By Antonis Stroggylakis / info@eurohoops.net
Partizan Belgrade center Frank Kaminsky admits that it’ll be a learning curve for him to get fully accustomed to the EuroLeague style of basketball, after spending the first eight years of his career in the NBA.
“It’s been OK,” Kaminsky told Eurohoops on how he assesses his adjustment to the EuroLeague game so far. “Still learning a lot of things. A lot of the rules are different. I’m sure you saw it tonight, I didn’t know that a technical foul is also a personal foul. If I did, I would’ve never reacted that way.”
Kaminsky was talking about a sequence that led to his ejection late in the third period of the EuroLeague clash between his team and Olympiacos Piraeus Thursday (19/10). After being called with his fourth foul during one of his many skirmishes against Reds center Nikola Milutinov inside the paint, the Partizan big man vividly protested to the referees who handed him the “T” in return.
Unaware that, unlike the NBA, technical counts towards fouling out, Kaminsky looked confused as he moved towards the bench, realizing that the game was over for him. His exit left Partizan with no center option save for Balsa Koprivica since Alen Smailagic also had four fouls after igniting his team’s counterattack that led to a 14-point lead.
“We played a lot of minutes without both big guys, Kaminsky and Smailagic,” Partizan coach Zeljko Obradovic commented in the post-game presser. “This was the biggest problem for us.”
Olympiacos ultimately completely erased that 14-point deficit and achieved a 98 – 94 victory in overtime.
“There are different things that I’m learning,” Kaminsky added. “I got to earn the respect here. Once I start figuring out that part it’ll be better. In every game so far it feels like I’m in foul trouble. It’s been an adjustment so far but I’m learning.” In his first four EuroLeague appearances, the former 9th overall pick is averaging 6.0 points and 2.8 rebounds over 13:10 minutes, while committing 3.5 fouls.
Kaminsky signed with Partizan last summer to enter a whole new basketball environment after stints with the Charlotte Hornets, Phoenix Suns, the Atlanta Hawks and, briefly, the Houston Rockets, before moving across the pond. While he had been watching EuroLeague before his arrival and was familiar – at least on a visual level – with how the game is played outside the NBA, he realizes that actually experiencing it is more complex than what he expected.
“It’s definitely different,” Kaminsky mentioned. “When you go from playing in a certain way with certain rules, and certain things for eight years, any kind of difference is going to be a huge change. Four games into the EuroLeague now, the goal is to just keep getting better and better. I got to be smarter out there, I got to be better. Overall, yes, the game is different. The more games I play the more comfortable I get.”
What Kaminsky trusts that will really aid him is receiving guidance by Zeljko Obradovic. The most decorated coach outside the NBA with nine EuroLeague championships, dozens of domestic titles and a long, successful history of boosting players by putting them into the right positions to get the maximum off their talent and capabilities.
“I wouldn’t necessarily compare him to any coach I’ve played for before because he’s so unique in the way he’s doing things,” Kaminsky answered when asked to compare Obradovic to the coaches he had during his NBA run. “He’s been great.”
“He’s definitely intense,” Kaminsky added. “You don’t win as many championships as he’s won without being an intense coach. He demands a lot from us which is great. He really fights for us as players. He’s tough on us but he fights for us. I love playing for him. He’s been great. He’s helped a lot with the transition. He has a lot of confidence and trust in me.”
“The best way I could describe it is just look at how everybody reacts when he [Obradovic] walks into an arena.”
Photo: Dragana Stjepanovic via ABA League