By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Nick Calathes first got acquainted with his now-head coach at Barcelona Sarunas Jasikevicus back in 2009 when he signed with then-EuroLeague reigning champion Panathinaikos Athens to begin his professional career.
Playing alongside veteran Jasikevicius would definitely have its merits for any young player. But for rookie Calathes, the overall experience wasn’t all pretty.
“I met him, getting used to European basketball – being 20 years old, I didn’t know what to expect. And he, obviously being older, one of the older guys just destroying me in practice every day, yelling and things like that. So I wasn’t a huge fan of him back then when I was 20,” Calathes said in an interview with EuroLeague Basketball.
This greatly changed in 2011 when Jasikevicius returned to Panathinaikos after a stint with Lietuvos Rytas and Fenerbahce.
“Then I played with him in my third year and we became great friends. I think he respected me more as a player,” Calathes said. “When I was 20, I don’t think I would have liked myself either. I wouldn’t have liked me as a player if I was one of the other guys, because I was the young kid who thought I knew everything. But my third year, we became good friends, teammates… and there was a lot more friendship that year and ever since then.”
Check out Calathes’ full interview at EuroLeague.net.