The Benas Podcast

"Paulius": Paulius first joined Žalgiris Kaunas in 2007 as their director of communications but quickly climbed the latter and became the GM in 2013. Paulius lead the organization through two crises, celebrated multiple championships within the Lithuanian League and elevated the status of Žalgiris Kaunas back to where it belongs in Europe, being a playoff contender each season. The organ...

"Taste Coffee & More": This Specialty Cafe was founded in 2017, downtown Treviso and is one of the most beautiful locations that I've been to. Overlooking a beautiful river with outside and inside seating as well as wifi for those who like to get some work done.  I'm a fan! Fabio and me had a brief conversation about his Cafe, how he started it, what inspired him to do so as...

"Pablito": After spending eleven years with the Real Madrid franchise, coach Pablo Laso is a two time Euroleague champion with the club, 2015 & 2018. He also won six Spanish League championships & six Spanish Cups as well as six Spanish Supercup trophies. In 2015 he also added the prestigious FIBA Intercontinental Cup championship and is the winner of countless "Coach of the...

"Himar": Himar Ojeda started his professional career as an Assistant Coach at Gran Canaria in the ACB from 1999-2007 before transitioning to the front office of the same club.  He also worked as a Sports Director at CB Estudiantes before working as an NBA scout for one season with the Atlanta Hawks. Nevertheless, he chose to take on a new challenge and signed with ALBA Berlin in 2016 and...

Sergėjaus Maslobojevo daug pristatinėti nereikia, tai žmogus, kurio vardą tautiečiai jau asocijuoja su čempiono vardu. Praeitais metais sportininkas iškovojo kikbokso "Glory Light Heavyweight" pasaulio čempiono diržą, 2017m. tapo "WAKO Pro World K-1 Light Heavyweight" čempionu bei nugalėtoju taip pat tapo 2015m. "KOK Light Heavyweight" turnyre. Su Sergėjumi diskutavom...

"Sir John Kirwan": Sir John Kirwan is a former Rugby legend in New Zealand, played for the All Blacks for ten years (1984-1994) before becoming a coach himself. He had the honors of coaching Italy & Japan national teams and learned a lot throughout that period. John struggled with depression as a player but didn't talk about it much before almost deciding to jump out of a window in Argentina. That...

"Hanno": Hanno Möttöla is a Finnish basketball legend with experiences on all levels of the game as a player. After playing for the Utah Utes in the NCAA and getting drafted in the 2nd Round (40th by the Hawks) to play in the NBA, he continued his career in the Euroleague for TAU Ceramica (now Baskonia) before getting injured. He later played in Italy, Lithuania & other countries bef...

"Donatas": Donatas is a well-known journalist and Senior Staff Writer at BasketNews.com and has been around the game of basketball for a long time. He has been reporting on Lithuanian media outlets since 2011 and has experience of reporting from FIBA European Championships in 2011, 2015, 2017 as well as World Cup in 2014 and Rio Olympics in 2016. He also won Lithuanian Sports Journalist...

"Mantas": Mantas Kalnietis - visiems labai gerai žinomas krepšininkas, kaip buvęs Lietuvos krepšinio rinktinės įžaidėjas ir kapitonas. Susumavus Mantas net devynerius metus praleido Kauno Žalgirio komandoje, bet pergalės, individualūs ir komandiniai pasiekimai žaidėjo karjeroje buvo švęsti ne tik namuose, bet ir užsienyje. Visgi ryškiausi pasiekimai Manto karjeroje įvyko žaidžiant Lietuv...

"Il Poz": Today's guest Coach Gianmarco Pozzecco is currently the Head Coach of Italy's senior men's national team. "Il Poz" started his professional player career in 1991 and went on to have a successful career on multiple levels playing for teams like Varese, Fortitudo Bologna, Zaragoza and others, winning 2 Italian Leagues and 2 Italian Supercups while also earni...

"Olegs": Olegs Latisevs is a professional basketball referee who is officiating in the EuroLeague, the top-tier European professional basketball league. Latisevs has been a EuroLeague referee since the 2007-2008 season and has officiated numerous high-profile games in the competition, overall having been a professional referee for over 20 years. He has also officiated in other European basketball...

"Coach Thorpe": David Thorpe is a highly respected basketball coach, known for his ability to develop and improve the skills of players at all levels. He has over 30 years of coaching experience, and has worked with some of the top players and teams in the game. As a coach, David has a proven track record of success. He has helped numerous NBA players reach their full potential and achieve their g...

"Liam": Liam is a full time teacher in the UK and a part time commentator in Euroleague as well as past FIBA events. He's also a full time fan of the game and you can hear it in his voice, the love and passion for the game is definitely to be felt. In today's episode we talked all things commentating the game of basketball. Liam had lots of good stories to tell of how he first got into it and wher...

"Trimby": Andrew is a retired Irish Rugby Union player who spent 13 of his pro years playing for the same team at "Ulster" as well twelve years for the Irish National Team. He was part of the "Celtic League" championship team in 2006 as well as winning the "Triple Crown" in 2006 & 2007 and "Six Nations" tournament in 2014 with the Irish National Team next to countless individual awards. Andrew...

"Highlights": This is a special episode that highlights 5 different episodes with examples of the variety of topics that we go through on this podcast! It starts with problem-solving within an executive group in the NBA Player's Association team and how they approach problems that players have to deal with throughout the season. This was episode #23 with Matteo Zuretti that was recorded in New Yor...

"Erdem": Erdem has a unique journey that started as an Assistant Coach in Ankara and later becoming Head Coach in Olin Edirne as a 30year old. After losing his job he transitioned to becoming a long time Assistant at Fenerbahce Ulker, first under Simone Pianigiani before he earned the trust of Zeljko Obradovic and stayed with him the rest of Zeljko's tenure. Amongst many domestic championships the...

"Maurizio": My guest for this episode was non other than the long time Fenerbahce Istanbul GM, Maurizio Gherardini. Maurizio has a long and very successful career as a basketball executive from which he has countless titles to show for. The most recent international title he celebrated was the Euroleague title with Fenerbahce Istanbul in 2017. His front office career began in the early 1980s in hi...

"David": Today's guest does not need much introduction, David Blatt is one of the most accomplished coaches to ever coach in Europe. One of few coaches to win at every possible level, most notably a Euroleague championship in 2014, Eurocup in 2018, Eurochallenge in 2005, Adriatic League in 2012, European champion at the National Team level in 2007 as well as Bronze in 2011 & Bronze in the Lond...

"Theo": Theo had an illustrious 18year long career in Europe and is well-regarded as one of the best guards of all time in Euroleague. Theo won two Euroleague titles with CSKA ('06 & '08) and has plenty of individual awards to show for, most notably Euroleague MVP in 2007, Final Four MVP in 2006 and many more.  Theo also enjoyed a very successful National Team career with the Greek Nation...

"Roberto": Roberto Iezzi currently is a strength & conditioning coach at Brescia Basket that plays in the Italian league as well as the Eurocup. He also spent three years of his career in Jerusalem working for Hapoel where he trained Amare Stoudamire amongst others. This past summer Roberto also worked with the Italian u20 National Team. He also has two podcasts that he hosts, one is a solely...

"The Team Mechanic": Trent Hotton is a former AFL player who founded his own company "Team Effect" after he spent two years in the UK where he also opened a business in 'training and leadership' to help him advance in that field. Overall, he spent 4 years in the AFL and after two rather disappointing seasons with Collingwood he managed to return 4 years later and played two more season with Carlto...

"Ryan": Ryan Pannone is currently the Head Coach of the GLeague team Birmingham Squadron and already has almost 20 years of coaching experience when he started as a young coach in High School. Shortly after he started to work as an Assistant for David Thorpe as a Player Development coach and quickly realized his passion. Throughout his career he had plenty of responsibilities as a young and aspiri...

"Avi": Avi's career at Maccabi started in 2006 when he became Junior Head Coach and Sports Director while coaching the u16 Israeli National Team. In the 2007 he finally was promoted to the Assistant Coach position at Maccabi Tel Aviv! After working as an Assistant for 5 years, the ownership of Maccabi appointed him to lead the front office and scouting department in order to enhance the organizati...

"Anton": Anton Gavel is a former Slovakian basketball player who became a German National Team player as well as Bundesliga legend. Besides having short stints in the ACB with Murcia as well as in the Greek League with Aris, he spent most of his time winning titles with Brose Bamberg as well as FC Bayern Munich, where he finished his career winning 'The Double' (Cup & League) while being the T...

“Dre”: Andrej Lemanis, one of the top coaches from Australia joined my podcast today. The Australian coach with Latvian heritage has a rich history of coaching after he stopped playing at a young age. His most notable stop was with the New Zealand Breakers from 2005-2013 where he turned the program around and won 3 NBL championships in a row and took the helm of the Boomers. “Dre” also coached the...