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Sasha Vezenkov was a guest on the Stoiximan GBL podcast, where he talked about his career path, the NBA decision and his goals with Olympiakos. At the same time, he revealed the phone call he had received from Nikola Jokic when he was in Barcelona, in order to go to the Denver Nuggets.
Sasha Vezenkov was a guest on the Stoiximan GBL podcast and talked about his journey in the field of basketball, from his beginnings at a young age, his transfer to Olympiakos, his decision to go to the NBA, Giorgos Bartzokas, but also goals with the Piraeus team.
At the same time, he mentioned the phone call he had received from Nikola Jokic to go to the Denver Nuggets, while he was in Barcelona.
Specifically, he stated:
For the beginning of his long march: “My first influence was my father. I haven’t had time to watch him too much. What I’ve seen from tapes. I was 14 years old. The first contact was with Mantoulidis. I had trained and everything was fine. They were waiting for me as soon as I finished the school in the summer. But things changed. My father was talking to Aris. There was a game with Kymi and then they saw me to go from the office. He told them that we had agreed with Mantoulidis. Basically, we went to Mantoulidis, they called us, we turned around and went to Aris.”
On his transfer to Olympiakos: “That summer was difficult, because I didn’t have too many options, I hadn’t played in the last semester almost at all. In the coaching seminar, the coach of Daroussafaka at the time reminded me that she was one of my options. It was Darussafaka, if I don’t Tenerife was a bit wrong, and then Olympiacos asked she in the Final Four, aimed for championships are always in the foreground.
So I thought this is the best choice of my career then. They have taught me that you have to stay at a high level as long as you can, improve and fight. I knew my potential, I had worked hard that summer as well. It was the first summer that I actually changed my training a bit. I thought that at Olympiakos I will be given the opportunities and I will take them. It was also a new beginning, coach Blatt had just arrived. And it was difficult for Olympiakos, especially the first two years, people may not remember that.
When coach Kemzoura came later, he didn’t count me in, it was on the verge of leaving or not. I stayed out of the squad, I didn’t play. I had also made mistakes and I hadn’t taken some chances, but I think it was a decision again, where I was either stay or leave. It’s also a bit of luck. Then came Giorgos Bartzokas. Our fluff and philosophy match. I kept working, trying to find my way and I think everything went well.”
For Giorgos Bartzokas: “He is a person you can talk to about everything, who is calm, who has education, who has knowledge, who knows how to discuss anything. He is completely different from what he shows on the floor. He gives you from the first day that you can do whatever you want I also understand the other side, when there are 15 players in a team, if 15 people go to tell him the problems, not all 15 will be solved.
So at some point the player will think that ‘you lied to me’, that ‘while you said it would be solved it wasn’t solved’. They are like a family, so I think the most important ingredient is honesty, be it harsh. Let it be the harsh truth. Not everyone can be happy. Everyone goes through these phases, where in a team you will be No1 and you will be happy, or before in a team where you will be No15 and they don’t solve your problems.
So there must be honesty, there must be trust and what they say in America, which I did not find, let’s say “communication”. You will tell me that the coach is not obliged to talk to everyone, but that is what the assistants are for, they are people in the team, so that everyone knows what they have to do and knows that there is a transparency in everything”.
On his Barcelona regrets and Nikola Jokic’s Denver Nuggets call: “My first year when I wasn’t playing well, my manager told me to enter the NBA draft. I thought that if you don’t play in Europe, how can you play there. And Jokic had called me then, but not… .who is a three-time MVP. He was not a superstar in 2016. He was wanted by the Denver Nuggets team. But I was afraid to go. Then I played in Europe, but I didn’t think about it.
On his decision to move to the NBA: “I think I owed it to myself. I think about it now and get emotional, I’ll never forget it. I was going to Bulgaria from Greece, I had just announced my decision and I was crying all the way. The flight attendant should have said “what is he doing now”. I read messages from friends, from acquaintances, from people I knew and I say where I go there is so much love on the one hand but on the other hand I owed it to myself”.
On the experience he lived in the NBA: “I had a lot of difficulties at Aris and at Barcelona and at Olympiakos. Dispute. I had to prove that I can play at this level from the beginning. The doubt was always there. When you have to again for the fourth time, then you say why. But there the mentality is different. No matter how good you are in your first year, you are a rookie. I missed being important and playing to help my team. To feel that I can“.
For his indlams: “Dirk Nowitzki and then the triplet of Spanoulis, Diamantidis, Papaloukas”.
For LeBron James: “Steph Curry, what he does is terrible, but you see him and he’s down to earth. But LeBron is… LeBron. His presence is on another level. Doncic is basketball, you say he’s making fun of him. He scores 40 points and you don’t have understand where they came from”.
On his goals with Olympiakos: “The EuroLeague is something that I think about, that I would like to see happen. We have come close twice, especially one very close but we don’t live with the past. We only look ahead and if it is meant to be I will conquer it at some point. It’s not an end in itself, but it’s definitely in my dreams. I would like to fight for titles with Olympiakos”.
Listen to the entire podcast:
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