MOSCOW (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - Andrei Kirilenko has been in this position before, a part of a Russia basketball set-up that needs a spark.

The Russian Basketball Federation president was the country's leading player a decade ago when the team was lost.

At EuroBasket 2005, Russia fell 66-61 in the Quarter-Finals to eventual champions Greece and then failed to salvage something very important from the tournament.

Russia needed a top-six finish to claim a spot in the 2006 FIBA Basketball World Cup but Lithuania beat them in the Classification Round, 89-78.

Kirilenko, who had poured in 20 points and corralled 16 rebounds in the defeat to Greece but also broke his nose late in the game, couldn't play against the Lithuanians.

What happened next set Russian basketball on a path of success for the next several years.

What happened next helped them pull off arguably the biggest comeback in modern basketball history.

The Russians named David Blatt, who had coached Dynamo St Petersburg through a perfect, 19-win campaign in the 2004-05 FIBA Europe League, as the new national team boss.

Blatt, who was born, raised and educated in the United States but moved to Israel to play professional basketball and became a citizen of that country, led a Russian revival that saw the team shock hosts Spain in the EuroBasket 2007 Final in Madrid.

JR Holden hit a go-ahead jumper with just two seconds remaining and Pau Gasol's potential game-winning shot hit the backboard and rim but stayed out.

The celebrations for Russia in the immediate aftermath were unforgettable. Blatt spoke to me on the court after the game.

Though Russia fell flat one year later at the 2008 Olympics and failed to even reach the Quarter-Finals, they did make it to the last eight of the 2010 FIBA Basketball World Cup without Kirilenko and also took third at EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania.

They went on to seal a place in the London Games at the 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament and also won bronze at that Summer Games in Britain.

Kirilenko was not around when Blatt did his best bit of coaching.

Immediately after their second qualifying game for EuroBasket 2007, a 91-80 defeat at Belgium, Blatt challenged the players.

"After that loss," he said during EuroBasket 2007, "I walked inside the locker room and went crazy, threw things around and told the players that now I understand why everybody, including myself, thought that Russia is a loser team.

"After that game, a lot of people back home said, 'this is the same old thing.'

"They were saying Russia is just losers, but since that game everything has changed."

Change is what Russia now need.

Evgeny Pashutin, a good coach, couldn't get the results the national team needed at EuroBasket 2015.

Russia (RUS) at EuroBasket 2015

Pashutin didn't have Timofey Mozgov or Alexey Shved, or players like Kirilenko, Victor Khryapa or JR Holden, yet Russia could have and probably should have reached the Round of 16 with a top four finish in Group A in Montpellier.

Russia had a 12-point lead against Israel early in the second half of their opener but unravelled and lost, 76-73.

Narrow defeats to Poland (82-79), Finland (81-79) and France (74-67) followed.

Russia did beat Bosnia and Herzegovina, 81-61, in their last game but by that point, they had no chance of advancing.

The Russian Basketball Federation always make public their assessment of the performances of coaches at tournaments and the job of Pashutin and his staff was deemed "unsatisfactory".

There was an acknowledgement that other factors worked against Pashutin, including "...the absence of leading players, the change of leadership of the federation and a number of organizational issues."

Pashutin didn't make any excuses.

"The team is inseparable from their coach," he said.

Pashutin actually fell on his sword because he could have continued at the helm of the national side.

Instead, he said he needed to give 100 percent focus to UNICS Kazan, the team he coaches in the VTB United League and the Eurocup.

Kirilenko was always hailed for his talent and determination on the court, but also his smarts.

In the NBA, he was a player that chose not to wear headphones before games but rather read books, something like Tolstoy or Bulgakov.

He set a tone of professionalism in the changing room that gave Russia an edge.

At the Russian federation's next meeting in December to talk about the coaching situation with the men's national team, Kirilenko will make his most important decision since becoming president of the federation.

Will he choose a Russian or look abroad?

It's something that he needs to figure out.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

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