By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
A large European company is interested in his services and they have sent him a generous contract offer for him to sign.
He gets out of bed with a big smile, signs the contract and sends it back. He then shares the news with his wife and heads out for a beautiful breakfast with his family. Then it’s on to some fun in the sun and the turquoise waters of famous Waikiki beach to continue the celebration with the family.
One could be forgiven for turning the channel at this point on what seems like a pretty cheesy and cliché movie. But as it turns out, this story is not scripted. This is how Kim Tillie received and signed his contract over the summer to play for Olympiacos Piraeus. And now the French big man wears the uniform of one of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague’s true giants.
Tillie took a roundabout route to the Reds. He went overseas to play college basketball at the University of Utah before returning to France and playing two seasons with ASVEL Villeurbanne. Tillie spent the next two seasons in Spain with Murcia, and from there found himself in the EuroLeague with Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz. After three successful seasons in Vitoria came the move to Olympiacos.
It was not always obvious that Tillie would be a basketball star. His father, Laurent Tillie, was an international volleyball player and has been the coach of the French national volleyball team since 2012. In fact, in 2015 he led them to the gold medal in the European championship!
His brother, Kevin Tillie, follows his father’s career and plays professional volleyball and is an international player. His youngest brother, Killian Tillie, followed Kim, however, and chose basketball! He’s only 19 years old and is starting his second season at Gonzaga University. Kim Tillie played volleyball as a youth, too, but ultimately chose basketball.
After having signed his contract on one exotic island, Tillie this week is set to play his first EuroLeague game for Olympiacos on another beautiful island, Crete, on Thursday. What’s more, he will do so against the only EuroLeague squad he has previously played for, Baskonia.
What a nice coincidence! The first thing Tillie will have to look out for on a practical level will be not to confuse the two benches. The second is to keep his emotions in check.
“It’s exciting, playing my first game in the EuroLeague with Olympiacos against my former team!” Tillie says. “There will definitely be a lot of strong emotions out there. “Baskonia is a very organized club, with great history. They’ve won titles, they have the respect of the whole of Europe, and I believe that, for yet another season, they’re going to have a competitive team.”
Before he faces his former side, Tillie has a message for the Baskonia fans:
“I want to thank them for supporting me these past three seasons. They’re great! When I left, I received many beautiful messages from them. It’s something I’ll never forget and will always hold on to. I can’t wait to be in Vitoria again and play in front of that crowd!
“What will forever stay etched in my brain is my second season there. No one would have bet on us. But we had a great run and reached the Final Four. I’ll never forget this experience because, with a small rotation of six, seven players, we had many great victories and gave joy not only to ourselves, but also to the people that love the club so much.”
However, even though Baskonia will always have a special place in his heart, Tillie is fully focused on getting results for Olympiacos:
“It’s our first home game and we have to win!”