Basketball before is not that popular in Italy, it has less exposure because soccer was the favorite pastime of the Italians.
Due to the gaining popularity of basketball now it is one of the favorite sports of Italians which many fanatic of sports are not aware of. Today it is the biggest rival of soccer in terms of popularity in sports. Plenty are always surprise that basketball is very popular in Italy.
It has been played ever since, they even had a professional basketball league even before the formation of NBA. Italian basketball nowadays is continuously making a big name in the basketball industry. With the help of players namely Andrea Bargnani and Serie the popularity of the Italian team in the world is rising.
Let us now discuss who made Italian teams be considered as a team, of course it is the task of the Italian basketball coaches.
Giancarlo Primo
Primo is one of the Italian basketball coaches whom caught my eye because he was one of the few Italian coaches who enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame and was able to defeat some strong contenderes.
Primo is an Italian basketball player before for the Italian National team, he was able to participate in the 1948 Olympicsm 1947 European Championship and 1949 European Championship. when he decided to quit playing he opted to be an assistant coach for the Italian national team. From 1969 to 1979 he was the head coach of the team. He was able to coach the team in many Olympic games and had won too. In his coaching career he had coached 238 games and while coaching the team Italy defeated United States and Soviet Union.
Alessandro Gamba
Gamba is considered one of the famous Italian basketball coaches nowadays because he became a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame recently. He was a finalist in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005 and finally became a member in year 2006. Gamba like Primo is a retired professional basketball player too, he had played and won ten Italian championships.
After his retirement he became the coach of some of the top Italian professional league Serie A such as Olimpia Milano, Pallacanestro Verese, Pallacanestro Torino and Vitrus Bologna. While coaching the national team in the Olympic Games in 1980 he was able to let the team win the silver medal award.
Ettore Messina
Messina became the head coach at the Spanish Liga ACB club Real Madrid which started on June 18, 2009. He had also coached the CSKA Moscow team in the Russian League. He is known as one of the best Italian basketball coaches because he was able to lead the team which has won 4 Euroleague championships.
Messina has two Italian stints at the Italian League club the Vitrus Bologna. During his second stint he had coached Vitrus to Euroleague trophies in 1998 and 2001. In the 1993 to 1997 as the head coach of the Italian national team he was able to let the team win the silver medal in the 1997 European Championship.
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