By Dionysis Aravantinos / @AravantinosDA
The Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and the Chinese CBA are the two leagues that attract the bulk of former NBAers when they decide to head overseas. Many players have actually had the chance of participating in all three championships and thus collect all sorts of experiences.
These players, most of them Americans bring a unique perspective to the sport of basketball, after being able to travel around the world, experience different cities, and lifestyles, but also different styles of basketball, arenas, fans, etc. What are the differences in the players’ daily routine? How’s the lifestyle different in the three continents?
Eurohoops discussed these topics with 10 unique players who have participated in all three leagues, in a two-part questionnaire. Here’s part two which includes the topics mentioned above. Part one includes the general differences, adapting to rules, and the players answered which competition comes after the NBA. You can read about it, by clicking here.
Enjoy part two:
Describe your daily routine in each one of the competitions and what were the major differences in practices, games, workouts.
NBA:
- DJ White: In the NBA, there are a lot of workouts. Because you play so many games, you don’t practice as much. And when you do practice, you just practice hard for 45 minutes. It’s a lot about getting your lifts, workouts and shots up.
- Bobby Brown: You don’t get to practice as much, because you play games almost every day. You have optional workouts, and a lot of guys get it done. They lift weights, get their shooting in.
- Dorell Wright: Way more relaxed compared to the EuroLeague. The biggest bonus of the NBA is that you have everything you need. The best of the best, including trainers, coaches and facilities. If there’s something wrong with your body, you have a cold tub, hot tub, or heat packs. The CBA is also laid back. It’s a gift and a curse in the NBA. If you’re in a great team, you don’t practice as much. You do more of maintenance. How can I keep my body in the best shape etc.You work with personal trainers, conditioning coaches and skills. When you are in losing teams, it’s always practice, practice, practice. How can we figure out a way to get better.Some teams need that, because they are so young, and these guys don’t learn the proper work ethic. When they get to the NBA, after just one year of college, they haven’t learned to work. So, the coaches become High School coaches and start teaching the players the proper fundamentals, in order to be successful. The league is getting younger and younger and the coaches’ job is getting harder and harder.
- Chris Singleton: You play games and rest. The NBA is about rest and confidence. Nowadays the role players get a lot of shots created by the team star. The question is whether you can consistently knock down these shots. If you do, you will be awarded.
- Alex Kirk: You come in early and start doing more individual workouts. You get your own weight work in, your own conditioning, on the court workout. Then, you have a practice, that’s pretty short. Includes run-through, a couple of live drills, and then you are on to doing some more of your individual work. You get a lot more time to work on your game with different coaches and it does help develop you more from an individual perspective.
- Josh Powell: Focusing on resting the body, doing work according to your individual work load. They monitor and adjust things and I know that’s a big transformation now as well. They are making sure that guys are not doing too much, therefore they can perform when it’s necessary. In the NBA, practices occur in the morning and the players are done for the day.
- Maciej Lampe: When I was in the NBA, I was 18 years old. I got drafted on potential. In my time in New York, I would come in an hour and a half early as a rookie and work. I also had to stay late. I spent a lot of time in the car, in between workouts, going from the Madison Square Garden (downtown) to the practice facilities (Westchester). I lost a lot of weight when I was there but didn’t get a chance to play. Then, when I got traded to Phoenix, I played under coach Mike D’Antoni. I was 19 years old and he helped me out. In the NBA there’s a lot of coming in early and staying after practice to workout. There are so many games that make the pre-season (practices, workouts) hard. Once the regular season begins, there’s not a lot of hard practices. You work more on your individual game.
- Derrick Williams: Everything in the NBA is more individualized. 2-3 players are assigned to a coach, working on specific parts of the game, their body and shooting, while in Europe, it’s two practices a day, most of the time 3-4 days a week.
- Malcolm Delaney: You play 82 games, so you don’t have time for team practices. You get in when you can, but most importantly is to take care of your body. You stay in shape and rhythm. It’s a lot of skill development and working out during the season. You may have a few team practices, but you really don’t have the time. You gotta do it on your own. As far as team practices, there’s no twice a day like in Europe.
EuroLeague:
- DJ White: The daily routine in Europe (White was in Baskonia for one month but has been playing in Europe’s best competitions for a number of years), is somewhat easier. You play 1-2 times a week, have good access to the gym, so you can workout on your body or get your shots up in the mornings, or before the practices.
- Bobby Brown: In Europe, you have two practices a day, because you don’t have so many games.
- Dorell Wright: The Europe grind, is a real grind. In 2017-2018 when I was with Bamberg, we practiced twice a day until the playoffs. Coming from the NBA, it was tough for me to adjust. I had guys like Nikos Zisis, Daniel Hackett, Ricky Hickman who were accustomed to it, and I kind of fell in line. One time, I asked Nikos: “Man, you have been doing this your whole career? I can’t believe you’re still playing this late in your career”.It just shows how good these guys are conditioning-wise, and how good their bodies are in Europe, because they’re doing this all-year long. I always tip my hat off to the guys that are grinding in Europe, even though they are not getting the same care and treatment like players in the NBA. We (American players in the NBA) are not working as hard as these guys in Europe, but we have so many different things to help the body recover and to even help us sleep better. Generally, the NBA offers so many extra things that Europe does not offer, and that’s the reason why they are behind on certain things. Getting the guys, a proper recovery and proper rest for example. I think that they (European teams) are so big on practice, practice, practice that they’re not letting the guys really recover, so that they can perform on the court better. But what they’re doing is extremely impressive, considering the fact that players in Europe are not getting any breaks (due to EuroLeague, domestic championships, national team).
- Chris Singleton: Depending on the team and the coach, you get to play games and practice a lot.
- Alex Kirk: In Europe, most of the times you have two practices a day, which is more often than you would in the NBA or the CBA, but sometimes with the busy schedule of the EuroLeague, you don’t obviously have those opportunities too, because you are constantly traveling. The biggest difference is that in the games, there are a lot more players and thus a lot more players are playing less minutes, so you have more intense practices which makes it more fun to compete during practice, something you wouldn’t do in the CBA or the NBA.
- Josh Powell: In the EuroLeague, you practice twice a day (depending on where you are). Aside from that, they’ll have you practice at night (sometimes), because they believe in practice.
- Maciej Lampe: You practice a lot. Play two games a week (EL, BCL, EuroCup & domestic league game) and thus travel a lot. Especially if you play in the ACB (Spanish League), which is very hard. The schedule of the ACB is tough and adding the EL’s schedule to it, makes it even tougher.
- Derrick Williams: Even before you go overseas and have friends who play in Europe, you understand how tough the daily routine is. Because, when they come back, they are like ‘Man, this was a tough season’. In Europe, they get after it all year long. It’s different. Constantly, every day, every day, every day. I wouldn’t look at it as a bad thing, you just have to be more prepared. It can be a great thing if you’re on top of it, taking care of your body. It’s basketball and you can always have your ups and downs, but you have a better chance of staying at the rise, just because you are always after it. However, if you’re not prepared, it can be tough. Constantly traveling, a lot of bus rides, but overall it’s a good experience and you get to witness how people work in different parts of the world.
- Malcolm Delaney: I think it’s too much practice. Most teams practice twice a day for the whole season. I don’t really like that. It was cool early in my career, but I’m not really a fan of two-a-days at all. If I want to go in on my own and workout, that’s fine, but I don’t like being on a schedule for two a days and doing extra stuff when your body is hurting from all the games.
CBA:
- DJ White: In the CBA, you play three games a week. The travel is not as easy. During the games, you play the whole 40 minutes. You don’t get a chance to work on your game, as you would in the NBA or in Europe.
- Bobby Brown: In China, you don’t get to practice as much, as you have games every other day. You get to shoot around, come home, eat, have a pre-game nap and get ready for the game. The practices in the CBA, are not too long. They are straight to the point. After practice, you get to watch tape, and scout the opponent. Because you’re so busy with games, however, you don’t get to workout as much as you’d want to. You don’t have the access you have in the NBA. You don’t get to drive and so you can’t just go to the arena and work on your shots. Sometimes, there are women games in the arena.
- Dorell Wright: We had a hard first month of two practices a day, but once the season starts it’s pretty easy. You fly and travel a whole day, and so sometimes you practice and sometimes you don’t. Sometimes the foreign players rest, while the Chinese players practice. They play physical. They try to stop the imports as much as they can by playing physical and roughing you up. They have the money, but they need to continue to think about the players and putting them in a position to recover better. Having the right facilities, right equipment to help the guys recover and perform better. They are way behind Europe.
- Chris Singleton: The CBA’s playing style compares to that of the NBA, but in China, it’s easier to find your rhythm, since you will get the same shots every game.
- Alex Kirk:The CBA’s daily routine is a little bit more relaxed. You didn’t always have a shoot around, a walk-through. Practices were similar to European style (I played for an Italian coach), but the practices are not as intense as the EL practices.
- Josh Powell: The CBA is like clockwork. They play every Wednesday, Friday, Sunday (whether its home or away). So you get used to whatever the routine is for that team. Other days you shoot around; other days you travel. Most of the times, a lot of guys, like to get a pre-game nap, make sure they get a lot of food in their system, so that they are well rested and ready to perform.
- Maciej Lampe: A lot of recovery. We play 3-4 games a week, so there’s a lot of Normatec, recovery, trying to keep your legs fresh. A lot of sessions with physiotherapists, rolling out (using the vipering rollers) to try and stay as healthy as possible. We also rest a lot, since we are playing many games. I like to get in the gym early, before the games, get my shots up and then focus on my body, so that everything is activated for the game.
- Malcolm Delaney: My situation in China was pretty easy. The daily routine was similar to the NBA’s. We played every other day, and so the players who play a lot of minutes, don’t practice as much. While we were playing games, we never had a real team practice. We had a personal trainer, so we got a lot of work with him. If we did have practice twice a day, we had to go in the morning, lift and shoot. And then in the afternoon, you came together, watch film and run over some plays. It was never like a full contact practice. It was pretty solid and easy. They maintained our bodies pretty well. My situation was cool, but I’ve heard other stories, where the mentality in China is to have you in the gym. A team can have two practices a day and keep you in there for two hours. You don’t do too much; they just like to have you on a schedule. I’ve heard that side, but on my end, it wasn’t tough.