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August 2017
Kestutis Kemzura (AUT), Austria v Netherlands (Photo: GEPA)
23/05/2017
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Kemzura hoping to give Austria the Lithuania stamp of quality

ISTANBUL (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019) - Having guided a depleted and largely overlooked Lithuanian squad to an expected bronze-medal finish at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2010 in Turkey, coach Kestutis Kemzura remains the mastermind behind one of the better Cinderella stories in the tournament's recent history.

Seven years removed, the 47-year-old calmly-spoken Lithuanian coach from Kaunas, also an assistant to David Blatt in Turkish powerhouse Darussafaka Istanbul, is now trying to instill the same winning principles to the Austrian national team with hopes of transforming the program into a recognized brand on the European basketball map.

Austria will play Albania and the Netherlands in the Pre-Qualifiers

After having his contract extended by the Austrian Basketball Federation after the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers, Kemzura will also be in charge of the side for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Pre-Qualifiers with the goal of moving on to the next stage this summer.

FIBA.com spoke to the head coach of the Austrian national team about the importance of reaching the Qualifiers, the intriguing prospect of facing the best European teams and the challenging task of trying to take Austrian basketball to the next level.

Based on the results in the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers, edging out at least one of Albania and the Netherlands in your Pre-Qualifiers group does seem like an attainable goal. With what thoughts will you be heading into the summer?
I would agree with the opinion that it is possible. We have a goal of getting through to the Qualifiers. Two teams advance to the next round and that, it would seem, should be within our capabilities. That may actually be the most dangerous thing. We haven't accomplished anything yet and we will have to prove everything on the court.

There will only be a few games, so everything will depend on just a couple results. With the elevated stakes, we need to prepare and concentrate on those couple of games. By thinking that it is going to be easy, you can easily get burnt.

While we don't want to put extra pressure on ourselves, we understand the gravity of the situation. Last summer, we played to qualify for the FIBA EuroBasket, something that hasn't been done in a long time. This summer, if I can say this, we will be fighting for survival. I would not want the Austrian team to be eliminated from further contention.

Were you to advance, you would get a crack at the bigger opponents in the Qualifiers. How appealing does this opportunity look from the viewpoint of Austrian basketball – the players and the fans, in particular?
Obviously, the motivation is always much greater when you play against the better teams. When you face the bigger basketball countries, you play with more emotions and it is also a chance for you to grow, for the players to grow.

Fans also fill up the arena in such games, because they are intrigued. When we played Germany last year, the gym was packed, there was a great sense of anticipation for the game. Of course, that may well have been influenced by the fact that these are neighboring countries and it was a local rivalry, but here was a lot of interest.

It would be ideal for a country like Austria to play against top European opponents, the bigger basketball countries. We have some interesting young players, it would be a great opportunity for them to match up with top players and take a step forward in their careers.

Year in and year out, perhaps the most notable name from the players representing Austria is Rashid Mahalbasic. There is also Thomas Schreiner. Obviously, Jakob Poltl from Toronto Raptors is Austrian, but he's yet to suit up for the national team. Is there anyone else you would point out?
Thomas Klepeisz played in the German Bundesliga, perhaps not in the strongest of the teams, but it is still a quality league. Moritz Lanegger also played abroad in Denmark. We have Marvin Ogunsipe, who couldn't help us last summer due to an injury, but he had a good season in the second division in Germany and even played a couple of games for Bayern Munich. There are others, but we will have to see if all of them can join in the summer.

What kind of identity and game style are you trying to instill?
I think that defense brings stability. We may not be the most talented team offensively, so we have to turn up our effort defensively. My philosophy has always been that everyone can play defense. We want defense to give us a stable baseline and allow to get some easy points in transition. Offensively, I want to see good player and ball movement, solid positioning and for us to play a team game, trying to maximize the strengths of the players we have.

Your biggest success as a coach came in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2010 in Turkey, when you won bronze with your home country Lithuania. How was that summer special for you and just how unique was that team?
It was special because I took over the steering wheel of the national team that summer. For various reasons, many of the big-name players didn't come. We didn't have the brightest stars of the day, but what we did have was the current standouts. At that time, they were younger and, well, not as big stars as they are today (laughs).

We all just had a really good summer, starting from the training camp. The atmosphere in the team was exceptional and it followed us throughout the tournament. In spite of difficulties in each game along the way, we got rolling and didn't lose once in the Group Phase. We trailed in most games, but fought hard, battled back and managed to come out on top every single time.


Few expected Lithuania to medal at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2010

It gave us confidence, it gave us wings for the Elimination Round and that helped us get that third place. There is always a special spirit inside the Lithuanian national team, but that summer, at least from the ones I coached, it was even more special.

Lithuania weren’t among the favorites that summer, but you made a name for yourself as a young, aggressive, energetic team looking to prove themselves. In terms of being overlooked, do you see any similar threads with Austria now?
Both yes and no. It's one thing when you have a quite a lot of potential, but it is largely overlooked and you just help players show their skills, uncovering their potential. And it's another thing, when you may not have that great potential, but you make up for it in other ways. With all due respect for Austrian basketball, one needs to understand that Austria and Lithuania are on entirely different playing fields when it comes to the sport. Austria isn't a basketball country and everyone understands that perfectly.

The players that come to play for the national team may have a slightly different motivation than in Lithuania. I really respect them for representing their country every summer. However, when you play for Lithuania, you get a lot of attention, the players get a lot of interest. The national team is a seal of approval, a stamp of quality.

I want to bring that to Austrian basketball. I want the players to come not to just play some basketball, but also to feel the pride of representing Austria, for it to be a certain stamp of quality. And that stamp of quality can only come with victories. We will try instill that belief in the players that you can achieve good results by playing hard, smart and together. We will try to surprise people.

Let's end the interview on a fun note – all things considered, would you like to end up in Group C of the Qualifiers with Lithuania, Hungary and Poland?
The group with Lithuania in particular? I don’t know (laughs). I did ask myself this question. Playing against Lithuania would probably be tough. With any team. In situations like that, you always have mixed emotions, but I don't think Austria is that big of a rival to Lithuania just yet.

If that does happen, however, I would of course do my job to the best of my abilities. But, first of all, I would just like to make the Qualifiers. That is our goal and we'll see about the group later. 

FIBA