By Antonis Stroggylakis / AStroggylakis@eurohoops.net
One thing that became abundantly clear from the very first moments of my interview with EuroLeague legend Trajan Langdon was that narrating comes as natural to him as his famous shooting that he used to burn defenses to the ground.
Honestly, if I didn’t actually have to ask the questions, I would just sit back, relax and just enjoy him talking. Because this felt like I was listening to an audiobook. That’s how beautifully and eloquently Langdon painted pictures of various stories and anecdote tales from his playing days while reflecting on a career that led to EuroLeague stardom, All-EuroLeague Team selections, several championship titles and a Final Four MVP that was a dream come true.
In a chronicle of important European basketball history, Langdon, now the general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans, looked back at the first taste he got of international competition, joining Ettore Messina at Benetton Treviso, his first Final Four, the glory days and upsets with CSKA Moscow.
He also discussed the lessons that he now uses in his current role as an executive, the opponents that he admired and could’ve been in the NBA and how one of his most prominent teammates “hurt” Team USA and his college coach back in 2006.
Eurohoops: Is there anything that you miss about playing basketball?
Trajan Langdon: It’s funny that you ask. My wife asked me that about three days ago. And my first response was “Not really”. Because first of all, I know my body can’t take it (laughs). I know my body would hurt now.
The thing I miss about is the competition. Testing yourself, challenging yourself game to game. Looking at your opponent. If you think that the opponent is weaker you have to get yourself mentally ready, especially with CSKA. You knew that you’re going to get your opponents’ best game, best focus of the season. If you played against a team that was better than you, you always had CSKA on the jersey so it didn’t really matter that they were more talented.
It was always a target on the back. It was always getting up for the competition of winning on a high level. The challenges. But there was a camaraderie in the locker room with your teammates from day to day. Getting to know people from all around the world from different countries, ethnicities. Those are the things that I miss the most about the game.
The daily work and preparation was enjoyable when I was younger. But the older I got the more difficult ti was so that is definitely something I don’t miss. The work, The treadmill, the weigh room. The court work was easy, it was fun. But the other stuff. The stretching, the yoga.
EH: I was talking with Tyrese Rice – another Final Four MVP. And he told me that one of the basketball-related shocking things he faced when he first came to Europe was the double practices, even before games.
T.L.: The biggest one for me that I had to wrap my mind around was that there’s always that break between the end of the season if you go through the Final Four and then the start of the playoffs. I remember when I was at Benetton. After the Final Four, maybe seven days before the first round and it was like: We are going to play Udine for a practice game. And I’m like: What? It’s May, why are we playing practice?
EH: Allen Iverson has entered the chat room.
T.L.: It was amazing. But that happened several times through my career but you wrap around it, and you say this is what we do. Preseason we play games, eight to ten of them. Hey, that’s just the way it works.
EH: What are the lessons that you got in your playing career and you now carry in your front office career?
T.L.: That’s a really good question. I think preparation is one of the biggest ones. You have to prepare for a long season as an NBA athlete. You have to really take care your body. Understand that if you are not diligent in your preparation and the way you manage your body, it will come back to bite you. Whether it’s through injury, or just little nagging when your body isn’t working properly, or your energy level in a game. When everybody else is turned up and maybe you are 90 percent of what you want to be. You start to understand that because you have to come with it at the highest level. I think that is one thing that I’ve taken to this level. Not only with my job and working with my staff but also when talking to players.
We assume that just because lot of players are incredibly talented, that they are knowledgeable about preparation and the challenges of winning games that need to be won down the line and how to prepare yourself for that. Some of these guys, 21, 22, 23, 24 are professional and extremely talented. But we need to understand what nuggets of wisdom from my experience I can help them with. Because some things I found on my own, or I didn’t found out until I was 27, 28, 29. I was never informed of those things. So if there are any of these things that I can tell them from a younger age that might help them, I’d like to do that.
