Promitheas Patras point guard Abdul Gaddy checks in before a crucial week for his team with the latest post on the EuroCupbasketball.com blog.
Abdul Gaddy, Promitheas: ‘We still have a chance’
Blogs
7 Mins read
For us, this is the most decisive part of the EuroCup season. We still have a chance, so we are focused on that. It's been a tough season. We lost some close ones, some games we wish we could have closed better. There was an adjustment to Coach Zouros. It's been tough, but I think that we are a team that wants to focus on the moment and right now we have an opportunity. So we want to focus on the next game at home against a really good Ulm team, very well-coached with great players. We beat them before, but we know that was a bad game for them. So we want to focus on each game and try to win each one if we can. We really have to stay in that moment because that's the only chance we have to make sure that we give ourselves an opportunity to make it.
The break was actually good just to get everybody healthy. I was able to be here and get individual work. Our coach coached the Georgian national team, so he wasn't here, but he did come up with a great plan for us to do some individual skill work and improve so that we could be ready to go. But most of the guys were here and then some of our Greek guys with the national team, so they were getting good work there as well. So we should be prepared.
"We want to focus on each game and try to win each one if we can."
We have to make the most of our strengths. Our coach loves to play inside. It is a very old school style, but it is effective for us, we go inside a lot. We play out of our post and we do a lot of action out of that. And our two centers, Dario Hunt and Jerai Grant, are very, very unique and very talented players around the rim, ready to make a pass out of the post. They do a lot of things, so it's been really effective for us.
I am sure Nikolaos Rogkavopoulos surprised a lot of people, too. He has a ton of upside, has good size, good length. He can shoot it, is very confident, and he's improving each and every day. And one thing I really, really appreciate about him is that he loves the game of basketball. He doesn't let a lot of things deter him from that. He has a lot of passion. So he's willing to come in and work every day. So when you have that in a young guy, the sky's the limit for him. So he's a really good player for us and I know he's young and he has a long career ahead of him.
During the EuroCup break, I got to walk around Athens a little bit. I visited some of my good friends on other teams. So it was a good little break basketball-wise, just to be able to see the city and socialize a little bit. I am sure you know Okaro White, who plays for Panathinaikos. We know each other and played in Bologna together, so we were able to catch up. Steven Gray of Peristeri, too. We've known each other for a very long time, he is one of my closest friends. I was able to go around and see the Acropolis and eat some good food. I went to the Patras Castle to see some of the sights. It was really nice and I enjoyed it.
But now, we are preparing for the game against Ulm. It's going to be tough. They've got good players. They have good playmakers, good big guys and athleticism. They are a really good team and they are very well coached. I played against their coach when I played in Germany, too, and they are very well-coached, they play hard. So we are going to have to be prepared. It's not going to be like our last game against them, so we have to come in and prepare for them. And Coach does a really good job of video and preparing and knowing their stuff. So we will be prepared. It's going to be about us coming in and playing really hard against him and hopefully being at home will help us.
"It's always an adjustment and it's always intriguing to see how your style is compared to other teams."
Coach does a good job only focusing on whoever's in front of us, so we're really going to focus on Ulm now even though we play Cedevita two days later. And then once the Ulm game is over, we go to the next opponent. I know it's a short turnaround, but it's just too difficult to focus on another opponent when you have a tough one in front of you, so you only can focus on them because that's a win you have to get. We have to get this win first and then we can focus on the next. So that's kind of our focus right now, just Ulm.
The EuroCup is really good. It's a very high level of basketball. It's a different style of play than the Greek League and there are so many good teams. That's the one thing that people respect about it. There are good teams and every time you play, there are no off nights or anything like that. It's like you're going to battle. Even if you're playing a team that doesn't have a great record, they are good. They may have lost by one or two points a couple of times and that's just how it is. I really respect the league, they run it really well. They have been very professional as far as handling all this stuff off the floor as well, too. So it's been an amazing experience.
Another thing that I like is the different playing styles. That is pretty cool. And it's always an adjustment and it's always intriguing to see how your style is compared to other teams. When we play a team from Italy, it is different from playing a team from Germany or Spain. They all bring different aspects and you have to adjust and see whose style wins out. That's a great part about basketball, too. That's why it's so worldwide and it brings the world together.
I really hope we can reach the knock-out rounds. It is always a motivation to have those opportunities and to just to be able to play and get wins. When you play the game, you want to respect the game and as a competitor, you want to go out and win every game. We always have that extra motivation just to go out and prove ourselves each and every day and create more opportunities.