Francesco Tabellini in Paris to conquer the European basketball scene

Perhaps Ettore Messina feared being left alone, the only Italian coach at the starting blocks of the next Euroleague, after the breakup between Luca Banchi and Efes and that between Andrea Trinchieri and Zalgiris. Then, suddenly, the announcement came from Paris Basketball , which places the second tricolor flag on a Euroleague bench. What is surprising, at least to non-experts, is the name placed next to the flag: not that of an experienced coach, but that of Francesco Tabellini , making his debut at the highest European levels.

The Emilian coach, born in 1983, takes up the legacy of Tiago Splitter, the Brazilian who returned to the United States after having already played on the NBA parquet with the jerseys of San Antonio, Atlanta and Philadelphia: this time he arrives as assistant coach to Chauncey Billups in Portland. And considering that this is the second coach who leaves Paris to fly to the States, since before him it was Tuomas Iisalo, the Finn who is now head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, who knows if Tabellini can't dream even bigger.

Paris Basketball is one of the most intriguing projects in Europe , the brainchild of David Kahn, former number 1 of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the man who before many others grasped the boundless potential of the French capital, to the point of founding a club from scratch and taking it to the top of Europe - during the last regular season, Paris also found itself at the top of the rankings of the main continental competition, closing its adventure in the quarterfinals - in the space of a few years, during which it also achieved success in the Eurocup in 2024. Tabellini arrives there without even one season as head coach in our championship: after eight years as an assistant in Treviso, in fact, in 2022 he preferred to pack his bags and go to Prague. In the Czech Republic, after a year at USK, he took the reins of Nymburk, winning the championship twice and obtaining more than decent results also in Europe, reaching the quarterfinals of the Fiba Champions League.

He went elsewhere to take the space denied to him in Italy: "In 2022 I had the feeling that the time had come to become head coach, when the team was entrusted to another coach I understood that there was no more space for me: in Italy, if you don't have experience in a certain area, opportunities are rarely given. But then it also becomes difficult to build this experience, and no team at the level I aspired to offered me a bench", he told the "Gazzetta di Modena" a few months ago, explaining the reasons for his choice to expatriate. Yet another confirmation that our coaching school works and is appreciated abroad, but that it is often our own movement that struggles to look beyond. Now, with the status built elsewhere, Tabellini lands on one of the most coveted benches in Europe. An acknowledgement for his courage, as well as for his ability.

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