By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Deni Avdija completed his second NBA season by playing all 82 games of the regular season with averages of 8.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, and two assists. He was one of only five players to play the whole season.
However, it certainly was no easy feat to step onto the court every night Washington was scheduled to play and Avdija admitted it was very hard.
“I have no way to describe it – you really have to be very strong mentally. It’s already beyond basketball, playing late and then there are flights you arrive at 04:00 to a hotel, sleeping and then also having to play the day after. It’s terribly hard and tiring. There were many times throughout the season that due to lack of sleep, we got sick or did not feel so good, but I never gave up a game. I always had the opportunity to come and play, I did not have anything unusual or serious that happened to me. Sometimes you have to bite your lips and say to yourself, – There’s nothing to do, it’s part of the business,” Avdija told the Israeli ONE and added.
“There were times when I woke up in the morning and could not even get up and drink water, I was exhausted in an incomprehensible way. I tried to tell myself we’ll see how I feel in the game, but even when it approaches I feel tired. No sense of when it’s Friday and when it’s Sunday. For me every day is a workday, I have no weekends and things like that so yeah, it happens. I hardly know the date either.”
He also shared some fun stories when it comes to rookies and the task they get given but the rest of the team. Avdija himself was ‘tested’ by Russell Westbrook.
“I’m not that kind of person, I let others take care of it and laugh from the side. I do yell at the young players, but I do not make them tense or things like that. What they did to me was usually bring snacks to the plane or carry their bags – really simple things. It never happened to me that they filled my car or something,” Avdija said and continued with the ‘Russell experience”.
“I remember that once at 22:00 before we were supposed to fly for the first time to a training game, I got a call from an unidentified number. I answer and say ‘hello’, and he answers ‘you know who is talking to you?’. I tell him ‘no’ and he tells me, ‘Russell Westbrook.’ I said, ‘What’s going on, Russell?’ and he said to me, ‘You’re lucky you answered because if you did not answer a second time, we would have problems.'”
“That’s how I knew it was a good start, and then he said to me, ‘I’ll send you a list of snacks now and I want you to bring them to me tomorrow on the plane.’ These were not things that can be bought here at any grocery store. You have to travel to certain places and very great distances to buy them so it was not easy. In the end, I got everything, so I was fine, this is the strangest case I can remember.”