Nikola Vucevic
You guys have quite a tough looking schedule ahead of making you way over to London, Cleveland, Indiana in the next two games. Can you just discuss how you guys will plan and prepare to play and put on a great show in front of a sold out London crowd.
Well we have to make sure we treat it as a business trip and not as a tourist trip when we go to London. Toronto are in our conference, they’re one of the best teams and are fighting for the top spots in the East. We’re trying to prove ourselves and make the playoffs this year having had a couple of tough seasons so it’s going to be an important trip for us and as you said we’ve got a tough schedule before we head there so we’re gonna have to make sure that we’re ready to play when we get there.
When you make it to London what do you expect from the crowd in terms of an atmosphere coming over and visiting London?
I’ve never been to London or England so it will be first time over there. Obviously I know that English people are very passionate about football, when you watch a game you can see there’s a lot of passion and they’re great fans. I don’t know how it is with basketball but obviously they’ve done games in the past so the fact that the NBA keeps going back there I’m sure they’ve had a very good experience so I’m looking forward to it. I think it will be a great experience for us, I think the fans will accept us there and it will be great to play in a different country. We played in Brazil in October and that was a great experience to go out and play in front of a crowd that hasn’t ever had the chance to watch a NBA game so I’m looking forward to it and it should be a fun experience for all of us.
You’re a relatively young squad in the NBA, do you see the benefits of a trip to London in terms of building a cohesion and togetherness in the squad and do you think the game will have a greater impact on the team than any other regular season game?
It will be special playing this game because its being played in a different country, there’s going to be a lot of talk about it, so that has a different feel to it and you’re playing on a neutral court. I think it will be great for our team chemistry to spend some time off the court with each other. I think when we went to Brazil earlier this year it really helped to come closer and learn a lot about each other and I think the same will happen for us in London where we’ll have to spend a lot of time together off the court in a different country, where we don’t really know anybody, so I think that will help a lot and I think it terms of the timing with mid-season approaching you have to step it up and towards the end of the season every game really matters. So I think it will be a great time for us to get closer and have a better team spirit. I think the team spirit has been really good so far but I think the trip could really help us get even closer as we finish the season.
Is there a lot of talk in the locker room about the trip to London? Is it a big topic of conversation?
Not really, not yet. We’re really focused on the games we have here now and we still have a good amount of games before we head there but I’m sure as we get closer to it the guys will start talking about it more. Earlier in the year we talked about how it would be fun for us to go there, most of us have never been so everybody is looking forward to going and we’ll be able to bring some of our family and friends there which will be great. Right now we’re really focussed on the games we have ahead of us which are really important games because in the East the standings are so close that one win can get you to second seed and one loss can mean you miss out on the playoffs so we’re really focussed on the moment right now but I’m sure as we get closer to it the guys will really start to talk about it more and will be really excited to go there.
It’s no secret that the NBA want a franchise in Europe, how do the players feel about that?
Obviously it would be nice for us European players if you had a franchise in Europe but I think it would be hard to do because of the travel. It takes a long time to get from Europe to the US and also the time difference would really affect the players as well so I don’t know if it’s doable. Obviously it would be great for the NBA to have a European franchise but I don’t know how it would work out but I don’t know if it’s doable for geography reasons.
How difficult is it to get over that jet-lag and prepare for your next fixture?
Obviously when we go on West Coast trips there’s some time difference and you have to get adjusted to that but obviously this time it’s gonna be a much bigger time difference so it could have some effect but at the same time we’re professional players and its part of our job to make sure we’re ready to play no matter what the circumstances are so all of us will have everything we need to make sure we recover, rest and are ready to play. I think they’ve given us a good a pretty good amount of break before we play the game and a good period of time after that so I’m sure we’ll have time to recover so we’re ready to play when we get back here.
You’ve lived all over the place both in Europe and both coasts of the states. Where for you do you consider home?
It would be Montenegro, that’s always been home for me even though I was born in Switzerland and my dad played there and then we moved to Belgium because he played there as a professional basketball player but I always knew that Montenegro was home and the only reason we weren’t there was because of my dad’s job and that’s how my parents raised me. I always understood that that was my home and that’s where my family is and even now that I’m in the US every summer I’ll go home once the season is over and go back to Montenegro.
It is 10 years since the awful train crash you had. Has that been a motivating factor in your career or is it something you push right of the back of your mind and something that you don’t like to be reminded of?
I don’t like to think about it too much. You know obviously it was a horrible tragedy for everyone who was involved and for the whole country of Montenegro. So I don’t like to think about it too much, it’s something I don’t wanna look back at, I can say I was very lucky to survive such a bad crash and you look at your life differently once you’ve been through something like that but I try not to think about it too much because it obviously doesn’t bring a lot of happiness.
This season you’re having a great season, what are you doing differently and what do you to achieve for yourself and your team? Also where would you place yourself alongside the league’s other top ‘big men’?
I don’t like to talk about myself too much or place myself among others I just focus on doing the best I can every night on the court to help my team win, that’s really my only focus. You know people always like to talk about ‘Who is the best player in the NBA?’ but I try not to get caught up in all that too much. As far as what I’ve done this year I think I’ve been able to gain a lot more experience by playing which helps a lot. I think experience is a big factor in the NBA, you learn how to manage your body with all these games, how to prepare for each opponent. You learn about every opponent when you go up against them so many times as I have in the past few years. I’ve got better at working on my game and improve as a player. We finished the last few seasons early because we weren’t making the playoffs so I had a lot of time to work and study my game which helped a lot. Also the fact the team is playing much better this year makes everyone’s job on the team easier and easier to play better. I just wanna keep getting better and help the team out.
This year I watched you at the NBA Africa game in Johannesburg, a lot of the reasoning behind it was for coaching for younger people, how important was it for you to be part of that trip and what did you take away from it?
It was important for me because it was the first time the NBA had a game there and it was a great thing that the NBA did to give the fans a chance to see some of the players play there and also for me it was a great experience to go there and meet some NBA players that I only got to watch on the court and to play against them and I had a chance to meet some of them off the court and spend some time with them. I think that was a great experience. Also I’ve never been to South Africa and I really wanted to go there and meet a new culture, new people and it was really a great experience. I’m really happy I went there, it was really well organised by the NBA and we had a really great warm welcome from everybody there, the fans and everybody who was involved in the game so it was really great for me, I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to going back there.
Did you manage to get your one-on-one practice session with Hakeem Olajuwon?
I didn’t actually. He only did one session and I couldn’t make that one because I had something else on so I didn’t get a chance to work out with him but I did have the honour to go up against him in the game, he scored but that’s ok. I’ll take that because it was a really great experience to go up against one of the best players to ever play the game and especially at my position, one of the best centers.
Dwight Howard recently praised you and he’s also very praising of your leadership abilities, do you feel that following in his footsteps and Shaquille O’Neal’s that you’ve got a responsibility or a duty or does it inspire you playing for a team with such great centers in the past?
I don’t look at it as a responsibility just because I had great ‘big men’ before me. It does inspire me to know that there are so many good big men that payed for Orlando in the past and I do my best to help the team and be remembered like the two guys before me but Shaq ad Dwight but I have a long way to go before I can achieve what these two guys have for the team but it’s great when you hear that people compare you touch great players and it really means a lot to me so I just try to keep improving and hopefully I can leave a legacy here that’s close to what they did.
Can you explain what it’s like playing in the Eastern Conference? It’s pretty tough in the Eastern Conference this year, apart from the Spurs and the Warriors all the best teams seem to be in the East this time around.
Yeah it’s really close right now in the East, a lot of teams are playing good basketball and if you look at the standings obviously there’s a long way to go before the end of the season when the standings really matter for the playoffs but like I said earlier you win one or two games and you’re going to be second in the division and if you lose on or two you’re gonna be out of the playoffs and I think that’s great because every game matters now and you can’t relax for any game. Every game is kind of a must-win situation for very team in the east and I think it’s great for basketball because we have to go out there and play our best every night. There are a lot of good teams so there’s gonna be a lot of good games, a lot of close games and I think it’s gonna bring the best out of every player and every team. In the Eastern Conference there’s so many better teams this year compared to last year when so many people were talking about the East being much weaker than the West and this year that has changed. The East is a much better conference now compared to last year and I think it will be a great contest until the end of the year.
What sort of challenge do the Raptors represent at the game in London?
The Raptors are a team we’ve struggled against the last few years but this year was a very close game that we were able to win at the end but they are a very good team. They are one of the best teams in our conference and one of the best teams in the NBA. They have some very good players, Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Jonas Valanciunas so they are a good team, they have a lot of good guys who come off the bench and provide a boost so it will be a tough matchup for us against them. Every time we play them it’s a pretty close game and a pretty tough game so it will be a very good game for us to play against them in London as well.
I understand you’re a Chelsea fan, are you going to try and watch Chelsea when you come over and why Chelsea?
I would like to watch a game when I go, hopefully, I think they do play while we’re there so hopefully I’ll have time go watch a game or I can at least see a practice or meet up with the players. One of my favourite players, Eden Hazard, is there. He’s great. When I was little I just picked them. In Europe football is a massive sport so you have to pick a team in every country. Sadly this season is not so great, I know Chelsea isn’t where all the fans want it to be but I’m sure they’ll make progress by the end of the season and hopefully in the Champions League they can do some more damage.
How do you plan on taking on Jonas Valuncunias on both sides of the court when you come to London?
We’ve played quite a few times now since we’ve been in the NBA, and also we’ve played against each other in our international teams so he’s a guy I know very well. He’s a very good player, somebody that has improved a lot since he came to the NBA. He’s a huge guy, he takes up a lot of space [and is a] tough match-up. We always have good match-ups against each other and good games so it’ll be fun to go up against him.
Dwane Casey, Toronto Raptors coach
Q: Are you feeling confident ahead of your trip in London? What are you going to do in your spare time in the city?
A: I know the NBA has a lot of things in the community that are scheduled. Most of us are bringing our families with us and everybody is excited to see London. We are also excited to be able to share the Toronto Raptors brand around in England and in London. We’re excited about it, we’re not excited about playing Orlando, because they’re an excellent up and coming young team and it’s going to be a tough match for us. They’re an Eastern Conference foe. We had a game against them earlier (this season) they beat us by two or three points, it was a close game, they broke our winning-streak at the time. It’s a good match for us and we’re excited about being there playing the game and sharing the NBA and Raptors brand around the world.
Q: This season the power balance seems to have shifted from the Western to the Easter Conference, what do you think is the reason for that?
A: One is that more than anything else a lot of teams have built excellent programs around the Eastern Conference. The offensive and defensive balance of each team in the Eastern Conference has grown. I think a lot of it is that many teams in the East have done an excellent job developing their own players, whereas the last couple of years the same players were on the same teams, but they were younger, not ready to do battles on a nightly basis and compete for a conference championship. But now, those players have gotten better, they’ve grown and their health is at the top of the line in the Eastern Conference. So I think a lot of the internal growth of each team and of each program has gotten better in the Eastern Conference and finally those young players have grown up and established themselves. The team we’re playing in London, Orlando, is a prime example of that. Those young players have taken big steps and are improving as far as their level of play is concerned.
Q: When you see teams like the Golden State Warriors and what they did last year, do you consciously say, “Can we incorporate that into our system?”
A: I think the way Golden State is playing has been a trend for the last two years, I think they’ve taken it to another level with the emergence of their players, Stephen Curry and the way they shoot the basketball, Thompson and those guys… they’ve taken it to another level. I think analytical three get to the rim philosophy has been a trend. I came in the league in ’94/’95 and each year you can see the trend going that way, with more shooting. I remember a long time ago, coaches would rail on players about “you’re shooting too many threes”, get a better shot, get a closer shot and that type of things. Now, if you have three-point shooters you’re encouraging those shots, good three-point shots. Golden State has been doing that for a while. We have implemented that in the last few years within our system. Our guards have worked on the three-point shooting in the summer time. A lot of teams are doing that now, but Golden State is probably the top of the league as far as utilizing the three-point shot.
Q: I was wondering what you thought of Adam Silver’s plans to bring four franchises to Europe in the next 20 years?
A: I think the league is going that way. It is one of those things that you have to think that there is a lot of logistics that have to be worked out as far as travel is concerned, I know Adam is really concerned about the wear and tear on players’ body. If you can get the logistics to work then there is some great fans in Europe, all over Europe and Asia. So I think that the globally league is growing and has grown tremendously since I first came in the league in the ‘90s and I think it’s going to continue to grow. I think just getting the logistics worked out as far as getting a team there, I don’t see why not, I don’t foresee any stumbling blocks in the next 10 years for having a team there.
Q: You’ve got one game in nine days with the NBA London trip, but you’re going to have quite tired minds. Do you see that as a good thing for your team or would you rather stay in a consistent schedule?
A: I think going to Europe is an exciting thing for our franchise, our organisation. I think globally it is great for the league to have a game in Europe. You always look at your schedule and say, “How is that going to affect the next game coming back or our schedule?” prior to go to an European trip, but again, I think the positives outweigh the negatives as far as the league is concerned, as far as the game is concerned and I think as much as we can get our brand as the organisation globally and around the world the better. I think we have a healthy home schedule after we get back from London, so that would help us get back and acclimated to the time change.
Q: How different is for you to maintain the level of play from last year to this year? What are some of the biggest adjustments you had to make?
A: It’s a huge difference going from the hunter to the hunted and our program has grown over the last five years, getting to a level now where we are, considered one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference and we’re trying to maintain that is the hardest thing to understand. How hard you need to play each and every night and not only that, each and every possession of the game, because we need everybody’s best shot. We saw that last night from Chicago, Jimmy Butler had one of the best games of his career, and so we’re going to get those types of performances from other teams, and we’ve got to be mentally and physically ready and prepared to understand the level you have to play at. Our guys are learning to do that, it’s been hard to maintain that type of intensity and focus, it’s difficult, it’s mentally and physically draining, but I much rather be the hunted than at the bottom trying to build up and we’re getting from the middle of the ladder to closer to the top of the ladder with our program, but we have to take that mentality each time we take a step on the floor.
Q: Bismack [Biyombo] has been a great addition to the team. How important is he and how do you see him developing in the future for the Raptors’ organisation?
A: He’s huge, I know he’s a free agent after this season, but he’s been a great addition to our team, his energy level, his defensive approach, his spirit has been unshakeable, it’s something that is contagious for our team, something that other players have taken up on. His presence has really helped us, especially our younger players. Valanciunas watches how he prepares for the game, how he communicates during the game and I think this is going to help him become a better player. As a coach I’m selfish, and I would love to have him back. I know he’s a free agent next year but I’m sure that’s something that Masai and our front office people will handle at the right time.
Q: How important is it for you to grow the Raptors brand globally?
A: It’s huge. I think with the international flavour and international population that we have in Toronto, and the relatives that people have around the world, growing the brand globally is huge. We have some great fans throughout Canada, in the city of Toronto, but again, the more we can grow our brand, make sure we have the Raptors logo, and also the NBA logo around the world, I think that’s huge as far as we’re concerned, and Pops [Mensah-Bonsu] was a big part of that when he was here a few years ago, a very popular player, the way he played, the way he presented himself, and Masai [Ujiri] represents Africa, being the first African general manager president of an NBA franchise, I think it’s just great for the NBA as a whole and also for our organisation MLSE to be around the world.
Q: You said all you wanted for Christmas was to win, what are your chances of winning the Eastern Conference and eventually winning the Championship?
A: Each night we go out and we want to win. I think we need to continue to improve defensively, we are taking a couple of steps forward and a couple of steps back defensively, like last night we scored 113 points, which is more than enough points to win, but in the crucial part of the game down the stretch we had some lapses defensively, we need to cut out those lapses especially in the last three or four minutes of the game.
Q: Did you expect that Dirk Nowitzki would still play this good at the age of 37?
A: I coached Dirk in Dallas and he is probably one of the most consummate pros that has ever played in the NBA. He has made himself into a great player, he’s probably worked as hard as any superstar I’ve been around: he would come back at night, ten o’clock at night and work, we almost had to put a lock on the door to keep him out of the gym, because he would wear himself out so much that he would have to play so many games. He made himself into one of the greatest three-point shooters in the NBA and he will definitely be in Hall of fame at some point.
Q: You’re going to have some time to practice in London, something you don’t normally do during the season. How are you going to maximise this?
A: We’ll have a couple of days of intense practice. I don’t know how long we can go, but we intend to have a couple of good days of practice there in London, intense because like you’ve said we have a few days together that will give us an opportunity to really get some good practice and we need it. We are trying to incorporate two new starters that are coming back from injuries back into our line-up, so as much practice time as we can get because in the last couple of weeks we’ve had a game/day-off, game/day-off which is not conducive to having a good hard intense practice.
DeMar DeRozan
Q: You’re quite a big sneaker fan. What is your favourite pair of sneakers you’ve played in in your career? What three players in the NBA have the best sneaker collection?
A: If I had to take one pair of shoes, I’d say any selection of the Kobe: that’s always been my favourite basketball shoe to play in and the most comfortable basketball shoe to play in. Three players I think they have a great collection: PJ Tucker, Nick Young and Monta Ellis.
Q: The Orlando Magic have been playing a very good season. Are they the biggest surprise in the East so far?
A: I wouldn’t think so, because they’ve had a lot of talent in the last couple of years and all they needed was the experience, getting comfortable playing with each other and coming together as a team. I think this time around they just have the confidence and the understanding that they are a good team, so for me it’s really not a surprise.
Q: Given what you guys did last season, how did you reset the expectations to the team? On a personal level, once you become an All-Star, did you kind of reset the expectations on yourself?
A: Most definitely. You definitely have to step your game up even more from a leadership standpoint, pushing the guys to understanding to continue to have success individual-wise and team-wise you gain that extra motivation mentally to keep pushing.
Q: You played in the NBA London game before. What did you make of the crowd back in 2011? Was it what you expected?
A: My first time going to London and going over there to play an NBA game was definitely awesome. They didn’t have one team they were cheering for, they were cheering for both teams. This is something I will definitely remember, and this is what made the game even more fun and competitive. I had a great time and I’m glad I’ll be going to represent the Toronto Raptors again.
Q: How important is the trip to London in terms of team bonding?
A: It’s definitely great just to get a change of scenery. Instead of going to our common NBA cities and playing, we’re going to another country, and we will take our families over there and they will experience something new that a lot of us haven’t seen. It’s definitely going to be amazing to go out there to have a couple of days there before we play and go out there to play. Just to get a new experience and share something together is definitely going to be awesome.
Q: How do you assess your own form and the form of the Raptors so far this season?
A: Progressing. We continue to get better every single time we step out there on the court. We’re always figuring out ways how I can be better and we can be better as a team. I think every day is a progression because towards the end of the season as long as we come and bringing it in together, where all matters is going to the playoffs and that’s what is going to count.
Q: Is there any particular aspect of your game that you’re particularly pleased with and you think you’ve improved from last season?
A: Just tidying up a few things that I probably wasn’t so comfortable with last year, just get a lot stronger conditioning-wise, and continue to try to make that push to be a better overall player.
Q: Someone mentioned the Magic are an improved side, there must a lot of improved teams in the Eastern Conference and a lot of teams have very good records. Does that surprise you this year? Did you see this coming?
A: I’d definitely seen it coming because over the years there have been a lot of very talented teams in the East that just didn’t have the experience that they needed. Over time, once you get used to have that playing experience, you bring all that together and all that make you a better team, and you see it all coming together in the East now.
Q: How important and how realistically do you see your team in the playoffs?
A: I think it is wide open for anybody. It is all about who hits their stride when it counts, that’s the most important time. It can be anybody in the East honestly.
Q: Yourself and Karl Lowry are now considered one of the best back backcourts in the NBA. How has that relationship evolved on and off the court?
A: It has evolved a lot honestly. I cannot even pinpoint a moment where it evolved. We just looked up and we closed on and off the court. My family and his family get along really well.
Q: How excited are you about the All-Star game in Toronto and how important is that going to be for the city?
A: I’m extremely excited. Just to have the world get a chance to really understand what type of city Toronto really is. I think Toronto deserves that credit that they definitely deserve and that they’ve never got over the years.
Q: You’re currently 7th in voting for the All-Star game. You’ve played some excellent basketball lately. You were player of the week last month. Is there any player currently ahead of you in the voting that you feel you deserve to have more votes down such as Kyrie Irving, who’s second for guards in the East?
A: When it comes to voting you have to understand that it’s the fans. They want to see stars, you can’t really get caught up in the voting sometimes. If you’re worthy of making it to the All-Star, you’ve just got to be worthy of making it. But when it comes to voting, it’s just who the fans want to see sometimes, so you can’t really get caught up in the voting.
Q: What do you think about Kobe Bryant being an All-Star for the final time in his career?
A: I think it’s great to have one of the all-time greats in his last All-Star game. It’s a farewell, going away type of game for him. All the players are giving their appreciation to him, playing his last All-Star game.
Q: After the playoffs last year, you had a number of defensive orientated people come in such as DeMarre Carroll, Corey Joseph and Bismack Biyombo. Which of those three guys impressed you the most this far throughout the year?
A: All three of them but I have to say it’s either between Bismack [Biyombo]and Corey [Joseph] because they didn’t get a chance to really play like they wanted on their previous team and to see them blossom and do the things that they are capable of doing for us it’s definitely awesome to see, so I’d say it’s between Bismack [Biyombo] and Corey [Joseph].
Q: Are you feeling confident ahead of the game with the Magic next week? What are your thoughts ahead of the game?
A: It should be an exciting game. They beat us earlier this season, they broke our streak when we were 5-0, so just go out there and get a chance to redeem myself from the first time we played them and understand that they’re an exciting young team that we’ll have to come prepared for.
Q: If you get any time off to spend in London with your family, is there anything in particular that you’re looking forward to do with them?
A: Anything. Give them a chance to at least explore. Just being in London is going to be fun.
Q: Bruno Caboclo hasn’t had a lot of time to play the last couple of years. Can you just give the fans an idea of how he’s doing in practice, what he’s learning from the bench, how far he’s come since the team has drafted him?
A: Bruno has definitely come a long way. He just needs the experience of playing, developing, understanding the game and getting stronger, but he’s coming along every single day and he’s getting a lot more comfortable, understanding the game and doing the things he’s capable of doing. I think it is going to take time but he is putting in the work.
Q: What do you make of the O2 Arena compared to the ones you play in the States?
A: Usually when you play in the States, the crowd is typically cheering for one team. When I played at the O2 Arena fans were so intriguing. Having a game over there, they were cheering for both sides. If a team scores the fans were definitely into the game and that type of energy led to an exciting game and it was extremely fun.
