Sasha Vezenkov: “I cried when I left Olympiacos for the NBA, my dream was the conquest of Euroleague”

He was hosted on the Greek Basketball League podcast, with his Bulgarian basketball player talking about his decision to go to the NBA, his departure from the “reds” and his great dream. Sasha Vezenkov was invited to the Greek Basketball League podcast at Spotify, with the 29-year-old “opening” his heart. From the words of Voulgaros he distinguished his position for the tears he put when he left Olympiacos in order to go to the NBA, while he did not fail to emphasize and how he reached the Piraeus team. At the same time he referred to the call he had received from Nikola Jokic to go to the Denver Nuggets, while he was in Barcelona. Vezenkov’s words About the beginning of his great course: My first influence was my father. I haven’t had time to watch him too much. Everything I’ve seen from tapes. I was 14 years old. The first contact was made with Mandoulidis. I had practice and everything was fine. They waited for me as soon as I finished school in the summer. But things have changed. My father was talking to Mars but everything was going slower. There was a game in Kymi with the National and then they saw me. They took my father to the office. He told them we agreed with Mandoulidis. In fact, it all happened at the turn. We went to Mandoulidis, they called us, we turned around and went to Mars. For his transfer to Olympiacos: That summer was hard, because I didn’t have too many choices, I hadn’t played in the last six months at all. At the coaching seminar, Darusafaka’s then coach reminded me that it was one of my choices. It was Darusafaka, if I’m not mistaken a little bit about Tenerife who asked and then Olympiacos. I had the Greek passport and I said it’s a security, somewhere to start all over again in a team that was also in the Final Four, aiming for the championships are always in the spotlight. So I thought this was the best choice of my career then. I’ve been taught that you have to stay on the high level as long as you can, improve fighting. I knew my potential, I had worked hard that summer. It was the first summer I actually changed my practice a little. I thought Olympiacos would give me the opportunity and I’d take them. It was then a fresh start, as Coach Blatt had just arrived. Olympiacos was difficult too, especially in the first two years, people may not remember. When Coach Kemzura came after me, he didn’t count me out, he was on the verge of leaving or not. I lived out of the dozen, I didn’t play. And I had made mistakes and I had not taken any chances, but I think it was a decision again, in which I was either staying or leaving. It’s also a little luck. Then came George Bartzokas. Our lips and philosophy fit. I kept working, trying to find my way, and I think everything went well.” For George Bartzokas: “He is a man who can discuss everything, who is calm, who has education, has knowledge, knows how to discuss anything. He’s completely different from what he shows on the floor. He’s been giving you from day one that whatever you want you can contact him. I understand the other side, when there are 15 players in one team, if 15 people go to tell him the problems, all 15 won’t be solved. So eventually the player will think that ‘you lied to me’, that ‘while you said it would be solved’. It’s like a family, so I think the most important ingredient is honesty, even though it’s tough. Let it be harsh truth. They can’t all be happy. Everyone goes through these phases, where in a group you’ll be No1 and be happy, or before in a team that you’ll be No15 and not solve your problems. So there has to be honesty, there has to be trust and what they say in America, which I didn’t find, say “communication”. You’ll tell me and the coach doesn’t have to talk to everyone, but that’s what assistants are for, they’re people in the team, so everyone knows what to do and knows there’s transparency in everything.” About what he regretted in Barcelona and Nikola Jokic’s call for the Denver Nuggets: “My first year of playing badly, my manager told me to get into the NBA draft. I thought if you didn’t play in Europe how to play there. And I got a call back then from Jokic, but not today’s three-time MVP. He played on the team, in 2016 he was not a superstar. He told me the Denver Nuggets wanted me. The team took Europeans. Malone called. But I chickened out. I had 20-year-old’s insecurity. Then I played in Europe, but they didn’t care again. A little thought about it, what would happen.” For his decision to move to the NBA: I think I owed it to myself. I think about it now and I’m moved, I’ll never forget it. I was going to Bulgaria from Greece, once I had announced my decision and cried all the way. The flight attendant should have said “what he is doing now”. I read messages from friends, from acquaintances, from people I knew and I say where I go there is so much love on one side but on the other I owed it to myself.” For his experience in the NBA: “I had too many difficulties in both Mars and Barcelona and Olympiacos. Question. I had to prove I could play at this level in the first place. Question always existed. When for the fourth time we have to again, then you say why. But that’s where the mindset is. No matter how good you are in your freshman year, you’re a rookie. I missed being important and playing to help my team. To feel that I can.” For his idols: “Dirk Novitsky and then the triplette Spanoulis, Diamantidis, Papalukas”. For LeBron James: “Stef Cary what he does is terrible but you see him and he is earthly. But LeBron is LeBron. His presence is on another level. Dodsic is basketball, you’re making fun of him. He points 40 points and you don’t understand where they came from.” For his goals with Olympiacos: “EuroLeague is something I think, I would like to do. We’ve been close twice, especially one too close, but we don’t live with the past. We only see ahead and if it’s meant to be, I’ll conquer it sometime. It’s not an end in itself, but it’s definitely in my dreams. I would like to fight for titles with Olympiacos”.