Eric Musselman, former NBA coach of the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings, recently completed a trip to St. Petersburg, Russia.

As a guest to Alexander Krasnenkov, the owner of club team Spartak, Musselman partook in a coach’s clinic as well as sit through a player’s camp and tournament.

Musselman was nice enough to provide Interbasket with the exclusive details of his trip.

Along the way, the son of great NBA coach Bill Musselman, provides great insight about the differences of the American and European style of play, his critique of some of the club players in the tournament, and other notes about his four-day experience.

Musselman provided enough notes that we will break them up into two parts. Enjoy part one below.

Wednesday, September 23
12:00pm: My wife and I are on our way to SFO, it’s 90 degrees in Northern California.  It’s expected to be 45-55 degrees in St. Petersburg with plenty of rain.  This will be my fifth international clinic this year, the travel can sometimes be tough, but I love exchanging new ideas with coaches from all over the world.  The trip is 15 hours, and includes a stop in Amsterdam.  Time difference at destination:  +11 hours.

Thursday, September 24th
5:30pm: Just landed in St. Petersburg.  Alex Karvanen, the Sports Director of Spartak, and Stas Ryzov, the manager of the team’s International Department pick us up at the airport.  It takes about 20 minutes to check-in to our hotel, the Courtyard Marriott… Guess they’re everywhere.  Weather was perfect for Russia at this time of year – mid 50s and sunny.

Friday, September 25th
4:00am: Time change and long flight hit as we woke up at 4:15 am and couldn’t go back to sleep. We hit the gym for a workout at 4:45am. 

9:00am: Time for a little sightseeing before getting to business. I’m amazed at how beautiful the city is.  The buildings are like nothing I’ve ever seen. We wrap things up with a visit to the largest museum in the world, the Hermitage.

3:00pm: Lots of buzz here surrounding Mikhail Prokhorov’s purchase of the New Jersey Nets and how this could impact Russian basketball for years to come. 

I’m attending the introduction of Spartak, something I compare to an American media day. The entire Spartak team is here (minus Sherrod Ford from Clemson, who’s on his way from Italy after being delayed with passport issues).

Point guard Levance Fields tells me about his experience so far, he’s got a great attitude and enjoys being in St Petersburg.  The change of scenery can’t be easy for the Brooklyn, New York native, who played at Pittsburgh last year and with the Orlando Magic summer league this past season.

Following the presentation, I’m introduced to Alexander Krasnenkov, the team owner/president and vice president Vadim Proskurnin.  We grab a bite to eat at the famous Hotel Astoria, and then take a tour of their new offices.  Very impressive, they remind me of a smaller version of an NBA front office.    

What a small world – Found out today that A.C. Green and coach Mike Fratello also in Russia doing a clinic in another part of Russia this week. 

Weather was a bit colder, but sunny.  We hear there are only 30 plus sunny days a year in Saint Petersburg and so far we are 2 for 2.

Saturday, September 26th
12:00pm: We tour the Spartak practice facilities which has two full courts.

2:00pm: The coaching clinic begins at 2pm, the same time as a big soccer match between Russian rivals Zenit (St. Petersburg) and CSKA (Moscow).  Zenit won the game 2-0.  Spartak’s home arena (Jubieleyny) is right across the street from the soccer stadium and they share a parking lot. Visiting CSKA is staying at our hotel. 

The topics of the clinic were pick and roll and player development specific to position. The players used for the clinic where Spartak second division players.  They weren’t used to the drills that I put them through, but they caught on fast.

4:00pm: The Kondrashin – Belov Tournament begins. The first game of the tournament was a 1 point game.  Montepaschi Siena (Italy) 78 vs Kazan Unics (Russia) 77.

It was a great game, close throughout.  Late 4th quarter bonus free throws were deciding factor. Henry Domercant (playing with a Bosnian passport) came up big in the last 4 minutes offensively for Siena.  Was surprised this game was so close as the Siena roster is much more talented.  

Top players for Siena are 32 year old point guard Terrell McIntyre (his rights were almost traded earlier to Greek club Olympiacos), swingman Romain Sato, who did most of his damage posting up and defended 1 thru 4, and big man Benjamin Eze, who has a great body and plays physical with limited range.  

Other players of note:  30 year old Big man K?y?tof Lavrinovi?, he really shot the ball well from 3 point area, and had 17 points in the first half.  He plays on the Lithuanian National team.  Offensively he could play in the NBA as a 9th or 10th man, but because he is a defensive liability, he is not a NBA player.  

Combo guard Nikos Zisis who plays for Greek National team and frontcourt captain Shaun Stonerook. 

For Unics Kazan, the top player was combo guard Terrell Lyday who is in his second year with Unics and his 4th year playing in Russia.  Layday has done more than his share of traveling;  he played at Fresno City College and BYU.

Professionally, he’s played in Poland (01-02), Turkey (02-03), France (03-04), Italy (06-07), and Russia.  He led the 2005-2006 Russian league in steals (2.4 per game).

Both teams played some zone defense in the first half.  Ball movement against the zone is much better here than in the NBA.  They’re playing without two of their best players, Marko Popovi? and Kre?imir Lon?ar, both of whom played on the Croatian National team.  

6:00pm: Time for the second game.  The Angola National team lost by 11 points to the host St. Petersburg Spartak team.  Angola, who didn’t arrive in St. Petersburg until after 1am the day of the game played a solid second half, but first half lack of half court execution got them in to big of a hole. 

Angola really struggled to run half court offense vs Spartak pressure defense in the first half.  In the 3rd quarter they cut the 18 point first half lead to 11 points.  You have to really give Angola credit from a competitive standpoint, they did not quit. 

Spartak offense was disciplined and they really look to run half court sets.  Even after offensive rebounds they will look to kick the ball out and run their offense. 

Sharrod Ford did not play as he has not been practicing with the team the last week awaiting his passport while in Italy. 

Having been part of USA basketball in The Tournament of Americas years ago, I had a feel for how physical international games can be, and how the referees let so much inside physical play go uncalled.

However, in this game the refs let things get to far.  With 1:43 to play there were almost 3 separate fights.  Pushing, shoving, two punches thrown, one punch landed.  One Spartak player was ejected, but if this were an NBA game, at minimum 4 players would have been thrown out of the game.  Coaches had to restore order due to lack of refs involvement. 

What is really interesting is the refs have no conversation with players during the game.  A simple question to a ref could lead to a technical foul. 

I have never seen so many moving screens in one game.  The technique of the roll man is often to just plow over the defender, and inside players are really allowed to pin defenders with arms. 

Both games were very entertaining and an excellent brand of basketball both from a talent standpoint and coaching.  Overall, the ball movement and passing was excellent.