Spanish journalist Julián Díez has pointed me to a very interesting interview with Spanish national team coach Aíto García Reneses. (I know! It's all in Spanish!)
The coach says that after a few years in Memphis, Pau Gasol wasn't working nearly as hard as he could have been.
Make of that what you will. The coach does not seem to be intending this as much of a knock on Pau, who was toiling without much purpose on a bad team in Memphis. Aíto has known Gasol for almost his entire career, and the two have are reportedly close.
But what's fascinating to me is Julián Díez's follow-up in an e-mail:
This is interesting, because this is a question that points out a very important difference between European and American players, and is the reason some European stars fail in the NBA.
You are a star here (in Europe). You win fair money. The teams that pay you the most are the ones who fight every year for several titles: Euroleague, national league, national cup. You are always playing for something. If you are a good player, you will never stay on a bad team for more than a year. Bad teams can´t pay you, and a good one will offer a lot of money to take you.
Then, you go to the NBA. You go to a team like Memphis. Yes, win a lot of money, but ... Suddenly, you fight for nothing but winning the next game. There are no titles in the horizon. You can't escape. Maybe you can go to the playoffs ... well, it´s not enough. You used to take trophies, you used to be in the national newspapers every day, and on the TV every weeekend.
You are fighting for nothing -- I mean, in the European mentality -- and it's difficult to be motivated all the way.
And maybe this is also the reason that so many foreign players are so interested to go to the national teams in summer. It´s the opportunity, for some of them, to win something ...
The NBA does a lot of stuff right. I love our clear focus on the championship. I love the financial stability. I love the quality of the players.
And I believe that, motivated by professionalism and income, many players play hard.
But come on. We all know a lot of NBA players, no matter where they're from, are not playing hard on a given night. Maybe the NBA could learn something from the European model.
Wouldn't it be fun to have something tangible to fight for mid-season besides the same ol' playoff positioning? (Instead of All-Star weekend, how about an NCAA-style single elimination tournament, which could even feature some international teams?) It would also be nice to have fewer games ... as it is it's a smart tactic for some top players to coast for parts of the season.
When you go to an NBA game -- at those prices -- I believe you should see the best athletes in the world, at the peak of their skills, playing as hard as they can. If that means taking a page out of the European book, to get players motivated, so be it.
