I talked to a few guys on the team and only one, Michael Dickerson, stood up for me and said I did well. I did everything for the team: loading and unloading luggage from the plane, leaving bags at everyone’s doors in the morning before training, but they started taking advantage of my obligations and I said that wouldn’t work. Imagine an NBA player who arrives in Europe after five seasons and everyone asks him to go get sandwiches. “I didn’t refuse them but I don’t accept that someone makes fun of me. The “rookie duties”, very little for him! Or, more accurately, it’s fine, but up to a point… If he clearly had the talent to survive in the American jungle, with a rookie season with 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists on average, he did not however want to comply with the multiple obligations that accompanied his status as a beginner. »Ī player with a strong character throughout his career, Gordan Giricek encountered some problems in his adaptation to life in the NBA. He’s a GOAT for me, and Kobe is right behind him. If you look at all the characteristics that an athlete must have and what he has done for the global popularization of the sport, no one can even reach his ankles. Jordan is more charismatic and had better physicality, but Kobe had better 3-point shooting and a better left hand. “A top player, had everything in his bag, I always said he had more talent than Jordan. That said, he is also able to assess his opponents well, believing that “His Airness” remains at the top of the hierarchy, with Bryant not far behind. Having been able to play against Michael Jordan (but “Grandpa Jordan” rather than “Dad Jordan”) or Kobe Bryant, Gordan Giricek is not the type to be afraid of his opponent. For instance, Spanoulis, who is in the FIBA Hall of Fame and a very big champion, did not succeed in the NBA because he was too slow for a point guard, too small for a position 2, and was not not a significantly better shooter than the others. That’s why some of the European legends didn’t make it to the NBA because they don’t play well defensively or are some kind of combo-backs. In Europe, you can hide in defense because you are protected by tall players who camp in the keyhole. There’s a lot more leeway if you’re talented and know what you’re doing. In addition, the field is a little wider, the 3-point line is further, so the space between it and the basket is larger. But like today, there are differences in the rules that don’t allow defenders to be in the key for more than three seconds. “At the time, you could still defend with your hands (the “hand checking”) but it was still easier to score than in Europe. Conversely, some European stars don’t have what it takes to make the cut in America… Rookie maybe, but not a slave… As he also explains in a long and fascinating interview with the Croatian press, for him as for Luka Doncic today, when you play at the highest European level, you have a chance of being able to shine across the Atlantic. ![]() With 29 points for his American debut, he demonstrated that the transition between the European game and the NBA was not only possible but increasingly accessible to players from the Old Continent. At 25, Gordan Giricek felt he was ready to seize the NBA opportunity no matter where he landed. It must be said that by finishing second best scorer of the season in the Euroleague, behind Alphonso Ford (who has since given his name to the competition’s top scorer trophy), Gordan Giricek had made a strong impression.īut it is not with the Mavs, nor with the Spurs who had his rights for a while, but in Memphis, that the European rear will settle down in the summer of 2002. ![]() ![]() Moved from Zagreb to Moscow in the summer of 2001, Gordan Giricek quickly made the jump to the NBA the following summer, three years after his Draft at the very end of the second round by the Mavs, in 40th position. You can’t average 23 points in the Euroleague (with CSKA Moscow in 2001) without being an elite striker… Passed by the NBA between 20, without any other reward than a place in the second best five of rookies in 2003, Gordan Giricek is probably a name unknown to many orange ball fans.īut the Croatian shooter, eight times champion in his country with Cibona Zagreb and once Turkish champion with Fenerbahçe, was indeed one of the best European players of his generation.
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