LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne head coach T.J. Parker followed a plan to get where he is today. Together with his brother Tony - a basketball legend and ASVEL's president -, T.J. had the goal of becoming an important part of ASVEL's resurgence to become the most successful team in France and a Turkish Airlines EuroLeague staple.
"[Tony] offered me to come back and work for ASVEL," Parker recalls. "We had this little piece of paper with all the steps I had to go to before becoming a head coach. It's exactly a 10-year plan we had."
Since his arrival in Lyon, Parker has grown fond of the city. He has strong ties to the city, too. Parker was an assistant coach with the team from 2014 to 2020, with a brief first taste as interim head coach in 2018. He became the head coach for good in 2020 and is still at the helm of the team. ASVEL has reached new heights in the decade he's been there.
"You can always pick ideas from somebody else and all the coaches I had," Parker adds. "After that, you build yourself, and then you go on and build your philosophy."
Parker continues working hard each season to keep ASVEL at the top of French basketball and in the EuroLeague.
"When you get new players, it takes time for the basketball... the habits with the players to happen." Parker acknowledges. "But every year is not like I lost a year or didn't learn something. You can always learn something, and that's what I did."