Still without a contract since his dismissal from Fenerbahce during the season, Dimitris Itoudis questions the future of the Euroleague, which he won twice in 2016 and 2019. According to the Greek technician, the competition is at a crossroads, and it has taken precedence over national competitions.
“The Euroleague is always competitive and the slogan that says: 'Every game is important' really shows what the Euroleague is. Now we have to see how to develop something else in this sport.” he explains. “We need to ask ourselves this question, so we can all have our say on how to be even better.”
National championships transformed into “G-League”?
For him, this involves both a move to 30 teams and a change of format. In short, we have to copy the NBA.
“I dream of a Euroleague with 30 teams. Of course, it's not something that can happen tomorrow. We reached 18 teams, we're going to 20, then 24 and I dream of this number 30 because this number is the NBA's, but it takes a lot of time.” he recognizes. “We need to talk to the people who run the national leagues to establish cooperation, to create a way for these leagues to be like the G League and to serve the development of players. Everyone agrees that the Euroleague is the strongest league, and the fans are also an indicator of what is watched and what interests them.”
He takes his former club, Fenerbahce, as an example, where the public travels more for the Euroleague than for the championship. “We play against Valencia and we have 11,000 fans in the hall. Then three days later we play against Galatasaray and 1,500 fans come. It's an indicator, although of course it's not like that everywhere.”
The Euroleague is a mix of championship, playoffs and NCAA
Coming back to the format, he advocates abandoning the Final Four and a full playoff system. Like in the NBA.
“I support a change in the format of the competition. I support the playoffs. I have great respect for the Final Four. Thank God, I played in 14 or 15 finals, we won titles, but I think it’s time to look at the end of the competition. You start with the championship part where everyone plays, then you go to the NBA playoff system and finally you end up with the NCAA model called the Final Four. I think we need to be more specific, to have a system that brings more games, more fans, more television coverage.”
