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Maik Kotsar, Baskonia: 'I've always liked the underdog mentality'

Maik Kotsar, Baskonia: 'I've always liked the underdog mentality'

Interviews

5 April 20235 Mins read

Maik Kotsar, Baskonia: 'I've always liked the underdog mentality'

Estonians have been few and far between on Turkish Airlines EuroLeague rosters over the last 23 years, but the country's newest representative in the continent's top competition has certainly made his presence felt.

Big man Maik Kotsar of Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz has made as much of an impact as almost any rookie in the competition. From his opening-game MVP of the Week performance back in October to his second such accolade in Round 31, Kotsar has been a pilar in Baskonia's quest to make the playoffs.

Kotsar, 26, learned basketball with the Audentes sports academy in the Estonian capital of Tallin before moving to the United States for a successful collegiate career at University of South Carolina and then debuting as a pro last season in the 7DAYS EuroCup with Hamburg Towers.

Despite the limited pool of just eight Estonians who have played the EuroLeague this century, when Baskonia came calling, Kotsar had one of them to consult, his current teammate Sander Raieste, who moved from Estonia to Spain at age 17 and has been on Baskonia's EuroLeague roster now for three seasons.

"He was a lot of help," Kotsar says of Raieste. "I could ask him anything about the club, about the teammates, obviously the coaching change, although not a lot about that. Overall, what the city's like, what the team's like, all that. I feel like he helped me a lot during that decision."

Not only had Kotsar known Raieste from recently playing on the Estonian national team together, but they also coincided for exactly one game back at Audentes sports academy. Kotsar appeared in only one game in his final year at the school due to an injury, but the younger Raieste was on court in that game, too.

"It's really nice to have actually played almost every position."

Kotsar's injury in his last year of high school in Estonia was his second already at a young age, after a broken leg at age 15. Before the cast went on his leg, he had been a 1.78-meter point guard, but by the time it came off, he was on his way to becoming the 2.12-meter center he is now.

"I was in a cast for two months, and during the time, I actually started growing," he recalls. "By the time they took my cast off, my foot had already gotten bigger, so the cast got too small for me. And then, my sophomore year of high school, I grew I'd say like 15 centimeters almost. Quite a lot. And by the end of my junior year I was almost the height I am now."

As such, Kotsar made a gradual progression of playing through almost all the positions on a basketball court, learning a lot of skills as he went through both forward spots to finally become a center. He now plays with an elevated court awareness that allows him to use his quickness to great effect, often operating from the perimeter to beat slower-footed defenders his size to the rim.

"Just as I started to grow, I went from being the point guard to playing the three [position]," he recounts. "Played the three quite a lot. And then, once I got to the U.S., I started playing the four, and played four-five throughout college, and now I'm playing the five. So, everything went like step by step. I'm lucky that it went so smoothly. It's really nice to have actually played almost every position."

Kotsar knows his strengths. He is averaging 9.2 points without so much as attempting a three-pointer this season, and his 65.3% two-point scoring rate is the best of any EuroLeague newcomer this season. Having started 26 of 32 EuroLeague games as a rookie, he is first on Baskonia in offensive rebounds (52), tied for second in total rebounds (137) and third in both steals (25) and blocks (13).

Kotsar's Achilles heel so far is 56.6% free-throw shooting, which has kept him from averaging double digits in scoring. Nonetheless, among EuroLeague rookies, his 13.2 average PIR is ranked fourth, behind only his teammate Darius Thompson (16.5), Johnathan Motley of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (16.5) and Bonzie Colson of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (13.6). On a per-40-minute basis, however, Kotsar (25.9) is second only to Motley (29.0).

His success doesn't seem so sudden, though, when you realize that Kotsar knew exactly why he chose Baskonia -- and vice-versa, no doubt.

"I've always liked the underdog mentality, the fighting, going out there and, no matter who you're against, just giving it your all: fight, don't back down," he says. "I've enjoyed that mentality for the longest time and that's something that I think I see from the club. The club wants their players, and even staff, to be that way, to just keep on pushing, keep on pushing. I really enjoy that and it was one of the driving forces for me to come here."