By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
A couple of weeks ago, Philadelphia 76ers center Filip Petrusev was vacationing on the island of Rhodes in Greece with his girlfriend, shortly before joining the Serbian national team training camp ahead of the FIBA World Cup. What was an idyllic summer break turned into a nightmarish ordeal when wildfires broke out on the scenic and highly popular tourist destination.
While the inferno was blazing through forests, devastating the island’s nature, around 20,000 people, holidaymakers mostly, were forced to flee from hotels and homes to escape danger. Many of them had to walk for miles in a suffocating atmosphere from wildfire smoke, amid also an intense heatwave.
Petrusev was among them.
“It was like in a movie honestly,” Petrusev told Eurohoops during a Q&A session after Serbia’s preparation loss to Italy. “It was an experience, a different kind of experience. Stuff like that happen in the world and now you see them happening to you. You need to be ready to react.”
“It wasn’t naive at all. If I wasn’t really talking to some people [I don’t know what would’ve happened]. It wasn’t really organized well. Nobody told us to evacuate until I asked them if we should actually evacuate.”
Eurohoops: The official word here was that there was an organized evacuation plan.
Petrusev: “No. Not at all. At least, not in our situation. Maybe somewhere else because I did see some people evacuate a lot earlier. I don’t know whose fault it was but it was not a good situation to be in. But, you can always learn from stuff like that. Now, I understand better how some people are in bad situations all over the world. I’m just glad we got out of it.
It was really tiring. I was walking maybe two hours on the beach with both of our bags. I was just carrying them for two hours. It was the hardest workout ever for me. But, as I said, you got to do what you got to do.”
ΕΗ: Were you scared?
“Maybe a little bit. It was a fire after all. In the beginning yes, a little bit because it happened on an island where you can’t really escape if the whole thing gets really crazy you know. But I knew I could always just leave my bags and run and be alive at least.
It was something new for me but I got into a mindset I use.. kind of when I play basketball. That I just got to do whatever I got to do. Use my natural instincts to stay alive and get out of this situation.”
EH: To basketball: Serbia lost its first preparation game ahead of the FIBA World Cup, falling to Italy. Do you think that this result maybe highlighted some problems you were unaware of before.
Petrusev: You are right. We know what kind of team Italy is. They just play fast and, today we didn’t slow down when we had the advantage and we played like they play, which isn’t really our style (editor’s note: Petrusev didn’t play in the game for rotation reasons). It’s fine. It’s just preparation. We’ll look to get better game by game and be ready when the World Cup tips off. We showed some progress today, like yesterday. Some things aren’t that good and we’re going to work on them. It’s that simple.
EH: What do you expect from yourself in this World Cup? Especially after the season you had with Crvena Zvezda and considering that there’s a need for some players to step up in light of two significant absences of Nikola Jokic and Vasha Micic.
Petrusev: Everyone needs to step up. Me, personally, I just want to basically help the team. I had a great season [with Crvena Zvezda] but when it comes to the national team… you just do whatever your team needs. Everybody’s goal is to win a medal. And whatever your team goal is, you just do whatever needs to be done for the team to accomplish that goal. If it’s making shots, then it’s making shots, if it’s something else then it’s something else It doesn’t matter. It’s about what your role is. Because when you come to the national team, that’s what’s expected from you. You need to sacrifice yourself for the team’s needs.
EH: How important was it for you to resolve the matter of your free agency before the World Cup? To get it out of the way.
Petrusev: It was really important. I knew that I’ll be signing with the Philadelphia 76ers for quite some time before it actually became official. So it had been a while and I wasn’t worrying about my situation for the next season that as the national team training camp was approaching.
Of course, it definitely feels good that I won’t be worried about anything else and instead focus on the national team and the World Cup.
EH: How do you feel about being a Sixer?
Petrusev: I just feel really great about finally being an NBA player. For sure I’m glad this happened with the Philadelphia 76ers because that’s the organization that drafted me. I feel it’s the logical next step for me and my career. I showed how I can really play on the EuroLeague level. And I’m young so I think it’s better to try now instead of years later when I’m older.
I’m just going there, not really hoping for anything. Just doing my work and trying to work for every opportunity I can get. We’ll see how it goes. I have no expectations but I’ll try to have fun. I need to go there and show I can play, at first. Work and fight for my opportunities. It’s a long way I’m just taking it step by step.
I didn’t really watch any NBA. I watched some games in the playoffs but I really watched more EuroLeague. I even watched more college basketball than NBA through the year. Of course, I need to start watching more NBA now.
EH: Sixers president Daryl Morey made multiple mentions of you throughout the years, talking about how the club monitors your situation. How was your contact with him?
Petrusev: I didn’t really speak personally with him much but every time I went to play in the Summer League I met with the staff, I met with him. They [the Sixers] were following me obviously. They had some people coming to watch me playing in some EuroLeague games. We’ve been in touch. Now, it’s probably the right time for them and me to make this happen and we’ll see how it works out.