VM: I think the mentality in terms of hunger and desire to, first of all, whoever ends up in the NBA has to have something special. That’s my first impression when I was there and especially to maintain even harder. So once you are already there, you gotta have something that creates differences, and I’m honestly not looking out for Doncic or Jokic, but I can understand the mentality of those two guys because I know both of them. I believe my difference in Europe compared to Americans or other Europeans was actually also mentality. How you handle pressure, how you handle challenges, how you handle defeats, and also how you handle fame. Like fame is something that is maybe even the hardest part of all the negative sides of being professional and successful, and that’s something that I can say as a first impression of those guys in NBA who are now the leaders. They can handle this so easily.
I mean, you can see Doncic. He’s just 25. He’s acting like he’s older. I mean, because he was 18 when he won the Euroleague, people don’t understand how difficult it is like he was in Real Madrid, the biggest name in Europe or maybe Top 10 in the world. He was the main guy, and then for him having that experience, bringing over there was something so useful on top of his talent, and then you have Jokic, who is such a humble but extremely tough mentally… and then you have Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is extremely dedicated.
So, there are three different profiles of players, but that mentality is something that I believe creates a difference from Americans. However, Americans, in general, are so talented and gifted. I was playing with, let’s say, Jalen Williams, who is in Oklahoma. This guy is so talented, but I’m just sure that this is just a current situation that now it looks like international guys or Europeans are more advantaged and more advanced compared to Americans, but I don’t know if it’s going to be forever. As you said, now we have a lot of Europeans coming over and playing so well, and especially French kids are really, really, really talented because they have that mix of genetics, and they’re really mature. So I think that hunger is the key to being honest like that. That is what keeps you moving forward every single time.
