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Truth be told, Croatian international Bojan Bogdanovic was not really keen on the NBA when he was at Fenerbahce.
But he made a sacrifice, took the jump from the Euroleague and the rest is history.
Honestly, before arriving I was not a big fan of the NBA, that’s why I had decided to stay in Europe, in Fenerbahce,” he told HRT. “But when I arrived, I saw that it was really another world, a world unto itself, everything is arranged differently. I can say that I have now become a fan of the NBA.”
He didn’t elaborate, but he said in the end, after his adjustment, he was happy with his performance.
“I did not know what to expect, what my role was on the team, and I think I can be satisfied with my performance and what I showed,” he said.
DELLAVEDOVA DOESNT DESERVE THE BAD REP HE GETS
That’s according to Cavs team-mate LeBron James.
Via USA Today:
“There’s chippiness out there. He’s a player that plays hard. There has got to be a line at some point,” said Hawks forward-center Al Horford, who was called for a flagrant foul two and ejected from Game 3 late in the first half after an incident with Dellavedova.
Dellavedova was part of the play in Game 2 in which he went for the ball and landed on Kyle Korver’s leg. Korver sustained a severe high right ankle sprain, which ended his season. Dellavedova was also involved in an incident with Chicago’s Taj Gibson in the conference semifinals, and Gibson was also called for a flagrant foul two and ejected. Dellavedova had Gibson’s leg trapped and as Gibson tried to free himself, the NBA said he used excessive contact against an opponent.
“Was it on purpose or not? We don’t know,” Horford said. “Maybe it wasn’t on purpose. But just his track record, I just felt like it was. On my part, it was very poor for doing that.”
[…]
“You just play the game the right way,” James said. “At this point, you try to do whatever it takes to win. You don’t want to hurt nobody. No one in our league goes around trying to hurt people, but you don’t take the aggressive nature out of the game.”
Then James rattled off a sequence during another portion of the game in which guys were diving for loose balls.
“We don’t never want to play with the integrity of the game and try to get people hurt,” James said. “That’s not what it’s about because we all want brotherhood at the end of the day, NBA family. But I play to win the game, and you play aggressively. That’s what it’s about.
A reporter asked Dellavedova what he thought of Hawks forward DaMarre Carroll’s comments that a player should never dive at another player’s feet.
James replied, “I got it,” and was ready to answer for Dellavedova.
But Dellavedova said, “I can answer if you want. I saw the ball (on the play with Korver). I dived on the floor. If I stay on my belly, it’s going to be a jump ball. So I protect the ball and kick it out to a teammate.
“On the other one (Horford incident), I’m boxing him out. He’s pulling my left arm down. I’m trying to stay up, and he’s just pulling me down. I mean, the tape’s there.”
