At Lauri Markkanen’s first press conference of the fall in Utah, most of the questions were about his finished military service.
Lauri Markkanen stepped in front of the media for the first time this fall in Utah, when Markkanen’s NBA club organized a season opening ceremony at its premises.
Markkanen was talked about all summer about his military service. It attracted enormous interest in Finland and North America. Last week, the basketball star posted a picture of how his military service was now over.
The North American media were also interested in the Intti stories at the season opener. Most of the questions addressed to Markkanen focused on conscript service.
Markkanen said that the military service went well.
– It was mentally and physically challenging, but it was a good experience. I made a lot of friends. I’m happy to be able to fully focus on basketball again. But it was a good leadership experience for me, Markkanen stated.
Markkanen also made the American journalists laugh with his inside stories when he talked about the most challenging moments of conscript service, among other things.
– Believe it or not. Even though I’m from Finland, I don’t enjoy the cold that much. We had a pretty cold summer. We woke up and crawled out of the tent in the first week of May. It was a pretty chilling moment, Markkanen recalled.
Markkanen also found it a challenge that the army was a completely new thing for him. It made me uncomfortable at times, but I learned from those moments.
– I have played basketball for 20 years. I know how to deal with basketball matters, but there were new things in the army, Markkanen described.
Markkanen said that during his military service, he learned basic things, shooting, working as a group, and camping things, such as setting up a tent and lighting a fire.
Markkanes was also asked about shooting accuracy. The Finn described it as good. The clarifying question was whether the accuracy on the shooting range was 40 percent, referring to Markkanen’s three-point shooting accuracy.
– Hopefully better than that, Markkanen laughed.
Markkanen assured that the Utah Jazz’s goal in the coming season is to reach the playoffs. The Finn was also asked about how Markkanen, who reached the NBA All-Star Game last season, plans to lead Utah in the coming season.
Markkanen reminded that he will hardly lead by shouting at his teammate.
– I try to show and lead by example, Markkanen summed up his management philosophy.
On Monday night, the Utah Jazz released a video in which Markkanen immediately goes to Utah’s training facilities to make a half-court throw.
The new star reinforcement revealed the Finn’s wonderful gesture
In the spring, the Utah Jazz got a tough class reinforcement, when the team took advantage of the Atlanta Hawks of John Collins.
Like Markkanen, Collins, booked in 2017, was involved in leading Atlanta to the conference finals in the spring of 2021, but has since suffered from injuries. In his peak season, Collins averaged 21.6 points and grabbed 10.1 rebounds per game.
In his own part, Collins revealed Markkanen’s elegant gesture, when Collins’ transfer to Utah was confirmed at the turn of June-July.
– Lauri texted me as soon as the deal was finished. Lauri said that he values me very much. He told me how excited he was to play with me, Collins said.
Utah will play its first practice game of the season in Hawaii against the Los Angeles Clippers early on Sunday, October 9, Finnish time.
The NBA regular season starts in Utah on October 26 Finnish time. The first match will be against the Sacramento Kings at home.