By Rigas Dardalis/ dardalis@eurohoops.net
He wasn’t a marquee name when he was playing in Europe, but he was tall enough (7 ft 1) in order to lure many NBA teams and finally persuade the Pistons to sign him with a three year contract. Since then, Slava Kravtsov plays sparingly under the guidance of coach Lawrence Frank, but he doesn’t feel anxious to get his shot on the court.
“Things could change quickly. So you should keep working and waiting for your chance . Οf course you have to prove yourself, cause if you don’t, it doesn’t make any sense. Everything is different a little bit in the NBA to adjust”, he told Eurohoops during the Pistons‘ visit to London. The Ukrainian last season was a member of Donetsk, he helped his team reach the Eurocup’s Last16 and himself to get noticed and move to the other side of the Atlantic.
As he explained about him getting signed: “I was not surprised that much, cause during my last season lots of NBA teams kept asking about and also asked my former teammate Ivan Radenovic who was drafted by Philadelphia 76ers. Teams were asking my agent and I did well with my team in Eurocup, so pretty much I was expecting it”.
Now he has to adapt to the NBA and it’s not something easy: “It’s different type of basketball and it’s different type of life. It is my first time that I play outside of Ukraine and so far I haven’t played much. But things can change”.
He is just working and waiting for his chance, as you watch in the following video.