Translated article, “Susijengi” refers to the Finnish national team, the teams nickname.
The Finnish men’s national team, which is preparing for the World Cup basketball tournament, will get new coaching expertise when Sean Sheldon joins Susijengi’s coaching team for the duration of the World Cup project.
30-year-old Shledon works as an assistant coach for the NBA club Utah Jazz.
– I got to know Lassi (head coach Lassi Tuovi ) and Henrik ( Dettmann ) in January during their visit to Utah. They followed our team practices and our joint practices with Lauri ( Markkanen ) and we talked a lot throughout the week, Sheldon says in the Basketball Association’s press release.
– After the end of the NBA season, I received an inquiry from Susijengi about the possibility of joining their coaching staff. I was naturally interested, and the fact that (Utah Jazz) head coach Will Hardy didn’t hesitate for a moment when I asked if I could spend this summer in Finland and Asia also shows something about the appreciation we feel towards Susijengi.
Sheldon, who joined the coaching staff of the San Antonio Spurs in 2019, played four years of college basketball in the United States in his own career, after which he spent five seasons as a professional in Europe. Career ended with a shoulder injury.
Sheldon joined the Jazz coaching staff for the 2022-2023 season at Hardy’s request. He has also worked in the coaching staff of the US men’s national team.
– During my years in San Antonio, coach ( Gregg ) Popovich was also the head coach of Team USA. Will Hardy was one of his assistant coaches then and did a lot of scouting. For my part, I got to work as Hardy’s assistant, so I became familiar with international basketball through that as well.
Sheldon arrived in Helsinki last Friday and joined the team’s training on Monday.
– My first observation about Susijengi is that the team is really united and its members enjoy each other’s company. It’s not a given, Sheldon said.
– Based on the first training sessions, there are a lot of good players in the team and it will be interesting to get to know them better in the next few weeks.
In the Finnish team, Sheldon wants not only success in the World Championships, but also experience, which he can draw from in his work in Utah.
– As a coach, I will of course take what I get from this experience and hopefully when I return to Utah at the end of the summer, I will have new offensive sets, defensive plays and exercises in my back pocket. Our effort is to get Lauri to play in Utah Jazz in the same way through his strengths as in Susijengi.
Susijengi’s head coach Lassi Tuovi, who coached Utah’s summer league team in July, is happy about Sheldon joining the coaching.
– Susijengi gets an enthusiastic coach in Sean, who brings new perspectives to daily activities. There is certainly a lot of learning going on both ways.
by Fir3yfly
1 Comment
I think it’s great all around. Good for Finland team, great for Lauri to have someone from the staff see him for the entire prep and the actual competition, and good for the coach getting some international experience and seeing international games up close.