By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
After being waived by the New York Knicks and becoming a free agent, Vincent Poirier doesn’t rule coming back to Europe since he wants to a place where he will get to playing basketball again.
“If I have to return to Europe I will return. I just want to play,” Poirier said in an interview with Le Parisien. “But right now I’m in Philadelphia. I’ve found a gym to train and I have a coach who was sent to me by my agent. It’s not 5 on 5, but it is what it is.”
Poirier felt disappointed due what he considers to be a lack of opportunity to prove himself, in both Boston and Philadelphia.
“It’s frustrating because I never really had my chance to show what I could bring. But we know that the NBA is a world apart. I played in two franchises (Boston and Philadelphia) where the team was well established. It’s hard in these cases to pretend anything. You have to be in the right place at the right time, sometimes it comes down to nothing. We are a little helpless in these situations. But it’s still a good experience. The NBA was a goal but I don’t want to stay there to say I’m there. I want to have my place and playing time, if I don’t, if the NBA doesn’t want me anymore, I won’t stay.”
“I wish someone had told me, ‘We were wrong’, ‘You can’t play with us’. I like it when things are straight,” Poirier also mentioned on the Sixers trading him. “The coach didn’t even send me a message although I know he sent others. I’m not asking him to give me compliments but just a message to wish me good luck. We are not commodities, we are still human beings. It’s a minimum of sending a message, to say that the situation was complicated, but thank you for your professionalism. A bogus thing, even if he doesn’t really mean it.”
Poirier last played in Europe with Baskonia in 2017-2018. He then had 11.9 points and 8.3 rebounds in EuroLeague, being considered as one of the standout big men in the competition.