By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Denver Nuggets had only one first-round pick (#20) at this year’s NBA Draft and they choose Evan Fournier, a guy who wasn’t exactly popular at US, a 19-year-old Frenchman with three years of experience as a professional. As a matter of fact, he received the 2012 “best young player” trophy of LNB (French league). So, he did whatever he had to do to gain the NBA’s attention inside the court and… outside, saying before the NBA Draft “I will be surprised if I don’t get picked at the first round” – when a lot of experts estimated there will be no European, at the first round – and after he got picked, he added “it’s never been a dream. Only a goal. I always knew I was going to make it.”
And when they all believed Nuggets will send Fournier to play overseas for at least a year, they gave him a multi-year deal! Of course he knew it, not because he is cocky, but because as he said to Eurohoops.net:“I always was ambitious and I will always be. Plus I believe in myself. I work really hard and that’s why I said the NBA was never a dream for me. I did everything I could do to get here. Too many practices with the team and individual sessions, too many hours in the weight room to get stronger, too many shoots before and after each practice. I did what I had to do. You see there is a big difference between a dream and a goal. I didn’t just want to play here, without doing something. I chased my opportunity”.
OK, but when he has a kid which player was on his bedroom wall posters? “Michael Jordan, of course”. So, he was looking at him and started dreaming himself at the NBA “before I set it as a goal”. Now the new goal is to become an All Star? “Now, my first and most important goal is to have a big impact on my team” and if he could imagine himself ten year from now, he would like to be “at Denver”. Still? “If it’s possible to play for Nuggets till the end of my career, I will be happy”.
When we asked him if the French National Team is his new goal, he let us know “we are going to beat Spain at the Olympics” and then he concluded: “We have a very good team and naturally I want to be a part of this team”.