By Alex Madrid / info@eurohoops.net
Probably, when Mike Tobey finishes his career as a basketball player, he will look back and see how lucky he has been. The center from Monroe has a great trophy case at the early age of 23. In Tenerife, Tobey conquered a cup as soon as he landed and he wants to expand his showcases with the Basketball Champions League.
Iberostar Tenerife is one of the teams that have more kilometers to travel in Europe, so Mike remembers his successful moments at the Madrid airport with Eurohoops.
Aaron Gordon, Marcus Smart, Justise Winslow, Elfrid Payton… Those well-known NBA names have something in common: They won the gold medal in the World Championship back in 2013 and Mike Tobey was also part of that Team USA.
“Being in that team back in the World Under 19 games was really fun, it was a really cool experience. Playing with all of those guys and see how successful they are now in their NBA careers. It is pretty cool now watching them and knowing that I was able to play with them back on the day“.
Tobey was just one round far from reaching the NCAA Final Four in 2016 with the Virginia Cavaliers but he “made History” in his college: “I studied History at Virginia. After four years I was lucky enough to have tied for most games so it’s kinda cool thing for me“.
Then, he became professional and despite he couldn’t make a long NBA career, Tobey considers that playing in the NBA it’s a success by itself.
“Last year, with the Hornets in the training camp and then during the D-League and the call-ups it was an unbelievable experience, a dream come true for me. As a kid, I always dreamed to play in the NBA and be able to have a shot. Play a couple of games was surreal for me. An amazing opportunity”, said Tobey.
Last March, the center signed with Valencia Basket, which would become the champion of the Spanish league. In his debut for the “Taronjas”, Tobey scored 6 points and grabbed 8 boards in just 14 minutes on the court. Some injuries and the little confidence they gave him didn’t discourage him and things are going better with Tenerife:
“Coming out to Valencia it was a great experience, I enjoyed every minute but unfortunately, I got hurt kind of early into it. It was definitely great first European experience. So far this year Tenerife has been great. I mean, it’s been a great move. Not only on basketball-wise but also an unbelievable experience with the club and so far I really enjoyed my time here”.
Mike Tobey thinks that going to Tenerife has “been a great move” and he is indeed right. In his first competitive game for the Canaries, the club conquered the International Cup against Guaros de Lara – Americas League champion – and Tobey received MVP honors. As he said “winning the International cup was fun, a great game for us. The end of the preseason, start the season off winning a cup… It was definitely a big win for our team and nice for me as well”.
Since that day, Tobey became an essential player for Tenerife. He is one of the best players in the Basketball Champions League playing just 20 minutes per game and that could sound weird in his home country.
“Over here they do a lot more sharing at the minutes and all that kind of stuff, especially in the Spanish League. Explain the people back home that playing half a game and still be an important player is pretty normal… It’s definitely different than it was in the States”.
With the Basketball Champions League playoffs around the corner, defending champion Tenerife remains as one of the top contenders despite firing head coach Nenad Markovic during the regular season. It was a new experience for Tobey: “I’ve never dealt with anything like that before but so far the things have been good”. As he said to Eurohoops: “As long as you continue winning…“.
Fotis Katsikaris is in charge of the team since then and the Greek coach took Tenerife to the first spot in its Group although the team missed some key players:
“Lately, we’ve had a couple of bad stretches with people getting injured. Obviously starting with Nico (Richotti) going down, Josh (Akognon) came into replacing. Then Josh went down…. So right now a couple of guys back up a little bit. We just wanna get healthy and finish up the season strong”.
New coach? Tenerife remains strong. Injuries? Tenerife remains strong. Is the reigning champions the team to beat in the Basketball Champions League playoffs?
“I don’t know if we are the team to beat right now or anything like that. I think that we are a good team. Obviously, our goal is to try to win the trophy. The team won last year, I was apart from that but now being part of the club it’s obviously one of our goals to try to win the Basketball Champions League. We are looking forward to competing for that”.
Photo Credits: BCL