By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Andrei Kirilenko is the FIBA Europe’s player of the year 2012, after a great season in CSKA Moscow, a bronze Olympic medal and a return to the NBA for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Eurohoops contacted him with the great help of Minnesota’s press officers and Andrei was kind enough to share same of his thoughts about being named the best European player of last year.
As he said, he loves to be in the company of other great players from the old continent with some of them voting in favor of him: “I think it’s a very valuable award. Your colleagues are voting for you and that’s why it’s very appreciated. The fans are great but sometimes they are very subjective. They have their preference and they like somebody and I think the guys that are around basketball always see who had a good season. There are a lot of great guys, like Pau and Marc Gasol, Spanoulis, or Tony Parker who can be a winner for the last year but I think it’s very nice to be around those guys and be among them.”
He also added about his special relationship with fans all over Europe, after his last Euroleague season: “We are playing for the fans. When we are playing a game we can’t forget about the fans. I think we should really entertain them and give them our best effort not only on the court but off the court as well. I don’t like the word job, but it’s our responsibility to be involved with the fans; signing autographs, talking to them, cheer them up and encourage them. They pay you with the same coins back. They go to the games, they cheer for you, they are involved with everything that is going on, and so it’s vice versa. A back-and-forth reaction.”
If you want more from Kirilenko on his FIBA POY award for 2012, try also this great interview in the Russian newspaper “Sport Express”. And Andrei has one more thing to add…