Vezenkov: “I will fight for all the titles with Olympiakos-Indalmatas, Spanoulis, Diamantidis-Remos, Bartzokas”

Determined to conquer all the titles with the Olympic states the Sasha Vezenkov on the Stoiximan GBL ‘Man to Man’ podcast.

The Bulgarian international spoke about his relationship with Giorgos Bartzokas, his experience in the NBA, his first steps, the difficulties he encountered, Nikola Jokic’s phone call to go to the Nuggets, and also about his indolences.

In detail, the 28-year-old ace spoke:

For his first basketball steps: “My first influence was my father. I haven’t had time to watch him too much. That I have seen from tapes. I was 14 years old. The first contact was made with Mantoulidis. I had been training and everything was fine. They were waiting for me as soon as I finished school in the summer. But things have changed. My father was talking to Aris but everything was going slower. There was a game in Kymi with the National Team and then they saw me. They took my father to go from the office. He told them that we have agreed with Mantoulidis. In essence, everything happened in the turn. We were going to Mantoulidis, they called us, we turned around and went to Aris”.

On his transfer to Olympiakos: “After Barcelona I had contacts with Darussafaka, Tenerife and Olympiakos. I had the Greek passport and I said it was a security, to start from the beginning in a team that is always in the foreground”.

For Giorgos Bartzokas: “He is a person you can talk to about anything. He is calm, educated, knowledgeable. He knows how to talk about anything.”

On whether he regretted going to Barcelona and Nikola Jokic’s phone call to join the Nuggets: “My first year when I wasn’t playing well, my manager was telling me to enter the NBA draft. I thought that if you don’t play in Europe, how can you play there. And Jokic had called me then, but not the current one who is a three-time MVP. He was playing in the team, in 2016 he was not a superstar. He told me the Denver Nuggets wanted me. The team was taking Europeans. Malone took me too. But I was afraid to go. I had the insecurities of a 20-year-old. Then I played in Europe, but they weren’t interested again. I think about it a bit, what would happen.”

On his decision to move to the NBA: “I think I owed it to myself. I think about it now and get emotional, I’ll never forget it. I was going to Bulgaria from Greece, I had just announced my decision and I was crying all the way. The flight attendant should have said “what is he doing now?”. I read messages from friends, from acquaintances, from people I knew and I say “where am I going?”. There is so much love on the one hand but on the other hand I owed it to myself.”

On the experience he lived in the NBA: “I had a lot of difficulties at Aris and at Barcelona and at Olympiakos. Dispute. I had to prove that I can play at this level from the beginning. The doubt was always there. When you have to again for the fourth time, then you say why. But there the mentality is different. No matter how good you are in your first year, you’re a rookie. I missed being important and playing to help my team. To feel that I can.”

For his indlams: “Dirk Nowitzki and then the triplet of Spanoulis, Diamantidis, Papaloukas”.

For LeBron James: “Steph Curry what he does is terrible but you see him and he is down to earth. But LeBron is… LeBron. His presence is on another level. Doncic is basketball, it’s like he’s making fun of them. He scores 40 points and you don’t understand where they came from.”

About his goals with Olympiakos: “The EuroLeague is something I’m thinking about, that I’d like to see happen. We have come close twice, especially one very close but we don’t live with the past. We only look ahead and if it is meant to be I will conquer it at some point. It’s not an end in itself, but it’s definitely in my dreams. I would like to fight for titles with Olympiakos”.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3yD8GsF8siWRS97VaK0RAF?si=1zpt4laKRaOw7J7hv6WCxQ