European Basketball Quotes

You hear all the time about European players playing the game. These players that come over at 17, 18 and 19, they just don't all of a sudden become skilled. From the time they were little fellas, they learned the fundamentals of the game. Let them create.

There were great European players that were great basketball players that did not make it in the NBA... This is the best league in the world.

Dirk Nowitzki is the best European player, for me, that's ever played the game. He's an unbelievable talent.

NBA is totally different in style. In NBA, we play much more aggressive, much harder. It's not time for thinking. In Europe, we play every week, one game. Here we play every second day so if you lose, you don't have time to think about losing. Just go forward.

In Europe and FIBA, the game is a little slower and the court is a little smaller.

I couldn't shoot. When I went to play in Europe, I learned to shoot better. I could jump, so people would just back off of me.

There are going to be some teams in Europe. There are going to be some teams in Asia. And they're all going to be a part of the NBA umbrella, eventually.

That's what Europe brought to the NBA: the passing skills, the shooting skills.

I thought, 'I'm going to play in Yugoslavia, then I'll go to play in Italy or Spain.' Then I'll be 28 or 29 and I'll try NBA. I never thought I can play in NBA because NBA was totally different world for us in Europe.

A lot of players in Europe aren't as tall as the other guys, so they have to be stocky to physically compete.

Basketball is great; no one in Europe seems to believe just how close the spectators can sit to the players.

You see a lot of European influence coming in with bigger guys having a larger skill set, shoot the ball, handle the ball, pass the ball. I'm hoping that'll develop into something I can do.

A lot of NBA guys translate well when going to China because they're expected to score the basketball, while sometimes in Europe, you've got to fit into a system and not get as many opportunities to be ball dominant.