The main bearer of the national men’s basketball team, a winger Mikael Jantunen23, was asked to join the NBA club Golden State Warriors’ mini-training camp around mid-June.
This is a rare thing in Finnish basketball. Hanno Möttölä has been in such a summer camp in Miami to give impressions to the NBA in 2003.
Before the summer’s annual signing ceremony for young players, NBA teams hold free agent camps to scout players mainly from Europe and the United States. There are also G League players, for whom matches are being arranged with the summer league starting in mind.
Möttölä says that he previously talked to several NBA talent scouts about Jantuse.
– Scouts have called me in recent years to ask about Jantuse. Yes, he has been on the lists of people who know basketball. The last time I talked to the Warriors Scout was in the spring. In itself, it was a logical continuation that “Micke” was shown there for a couple of days, Möttölä explains.
“A bit like a pig in a sack”
Susijeng’s winger hinted to STT himself that the mini-camp was not a personal success for him.
– It wasn’t a stroke of luck, but I managed my own things quite well. There were hardly any places during the two-day camp, Jantunen evaluates his own stay in Oakland, California.
Möttölä points out that the mini-camp was not an ideal place for Jantuse.
– It wouldn’t be an ideal place for any Finn, when you come for two days to play like a pig in a sack, i.e. let’s play five against five without agreed things and joint exercises.
Möttölä also heard feedback about Jantuse with his own ears.
– They weren’t there to watch Micke’s performance. They were happy with what he had done there and how he understands the game and brings toughness to the field. When the Americans go to play in a two-day showcase, everyone knows what the ball movement will be like then. So it doesn’t really exist, describes Finland’s first NBA player.
A step forward in Italy
Jantunen performed at a good level in the Italian premier league club Trevisio last season.
The Finn’s regular season statistics included 8.2 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Jantunen made 54.8% of shots, 38% of threes and 89.8% of free throws.
– A good season in a tougher league than last year in Belgium. In our first two World Cup qualifying windows, Jantunen took a big role in the attack Laurin (Markkanen) in absence. That’s what he needs to take the next step in his career, Möttölä knows.
Möttölä sees that the development of 23-year-old Jantuse has been excellent.
– He is still a young man. Especially his defense, rebounding and running the court are already at the top level in Europe. A basketball player’s peak is at the age of 26-28, or that’s when it actually starts these days.
Möttölä: More than a thousand players could play in the NBA
According to Möttölä’s rough guess, there are more than a thousand players in the world who could play in the world’s toughest basketball league, the NBA, if only they were offered the right kind of opportunity.
– There are not 450 of the world’s best players playing in the NBA, but they are there in the right place and at the right time. If some of these players came to play in, say, the Euroleague, they wouldn’t do well there, Möttölä points out.
The condition for Jantunen’s entry into the NBA is the development of his shot.
– Micke has started to throw better from a distance. It is already a more natural solution for him. When this develops further, and the man gets married for a couple more years, it will be good, Möttölä says.
According to Möttölä, the NBA has begun to understand that Europe will be the source of some of the best players in the world. Against this background, moving from Europe at a later age than directly from the NBA draft is possible and becoming more common.
Markkanen’s teammate was, for example, an Italian who joined the Utah Jazz’s NBA team straight from European courts last season. Simone Fontecchio27.
Will we ever see Jantune in the NBA?
It is premature to talk about an NBA contract for Jantusen. However, it is not impossible.
– In the case of Mikael Jantusen, who is a team player and whose full competence is not reflected in the statistics, an NBA organization like the Warriors is needed, which sees value in players like him.
Möttölä admits that the best basketball players can do well in any system or role.
– If Jantunen were to be thrown deep into the NBA in the right team and he was used correctly, he absolutely could play in the NBA in the season that is already starting.
Lauri Markkanen is the best possible example in the NBA of how a player can rise from a regular player to an All-Star player, as long as the role and playing are correct.
Markkanen, who is even rated as a top-30 player in the NBA at the moment, needed the right kind of organization for his real breakthrough, where the coaching valued a player like him.
Jantunen is an important player for Finland in the fall World Cup tournament. Möttölä, who is part of Susijeng’s coaching, notes that Jantuse currently has good self-confidence.
– A strong season in Italy clearly also brought him relaxation. The body language seems to me that he himself understands that he is a tough player, and not just a guy who is looking for his own place, Möttölä states.