By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
After the game, LeBron James praised Finnish rookie Lauri Markkanen who kept Chicago in the game before the Cavs took over.
Per Chicago Bulls beat reporter, K.C. Johnson, “the King” had this to say about Markkanen:
“Very confident. Very confident. Watched him a lot in Arizona. He wore my shoes a couple times. He actually did. He wore my retros. I liked that. had to stay up late to watch those Arizona games. But very confident kid. Can shoot the heck out of the ball. He’s going to continue to get better. The best thing about it is he’s getting an opportunity. So you can make mistakes on the fly. But he’s going to play a lot because he’s learning. He’s a good player.”
Dwayne Wade also had some nice comments for the 2017 no.7 pick: “You can see if a guy knows how to play basketball when you first see him. In the preseason, we all said he can play.”
After playing well in the Eurobasket, Markkanen showed a lot of promise and his play in the NBA is already drawing attention of scouting reports so it will be interesting to see how he adapts once each team knows what he’s capable of.