HELSINKI, October 17, 2017 - Finland coach Henrik Dettmann haslaunched a robust defense of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019Qualifiers windows and denounced the EuroLeague as a "grave danger for notonly European basketball, but the whole of institutionalized sport."

In an interview with his country's basketball federation website,the coach that has steered the Susijengi into the last four FIBA EuroBasketsand helped take the sport in his homeland to new heights has brandedthe EuroLeague as hypocrites when they rejected a recent attempt at acompromise by FIBA related to the World Cup Qualifiers windows.

"It's absurd that EuroLeague released a statement claimingthey are worried about how much the players have to travel in the national teamwindows," Dettmann said. "Back in 2016, EuroLeague decided to nearlydouble their own regular season game totals."

Dettmann chastised the EuroLeague for how it operates.

"While EuroLeague has the grand ambition to form an 'NBA ofEurope', factually the league has only been shrinking throughout theyears," he said. "EuroLeague is run by a handful of elite clubs andfor the rest, their business is highly unprofitable. Meanwhile, the millionairemoguls running the show in the EuroLeague are only interested in individualsuccess of the clubs.

"At worst, EuroLeague is like a superpower ingeopolitical chess. It divides the wealth between a handful of friends,tries to influence the middle class - also known as the spectators - withmind games and circus, rattles their weapons against anyone that disagreeswith them and moves internationally agreed borders slowly, inch by inch, sothat no one can take notice before it's too late."

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Dettmann cited the important role that national federationshave always had for players.

"Thepath of young players from their own back yard to the top of the world istraditionally built upon national federations," he said. "If thispath were to be cut off, the whole market would be filled with ahuge number of free agents that are eager to pick the fruits from thetrees but are not ready to grow, nourish and trim the tree itself. A primeexample of this is the NCAA bribe scandal last month. 

"EuroLeaguefollows business logic and business logic only. It presents a grave danger fornot only European basketball, but the whole of institutionalized sport as well.We're talking about something much bigger than just a couple of qualifiersgames here and there. We're talking about referee education, junior playerdevelopment, the basic everyday operations of basketball clubs."

Dettmann says basketball is not the only sport underthreat by the way the EuroLeague conducts its business.

"Firstthey take basketball, then they move on to the next one," he said."The next one in line might be soccer, since soccer is much a biggerindustry than basketball in Europe."

The veterancoach says the EuroLeague, in its criticism of the World CupQualifiers, is wrong to compare itself to the NBA and the NCAA, which arenot compelled to release players for the November and February World CupQualifiers windows.

"Thecomparison to the NBA and NCAA is also beyond my understanding," Dettmannsaid. "The NBA and NCAA operate on a whole different continent and incompletely different conditions than EuroLeague. These two American leagues andthe EuroLeague can't be compared."

With theEuroLeague refusing to budge on its insistence that its games must be playedduring the windows, Dettmann says players are being put under unnecessarypressure. FIBA recently offered a compromise that was rejected by theEuroLeague.

"The biggest threat is that if there is no compromisesolution, the clubs and national teams roll the ball to the players and letthem make the decision," Dettmann said. "But the players' job is toplay, not to fight somebody else's wars."

Dettmannreferred to Spanish basketball, where national team coach Sergio Scariolo isexpected to name a roster for the World Cup Qualifiers that has players onclubs that compete in the EuroLeague.

"Whatmakes this interesting is that Jorge Garbajosa of Spanish Basketball Federationhas been told to invite all the EuroLeague players to the FIBA World Cup qualifiers,since it would be against the Spanish law if the players were not toparticipate in national team duties," he said. "We'll see whathappens in this case."

Players often cite the national team as being the most importantone they play for. Miami Heat star Goran Dragic recently called Slovenia'sFIBA EuroBasket 2017 title triumph the highlight of his career. When it comesto the national side, the players want to wear the shirt of their country. Theycrave for the opportunity to do so before their own fans.

"Thewhole idea of national team sports is based on payback principle," saidDettmann, who also had a spell as Germany coach and led them to a Third-Place finishat the 2002 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Indianapolis. "When a playerrepresents his home country, they reach out to their country and basketballcommunity - the whole extended family behind them. Players represent theirnational teams when they identify their roots, want to give back and share thecommon good.

"Duringmy 25 years as a national team head coach, I have seen time and time again howimportant the national team is to all the players and how sincerely they wantto play in front of the people who have been behind them as well as the nextgenerations. 

"Peoplerunning the EuroLeague do not recognize the relationship between players andnational teams. When they suggested how the whole national team activitiesshould be organized in July - Olympic Games, too - it said everything aboutthem and the principles they follow."

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Dettmann also pointed out the need for FIBA to make decisions inthe best interest of the sport.

"Naturally,"he said, "FIBA has gone through tough times but they have learned fromtheir past mistakes and nowadays, they are a prime example of a modern sportsorganization understanding transparency, democracy and principles ofbylaws. 

"If noone were to take responsibility in the totality of the game as a whole, therewould be no common good. There would only be a dog-eat-dog world filled withself-proclaimed caliphates who only try to gather as much power and money aspossible."

Hence, FIBAdeemed the need for national team games throughout the year as criticaland not just during summers.

"Foranyone in the entertainment industry, it is mandatory to operate in the marketfull-time," Dettmann said. "While EuroLeague has improved itsbrand these past years, Real Madrid can gather only a tenth of theattendance ratings the Spanish national team can. With the German national teamin 2002, we challenged soccer in TV ratings during the FIBA World Cup.”

"National teams can rally the large crowds around them andignite dreams and create space for the sport to grow. For instance, at EuroBasket2017, Finland and Slovenia turned into phenomena. The Susijengi tripled the TVratings of Finland's soccer national team, even though soccer has seven timesthe number of players in Finland compared to basketball.

"Thereturn to the national team window system is only a small part of a biggertotality. It is a remarkable fight in the battle between the basic fundamentalsand principles of sports against faceless market forces."