The most famous basketball player in the world at the moment LeBron James glowed at Finland’s number one star Lauri from Markka a lot this week. In his podcast, James admired Markkas, a famous NBA commentator and former top player JJ Redick with.
The Finnish basketball star came to the fore when James and Redick started talking about the offensive pattern used by both the Utah Jazz represented by Markkanen and the Golden State Warriors.
Redick reminded James that Markkanen is very good in that offensive pattern.
– Oh, Lauri? He’s one of my favorites. He has been a supporter of LeBron for a long time. He wore my shoes for a long time, until this season. Then new shoes came from Nike, James described and joked how he had to talk to the Nike people about it.
Afterwards, he incensed Markka more.
– I love that guy. He’s a really good player.
Redick and James went over how Golden State plays the same offense For Klay Thompson. He is one of the NBA’s all-time hardest three-point shooters.
However, Thompson is a 198-centimeter back, while Markkanen is a 213-centimeter big player with accurate hands.
James highlighted Markkanen’s exceptionality to the defenders.
– That is difficult. We already talked about how difficult it is for big men to defend such screens. It’s none of their business, James beamed as he looked at Markka.
Finland was put on the world map
James’s comments spread widely in Finland as well. Many Finnish media reported on the superstar’s comments based on the social media advertising clip. However, less attention has been paid to what was said in the podcast after the clip.
The social media clip in question also shows how Markkanen turns a different kind of attack pattern into a basket. Redick tells James in the podcast that it is a pattern called Finland.
– This is my favorite, Redick enthuses.
After that, James wonders why the pattern is named Finland.
– So why? It must be the name of the pattern just because of Markkanen, James laughs.
James and Redick brought out the Finland pattern and this Markkanen basket in early February against the Okholma City Thunder. The Jazzmatic account, which analyzes Utah’s games, drew attention to it in X as early as February.
The first NBA player in the history of Finland and a current member of Susijeng’s coaching team Hanno Möttölä says that Jazz picked up the attack pattern from the Finnish national team.
– Jazz’s coaching team fell in love with our certain attack patterns at the European Championships of the other year. They wanted to make it easier for Lauri to settle in and started taking our attack patterns, Möttölä explains to Urheilu.
The pattern was brought to Susijengi for Markka before the European Championships in question for the summer WC qualifiers. On the eve of the European Championships, Markkanen was traded to Jazz. Markkanen was one of the best players of the Games and led Finland to the top eight.
Last summer, Susijeng’s coaching team included Utah Jazz coaches Sean Sheldon. Möttölä says that Sheldon and I talked a lot during the summer. Sheldon revealed to Urheilu already at the end of the summer at the World Cup that the head coach had drawn some of Finland’s attack patterns For Will Hardy and suggested them to Jazz for use.
– During the summer, Sean collected clips from us and other national teams. When I personally visited Salt Lake City in September, Sean showed his video coaching program. Sean was showing clips to the other Utah coaches before the season at their retreat. There must have been a few things through, Möttölä opens.
Möttölä reminds us that this kind of pattern copying also belongs to basketball. He is not quite sure of the origin of the Finland pattern either.
– This is quite universal. No one really invented anything new. When they find something that works for a player, they try to copy, borrow and modify it. Yes, this goes the other way too. We are looking at things in Utah where Lauri can get good throwing positions, says Möttölä.
However, Möttölä is happy that now the attacking formation called Suomi is being praised by well-known NBA faces. He reveals that there are other Finnish nuances in the Utah Jazz’s playbook.
– Lauri was asked a good name for the side border game. Utah got one side border called Sisu, says Möttölä.
At the same time, he is also happy with how Markkanen is making Finland known to the world. LeBron James is currently one of the most famous athletes in the world, crossing sports boundaries.
– It’s great to hear on behalf of Lauri how LeBron James speaks about him. In a podcast like that, you don’t have to pretend or lie about anything. It’s a great thing that Lauri has reached such a level. An athlete like LeBron James is really a fan of him, Möttölä expresses.
In Markkasen, the situation is good in the summer
Although Markkanen has also become one of the NBA’s top players in Utah, the team’s success has so far been around. In both of Markkanen’s seasons, Utah has decided to trade away its core players at the transfer deadline and give up their dreams of success in the hope of a better future.
Markkanes now also became the player who played the most NBA regular season games without a single playoff game among the current players.
The coming summer will be interesting, because Markkanen can sign the most lucrative contract in Finnish sports history.
Markkanen’s current contract expires in a year, so the Jazz now have a place to grab the Finn for a longer period of time. Utah media by The Jazz can offer Markkanen a four-year contract extension worth a total of 160 million dollars.
– Of course Lauri’s situation is personally good. He can decide what he wants. Whether he continues until the end of his contract with the Jazz, and is a free agent after a year to change clubs, or whether he cements himself in Utah for the coming years, Möttölä illustrates the spirit of the game.
However, Möttölä knows that Markkanen and his family enjoy themselves in Salt Lake City. Möttölä emphasizes that the lack of success is not due to the Finnish star.
– Of course, I would sincerely hope that little by little a permanent, successful team would start to build around Lauri. It has had good parts, but the management level has not been satisfied yet. Hopefully we are now in a situation where the team around Lauri will not be sold next February. Now in the NBA, there are great examples from Minnesota and Okhaloma, who have built a good team, Möttölä refers to the top teams of the Western Conference.