During the Basketball without Borders camp, Vladimir Radmanovic spoke to Eurohoops about European players, the differences between Europe and the NBA and himself.
And of course, one of the main topics was LeBron James signing with Radmanovic’s former team, the Lakers.
“It’s such a huge organization, so recognized in the world. I think they have so much pressure to be one of the best teams in the NBA.”, he said. “Bringing LeBron shows how passionate they are about the game and what they want to do over there. I don’t think much will change this year, but hopefully, with LeBron, some more big names can be attracted and hopefully they can be champions again”.
Q: I saw you once in 2011, I saw you play in Oakland and in the NBA you were known for three-point shooting. How would you that three-point shooting has been implemented in the game since then?
“The game is changing so much every year. When I first came to the league, the stretch-four was not a very common position. Now 17 years later you cannot have a team without a player like that. I think that’s going to change at some point. The big guys have been put aside a little bit right now. The game is more uptempo for smaller players and guards”.
“People like it. I believe as long as fans enjoy the game, things couldn’t be changing will and some point if people don’t want to see so many three-point shots or such a fast paced game I’m sure the league is going to do something about it and bring it back to where it was 20-30 years ago the hand-check and a little rougher, that is something I would like to see”.
Q: When you started with Seattle, there were a huge number of players from the Balkans and now we are getting back to that with Luka, Nikola and Boban. How do you assess the evolvement of Balkan basketball to produce such a high volume of quality players?
“I heard there is a documentary that came out “Something in the Water” that explains the whole thing about this area. There are so many great players that came out of this region. I don’t believe anything is going to change in the future. We have great coaches, talented kids, and decent leagues to produce players and as long as we have all that and people passionate enough to show the rest of the world that basketball can b played somewhere else. I don’t think we have to worry about Balkan basketball.”
Q: How do you think the game of Luka Doncic who was great in the Euroleague will translate in the NBA?
“I think he’s a very talented player. I believe he has a lot of success in the NBA. I think the one thing he needs to pay attention to is his body. Playing in Europe and playing in the NBA, it might seem the same but it’s not. There is so much travelling and so much stress on the body. I believe he has to really pay attention to detail when it comes to the physical stage, staying healthy, eating healthy and as long as he can do that, I believe he’s going to be an amazing player.”
Q: My brother saw you play one time in Serbia, in 2001. I think it was a pre-season game for Eurobasket or the World cup and he saw you dunking. I know from him you’re pretty athletic and I saw it myself while you were playing in the NBA. What do you think of athleticism’s place in basketball?
“I think athleticism is getting a bigger role in modern basketball compared to 30-40 years ago. Players are more agile, stronger, bigger faster. It’s just the way the game is evolving, and I think the super athletes that we have now on the court are showing how much you can do with your body”.
“At the same time, I believe even if you are not super athletic, you can evolve your game to a point where nobody can guard you. Players like that can have a great career so you don’t have to be a natural freak, so you can play basketball. You just have to believe in yourself, work on the fundamentals and the rest of it will come together”.
Q: Another guy who’s athletic, from Europe, playing in Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo. What can you say about him? Is there something that has not been said right now?
“I think he’s a freak of nature. Players like that don’t come out very often. I just hope he’s going to be smart enough to work on his game every year. When you’re a player like that, and things come easy to you, at some point you might get bored with it. Hopefully, that doesn’t happen, and we’ll see amazing things from him.”
Q: Do you have a plan to come back to basketball as a GM or as a coach? Is that a plan in the future for you?
“There is a saying “Make plans so God can laugh at you”. I used to do that, and God laughed a lot of times. Now I don’t have any plans. I’m just enjoying the moment. Enjoying the life that I have and maybe in the future, I’ll do something that’s connected to basketball because apparently and obviously that’s something that I did well for most of my life and where I feel most comfortable. Right now, in this moment I’m just enjoying the free time that I have, time that I can spend with family and friends.”
Q: How much basketball do you watch in your free time, NBA and Euroleague.
“Not much to be honest. I watch a little NBA and Euroleague every once in a while, just to see what’s happening but I’m spending time doing different things right now.”
Photo Credit: BasketballSphere