Shane Larkin, one of the best players in the EuroLeague, spoke to Basketball Sphere about meeting Dirk Nowitzki, championship seasons with Anadolu Efes, relationship with Ergin Ataman, Vasilije Micic’s growth, potential of Alperen Sengun and many more topics.
Barry Louis Larkin is a retired American baseball player who actively pursued a professional baseball career from 1986 to 2004. He concluded his illustrious career with 12 All-Star appearances, an MLB MVP award, an MLB league championship title, and had his jersey number 11 retired by the Cincinnati Reds.
Barry also received nine Silver Slugger Awards (given to the best offensive player at each position in both the American League and the National League, as determined by the coaches and managers of MLB), three Gold Glove Awards (widely considered one of the most prestigious defensive awards in baseball), one Roberto Clemente Award (given to the player who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement, and the individual’s contribution to his team”), and a silver medal from the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012 and spent his entire career with the same team.
All this provides insight into the type of player his son, Shane Larkin, is. From an early age, he had a household exemplifying loyalty, longevity, fair play, a selfless mentality and sporting excellence. Barry’s brothers were also involved in sports, so it’s not difficult to conclude that Shane had the perfect foundation for entering the world of sports. From the start, he had the most important fundamentals to succeed.
Shane Larkin has definitely established himself as one of the top players in the EuroLeague over the past six seasons. However, like almost every kid from the USA, he began his basketball journey when he achieved his dream of entering the world’s best league when he was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the 18th pick of the first round in NBA Draft 2013.
Draft Day and playing alongside Dirk Nowitzki
However, on the day of the draft, Shane Larkin discovered the harsh reality of the NBA when his draft rights were traded to the Dallas Mavericks. Nevertheless, things weren’t so bad for him because he actually joined a team led by the great Dirk Nowitzki, who had won the championship two seasons earlier by defeating the heavily favored Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
“Obviously being drafted to the NBA was like a dream come true and then shortly after I was drafted, seven or eight days later, I broke my ankle practicing for a Summer League. I wasn’t able to travel with the team to Las Vegas to play in a Summer League” Shane Larkin started this interview.
Very quickly, Shane Larkin understood the true essence of basketball, as he had the best possible example for success in Dirk Nowitzki. Years later, this indeed proved to be true in practice, as Shane became a first-time champion player.
“My first time meeting Dirk was during that summer when I had surgery on my ankle and was staying in Dallas for a while to make sure everything was okay after the surgery. So, it’s the middle of the summer, the season is still probably three months away and I go in there in 8:30 AM to get my ankle checked out by the team physios and in walks Dirk. It was 8:30 in the morning during the summer time and I didn’t expect him to be there.
I didn’t think anybody would be in the building except me because it was summer, and for him to walk in there with the NBA championship and all the accolades he had just earned, it made sense why this guy is such a great player. That was a great example to me as a rookie because if this guy in year 14 can be here in 8:30 AM during the summer working out then there is no reason why me who has no accolades in current moment shouldn’t be able to put the same amount of work if I want to have similar success as him.”
Career beginnings
In the NBA world, the young guard couldn’t just enter the league and gain the trust of head coach Rick Carlisle, known as an old-school guy. After a short adjustment period, he faced the cold business side of things and was traded to the New York Knicks before 2014/2015 season. Larkin was also part of the Brooklyn Nets a year later.
It can’t be said that Larkin didn’t get opportunities as he played around 23 minutes on average, but he simply wasn’t content with a bench role. Then, he made a bold move and went across the pond to Baskonia, where he quickly adapted and even won the Player of the Month award in the Liga Endesa. His excellent performances quickly caught the attention of Barcelona, who made an offer matched by Baskonia, and Larkin remained loyal to his team.
However, there was a big turnaround as just six days after that event, the Boston Celtics came with an offer of $6.3 million, and Shane Larkin, believing he hadn’t said his last word in the NBA, accepted the call. It was a team where current EuroLeague stars Guerschon Yabusele and Semi Ojeleye played, along with upcoming talents Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown alongside Kyrie Irving.
“I would say that was probably my most enjoyable point in my NBA career. That final season playing in Boston we had a bunch of injuries so I was able to play a lot of minutes towards the back end of that season. To be able to play meaningful playoff minutes, closing games out and making big shots and winning playoff games in Boston which had crazy fanbase… That was definitely one of highlights of my career and for sure the highlight of my NBA career.” – Larkin said to us with a dose of nostalgia.
Kyrie Irving got injured along the way, but the young Celtics managed to reach the Eastern Conference Finals where they lost in seven games against the Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James and Kevin Love. Once again, Shane Larkin showed his quality and played some great games in the playoffs, contributing significantly in important minutes.
“I actually was playing really well and in the first round against the Milwaukee Bucks I played really well and in the second round against the Philadelphia 76ers I had a couple of big games and then in Game four I separated my shoulder. I wasn’t able to suit up for the Conference Finals so I was only able to play until the Conference Semifinals and the season was over for me.
Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward were injured so not many people expected us to be able to make a run the way that we did. That was a special group of guys that really came together and fought against all the odds and won some playoff games. Even though I wasn’t able to play in the conference finals due to an injury it was definitely still a great team to be a part of and experience that whole run.”
Playing with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown
In the Boston Celtics team during those years, a new dynasty began to form, one that would ultimately be led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, leading them to five Eastern Conference Finals and one NBA Finals appearance. Kyrie Irving was supposed to be the leader of that team and the link between youth and experience. However, it turned out that Irving wasn’t the one, but rather Jayson Tatum.
“I always knew Jayson was going to be one of the better players. In my opinion, and I said it very early on and in that season with the Boston Celtics when I saw the way he worked, the way his body was as a rookie and how he was going to be able to develop. Being 6’9, long wingspan, being able to shoot, dribble, pass, rebound and I expected him to be one of the best players in the NBA very quickly. I said he was going to be a top 5 player very, very soon.”
As the perfect Robin to his Batman, enhancing his game from season to season, Jaylen Brown has been remarkable. From his rookie season to today, his points per game have increased from 6.6 to 26.6, which is a huge leap of exactly 20 points. However, Brown is much more than just a scorer.
“I knew Jaylen was going to be a good player but I wasn’t as convinced that JB was going to turn into the 26/27 points a night guy. He was always very athletic, he could shoot the ball and he was a great defender so I knew he was going to have a great career. The way that he has been able to turn himself into a bonafide elite level scorer in the NBA has been great to watch. Both of those guys are still young so they still have a lot where they can get better and I hope they can win some championships in Boston.”
Partnership with Rodrigue Beaubois
Rodrigue Beaubois is Shane Larkin’s longest-tenured teammate. They have been together for six years at Anadolu Efes, but their careers are intricately intertwined in an incredible way. They played together for a season in Baskonia, and the French guard also experienced a similar fate to Larkin on draft day. The Oklahoma City Thunder drafted him and traded him the same evening to the Dallas Mavericks. Beaubois left the club for Europe just a few months before Shane Larkin arrived in Dallas.
“Our journeys and stories are aligned. We started very similarly, both in Dallas playing for the same head coach, we wore the same number and then we both ended up in Europe in Baskonia for our first EuroLeague season together. And over the years we won multiple championships and cups together. We definitely watched each other grow up from a very young age. I’ve known him since I was 23 years old and now I am 31 so eight years later to kind of be tied together is a cool experience.”
After Larkin and Beaubois arrived in Istanbul to represent Anadolu Efes following a disappointment in the NBA, nobody outside their locker room was actually aware of the superteam being formed under the coaching of Ergin Ataman. Krunoslav Simon perfectly explained this in interview for Portal Crosarka:
“At first, we weren’t big names, but very quickly I realized, actually after a few practices, what was happening here and that this was a team with power and potential to do a lot. In the end, it turned out I was right.”
First memories with Anadolu Efes
As such, they sent their first real message to the rest of Europe when they defeated their biggest rival Fenerbahce in the Turkish championship finals in a decisive game where Shane Larkin scored an incredible 38 points. This ended a drought of as many as 10 years without winning the Turkish Super League. Fenerbahce was led by Zeljko Obradovic who had players such as Nando De Colo, Nicolo Melli, Ekpe Udoh, Kostas Sloukas and Luigi Datome.
“That was a very important win for our team and our club, and all the players we had in the first season. That season didn’t end up the way we wanted in the EuroLeague, so we were obviously sad about that. We could have easily just shut down and let the rest of the season kind of happen however it was going to happen, but we fought together all season. Being in that moment and having the chance to win a championship, even if it’s not the EuroLeague but the Turkish Super League championship, is something that the club hadn’t won in 10 years, and none of us from the team had won it before.
For us to be able to pull together in that moment and that game, and to be able to win against such a legendary coach and a team that was at such a high level with high-level players, was definitely big for our confidence. That helped propel us into the next season, where we were pretty much unstoppable. During that COVID year, I don’t think anybody would have been able to beat us except for injuries. That series against Fenerbahce definitely propelled all of us to have that kind of season, chemistry, and dominant team in Efes.” – Larkin said.
Rodrigue Beaubois and Shane Larkin played together for Baskonia. A few years later, they won two EuroLeague titles together with Anadolu Efes.
— Basketball Sphere (@BSphere_) January 24, 2024
They were both drafted by Dallas Mavericks. Beaubois (2009), Larkin (2013) but Frenchmen left at 2012.@shanelarkin😁#efes #baskonia pic.twitter.com/w9XugGY8rJ
In that same season, they even reached the EuroLeague finals, where they were eventually beaten by CSKA Moscow. Right from their first season together, the team showed tremendous potential, and everything that unfolded in the following seasons led to the pages of EuroLeague history books.
Shane Larkin played out of his mind by European standards, scoring a remarkable 49 points in one game, including 10 made three-pointers. The team marched through the regular season, with Larkin leading the MVP race. Then came the well-known COVID-19 pandemic, and the world, in general, had to endure a significant pause.
“It was bittersweet because, as you said, if that season had finished, I would probably have ended up as a top scorer and MVP, and we would probably have ended up winning the EuroLeague and Turkish Super League. All the goals and achievements that we wanted to accomplish that season were right in front of us, and we were only a few months away from it. We worked very hard for that as a group, and since we lost that first EuroLeague championship, the feeling was like it had been ripped away from you. It’s something that is out of your control, and it was definitely heartbreaking.
At the same time, we were all understanding that life was much more important than basketball. People were just taking care of their families and trying to remain safe in that time where nobody knew exactly what was to come due to that virus. We all understood that the right decision was to shut the season down. You’ve got to move on and try to keep your head up.
The fact that it was ripped away from us in that way just made the next two years when we were finally able to accomplish that – it made those moments even greater. Chasing something for two long years and losing in the finals, then not even having the opportunity to play for it due to something that was out of your control, and finally being in that moment in Cologne against Barcelona, I think none of us were mentally going to lose that game. We were all so locked in. Anyone of us felt there was any way we were going to lose that.”
The key to success
In their first final, they lost to CSKA, and in the second season, as Shane himself says, they were “ripped” off the win until the end. When you put things on paper like that, human psychology can lead you to two extremes – either you sink into another failure or you lower your heads and bite harder than ever. Ergin Ataman’s team did the latter and became one of the most dominant forces in EuroLeague history. They won the EuroLeague title in two consecutive seasons.
“The key to success in those seasons was our chemistry. We kept the same group together for three years, we all knew each other, we all understood how to play with each other. If we had a bad game, we knew what we needed to do in order to turn things around. If we were playing well, we understood how to keep that rhythm going. Our chemistry and our experience that we were able to build from year one to year three was what propelled us to that first championship.
We had the talent, but it was more about how together we were and how much chemistry we had. We just had to look at each other or maybe do one small, quick huddle and tell everybody we knew what we needed to do at any moment. If we were up, down, or tied game, if we needed a big shot, a big play, or a defensive stop – whatever it was, we knew what guys we needed to go to, what guys we could count on, and how we needed to pull each other together in order to accomplish our goals. That’s what made us special.” – Larkin said to us with a dose of pride.
During that time, Ergin Ataman began nurturing some tactical innovations. He abandoned strictly scripted plays and, in most cases, played with three guards in the same lineup who had complete freedom in their play and creativity. When you have players of such caliber, that’s really all you need – to be allowed to be creative because that’s their main strength. Eventually, a great synergy was created among the quartet of Vasilije Micic, Shane Larkin, Krunoslav Simon, and Rodrigue Beaubois.
“The big part of it was that there were no egos. None of those four guys was focused on being the guy, we were all so focused on winning games that it didn’t matter who it was. If Micic was having a great game, we were all very comfortable saying, ‘All right, today is Vasa’s day, let’s feed Vasa, play off Vasa.’ In some games, it was Kruno, in some games, it was Rodrigue, in some games, it was me.
That mentality, I think I can speak for everybody, Micic has the same mentality – if I was having a great game, Micic would ride my shoulders, if Kruno was having a good game, we would let Kruno operate at pick and roll and do his thing. If Rodrigue had it going, we would let him play off pin-downs, curls, slashing to the basket and run the transition. We all allowed each other to be the best versions of ourselves. We all helped each other to be the best version of themselves on any given night, and I think that’s why each one of us had great moments and huge games, plays, and shots. That’s what made us all special.”
Vasilije Micic’s significant progress
Shane Larkin was definitely the star player in the creation of that super team, but quietly brewing in the background was a new “beast”. That beast was Vasilije Micic, who for years flew under the radar of many. When Ataman brought him in, he was envisioned as a backup point guard who would come of the bench. What followed in the years after was fantastic.
In two consecutive titles, Micic earned the EuroLeague MVP title, two-time EuroLeague Finals MVP, as well as the top scorer of the Final Four and the top scorer of the EuroLeague regular season. In the meantime, he also became the top assist provider, scorer, and MVP of the Turkish Super League. From a player who scored 7.7 points, he became a player who averages 18.2 points per game in the EuroLeague.
“Vasilije Micic has a very special gift in passing the ball. That’s what I saw very early on. Somebody that was a bigger guard that was able to defend, post-up, make plays… The thing that stood out to me at first was how he was able to pass the ball. As time developed, he grew more confident, and he got more freedom from coach Ataman. Then we started to see how he was able to score the ball. Every year he took a step forward in terms of his scoring ability, and that’s what turned him into one of the best players in Europe.
He never lost his ability to pass, but then when he added that ability to go out there and score 25, 26, 27, 30 points on any given night – that’s what made him very difficult to guard. You had to pick your poison – did you want him to score the ball, or did you want to commit more guys to him, and then he was going to find other guys for open shots. That’s what made Vasa so special, and that was probably part of the reason why we were such a great team. We all kind of grew, developed, and added different aspects to our game on a daily basis to grow and play off one another, just push each other to be the best players that we all eventually became.”
At the beginning of this season, Vasilije Micic finally made the move to the NBA after years of speculation. It was actually a logical move considering he had conquered Europe, winning everything at both individual and team levels. In his prime, he went to play for the Oklahoma City Thunder, a team that was the youngest in terms of average age the previous season, and at his position, there were the strongest competition.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as a legitimate MVP candidate, Josh Giddey as an Australian superstar, and Lu Dort as a defensive specialist off the bench – each of them had something that Micic didn’t. They were all younger, faster, more athletic, and better defenders than the Serbian guard, all characteristics that head oach Mark Daigneault sought.
Micic remained silent and patiently waited for his chance, which ultimately never came (3.3 points, 40% shooting, 12 minutes on average). He was eventually traded to the Charlotte Hornets, one of the worst teams in the league, after being in one of the best teams in the NBA this season. Hornets also have programmed superstar at his position – LaMelo Ball, who is currently injured.
“It’s definitely not what he expected when he signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder. I’m sure they were telling him that he was going to play backup minutes every single night, 15-20 minutes, play with the ball, play more freely, play exactly how he played in Europe. I think it took him some time to find his feet in the NBA because it’s a completely different style of basketball.
I know Vasa as an extremely hard worker, he watches film, he’s always in the gym working on different dribble moves and different shots, so it’s not about his talent or his drive. It’s more about some of his opportunities. It’s always difficult to be traded in the middle of the season in the NBA, but I think this move for him to the Charlotte Hornets from the Oklahoma City Thunder is going to give him the opportunity that he needs to get on the floor and show what he can do. In Charlotte now, he has had multiple games with six or more assists.
He had a great game against the Los Angeles Clippers with 18 points and nine assists, so I think it’s all about his opportunity. The more opportunity he gets, the more aggressive he’s going to be able to become, and I hope coaches would allow him to make mistakes that he needs to make in order to learn and gain that experience. If he can do that, then he has a great opportunity to create a good role for himself in the NBA because he is a 6’3 point guard that can shoot, dribble, pass, and defend. He is one of those guys that is very versatile, and that is what the NBA is all about now.
It’s all about those guys who can do a little bit of everything, and I think he fits that mold. If he can get that opportunity and showcase himself on a daily basis, he has a chance to really prove himself in the NBA.” – Larkin shared his opinion about former teammate.
Relationship with Ergin Ataman
It’s time to touch on the relationship with Ergin Ataman, with whom Shane Larkin collaborated both at the club and in the Turkish national team. Despite media speculation about disagreements, Shane actually explained that it’s all about a great mutual respect.
“Ataman likes to keep a business relationship between him and players. I wouldn’t say we had the greatest of friendships, but I think there is a lot of mutual respect there. He understood what I was able to do and what I meant to him and his success in Anadolu Efes. I had the same amount of respect for him. The freedom he gave me and allowed me to go out there, play, and make mistakes helped me grow into the player I am now.
There is always going to be respect. I don’t know any players that have a great friendship with Ataman. I never saw anybody that has a super-personal relationship with him, but there is definitely a good amount of respect on both sides of the floor.” honestly said Larkin.
A thought about Alperen Sengun
We’ve already mentioned how Larkin is part of the Turkish national team as a naturalized player. He and Fenerbahce’s guard Scottie Wilbekin alternate in that position, with their teammate being the young upcoming NBA star Alperen Sengun. Sengun is nicknamed “Baby Jokic” due to his extremely similar playing style and statistics throughout the seasons as the Serbian big man. He is extremely powerful under the basket and is also characterized by excellent court vision for a center just like Jokic.
“In his third year, he’s been showing a lot of potential, and I see the comparisons. Jokic can get the rebound and push the ball all the way down the court and make a play, whether it’s scoring or passing the ball. He always makes the right read, and Sengun has a lot of those same abilities. He can rebound, shoot, pass, he can play with his back to the basket and has a high basketball IQ, very strong under the basket and has a good touch.
Alperen has great potential to be one of the better big guys in the NBA because he has that versatility. He is very young, 21 or 22, so he has plenty of time to continue to work on his game. If he can find those traits that he is good at soon, that can turn him into great attributes he can be an All-NBA type of player. The guy who is in the All-Star game all the time. He can lead the Houston Rockets or any team that he is on into the playoffs and have success there. He has to continue to be on that track of Jokic or Sabonis, a big guy who can do a little bit of everything. He’s got to be that leader his team needs him to be.”
Disagreements with the Turkish Federation
Last summer, there was an incident when Shane Larkin didn’t show up for the national team gathering during the pre-Olympic qualifiers. Turkey was defeated by Croatia in the tournament final in Istanbul in front of the home crowd, and suddenly Shane Larkin found himself under public criticism for not being there.
In an interview with Eurohoops, Shane Larkin explained that he was injured after an examination, and the team doctors advised him that the injury could be more serious. He rested, following doctior advices. After some time, Shane Larkin went to the USA to have his knee checked again by his own doctor, and in the end, it turned out that Larkin went to America without informing anyone in the federation as federation says.
“There haven’t really been any conversations since the summer with the federation. We’ll see how that all continues to progress in the future. There is always going to be love and respect there. If both sides can come to some kind of understanding and get past the things that happened in the past, I am sure that there will be other opportunities down the line. But, like I said, there really haven’t been any conversations since the summer, so I guess we will just see how everything plays out in the future.”
New trends in basketball
We’re witnessing an interesting trend in basketball. In the NBA, among the top 10 candidates for the MVP award, we have Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Domantas Sabonis and Giannis Antetokounmpo. For the Rookie of the Year, the main favorite is Victor Wembanyama, and for the leading scorer, it’s Luka Doncic, while Domantas Sabonis is leading in rebounds category.
Europeans seem to have taken precedence over the best league in the world, and it seems that when the LeBron James generation exits the scene (Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Jimmy Butler, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook), all of whom are over 30 years old, Americans further lose quality.
On the other hand, in the EuroLeague, American guards mostly dominate, with players like Shane Larkin, Mike James, Keenan Evans, Wade Baldwin, Lorenzo Brown, Codi Miller-McIntyre, Isaiah Canaan, Kemba Walker, Kevin Punter, Markus Howard, Shavon Shields, Kendrick Nunn, among others. So, Americans dominate the old continent while Europeans are leading in the strongest league globally.
“It just proves that the game of basketball has become more global than ever. There are a lot of great players in the world, and you see guys from Europe going to the NBA and dominating as you said. Guys from the United States come to Europe and have great careers. I think that is a very cool experience for guys and builds that bridge where everything is connected in Europe and the NBA.
European guys watch the EuroLeague, guys from America that come to Europe watch the NBA, and I think that creates a bridge between two sides. It just shows how much the game of basketball goes globally and how much talent is there. I am definitely interested to see how this situation would continue to grow and blossom. Five or ten years from now, we’ll see exactly how that dynamic looks like then.”
“That is just at a different level of commitment to a club”
The next game awaiting Tomislav Mijatovic’s team is scheduled for Thursday at the Stark Arena, where Partizan will be chasing one of the playoff spots as Anadolu Efes also. Larkin recently stated that the toughest away game for him in the EuroLeague is precisely against Partizan.
“Just playing there in Belgrade, that fan support they have there is high level. They definitely impact the way you are able to communicate with your teammates out there. Some games you aren’t able to call plays, we don’t have conversations on the floor and kind of let things go. There the fans are so intense from the beginning of the game to the end that it makes it difficult for everybody. The coaches to communicate to the players and the players communicating to the coaches. It definitely has an influence on how the referees see the game sometimes.
I’ve been in many different arenas where the fans are definitely into the game and they are singing and yelling all game. They are loud and it’s difficult atmosphere but I never played in the Arena that has 15, 20, 22 thousand people standing up, jumping, singing songs, and screaming for an hour and a half. That is just at a different level of commitment to a club. It is something you love to see that passion they have for their club and things they are willing to do in order for their club to get the win. It is very impressive, and you have to have respect for that because it makes the game more enjoyable.”
“Toughest away game in EuroLeague?”@shanelarkin 👀 pic.twitter.com/rIWFTWb9JR
— Turkish Airlines EuroLeague (@EuroLeague) September 18, 2023
Downfall of what we can freely call a dynasty
After five years of maintaining a team that gradually dominated, step by step, it came to the downfall of what we can freely call a dynasty. First, Krunoslav Simon left, followed by Bryant Dunston and Sertac Sanli. Then Vasilije Micic and Ergin Ataman left, reducing the legendary roster to two names – Larkin and Beaubois. Despite numerous changes and departures, Larkin remained loyal to the club that injected new life into him after disappointment in the NBA.
Erdem Can, a promising Turkish coach, stepped into Ergin Ataman’s huge shoes and had a daunting task ahead of him. The numerous injuries his team suffered this season didn’t make his job any easier. After several poor results, the club’s top management decided to terminate his contract and appointed a “soldier of the club” as his replacement. That soldier is Tomislav Mijatovic, a Croatian coach who spent 13.5 years as an assistant at Efes, climbing from the bottom to the top practically.
“The coaching change was unfortunate for coach Can. At the end of the day, he is a good guy who has principles and good ideas. I think he is going to have a lot of success in the future. We had so many injuries from the beginning of the season into the middle of the season where we weren’t able to exactly see what our picture looks like all at once. We would have certain guys on the roster while other guys are injured and when they got healthy the other guys got injured. It just seemed we never had a full roster that was able to practice together, to play two or three weeks together.
Even in preseason so that we can build that chemistry that I spoke about earlier. Be able to understand one another on the floor without even talking, that always needs some time because we had new players and a new head coach, but having all those injuries made it much more difficult.”
Different energy in the locker room
“The coaching change is unfortunate. The club made the decision which they made, but I definitely understand why they did that because we had two bad losses in a row. We had a lot of expectations from this team before the start of the season.
The biggest difference with Tomislav Mijatovic is just that there is a different energy in the locker room. Tomi is one of the most positive guys I have ever met in my life. Even though he went from being an assistant to a head guy, he still maintains that positivity; he is always encouraging guys. He is always telling us the thing about the next play even if we miss a shot or make a turnover, do something stupid – Tomi is always there to support you and give you a high five.
He can give you positive reinforcement that it makes it easy and you can go out there and continue to play and fight for your team. In the short term, that is the number one thing coach Mijatovic has been able to bring to our team that maybe wasn’t there before due to all the losing and bad energy from losing basketball games. It’s been great so far, I have a lot of respect for Tomi.
I’ve known him for six years now, and he has always done anything you asked him for. Now that he is in a head position, it definitely makes us want to go out there and fight for him. That’s what you’ve seen with our team in the last six or seven games, the way how we’ve been coached by Tomi. It doesn’t matter what happens, if we are playing well, making defensive errors like miscommunication or if we don’t rotate – we are in the ‘next step’ mentality – just to continue to play hard and give everything you had. It has been enjoyable so far, and I am glad that we had success with Tomi, and hopefully, we can continue like that for the rest of the year.”
Tomislav Mijatovic worked as an assistant coach at Anadolu Efes for 13.5 years, collaborating with nine different coaches. On Friday, he finally had the opportunity to lead the team as head coach and secured his first win.
— Basketball Sphere (@BSphere_) February 4, 2024
Persistence and humility. 🇭🇷#mijatovic #anadolu #efes pic.twitter.com/APTCQZSUQ4
Spectacular game and painful loss to Real Madrid
Although Shane Larkin thought he had experienced all levels of basketball in his beloved blue and white jersey, basketball surprised him once again. This season, Efes played a spectacular game against Real Madrid at the WiZink Center. Real Madrid, the reigning EuroLeague champion and convincingly at the top of the standings.
In the game that had an unprecedented four overtimes, which is an absolute EuroLeague record, Shane Larkin scored 32 points with five rebounds and nine assists (10-22 shooting from the field, 6-11 from three-point range) playing an incredible 53 minutes. Real Madrid won the game in their known style of play, never giving up.
“After the game like that the feeling is just like ‘empty’. We were out there for an hour of actual game minutes and gave everything we had. Not just us – the coaches, the refs, everybody that has been a part of this historic game that would go down in the EuroLeague history as one of the best games of all time.
To not be able to come on the top of that on the road against the number one team in the league at the moment when your team has been struggling, bunch of players injured all coming back together to not be able to pull that out left you kind of empty inside.
After that game we all just sat in the locker room, silent for like 30 minutes. Nobody really had much to say because although we did make mistakes offensively and defensively, we missed shots that maybe we should have made. The one thing that we all gave was everything we have so I think empty is the right word to describe it. Looking back on it, it was definitely an honor and blessing to be a part of that game but we would feel much better if we were the ones that came out on top.” – Shane Larkin concluded this interview for Basketball Sphere.