Basketball is a sport that is played, followed, and loved by almost all countries. While certain associations are more talked about, there is one talented person who is grabbing all the attention with his unique training style and achievements, as both player and coach. Lubos Barton is a highly skilled basketball whiz now focused on training talented basketball players in his home country of Czech Republic. While Barton was in his teens, he had made quite a name for himself in the world of basketball and sports in general. He was one of the best young players in Europe and came close to being drafted into the NBA. Barton went on to have a good professional career in Europe, especially in Spain and Italy. He is known for his passion, his talent and also being able to be the player that many coaches wanted on their roster. A player that creates good chemistry in the team and works hard every day.
Retiring from playing in 2016, Barton chose to pursue a career as a basketball coach. He played for many great coaches, and he was also part of many winning teams. He is a former EuroLeague Champion of 2010 with FC Barcelona and he also won other trophies such as FibaCup, EuroCup, Spanish Cup and Spanish league. Injuries slowed his career down and by the age of 35, Barton began his quest to become a coach.
Being a diligent, passionate, consistent and exceptional player during his time, becoming a coach was a new experience for him and an exhilarating one as well. Barton started his coaching career in Spain after joining the junior staff at FC Barcelona. He worked with young prospects, and coached and honed their skills for four years. In 2018, he became the head coach of the Czech Republic team under-18 and took the team to Division A within the first year. Another important feat to be mentioned, Barton spent half a season with Baylor Bears (NCAA), which eventually became National NCAA Champions in 2021. In 2020, he began coaching in Basket Brno - a team that plays in the men's Czech National Basketball League. Barton also took their junior team to Europe's top competition for straight two years, playing in the prestigious Adidas Next Generation Tournament. Both of his teams were very competitive, winning 3 games out of 8 total games played.
During his career, Barton had many different coaches from many different countries. He was able to develop his own style, obviously using his prior experience but at the same time, he is being true to himself. Barton himself will tell you that he is more of a teaching style coach (both of his parents are retired teachers), where he focuses on detail and his passion is not only to win, but also help the teams and individual players to improve. That requires lots of time, energy and patience. Maybe patience is the key word here, since not always you see the fruits of your labour right away. He wants his teams to play simple and aggressive basketball, where talent is on display and is joyful to watch.
