By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
All the children from Croatia who played basketball wanted once upon a time to be the “new Drazen”. All the children from Greece wanted to be the “new Galis” and all the children from Germany the “new Nowitzki”. Tibor Pleiss could be one of them. When the basketball idol of his country was drafted in the NBA, the center of Laboral Kutxa was only nine years old. When Dirk was for the first time an All Star, he was twelve and when he led Germany in the Eurobasket final, Tibor was sixteen.
After a while he started shining in the top level of German basketball with Koln. Then he appeared in the Euroleague with Bamberg and since 2012, after his transfer to Baskonia he had to change the poster in his bedroom. He wants to follow the tradition of the team and hunt the NBA dream, so his inspirers are niw different.
As the 24-year-old center admitted to Eurohoops.net: “Already Splitter and Scola played in Baskonia and then in the NBA. I think they‘ve learn a lot here. For me it’s the same. The situation is really hard, the practices are hard and it helps me to be better in the court and gain some confidence” said Tibor Pleiss when we reminded him that after this great season it’s quite possible to hear the NBA sirens.
Oklahoma has his rights and according to rumors from Spain his path to the NBA is open… “We’ll see what’s going on in the future. I am focused on my team now and after the season I’ll look again what’s going on”.
Pleiss has almost doubled his numbers this season because coach Scariolo decided to build Laboral Kutxa around him. The first choice of the guards is to feed the German center and he gets advantage of it having an excellent Euroleague season (10,8 points per game and 4,8 rebounds).
“During the last years I was more a defender and a rebounder. Now i receive more balls in offense and it gives me confidence. It helps me a lot. From my point of view it’s just perfect what coach Scariolo does this season. I think I do good job. I score some easy points and it’s good because everybody is looking on me. In that way I give some space to the other guys, so I pass out to them to score” explains Pleiss who was the key player in the big victory of Laboral at OAKA against Panathinaikos.
In the beginning of the game it was hard for him to attack against Lasme and Gist who have more athletic skills. But Pleiss found the solution during the encounter and gave to his team a great win. Does he feel awkward being one of the few “dinosaurs” who are left in the Euroleague?
“Well, now the new centers are not as heavy as in the past. The basketball is getting faster and faster but I think I can still do a lot. On my size, I’m really fast and I can move really well. Until now I don’t have problems with them…” says about the new trend Tibor, who belongs to the elite of the 7footers that can still be effective.
Laboral doesn’t have big chances to qualify to the Euroleague play offs but the German center is happy from what happened so far: “We won the qualification to the Top 16 and we all don’t have pressure. It’s maybe not possible to qualify to the quarterfinals but we are positive, we play to win and not to lose. These games are really important for us to get some confidence to come back not only in the Euroleague but also in the ACB”.