By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
For years, the perception in the NBA was that European players are soft. That’s something that has totally changed, as Lauri Markkanen explained during the Utah Jazz media day.
One of the recent Eurobasket standouts, the “Finnisher” talked about the way the game was played during the Eurobasket and the amount of physicality that was permitted to the players: “It’s a little different, there are some different rules. But I think the game… There are a lot of physical and talented guys in this league (ed. note: the NBA) but I think the way you are allowed to play, you are not going to get calls that easily. So I think this is the biggest difference”.
Markkanen was the second-leading scorer of Eurobasket at an impressive 27.9 points per game.
“I feel confident and I think that that showed the way I can play basketball,” he said. “I didn’t surprise myself, I knew I could do this stuff. But I think now it’s time to try to bring it over here and keep going — keep that good momentum going. It was a great experience this summer to have one of the more competitive Eurobaskets ever. A lot of the NBA guys went back and played for their countries”.