulos - Mindset, Professionalism, Sharing Information and taking-over teams mid-season#15 Giannis:
Giannis Sfairopoulos has been a successful Head Coach since taking over Kolossos Rhodos in 2008 after being a top Assistant for 11years in Greece. After a brief stint as the Assistant Coach at CSKA Moscow under Jonas Kazlauskas during the 2011-12 season, he turned Head Coach once again and continued his upward journey until now, becoming the Head Coach of Olympiacos in 2014 and in Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2018.
Giannis has captured two Greek League titles in Greece with Olympiacos and coached them twice in the Euroleague Final Game. Currently, during his time in Israel with...
2021-11-301h 29The Benas Podcast#14 Andrea Trinchieri - Life, Basketball, Conflict, Communication & Culture of Accountability#14 Andrea:
Firstly, I apologize for the slight delay in our conversation. The audio and video was not synced perfectly but is still very much useful…the wifi was playing jokes on us, we’ll make sure to tell the ‘Internet Gods’ to take care of that next time!
Andrea Trinchieri is as good as they come and today he took me for a ride around his world. I got to see a glimpse of his past and mindset as well as his rich history with a variety of cultures in his background. Andrea is international as it gets...
2021-11-171h 23The Benas Podcast#13 Nicola Alberani - What is a Sports Director? Value Systems, Daily Challenges & Firing a CoachNicola is a dedicated Sports Director at SIG Strasbourg and to me the most underrated at his profession. Nicola worked predominantly in Italy before leaving the country and joining Strasbourg in 2020. He is a native of Forli, Italy just as Maurizio Gherardini is and went from picking up valuable lessons from his mentor, to later becoming a General Manager and Sports Director himself.
After taking a detour to the hotel business and becoming a hotel manager for almost a decade, he returned back to the sport and to become a basketball manager most recently worked as a...
2021-11-081h 27The Benas Podcast#12 Andrew Bogut - Going Rogue with Bogues#12 “Bogues”:
Andrew Bogut doesn’t need much introduction for all sports fans. He grew up in Melbourne, went on to play for the AIS before signing a letter of intent for the University of Utah and becoming the #1 pick in 2005’s NBA Draft after his sophomore year. Andrew had a phenomenal career not only in the NBA where he became a NBA champ in 2015 with the Golden State Warriors but also with the Boomers when competing for the Australian National Team in the Olympics in 2004, 2008 & 2016 as well as plenty of other international competitions.
A success story of...
2021-10-251h 29The Benas Podcast#11 Nikos Zisis - A Pro's ProNikos finished his glorious career this summer after playing 21 years professionally. He started off at AEK as a young, up & coming prospect playing for “Duda” Ivkovic before moving abroad early on. Nikos played in 5 different countries outside of Greece…First one being Italy before moving to Russia to play for CSKA, his university as he called it. He also played for the top clubs like Siena, Bilbao, Unics, Fenerbahce, Bamberg & Joventut before returning to AEK to finish where he started it all.
During his career he managed to win the Euroleague with CSKA (2008), countless domestic titles in Greece...
2021-10-111h 18The Benas Podcast#10 Martynas Pocius - Life After Retirement (NBA Front Office)Martynas Pocius - Life After Retirement (NBA Front Office)
Martynas Pocius, one of the most electric and fun players to watch in Lithuanian basketball history, joined my "Pod" today. His story is a ‘one of one’, after smashing two fingers and losing one completely in an accident in school he managed not only to recover but elevate his game and mentality as well as work ethic to the next level.
After spending 4 years at Duke University he played for Zalgiris Kaunas in three different stints throughout his career as well as for Real Madrid from 2011-2013 and...
2021-09-271h 26The Benas Podcast#9 Antanas Kavaliauskas - Life After Retirement (Player Development / Wake Forest University)Antanas’ story is a unique one, grindin’ his way up from a small team in Lithuania, through Barton County Community College in the US, finding his way to Texas A&M and coming back to Europe to eventually start his professional career. Antanas started his career in 2007 in Greece before he went on his way to play in Italy, Latvia & Spain. Finally he found his way back to play in Lithuania, having the unique experience to have played for Lietuvos Rytas (now Rytas Vilnius) as well as for Zalgiris Kaunas, where he ended up retiring in 2019. Antanas won 2 Latvian Cham...
2021-09-1859 minThe Benas Podcast#8 Sammy Mejia - Life After Retirement (Agent)Sammy Mejia, my good friend whom I met during our time in Moscow and happened to stay in touch throughout the last decade has had a unique career that started at DePaul University and took him to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (D-League at the time). He decided early to take on a new career in Europe and signed a contract in Italy his first year. After he finished the 2008 season in Italy, he signed a one year deal in Greece the following year and learned his ways around Europe. The following two seasons, 2009-2011, were the most defining...
2021-08-311h 00The Benas Podcast#7 JR Holden - Life After Retirement (Scout)JR Holden - Life After Retirement (Part 1)
JR’s career is unique, not only because of how it all ended but mostly because of how it all started. From a ‘try out application’ to go and play in Latvia to winning multiple Euroleague Championships with CSKA Moscow (2006 & 2008) as well as becoming European Champion with the Russian National Team in 2007. On top of all that, JR became an Olympian in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. During this conversation it sounded like he cherished the Greek League Championship in 2002 with AEK the most because of the unlikely championship run. In the en...
2021-08-101h 22The Benas PodcastCoffee Savant #1 - Ales Pospisil ("European Coffee Trip" Platform)Ales Pospisil - “European Coffee Trip”
Everybody who knows me, knows that I’m a dedicated coffee lover. This is the first of many “Coffee Savant” episodes and it’s only fitting to do it with the person who ignited my passion for ‘The Bean’, Ales Pospisil and the coffee platform: European Coffee Trip. My name gets often auto-corrected to ‘Beans’ anyway, so I suppose it’s my destiny anyways :)
In this category of podcast episodes I will talk to a variety of coffee-enthusiasts and cafe owners as well as baristas. It’s a niche that not everyone apprec...
2021-06-141h 05The Benas Podcast#6 Dimitris Itoudis - The Road to 14 (!!!) Euroleague Final Four AppearancesFirstly, I have to apologise for my audio, which gives up on my 20mins or so into the podcast, my quality goes down but Coach Itoudis’ works well and that’s the person you need to listen to the most anyway, so please enjoy!
Head Coach Dimitris Itoudis’ path to coaching is an unusual one. After leaving his junior soccer team because his long hair was not in line with the coach’s rules he decided to switch to basketball at a young age and the rest is history. In 1990, he chose the path of studying abroad, outside...
2021-05-231h 21
Sporting MaxEpisode 38 - With Boston Celtics Scout Benas Matkevicius and NBL Pro Analyst Liam SantamariaIn episode 38, Max is joined by Boston Celtics Scout and Lithuanian National Team Assistant Coach Benas Matkevicius and NBL Pro Analyst Liam Santamaria! We discuss all things Olympics, the NBA Finals, the upcoming NBA Draft, and the success of the NBL’s Next Star’s program. Plus an NBL player that NBA scouts should have on their radar! All this and much more in episode 38 of Sporting Max!
https://www.instagram.com/sportingmax.podcast/
#nbl #nba #coach #scout #analyst #elite #legends #basketball #olympics #pro #sports #podcast #australia #lithuania #america #itunes #spotify #soundcloud #tunein #googlepodcasts #youtube
2021-05-1955 minThe Benas Podcast#5 Andreas Pistiolis - Assistant Coach Duties, Sharing Information, Dynamics within the Coaching Staff & MoreAndreas Pistiolis is the long time Ast. Coach at CSKA Moscow under the guidance of Coach Dimitris Itoudis. Andreas realized early (age 14) how much he loved coaching & teaching players and found his way into the youth program of Panathinaikos. Soon enough he received an invite by the senior team to join the coaching staff and help Coach Dimitris Itoudis to prepare scouting reports and break down film to help Zeljko Obradovic form a winning dynasty at Panathinaikos. He established himself as the ‘right hand’ of Dimitris Itoudis and followed Coach Itoudis to Banvit in 2013 to become his 1st Assistant ther...
2021-05-161h 25The Benas Podcast#4 Kostas Chatzichristos - On Strength & Conditioning, Importance of Mentorship & Putting Your Ego DownKostas Chatzichristos has been the Strengths&Conditioning Coach of CSKA Moscow's basketball team the last 7years and was part of the two Euroleague title runs in 2016 & 2019. Kostas studied at the University of Texas before interning at EXOS and going on to take his first job at the University of Georgia. He later returned to Greece to continue his career at Olympiacos B.C. and later at Panionios as the Head of Performance before taking his talents to CSKA in 2014. He's also the co-founder of "Performance22", which is a training and rehab facility for athletes in Athens, Greece. Kostas has...
2021-05-091h 18The Benas Podcast#3 Dr Rainer Meisterjahn - Mental Performance StrategiesDr Rainer Meisterjahn - Mental Performance Coach for Athletes & Coaches
Rainer Meisterjahn comes from a small town in central Germany by the name of Arpe, where he grew up and picked up the game of basketball. During that time he went to the US for an exchange year and got a taste of the US culture early on. After going back to Germany he knew he eventually had to “scratch the itch” again and applied to a NAIA school in Maine to play basketball and study Sports Psychology. After earning his Bachelors and going back home once agai...
2021-04-261h 09The Benas Podcast#2 Kyle Hines - The Definition of a ChampionKyles Hines - The Definition of a Champion!
Kyle’s journey from a small town named Sicklerville, New Jersey all the way to the top of the mountain of European basketball is a treat for any basketball savant to listen to and get inspired by. Kyle has been a high achiever ever since he came to Europe, winning 4 Euroleague crowns and countless domestic titles across Europe (Germany, Greece, Russia, Italy).
After going undrafted, Kyle went on to join Veroli in Italy’s 2nd division in 2008. Two seasons and two 2nd Division Cup titles later he moved on t...
2021-04-121h 29The Benas Podcast#1 Ettore Messina - Coaching from A to ZOne of the most accomplished coaches in European history agreed to visit with me on my podcast and talk “all things basketball & life”. Coach Messina is in the FIBA Hall of Fame class of 2021, a 4 time Euroleague Champion, 2 time Euroleague Coach of the Year and won countless domestic titles across Europe.
After spending a year as a consultant for the Lakers (2011/12), Ettore came back to CSKA for a second stint and this is where our paths crossed. After the two season together Ettore went on to work as an Assistant Coach to Gregg Popovich in San Antonio (2014/2019) before retu...
2021-03-301h 19The Benas PodcastMy Welcome NoteWhat's up everyone, this is just a short intro to the podcast, nothing glorious this time but I hope it's some sort of a ....cliff-hanger...Please subscribe and learn more about the guests.
You can also visit www.bmatke.com if you want to learn more about me...you don't have to though, just if you like...:-)
2021-03-1201 min
Inside The Game with GKTInside The Game with Benas MatkeviciusIn this episode of the „Inside The Game“ podcast Gerrit Kersten-Thiele is joined by Boston Celtics International Scout Benas Matkevicius.
Benas takes us into his basketball journey from playing in Germany and the US, to scouting and coaching with and for CSKA Moscow and the Lithuanian National Team and working his way into the highest levels of basketball from the Euroleague to the NBA. Benas shares some insight on how NBA teams approach the annual draft, what teams look for when evaluating talent, how he gets his mind away from basketball, building relationships and much more.
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2020-05-021h 03
Sporting MaxEpisode 3 - With Boston Celtics Scout Benas Matkevicius and former NBL Brisbane Bullet Lee JekaIn episode 3 we are with Boston Celtics Scout and Lithuania Assistant Coach Benas Matkevicius and Former NBL Player Lee Jeka!
Benas tells us stories of his past and what is role at Lithuania and Boston is, aswell as how he and Lee met, and lots of funny stories and moments!
https://www.instagram.com/bmatke/
https://www.instagram.com/max.becker43/
https://www.instagram.com/leeroyjeka/?hl=en
#NBA #boston #celtics #scout #lithuania #coach #NBL #brisbane #bullets #germany #basketball #sports #podcast #sportingmax #iTunes #soundcloud #tunein
2020-04-2141 min