The Paris Basketball head coach, and newly crowned EuroCup champion, sat down with Javier Gancedo

A journey inside the mind of Tuomas Iisalo

There is not a coach in European basketball who is a hotter property than Paris Basketball boss Tuomas Iisalo.

After leading Telekom Baskets Bonn to the Basketball Champions League title in 2022-23, the Finnish tactician brought his talents to the French capital and secured another continental crown, this time the BKT EuroCup. The 41-year-old has already achieved history, but if he were to do the unthinkable and lift the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague next season, it would be an unprecedented success.

Perhaps that is getting a bit ahead of ourselves, but with Iisalo, you never know. What is certain is that his coaching career is – and has been – on an upwards trajectory for quite a while now and he will be a valuable addition to next year’s EuroLeague.

Paris wowed fans across the continent by breaking records, notching win after win and blowing teams away with its offense, but Iisalo’s journey has been on a long time in the making.

"I started coaching in the sixth grade. I was 11 years old I think,” he tells Javier Gancedo of [EuroCupBasketball.net](http://EuroCupBasketball.net). “I had a stress-related knee injury and at that point in time, in the middle of the ‘90s or early ‘90s, the cure was six months of no sports. This was a huge blow, obviously.

“Luckily, there was a junior coach in our club who asked me to go and work as an assistant coach with the younger kids. And ever since then, there's been maybe one or two seasons that I haven't been involved in coaching, but it started back then. Now, 30 years have passed.”

"I started coaching in the sixth grade. I was 11 years old I think."

As an inquisitive teenager, Iisalo wanted to do everything in his powers to become the best basketball player that he could be. Little did he know back then, but all that time studying some legends of the game would end up helping him further down the line.

“I think the big change for me was in upper high school when I was around 15. I was in a small town of 7,000 people and just trying to find ways to get better as a player,” he explains. “Amazon was founded back then so you could start ordering books and I soon started ordering a lot of coaching books and VHS cassettes from the Duke team with Mike Dunleavy, Jay Williams, Carlos Boozer. I watched a lot of those games.

“My brother and I, we would spend every day working on our jump shots, watching the best shooters in the NBA – Reggie Miller losing the players on off-ball screens, how he would use his hands to create the openings, how he would read those screens; Allan Houston, I would watch \[his clips\] on a frame by frame with a VHS and then try to go to the backyard to emulate his shooting form.

“Then I was coaching my brother's team and at some point on [NBA.com](http://NBA.com), they would always feature a playbook from one of the teams. And we actually took some plays when my brother was like 13 from the Utah Jazz. It is a funny thing to laugh about right now. But the kids were excited and there was some structure.”

Even before his playing days came to an end, Iisalo was trying to put what he had learnt into practice. That involved setting up an academy, which started to bear fruit not long after, while one of the main people involved in that project ended up joining Iisalo in Paris.

“At one point, I think when I was 23 or 24, I moved back to Kouvola \[in Finland\],” he says. “I actually made a pitch to the club that, ‘Hey, I would like to, with another guy, take over the junior department.’ At the same time, I was playing professionally, I was the captain of the team at that point and had just made it to the national team.

“But what if I would also start to run these high-school practices and we build up an academy? And we did. It was really nice. One of the players that went through that was Matti Nuutinen, who had a nice national team career. There was also the player development group that Harri Mannonen ran in Kouvola which produced Tuomas Hirvonen, a very, very good player, as well as Alexander Madsen, who's playing for Andorra right now.

“I was in a good place in Kouvola. And really, I had the best of luck in meeting my mentor there, Harri Mannonen, who 20 years ago or almost 25 years ago was so far ahead of his time that people didn't understand. But it gave me that impulse that, ‘Wait, you can do it this way?’ This is amazing. It's not about how serious you are about this craft, it's about how much time you have to invest. Harri is working for us right now in Paris Basketball. He's basically mentoring all of our coaches and providing feedback about everything.”

A lot of Iisalo’s success has ultimately come down to hard work. Having finished his career as a 31-year-old in 2014, he had already completed all his coaching badges and was able to start work, getting his first job almost immediately with Tapiolan Honka in the Finnish first division.

“You can dream about things, but it was never something that I thought was going to lead to something like this,” Iisalo notes. “Through luck and through effort, it's taken me this far. It was a very active process from my side.

“I can say that I spent 15 to 20 hours every week just studying and coaching by myself. I wasn't in any university or any program. I just did it first to try to improve as a player, to try to understand what can make me a better player. It wasn’t always successful, but I always learned something.

“The more you invest in something, the harder it is to give that up. But I was very proactive in this way. And I think that's also a part of the reason why I think differently about the game. My inputs were very different. And that's why also the output, which is how our team plays, is also different from maybe many other programs.”

“You can dream about things, but it was never something that I thought was going to lead to something like this.”

It hasn’t all been butterflies and rainbows, though. Iisalo suffered a difficult first season at Honka and spent the beginning of the following campaign coaching the club’s junior B team. Then came a call from Crailsheim Merlins, who were fighting to stay alive in the German top flight. It was a challenge, but one Iisalo was more than willing to accept.

“When I went there, there were only 10 games left. I learned a lot during this time,” he comments. “I learned that a human being needs sleep and food. I learned this because I literally worked 16-hour days. At that point, I really couldn't sleep.

“I came in as a complete novice from Finland and I was telling myself, ‘Don't f\*ck this up.’ Not because of a lack of effort. You're never going to be ready for this, so you might as well do \[your best\] right now. I did everything I could. It wasn't enough. But after that experience, I learned a lot. The next season, we were successful in Crailsheim in the second league, but we couldn't manage to move up. But the next year, we did move up.”

Having suffered relegation with Crailsheim before bringing them back up at the second time of asking, the Finnish head coach was starting to feel the heat as the pressure started to mount during a tricky season back in the top tier. But, as he alludes to, it ended up helping him big time in the long term.

“Seba \[Herrera, Paris’s all-action forward\] was with me for the second year and it was a very, very difficult season,” Iisalo recalls. “I learned a lot but almost paid a very high price by losing my job because of the results. And that's obviously a reality that every coach has to go through at some point.

“I was lucky enough to keep my job mid-season and we turned around our process to a much more demanding direction. It was a part of my personal growth. At some point, we developed a very good methodology for teaching our system and getting the players to understand what we want in certain situations.

“When I started out as a coach, I was using a collection of drills, exercises and sets from my previous coaches or seeing this at a clinic or this team did this, but it was not very coherent. It was not a logical combination. And then you develop the tools, you develop the methodology.”

"I developed a very fearless attitude in my opinion where I made decisions that were not viewed as popular from the outside."

All coaches have their own idols and people who they have drawn ideas from, and that’s also true of Iisalo. In particular, two Spanish coaches had a way of seeing basketball that caused plenty of intrigue for the 41-year-old, one of whom is a former EuroCup champion and the other a former EuroCup Coach of the Year.

“I learned a lot from coaches like Aito Garcia, who was coaching at ALBA Berlin, because we always lost to them by 30-40 points and I was like, ‘How is this possible?’ I have to learn what he does,” Iisalo recalls. “For example, I would watch his YouTube clinics in Spanish – you couldn’t get subtitles in those. I would write into Google Translate what I thought he was saying and translate those. Then a whole new world opened up for me because it was a very different type of way to organize basketball in your mind than the one I had grown up with, like maybe the Balkan school or the American type of approach.

“The second one who helped a lot in that was Pedro Martinez, who also had great clinics online and would outline the drills to work on for specific concepts and always talked about doing the basic things at a high level – that is the key. I really took that to heart and we developed a nice methodology.”

However, the thing that really provided the biggest change in Iisalo’s coaching journey came during the 2018-19 season, when Crailsheim just survived relegation by the skin of their teeth. For Iisalo, he knew that he never wanted to be in that situation again and thus looked to increase the standards to an even higher level.

“I didn’t want to be the weak link,” he recalls. “At that point I developed much thicker skin. I developed a very fearless attitude in my opinion where I made decisions that were not viewed as popular from the outside or were met with questions, such as taking players from smaller leagues. But I was like, ‘We see something in this and we are the ones who have to make these decisions.’

“You cannot take decisions through fear. You have to make them through your intuition and through the information that you've gathered. This was when the results really changed. After this we won 75-80% of all of our games, first in Crailsheim and then in Bonn. That number went up and now in Paris, obviously in the EuroCup, it’s been extremely high. That was a big personal change during this because I was able to finally, five years after I had retired as a player, kind of kill the player inside me and become a real coach. After that, it's been a very different experience.”

The undisputed star of the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season dishes on winning the crown and what a special campaign it was

TJ Shorts, Paris: 'We were built for this'

The 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season is over and one player stood above everyone else in leading Paris Basketball to its first-ever European title. Playmaker [TJ Shorts](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/players/tj-shorts/012608/) dominated the competition like no one before. He became the first player in EuroCup history to earn quarterfinals, semifinals, finals and season MVP honors. He led the competition in PIR (23.2), assists (7.4 apg.) and two-point shots made (5.8), ranked second in scoring (17.8 ppg.) and third in steals (2.0 spg.). Shorts averaged 18.5 points and a PIR of 24.0 in the finals against Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse. No other player on either team averaged more than 12.5 points or a higher PIR than 15.5. Shorts said he believes that though his leadership was obvious, the whole team and its hard work allowed Paris to be so strong all season long. "We have a group of guys that are experienced in championship games, and I think that helped us carry this," Shorts told Javier Gancedo of [EuroCupBasketball.com](http://EuroCupBasketball.com) in front of the locker room door right after the finals. "And there wasn't one guy that helped us win this championship. It was a collective effort, and this is just amazing."

#### Congratulations on winning the EuroCup and being named MVP of the Finals. What does it mean for you after such a long season?

"Thank you, thank you. This is what we worked for all year, to finish with the trophy is just the icing on the cake. It has been an incredible season, one loss in the competition. It has been a lot of work since we got here in August and I am just grateful for everybody that has contributed to this championship, from the coaches, the players, the people behind doors, in the offices. Everybody that contributed is great."

"I am just grateful for everybody that has contributed to this championship, from the coaches, the players, the people behind doors, in the offices."

#### Going back to Game 1 of the finals, you had a great start, and that was the key to the game. What allowed you to play so well right away?

"We were built for this. We practice way harder than the way we play. We have seen this before. We have a group of guys that are experienced in championship games and I think that helped us carry this. And there wasn't one guy that helped us win this championship. It was a collective effort, and this is just amazing."

#### Bourg had a great effort in Game 2 but you prevailed with a great fourth quarter. How did you feel on the court? 

"We knew it was going to be tough. They have a great crowd here. It was hostile, they were whistling at us. This is what we expected. But we knew if we took that first initial punch and set the tone, we would be able to close out the game. And that's what we did."

Paris Basketball star playmaker TJ Shorts averaged 18.5 points and a PIR of 24.0 in the finals against Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse.

2023-24 EuroCup Finals highlights: TJ Shorts, Paris

#### You congratulated all the Bourg players, one by one, before the trophy ceremony. How important was it for you to show that respect? 

"At the end of the day, you have to look at people man to man, eye to eye. Every single guy on that court went to battle, and there are no hard feelings. So you have to dap up everybody: win, lose or draw. It is respect between the players, and that's what basketball is about, bringing people together."

#### You started your career in Ventspils. Four years later, you have won two European competitions with different teams, earning MVP honors everywhere. How great is that? 

"It is amazing. This is a run, and I'm still on it. This marathon continues, and this is just another point in my career where I'm going to take a level up and a step in the right direction. To come from Ventspils, to come from college, junior college, where nobody believed in me, to now, this is an incredible feeling and this is something that I would not take for granted at all."

#### How does it feel to play for a coach who understands you so well?

"It's amazing when you have a coach that believes in you. This is just incredible. And I mean, I'm thankful for him, for believing in me. I'm thankful for him giving me the reins. It is great."

The interview was interrupted when TJ was called back to the locker room for Coach Iisalo's victory speech. He returned covered in champagne, wearing protective goggles and with the EuroCup Trophy in his hands.

"I'm thankful for Coach Iisalo for believing in me. I'm thankful for him giving me the reins."

#### You have now qualified for the EuroLeague next season. What does it mean for you and the city of Paris?

"It's everything! Everybody is working to get to the highest level, which is EuroLeague, and for us to be able to punch our ticket is huge. Obviously, this is something that is in the future. We won't really worry about it now. The only thing is finishing the season. And when that time comes, we will be prepared."

#### You are creating a basketball culture in Paris. A lot of people have tried before you without much success. How important is that?

"That is the goal. When we first arrived here the goal was to create something special. And I think this is a great step in the right direction. I just hope that there is more winning in the future because that is the only thing that matters."

#### Finally, how are you going to celebrate this?

"I don't want to say it, but drinks and days off..."

Shorts was at that moment cut off by Coach Iisalo, who laughingly yelled: "Days off!?!?! There is a 4 p.m. recovery practice!"

Shorts then concluded the interview by saying: "Make sure you emphasize the days off. Because days off are coming!"

Mikael Jantunen, Paris: 'We clearly deserved to win'

EuroCup champions! It's still an unbelievable feeling. It was, for sure, one of the main goals for the season that we set out as a team. We just went out and did it through the hard work we put in and I also think we clearly deserved to win the competition. We had a great season. I think I said it earlier already, it goes back to the way we started working from the first day, and that as a group, we knew what we wanted to achieve. It was always on our mind and we worked for it really hard.

We had a strong start to Game 1 of the finals. Of course, we were super locked in and focused. We were really set up to go out there and deliver the first punch, from the tip-off. And that's exactly what we did! We came out playing great basketball with high intensity. It all started with our defense. We were super, super locked in and we were on the same page as a team the whole first half. Our coaches got us well-prepared and we knew exactly what we were supposed to do.

"My first memory is being at the bottom of the pile, just yelling with everybody else from the team."

Of course, it was a different setup going into Game 2. It was an away game with the home team with its back against the wall. We knew Bourg was going to come out and be ready to play and that it wasn't going to be anything like the first game. And of course, it was different. We knew it was going to be a battle, a long battle, and we had to work for it all 40 minutes, to give it everything we had. We knew that going in and a lot of credit goes to Bourg. They played a great game at home and their fans were amazing. It was a great atmosphere for the whole game. It was a battle.

In Game 2, we got some stops and hit some big shots early in the fourth quarter. I got wide-open shots because my teammates found me. And then the last three was Tyson \[Ward\] on the fast break, the way we want to play, fast-paced. TJ \[Shorts\] found him in the corner. Hey, it's just the way we play! We just got to keep it going and at some point, we are going to get our chance to make a run and we for sure used it. And it was a crucial time in the game and we were ready to use the moment when it came to us.

<center>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/ParisBasketball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ParisBasketball</a> are champions, absolute jubilation as <a href="https://twitter.com/TjShorts5?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TjShorts5</a> collapses to the ground, what a season, what an achievement! <a href="https://t.co/nIK5hCmJMH">pic.twitter.com/nIK5hCmJMH</a></p>&mdash; BKT EuroCup (@EuroCup) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroCup/status/1778878790417989655?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I don't remember much of the on-court celebration, but I remember being at the bottom of the pile with TJ and Nadir. It's not blurry, but there were just a lot of emotions. We are a very, very happy group of people, the feeling is kind of hard to describe at the same time because it still takes some days, maybe months to figure out how we actually felt. But my first memory is being at the bottom of the pile, just yelling with everybody else from the team. That's the main thing I can remember from the on court celebrations.

Mikael Jantunen of Paris Basketball became the third Finnish player to win the competition, after Hanno Mottola and Petteri Koponen.

2023-24 EuroCup Finals highlights: Mikael Jantunen, Paris

We all went to the press conference room to throw water on TJ and Coach Iisalo. I have no idea whose idea was! I remember Nadir was excited about it, so maybe Nadir had something to do with it. He was pushing for it, but everybody just grabbed some water and we were waiting for him. Coach went to speak for a little bit and then it was go-time. It wasn't that much, I think Nadir got a little bit of his startup, but then the whole team was ready for it though. I heard Tyson asked TK about his 2K skills during the press conference. I didn't hear the question. I try to stay away from their 2K talk, it usually causes a lot of arguments and disagreements. So I take a step back from their 2K playing.

After the game, we stayed in Bourg. We went to the hotel and were told that our families and friends were there. We had dinner and just enjoyed the night in Bourg. The next day we took a train to Paris, had some rest and after that, we met at the town hall of the 18th area in Paris, where our fans showed up. It was nice, and close how you usually celebrate a championship, or that's what I think it is. I haven't won too many yet, but it was nice. We celebrated with the people who did it: the staff, the team members and their families. We just enjoyed our time and their company. 

"We still have some unfinished business for the season."

It's great to see people in Paris so excited about basketball and the change from the beginning of the season until now. A lot has to do with the fans and I want to thank them for supporting us on a daily basis. We have worked hard to get the fans into the game. For that, you need to win and play entertaining basketball. You have to achieve stuff to get people interested, and I think the team has done it so far this year. People are interested in seeing us play and that's what gets the fans going. The fans make sure the gym is loud and when you go to a place like that with that atmosphere, it's a good experience and you usually want to come back. And that's how fans might find their way back to the gym. Hopefully, our fan base will still grow from this.

It's been a lot of celebrating but also a lot of recovering. We still have some unfinished business for the season. We have a couple of regular season games left before the French League playoffs and then we are going to go for a third trophy. It is going to be a super hard challenge with a lot of good teams in the French League, but it's exciting. We don't know too much about next season yet but of course, playing in the EuroLeague has been a personal goal of mine. I am excited for opportunities like that to come forward. And then also some national team action in the summer, so it's going to be a very exciting spring-summer, getting ready for next year.

EuroCup Fantasy Challenge: 2023-24 full season winners!

Congratulations to Lukasz Lisowski of Poland on winning the [2023-24 BKT EuroCup Fantasy Challeng](https://eurocupfantasy.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/home)e! Lukasz finished atop the pack with his team Lisorze, which tallied 4,329.65 fantasy points. As our overall winner, Lukasz has won two VIP tickets to the 2025 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four, as well as a EuroCup jersey of his choice, a EuroCup official Spalding basketball and a EuroLeague TV Subscription for the 2024-25 season to follow all games live or on-demand!

Clement Plassard was second overall with 4,325.00 fantasy points, followed by Ruslanas Latonas (4,300.00), Uros Kostic (4,286.90) and Arale Weisberg (4,265.00). In addition, Francesco Caputo Ricardo won the lottery among Rounds Winners, which was exclusive to the 25 participants who were round champions throughout the season. Francesco's team Gli Inarrestabili, the Round 16 winner, won two tickets to the 2025 Final Four and a EuroLeague TV Subscription for the 2024-25 Season!

Here is a list of winners and their respective prizes:

 

#### 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season WINNER

**Lisorze - Lukasz Lisowski, Poland**

 

\-   2x VIP Tickets to the 2025 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four

 -   1x EuroCup jersey of winner’s choice

 -   1x EuroCup official Spalding basketball

 -   1x VIP EuroLeague TV Subscription for the 2024-25 Season

 

#### 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season, second place

**Plassboub - Clement Plassard, France**

 

\-   10x Regular Season Game tickets for the 2024-25 Season of winner’s choice (following availability)

 -   1x VIP EuroLeague TV Subscription for the 2024-25 Season

 -   1x EuroCup jersey of winner’s choice

 -   1x EuroCup official Spalding basketball

 

#### 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season, third place

**Black-Green Bulls - Ruslanas Latonas, Lithuania**

 

\-   8x Regular Season Game tickets for the 2024-25 Season of winner’s choice (following availability)

 -   1x VIP EuroLeague TV Subscription for the 2024-25 Season

 -   1x EuroCup jersey of winner’s choice

 -   1x EuroCup official Spalding basketball

 

#### 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season, fourth place

**GargamelFalkao - Uros Kostic, Serbia**

 

\-   6x Regular Season Game tickets for the 2024-25 Season of winner’s choice (following availability)

 -   1x VIP EuroLeague TV Subscription for the 2024-25 Season

 -   1x EuroCup jersey of winner’s choice

 

#### 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season, fifth place

**Kattasheffer - Arale Weisberg, Israel**

 

\-   4x Regular Season Game tickets for the 2024-25 Season of winner’s choice (following availability)

 -   1x VIP EuroLeague TV Subscription for the 2024-25 Season

 -   1x EuroCup jersey of winner’s choice

 

#### Rounds Winners Lottery (lottery only exclusive to round winners, 25 participants)

**Gli Inarrestabili - Francesco Caputo Ricardo, Italy (Regular Season Round 16 winner)**

 

\-   1x VIP EuroLeague TV Subscription for the 2024-25 Season

 -   Automatic entry to a lottery to win 2x Tickets to the 2025 Final Four (lottery only exclusive to round winners – 18 participants)

 

#### 1st Place in Full Season Fantasy Clash Quiz

**Aivaras Rastauskas, Lithuania**

 

\-   4x Regular Season Game tickets for the 2024-25 Season of winner’s choice (following availability)

The best team in the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup season lifted the trophy. After a dominating display during the regular season, Paris Basketball defeated Minidelice JL Bourg en Bresse to win the title, earning the right to play next season’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague thanks to the team’s first-ever European title.

Paris’s victory over the French side, one of the few times two teams from the same country have met for the BKT EuroCup trophy, was a sweep that felt like it couldn’t be otherwise, as the French capital’s team has set a new all-time best record in the competition. Thanks to their 2-0 finals win against Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse, the best team in the regular season’s Group B, Paris Basketball achieved a near-perfect 22-1 balance for the whole season.

[MORE...](https://www.eurohoops.net/en/eurocup/1658630/paris-basketball-the-best-bkt-eurocup-champion-ever/)

The French capital’s team will join the Turkish Airlines Euroleague thanks to an almost perfect season in the BKT EuroCup, losing only one game for an unforgettable run to its first continental trophy

Paris Basketball: The best BKT EuroCup champion ever

TJ Shorts did what no-one ever did before in the BKT EuroCup by earning the full-season, quarterfinal, semifinals and finals MVP honors. And he did it while earning the respect from everyone on the team, from team owner David Kahn, who praised him after the game, to all of his teammates, who left the locker room to celebrate with him in the press conference. It was as much what Shorts means to them off the court as on it that they appreciated.

Paris president David Kahn on MVP Shorts: "TJ wins"

Paris Basketball playmaker [TJ Shorts](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/players/tj-shorts/012608/) has accomplished what no BKT EuroCup player before him ever did by earning the [full-season](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/news/bkt-eurocup-mvp-2023-24-t-j-shorts-paris-basketball/), [quarterfinal](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/news/quarterfinals-mvp-tj-shorts-paris/), [semifinals](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/news/semifinals-mvp-tj-shorts-paris-basketball/) and [finals MVP](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/news/eurocup-finals-mvp-tj-shorts-paris-basketball/) honors.

What's more, he did it while earning huge respect from everyone around the team, from [Paris club president David Kahn](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/euroleague/news/a-quarter-with-kyle-hines-club-president-david-kahn-discusses-the-growth-of-paris-basketball/), who praised him after the game, to all of his teammates, who left the locker room to celebrate with him in the press conference. It was as much what Shorts means to them off the court as on it that they appreciated.

The professionalism Shorts showed soon  after his teammates piled on top of him at Ekinox to celebrate [Paris's 81-89 title-winning victory ](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/game-center/2023-24/mincidelice-jl-bourg-en-bresse-paris-basketball/U2023/196/)over host Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse on Friday explained why.

<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wildest preas conference in European basketball?<a href="https://twitter.com/NadirHifi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NadirHifi</a> leading the show!<br><br>Congratulations, <a href="https://twitter.com/ParisBasketball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ParisBasketball</a>!!! cc <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroCup?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@EuroCup</a> <a href="https://t.co/p2szZUZ2EU">pic.twitter.com/p2szZUZ2EU</a></p>&mdash; Javier Gancedo (@ganchetto) <a href="https://twitter.com/ganchetto/status/1778890407251685868?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Before the trophy presentation, Shorts went to shake the hands of all Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse players for their effort during the finals, even looking for the ones who were not close to their bench. He went on to praise Bourg in the press conference.

"Credit to Bourg. That is a tough basketball team and this is a tough place to play. The gym was rocking," Shorts said.

Asked about his team's star playmaker, Kahn shared a private conversation he had with him right after winning.

"I'll share with you what I said to TJ just now, and that is he is defining himself with the highest accolade you can have in sports. He's a winner. You know, people talk about leading scorers and leading rebounders and assist-to-turnover ratio and statistics. But TJ wins," Kahn said. "He's been winning now in Europe at the highest level in several competitions. And when you become a winner like that by reputation, there's no higher accolade."

His teammate [Tyson Ward](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/players/tyson-ward/012610/) agreed.

"I think it shows for itself, man. I mean, he's a great dude on and off the court, brings an energy and holds everyone accountable, even himself. No matter if it's a good game or a bad game, you know, he doesn't have too many of those, but he's always there for everybody on the team. He's the one," Ward said.  

"He's the loudest in the locker room. He's the loudest on the court sometimes, and he's just a great leader. He embodies the role that he's in. He knows that he makes big-time plays and he really like embraces his role. And you can see it night in and night out. And I'm super proud of him. And I think he's going to be very special as time goes on. And what we're witnessing right now is just something truly special."

<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">You don’t have to say a thing <a href="https://twitter.com/TjShorts5?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TjShorts5</a> you did your talking on the court…<br><br>You’re a CHAMP 🏆 <a href="https://t.co/ViroDfbNO4">pic.twitter.com/ViroDfbNO4</a></p>&mdash; BKT EuroCup (@EuroCup) <a href="https://twitter.com/EuroCup/status/1778879144362676255?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 12, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

Ward had a special treat for Shorts during the post-game press conference. After the whole team interrupted it to throw water at Shorts and head coach Tuomas Iisalo, Ward and [Collin Malcolm](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/players/collin-malcolm/012609/) stayed for the rest of it. Ward was even allowed to throw in a hilarious question about his teammate's video game skills.

"Tyson, we are here for T Ward's newsletter, this one's for TJ. Let's talk about your video game life. We are going to comment on your 2K game," he said. "Some would say there are quite a few players on the team that call you 'not surgical' on the 2K floor. And how do you bring your style of play into the game of 2K? Because it doesn't work!"

"First of all, thank you Tyson Ward media, I hope it's over soon," Shorts joked.

"I'm just going to go out and say this, and I'm going to say it one time and leave it at that," he added, standing up and looking to Ward in the eyes. "Colin Malcolm is the number one gamer on our team and at number two, it's me, TJ Shorts. And I'm saying this with my whole heart and chest, Tyson Ward! 

Shorts left everyone in the room laughing just as he left every fan who saw him dominate the season awed at his gifted performances.

Game News

Game Videos

Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse v Paris Basketball (2024-04-12T17:30:00.000Z)

Paris Basketball is the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup champion. Paris has punched its ticket to the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, finished the EuroCup campaign with an all-time best record of 22-1 and was the first team to win 22 games in a season.

Six of its players and head coach Tuomas Iisalo also won the FIBA Basketball Champions League title with Telekom Baskets Bonn last season. Sebastian Herrera, Collin Malcolm, Tyson Ward and Leon Kratzer are four of them, as is Finals MVP TJ Shorts and Michael Kessens.

Nadir Hifi, Paris Basketball: 'The EuroLeague is coming!'

Paris Basketball is the 2023-24 BKT EuroCup champion. Paris has punched its ticket to the 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, finished the EuroCup campaign with an all-time best record of 22-1 and was the first team to win 22 games in a season.

Six of its players and head coach Tuomas Iisalo also won the FIBA Basketball Champions League title with Telekom Baskets Bonn last season. Sebastian Herrera, Collin Malcolm, Tyson Ward and Leon Kratzer are four of them, as is Finals MVP TJ Shorts and Michael Kessens.

### Sebastien Herrera: 'A dream'

Herrera, the first Chilean to win the competition, shared a funny story about the EuroLeague and his arrival to Germany.

"I remember when I got to Germany in 2014, I didn't know anything about the EuroLeague. Anything at all! I just knew there were good teams in it, and my coach in Trier, the first club where I played in Europe, would talk about the EuroLeague, Milos Teodosic, CSKA and a lot more," Herrera said. "I started watching and thought 'Oh, it would be a dream to play there.' And nine years later, this is where I am!"

Sebastian Herrera - EuroCup Finals highlights

### Leon Kratzer: 'An amazing job'

"It's really amazing for all of us guys and the whole organization. It was an amazing job just to be here," Kratzer said after the game. "I'm proud of a lot of guys because I think to manage this pressure after the first 5 minutes where Bourg came out really great... We managed to keep calm and stay calm and just focus on the next play, and in the end, we won."

Leon Kratzer - EuroCup Finals highlights

### Tyson Ward: 'A special moment'

Ward was really excited about the chance to play the EuroLeague. "That's incredible. It's a special moment for me, to be compared with EuroLeaguers, to know that my name will be stated in a EuroLeague lineup," Ward said. "I'm gonna enjoy it tonight. I'm gonna enjoy it tomorrow. I'll enjoy it the next day. I'm gonna enjoy it till the end of the season. And then when it's time to tip off, all that goes away."

Tyson Ward - EuroCup Finals highlights

### Collin Malcolm: 'I love it!'

"It's just an incredible journey. It's special to be able to make history, but it's even more special to just win it with these guys. Do it again with the six that we had and the guys that came in, everyone bought in and to the end. Words are losing me," Malcolm said. "It feels incredible, from August in Finland \[pre-season\] to now in Bourg. Everybody comes to compete every day in practice and everybody's ready for the game, and you never know who's going to be hit the big shot. I love it."

Collin Malcolm EuroCup Finals highlights

Two of the other new players that Malcolm talked about are Mikael Jantunen and Nadir Hifi. Jantunen became the third Finnish player to win the EuroCup, after Hanno Mottola and Petteri Koponen. Jantunen knows both of them personally.

### Mikael Jantunen: 'We give it all'

"I've got to get some more trophies so I can get, like, over them"; he said. "I have got to go send them a message and say we are tied now with this, and go for the next one.

Jantunen also praises his team, not just the players, but everyone around it. "It goes from every member on the staff to every player, everyone in the background. It's just a special group. We enjoy working with each other and we give it all for each other on the court."

Mikael Jantunen - EuroCup Finals highlights

### Nadir Hifi: 'This is important '

Finally, Hifi stated that his team played at a really high level all season and is a well-deserved champion.

"Basically unbelievable. There is a reason for us winning so many games: we work so hard! Like, you cannot imagine! But I'm so proud with these guys. Every day, we work hard. We just deserve that," Hifi said. "This is important for us, our community and our culture in Paris."

"We have a lot of fans, but hey, it's going to be crazy the next year and the EuroLeague is coming! It's going to be crazy!"

Congratulations to Paris Basketball!

Nadir Hifi - EuroCup Finals highlights

In the end, it seemed that nothing was going to stop the season's most dominant team from raising the cup.

Game 2 clincher topped off a pitch-perfect season for Paris

With a domination that belied the fact that few of them had ever played in the BKT EuroCup before, [Paris Basketball put its name on the continental hoops map by sweeping to the title on Friday ](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/news/paris-outlasts-bourg-81-89-to-sweep-to-the-trophy/)and punching its ticket to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague next season.

There was little doubt how much Paris deserved the achievement after it outlasted Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse 81-89 to win their best-of-three final series 2-0. Paris had previously beaten London Lions 2-0 in the semifinals and Joventut Badalona in the single-game quarterfinals for a perfect post-season atop their 17-1 run through Group A in the regular season.

Simply put, Paris was a tour de force this EuroCup season, and though it had to work hard to shake Bourg on a home court it had dominated all season, Friday was no different. 

Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse-Paris Basketball | Finals Game 2 Highlights | 2023-24 BKT EuroCup

### As always, Paris found a way to win

Working from behind on the scoreboard after Bourg came out firing with 6 first-quarter three-pointers, Paris never let the hosts get too far out of reach, trailing 26-22 after 10 minutes and 46-43 at halftime. Even when Paris reclaimed the lead in the third quarter, Bourg battled to take it back, 66-64 in the first minute of the fourth.

That's when Paris's pedigree came to the fore as [TJ Shorts, the finals MVP](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/news/eurocup-finals-mvp-tj-shorts-paris-basketball/), lobbed to Leon Kratzer for a killer dunk that seemed to change the momentum for good. Within half-a-minute, Mikael Jantunen was hitting a three-pointer that Tyson Ward would copy and Jantunen would do again for 9-0 run in 90 seconds that Bourg never recovered from.

Paris's TJ Shorts goes upstairs and Leon Kratzer whacks the rim!

Magic Moment: Shorts to Kratzer alley-oop!

"First, hats off to Bourg for an incredible game today," Paris boss Tuomas Iisalo said afterward. "They really forced us to the limit and brought the best out in us. We took their toughest punch in the first half and weathered the storm. I said to the guys at halftime, 'We're in great position. They made every shot and we're only 3 points down.' Then I went to the coaches' locker room and said, 'I hope they start missing shots.'"

The team that didn't miss when it counted, as all season long, was Paris. Whether it took teams out early or late, Paris always took them out, usually with exemplary offense, topping 100 points in 10 games to finish with the 97.0 points per game, the highest in EuroCup history. After winning Game 1 by just [77-64](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/game-center/2023-24/paris-basketball-mincidelice-jl-bourg-en-bresse/U2023/195/), though, Paris had plenty of firepower to take Friday's title-clincher [81-89.](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/game-center/2023-24/mincidelice-jl-bourg-en-bresse-paris-basketball/U2023/196/)

### A well-deserved celebration

The emotions that poured out at the end were borne of joy and a bit of relief after Paris had pushed for perfection throughout the EuroCup season, and cam without a narrow home loss of achieving it. The EuroCup trophy and a place in the EuroLeague were the ultimate rewards.

"It's a wonderful feeling," Iisalo said after the game. "And for those watching from home or watching here, all the emotions after the final buzzer, it's very hard to put into words. You've invested so much of your time. We've been together with the team and the staff more than with our families. We've traveled all over Europe and France in order to do something special together.

"When we set off on this project, with very big ambitions, to realize it, like this, in the first year, it's something incredible. How much hard work, how much dedication, how many sacrifices it has taken... When it all comest to fruition and everybody understands it was worth it, but how much it took, that's sports at its best."

As he had all season, the smallest man on the court, TJ Shorts of Paris Basketball, stood tallest in the BKT EuroCup Finals.

 EuroCup Finals MVP: TJ Shorts, Paris Basketball 

Paris Basketball playmaker [TJ Shorts](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/players/tj-shorts/012608/) rounded out a perfect season by earning the MVP honor at the 2024 EuroCup Finals, leading his team to its first-ever continental title.

Shorts was once again the best player on the floor during the EuroCup Finals, averaging 18.0 points, 4.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds, 1.0 steals and a PIR of 24.0. He led Paris to a 2-0 sweep the best-of-three playoffs series against Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse.

By sweeping the series, Paris finished the 2023-24 season with the best-ever record in the competition, 22-1. Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar finished the 2014-15 EuroCup with a 19-1 record. Paris was also the first team to get 22 wins in a single EuroCup season. Dreamland Gran Canaria had the previous record with 21 victories, also in the 2014-15 campaign.

[Shorts led Paris in Game 1 ](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/game-center/2023-24/paris-basketball-mincidelice-jl-bourg-en-bresse/U2023/195/#info)with game-highs of 15 points and 20 PIR. He added 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and 7 fouls drawn. [In Game 2](https://www.euroleaguebasketball.net/en/eurocup/game-center/2023-24/mincidelice-jl-bourg-en-bresse-paris-basketball/U2023/196/#info), Shorts was equally unstoppable, pouring in 22 points to go with 6 rebounds and 5 assists for a PIR of 28.

"It is amazing. I don't know, I'm at a loss for words," Shorts said after the game. "This has been a long journey, this is something we talked about at the beginning of the season. I'm just grateful and thankful to everybody that stepped out on the court that contributed to this win. From the coaching staff, the players, the people in the office that are greeting us every day. This is not only for us, this is for the city of Paris."

Paris Basketball playmaker TJ Shorts rounded a perfect season by earning 2024 EuroCup Finals honors, leading his team to its first-ever continental title.

TJ SHORTS | Finals MVP | 2023-24 BKT EuroCup

### Shorts joins a notable list of EuroCup Finals MVPs

Shorts is the last name of a list of EuroCup Finals MVP full of stars. Dejan Tomasevic was the first-ever EuroCup Finals in 2003, helping Valencia Basket become the competition's original champion. Kelly McCarty of Hapoel Jerusalem received the award in 2004, followed by Robertas Javtokas of Rytas Vilnius (2005), Ruben Douglas of Dynamo Moscow (2006), Charles Smith of Real Madrid (2007), Rudy Fernandez of Joventut Badalona (2008), Marius Petravicius of Rytas (2009), Matt Nielsen of Valencia (2010), Marko Popovic of UNICS Kazan (2011), Zoran Planinic of Khimki Moscow Region (2012), Richard Hendrix of Lokomotiv (2013), Justin Doellman of Valencia (2014), Tyrese Rice of Khimki (2015), Stephane Lasme of Galatasaray Istanbul (2016), Alberto Diaz of Unicaja Malaga (2017), Scottie Wilbekin of Darussafaka Istanbul (2018), Will Thomas of Valencia (2019), Rob Gray of AS Monaco (2021), Milos Teodosic of Virtus Segafredo Bologna (2022) and John Shurna of Gran Canaria (2023).

Timothy Neocartes Shorts II (1.75 meters, 26 years old) was born in Irvine, California, and started his professional basketball career with Latvian side Ventspils. He continued his career in Germany, playing for Hamburg Towers, Crailsheim Merlins and Telekom Baskets Bonn, where he had a breakout 2022-23 season. Shorts earned German League MVP, FIBA Basketball Champions League MVP and BCL Finals MVP honors, leading Bonn to the BCL title and reaching the German League finals, losing against ratiopharm Ulm.

On Court Interview: MVP TJ Shorts

Shorts joined Paris Basketball to make EuroCup history in golden letters. He became the first player to earn EuroCup Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Finals and Season MVP. Shorts was earned MVP of the Round honors three times during the regular season. He led the EuroCup in PIR average (23.4), assists (7.3) and two-point shots made (134), ranking second in scoring with 18.0 points per game. Earlier this season. Shorts led Paris to the French Leaders Cup title, earning MVP honors.

Next stop for Shorts and Paris? The 2024-25 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague!

As he had all season, the smallest man on the court stood tallest in the BKT EuroCup Finals.