Cleveland Cavaliers star Larry Nance Jr. has given his thoughts ahead of the upcoming NBA season and his favourite player at Chelsea FC.
Q: Are you enjoying being back in London?
LNJ: “I love it here. This is something I try to do at least once a year – I’ve been over here for some time. I love my football so this is a place I frequent a lot.”
Q: You’re a Chelsea fan? Who’s your favourite player?
LNJ: “Absolutely. At the moment, my favourite player is Mason Mount he’s so creative and offers something a bit different going forward.”
Q: How do basketball fans in the US compare to UK fans of football?
LNJ: “It’s a very different kind of fan. In the NBA, the game is very much for entertainment – it’s a show people go for the fireworks, the fan interaction with the mascots, t-shirt canons things like that. Over here the fans are very traditional where they will parade down the street chanting on their way to the game and it’s like a ritual here. Everyone comes out and supports their team and the fans over here are very die-hard and I love that that’s why I love being over here.”
Q: What are the Cleveland Cavaliers’ goals for this upcoming season?
LNJ: “We’re in a different position this season. We’ve got some young guys that we want to bring along. We have Colin Sexton, Darius Garland – we’ve just drafted Kevin Porter Jr, Dylan Windler so we’re going to be a young group so I think helping them to improve will be key to what we do this year. Obviously we still have myself, Tristan [Thompson] and Kevin [Love] so we’re going to be competitive and the lofty goal would be to make the Playoffs but we’re going to give it a real big push and we’re not ruling anything out right now.”
Q: What are your personal goals? What have you been working on over summer?
LNJ: “This upcoming season is going to be a big one for me individually – I’ve got a real chance to make a name for myself in Cleveland amongst the best in the league. I’ve been working mainly on my three point shooting, getting more comfortable with that. I led us in assists last year so I want to continue to bring the ball up and be a facilitator for our team. Personally I’m really looking forward to expanding my game and becoming more well known.”
Q: How pleased are you to see more duos back in the league? Does that open up the league a bit more?
LNJ: “I love it. There was the big three era but how many big threes can you have? You were getting three stars at three or four teams and that’s who would dominate so now it’s much more spread out. It could be anyone from the Clippers to the Sixers to the Lakers – anybody could win it this year. I’m really excited to be a part of it.”
Q: Who’s making it out of the East this year?
LNJ: “I have to say Cleveland but Cleveland aside I would have to say Philly [Philadelphia 76ers]. That’s my take. Milwaukee will be up there again but I’ll stand by Philly making it out of the East.”
Larry Nance Jr’s Cleveland Cavaliers will feature as part of a record 48-games being broadcast at Primetime in Europe on Sky Sports this season.
