NYT/Athletic Story on Deni, by.. (5 Viewers)

[e_blazer]

Jason Quick. You’re gonna love it.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6975290/2026/01/21/deni-avdijia-trail-blazers-wizards-israel-nba/

 

[Cugel]

no access. care to summarize?

 

[e_blazer]

Before the Portland Trail Blazers forward became a candidate for this season’s All-Star Game with statistics that put him in the same company as Nikola Jokić, Luka Dončić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Avdija was an unsure teenager.

Some excerpts:

“He was a basketball prodigy playing for Maccabi Tel Aviv, the most prestigious club in Israel, which meant he sometimes played with and against grown men in their late 20s, early 30s. His own teammates, during practices, were the most unforgiving.

“Any time something happened, they would find ways to pick on me,” Avdija remembered. “When you are 15, 16 … it bugs you, man. “

 

[noknobs]

Good article, thanks for posting.

 

[e_blazer]

“I knew his potential, and because of that, I wanted to make it tough on him,” said Maccabi’s Oded Shalom, who coached Avdija on his Under-15 and Under-16 teams. “I wanted to make his life hard.”

Shalom had older and bigger kids guard Avdija. When he played for the senior Maccabi teams, Avdija said coaches cursed at him. “


“At home, there was little sympathy. His father, Zufer, is what Avdija describes as “a hard-nosed, old-school Balkan.” In his day, he was a 6-foot-8 forward for the Yugoslavian national team who later played in the Israeli professional league.”

“His mother, Sharon, is an Israeli who was a standout runner who also played basketball. She is more nurturing than Zufer, but also carries expectations of excellence in competition.”

 

[e_blazer]

It all made me tough — like, really, really tough,” Avdija said. “You know how you run a lot and your feet start to get thick skin on them? It was like that. The more I would hear (criticisms), the more I would think, ‘This is nothing.’ I had been dealing with it so much that I got to a point where it was like, ‘I don’t care.’”

“Avdija says his NBA emergence is a result of a combination of factors: an empowerment from his former coach Chauncey Billups; chemistry with his teammates who celebrate his success; and, mostly, the toughness he developed from those teenage years.”

 

[UKRAINEFAN]

One thing I am thinking about Deni. I don't think he should be considered a point forward like Batum. He is a big point guard. He should be our starting point guard even when other guys come back from injuries. He will only get better at point guard skills and I think will cut down on his turnovers, really his only weakness. And maybe we should be building a really big, long team around him. Magic Johnson's showtime team had only one guy under 6'9".
This really gives Scoot only a path to being a backup PG. I'm not sure what the implications are for that. It also means we have two aging, not particularly tall spare PGs, one of whom is highly paid. For me, this means Holiday definitely needs to go ASAP if we can jettison him without having to include an asset. Not sure what it means for the even smaller, defensively challenged Lillard.