Hapoel Holon visits MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg in Basketball Champions League action as Guy Goodes’s team will look to sweep the two games against the German squad and their coach John Patrick.

The American bench boss has been with Ludwigsburg since 2013 and has had much success having been named the BBL German League coach of the year just last season with the club for his third such award in the competition along with also having captured the prize in the BCL back in 2018.

Just ahead of the contest, The Sports Rabbi spoke with Patrick about a myriad of topics from fielding a competitive team year in and year out, his unique coaching style as well as how he worked his way up the ladder to be in one of the top leagues in the world from his time in high school to college the pros and much more.

“People joke with me that I’m the Forrest Gump of basketball and had three careers,” Patrick began. “I was a late bloomer growing it in the suburbs of DC. I didn’t get to play much at DeMatha Catholic High School with five NBA players in front of me but I was on the bench and I learned a lot there. I went to Stanford for college which was an academic experience and a very good overall experience for me.”

 
Patrick’s introduction to Germany in fact began when he was at Stanford when he traveled across the Atlantic Ocean for a barnstorming tour.

“I visited Germany for the first time in 1990 with the Pac-10 All-Star team and played against the league champions Leverkusen in what was a 7-8 game tour over the summer. It wasn’t what I had expected as people were nice and open and that wasn’t my image beforehand.” 
 
Following graduation, the former point guard headed to Poland to study and to Japan to begin his professional career while also keeping busy in Europe as well which would be extremely helpful for him down the road when he eventually arrived in Germany.

“After Stanford I studied in Krakow about something close to home the Holocaust and World War II. I went to Japan for 13 years and played and was also there as a coach. In fact I was a player/coach for some time and also worked with Nike Grass Roots basketball. My career in Europe is actually tied with the Nike job and worked as I had worked at the original Nike Euro Camps back in the 90’s and 2000’s which took place in Barcelona and Treviso as well as the Basketball Without Borders camps.”
 
Over those summers, Patrick was able to work with some of the continental greats while continuing to get more and more involved in European basketball.

“At those camps I coached some of the top European talents like Juan Carlos Navarro, Marc and Pau Gasol and Marco Belinelli. I also built a network of top young coaches who became my friends and family who then became coaches, general managers and scouts. It was a formative experience. When we had three kids in Japan it was a bit too much due to the logistics of being so far away and we decided to come back to Europe where I had already put together a network through coaching and education. At Red Star I made a video for the hoops summer program with Darko Rajakovic who is now an associate head coach with the Memphis Grizzlies and there I was able to see what the Under-10, Under-12, Under-14 youth programs were like and I was able to see how they were developing players. It was fascinating.”
 
“When I began coaching in Germany at Gottingen, I had tools that I was able to take from all of these places and I started pressing full court and played with four guards as we focused on ball handling. It worked in Japan with Doron Perkins as a rookie and a veteran Charles O’Bannon where we won the league and also had a 20 game winning streak. Our center was sometimes smaller than the other teams point guard. Working with a rookie in Taylor Rochestie at Gottingen, I have a lot to be thankful for as they took a chance on me where I was their first pro coach and played to a demanding style. My coaches Morgan Wootten and Mike Montgomery are both in the Basketball Hall of Fame.”
 
Patrick continued to work on his specialized way of coaching taking various aspects from many a coach including Israeli/American coach David Blatt.

“I saw that style of play from David Blatt when he was coaching the Russian National team. I was close to going to Princeton and was a fan of coach Pete Carril and I saw where the “Maccabi cuts” were done and the five out system, it’s all Princeton. You’re always stealing or others are stealing from you trying to become better. That is what I am doing here in Ludwigsburg which is a mix of American style along with what I have taken from having played orthodox basketball in college and winning the National Championship with DeMatha.”
 
While Patrick’s style of coaching may work for some players it may not be a good fit for others and in the best interest of both parties sometimes the two sides have to part ways he explained.
 
“I had brought in two guys this past summer who are now playing in Israel and I could see that it wasn’t working with us. Quinton Hooker and Scottie James are both good players and we brought them in to be a part of the system and we thought it could work. But it was frustrating for them and for me as the way they played didn’t fit and that doesn’t make them a bad player. I have to talk to the agents and the players at that point and initially it’s emotional. We could go on the entire season with the situation, but they aren’t happy and they won’t play the way we demand whether they are too offensive minded or they are not a good enough passer, rebounder or defender.” 
 
Patrick continued, “I’ve had guys who came in as rookies like Taylor Rochestie and I knew he would make it. He played four minutes in his first game but Taylor stuck with it and became more aggressive and a better decision maker. He ended up becoming the MVP of the Eurochallenge and tore up the league playing against former and future NBA and Euroleague players.”
 
“Current Utah Jazz forward Royce O’Neal didn’t play the way we wanted at first but his fortitude and fighting spirit by the end of the year showed that he was the best player of the league. He had to get used to playing man to man and jumping to the ball from college where they primarily played zone defense.” 
 
The 54-year old bench boss also spoke about how his players have to not only work hard to reach their potential but also how at any age one can fit into a system and work for the collective.

“Players who have stuck with it have done really well and some guys who are not that talented who have done it have had good careers. Players have to practice two times a day and I don’t know if everyone wants to deal with that style. It worked for Pini Gershon’s teams who pressed like crazy and that style isn’t for everybody.” 
 
“I have 40 year olds and 16-17 years old players who are going against NBA players who think they are either washed up or are in high school and they are the ones getting the better of those players who can get better from the system where you can make your opponent nervous.”
 
While Patrick has been on the sidelines for almost twenty years he is content as to where he currently is and hasn’t looked to the other side of the grass just yet, “I have five children and I am focused as to where I am. I’ve had interest in the NBA and Euroleague programs along with bigger name teams but I focused on where I am. The kids are getting older and I am thinking about what could be next but I’ve done my thing.” 
  
Patrick’s 20-year old son Johannes plays under his father at Ludwigsburg which of course brings its own interesting aspect to the always complicated job, “As for coaching my son, that’s like a book. On one hand it’s special but it’s really hard because guys on the team will say I’m harder on them and I have to be as blunt and strict or else I’m accused of playing favorites. I don’t know how many fathers get to coach their sons. Basketball is a game of making mistakes and pushing yourself to the limits.”

“We spend so much time together but on the road I try not to be the father and they appreciate that. The team manager gets along with the players and I don’t have to look after them. He takes care of all of their needs. My wife is the buffer at home and she is a good referee and manages things.”
 
While basketball could end up being a very good profession to some, it’s never a guarantee that it will work out even if it begins on the right foot and therefore it’s always crucial to always have something else in one’s pocket just in case,.

“I would like all players to use basketball as a game and sport and it doesn’t have to be a job. It has to be fun and it’s easy to get sucked in and spit out by the system as a youngster and sacrifice other things away from basketball. You have to have a Plan B because you can be fired or injured and it can be over quickly. I want them to all have long careers and that they take their jobs seriously but to also to enjoy and enjoy their teammates. If they get another job then that would make me just as happy.”

Ludwisgburg is a team with a modest budget that overachieves on a frequent basis thanks to Patrick’s determination and style of play. However, while the club has ended the regular season in first place just last season and played against ALBA Berlin in the finals the year prior, when it comes down to playoff time, the club is usually at a disadvantage against the bigger franchises.
  
“A lot of it has to do with your goals as a coach and where you stand. We have been able to over perform and sometimes you get recognized as I’ve been coach of the year a number of times. We’re not a low budget team and we are somewhere in the middle in Germany. We have stability in Ludwigsburg and compete when we go out and play Holon, Ulm, Oldenburg who have 5-10-15 times our budget. In fact, there are individual players that make more than our whole team together.”
 
“It is great to compete but we are trying to win. We haven’t had a lot of success with the playoff format and we don’t have the luxury of having an 18-man professional roster. It’s hard to play with a smaller roster against the bigger teams.”
 
Facing Euroleague clubs in Berlin and Bayern Munich are tough for a team like Ludwigsburg and Patrick will do his utmost to make sure his team can stand up and have a chance but sometimes it’s a difficult task and there is plenty of pride in finishing in the league’s upper echelon.

“It’s a huge success to make the playoffs and we have to remind ourselves that we have won the regular. But for the postseason you need to have a deeper roster when you play our style and if you play a series then it can be like a war of attrition. I don’t want to take anything away from those teams but if it is a one game or a series with two days of rest if you are playing five games in seven days, then you need bodies. Smaller teams like us with short rosters don’t fare well in series‘ of five games with little to no rest in the playoffs. But I also think that Alba is doing a great job and have deserved the championships in this format.”

“The rules here where you can’t change players as there are no changes from the end of March to the playoffs which are in May and June. If you’re playing in April and you’ve been successful if you have injuries you are dead because you can’t bring in players. We have to live with that. But it’s also about the process and we have won almost 80% of our games in the German league which from top to bottom is the second best league in Europe. When you really have a successful season it is very satisfying and some fans understand that while some don’t.”