The Croatian Dino Radja, 53, has played as a strong winger in Europe and in the NBA (Boston Celtics) and he is often asked about the differences between the two styles of play. Radja has just mentioned the Greek Giannis Antetokoúnmpo and he is sharp:
“They don’t defend in the NBA, whereas when you come to Europe you have five players in front of you who know what they’re doing. They close the halls, they don’t let you get offensive rebounds. We played against Greece in the pre-Olympic tournament with Antetokoúnmpo and that was the tactic. At that time, Giannis was already a good player, he had not won the MVP, but he was on top. Don’t let him get into the racket, block him, don’t let him take the ball in the transition. Leave everything else to do. Antetokoúnmpo scored 9 points. It wouldn’t be easy for him to play in Europe. ”
In support of the Croatian’s opinion, Antetokoúnmpo’s relatively limited performance at the 2019 World Cup (14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds), when he had just been recognized as the best player in the american league. Dino Radja is also critical of the ease with which assists are delivered in the NBA.
“Statistics have become a marketing problem. Today everything is assisted. Your teammate dribbles, maybe two, we count that as assists ”.
Photo: FIBA
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