Basketball Lauri Markkanen made an amazing transformation in the NBA – “I laughed for a moment until I realized it wasn’t a joke”

Good long thrower. 213 cents long.

In the best basketball league in the world, no one can play five starts as a starting five player on just one strength, but Lauri Markkasen the business card in the NBA has always been clear.

In the second season of 2020–21, Markkanen was the most accurate player in the NBA, at least 210 percent, measured by a three-point success rate (40.2).

Last season, Markkanen, 25, moved from his home of his first four NBA seasons from Chicago to Cleveland and the local Cavaliers team. Head coach JB Bickerstaffin Koulima’s young team surprised everyone and reached ninth in the regular season in the regular season.

Contrary to the expectations of the Finn, Bickerstaff placed him in third place, where 213-centimeter Markkanen had to overshadow smaller and smarter piers at the defensive end.

The equation was supposed to be doomed, as Markkanen was the most NBA-level defender in the Bulls. The Finn did like the whole Cavaliers team and surprised the majority of NBA followers.

Markkanen defended the best players in the world from one evening to the next From LeBron James to Luka Doncic and From Nikola Jokic to Joel Embiid.

Chop, medium and large. Skillful, fast and powerful. Markkanen performed an extremely difficult task really well in line with expectations.

It is James, Jokic and Embiid that Markkanen calls the most difficult to stop.

“We had a home game against Phoenix from the beginning of the season. The coach (Bickerstaff) came to ask what you think if you start [Sunsin pelinrakentajalegenda] Chris Paulissa today. I laughed for a moment until I realized it wasn’t a joke. Then I said, of course, I’m done. I was told the reasons and I have always said that I will do what the coach wants, ”Markkanen recalled at the Finnish national team’s media conference last week.

The new role ate up the power and accuracy of Markkanen’s offensive head, which often garner the biggest headlines. Still, the account accumulated 14.8 points per match.

Markkanen was able to be aggressive at the defensive end because he had fantastic basket-protecting towers behind him when he was healthy. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

“It was important to me that the coach found credit. I learned to enjoy my role in defense. Successes nurtured and helped me cope. Everyone always wants to make baskets, but I enjoyed the challenge of facing the world’s tops. I got into defending better than ever before and it still helped the team win, ”Markkanen reminds.

Markkanen returned to the Finnish men’s basketball team on the weekend after a four-year break.

In the summer of 2018, Markkanen was about to embark on his second NBA season, during which time he was the brightest in his NBA career so far. Only a few and selected people seemed to have an open door to NBA star.

Four years later, Markkanen has become a role player on the NBA map, giving everything to his team, being able to score points especially behind the bonus line, and based on last season, being able to defend better than before.

The advanced gambler is a valuable man of the opening five for the Cavaliers and a shimmering stellar for Susijeng.

In Cavaliers, Markkanen found a home that suited him. Markkanen is a team player and is really selfless by North American standards. In the raw world of the NBA, it sometimes hurts. At the Cavaliers, Markkanen’s attitude came to his notice and garnered several praise from Bickerstaff during the season.

“It felt like we were going to win first. That was the most important thing. I don’t want to criticize Chicago, but no one in Cleveland stumbled upon their own points if we won. We were looking for one thing – winning the game. It felt good, ”Markkanen describes.

Next Markkanen will return to Ohio for the season. Before that, there is a busy national team summer with the World Cup qualifiers and the European Championships in September. Until last February, Markkanen watched the Slovenia victories from behind the Cavaliers cold pool.

As Markkanen joins the NBA, Finland has grown a new, rising generation of players in Europe Elias Valtosen, Mikael Jantusen and Edon Maxhunin under. The joint first performance of this cooking awaits on Thursday, when Finland will face Espoo in the sold-out Metro-Arena in Sweden’s important World Cup qualifier.

“We have tough guys in there. You have to be at your best when I jump into that. It’s cool to see where Finnish basketball has grown, ”Markkanen chuckles.

Maybe summer will also bring Markkanen to Pirkanmaa. The Jyväskylä breeder has spent most of his summer free time playing frisbee golf, the top international tournament of which will be played again at the end of July in Nokia.

“I have never been to Nokia. Let’s see what my schedule is like. I know a couple of US players. It would be nice to visit Nokia to greet them, ”Markkanen reflects.

Among the acquaintances is, among other things, a sports legend, a five-time world champion Paul McBeth.

“I talk to him the most. We haven’t played the tour together yet, but it’s been nice to exchange ideas with Paul. ”

The Finnish-Swedish World Basketball Qualifiers will start on Thursday at 6.30 pm and Croatia-Finland on Sunday at 9 pm. Nelonen and Ruutu + show the matches live.

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