Coach Tabak clearly stated what this is due to. Because I am honest and I do not hide anything. If someone perceives this as a difficult character, then in my opinion it is already their problem. However, in sports, in basketball, with an easy, lenient, nice character, you often do not reach the highest goals that you set for yourself.
There have been many coaches throughout your career who have doubted you. Do you have a certain amount of satisfaction from the successes of the past year, because many people didn't believe in you?
No, I don't have that kind of satisfaction. I definitely try not to think about it and not look back with such a negative connotation. Dealing with such things doesn't help at all. I have something to do, I have someone to do it for. I know exactly in which direction I'm heading and in which direction I want to go next, how to develop as a person and as a player.
When you reach the top of the Polish league, win the championship, become the best player, how do you find the motivation to go further?
I think it's a question of character, maybe also that "difficult character" in quotation marks. For me, it's natural that I want to win and I'm motivated for every training session, for every match. It just comes out completely naturally. I don't have problems with additional motivation, I don't have problems with not wanting to, with feeling a bit of satiety, with looking ahead somewhere. The motivation is there. I have a great desire to win matches, to win more titles, a hunger to develop as a player. Even this season has shown that we still have a lot to do and achieve in Europe.
Has the sudden autoimmune disease you had a year and a half ago changed you a lot? Not even as an athlete, but as a person.
I am definitely able to look at my life and career in a completely different light now. It has personally helped me a lot to sort out the value of many aspects of life and my sports career. It wasn't easy, but in the long run it was definitely very helpful. It has shaped me a lot as a person, as a player, as a father, in all aspects of life. It has definitely allowed me to look at everything more broadly.
You mentioned the EuroCup. Of course, realistically we could all expect it to be very difficult and a place in the top league would probably not be for you, but you won only one match in it, you lost seventeen. Was it very painful?
The defeats were certainly painful, and the frustration grew from week to week that we were not able to close these matches with a victory. Looking completely from the outside at the bare facts and the result, it is certainly painful not only for us, but for the entire Polish basketball, the entire community.
However, looking deeper from the perspective of a player who participated in all this, it is not so painful. We have proven ourselves, we have seen the second games in Europe. Looking at the bare facts, we are very far away, but looking at the style and course of these matches, at the competition that we gave to the higher ranked teams, it seems to me that there is not such a big difference.
I also read interviews with the president of Trefl and the director of Trefl. Organizationally, it also helped us a lot. They also realize what other moves they could have made regarding the foreigners. I think that getting another chance, with some corrections, we as a team and organization are able to take another step forward.
Before there is another chance in European cups, you will have to fight to defend the championship. They say it is harder to stay at the top than to get there. If we were to compare the current Trefl after the personnel changes with the one that won the championship, what are you better at and what are you worse at?
We are similar in terms of our defensive capabilities, but I think it's hard to compare the two teams at this point because we've only just finished all these changes. We definitely need more time.
The players and coaches know where we still have the biggest reserves in defense, and we still have a lot of them and there is really a lot of room for improvement here. We know that we are a team that can score a lot of points, but we want to win games with defense. In the squad, the accents compared to last year are moved a little more to the perimeter and here we really have a lot of talent to score a lot of points, because we have players of every profile.
Most of us know what the play-off series are all about. It's the defense and minimizing mistakes that really make them successful. We, last year's players, definitely want to forget about what happened then, because we can't live with that success all the time. Right now, we want to play similarly, but the team is different.
Your contract with Trefl is valid until 2027. You have played abroad, but in lower leagues. Are you tempted to leave your homeland again, but this time to a stronger league, or do you want to settle in Poland and fulfill yourself here?
It always tempts me, and now after the EuroCup it tempts me even more to try. The facts and the signed contract and my life situation show that it is good to finally find your place on earth, to have a bit of peace in one place. However, I think that in the head of every Polish sportsman there should be a thought to have the desire and hunger to go abroad and try to do everything so that maybe foreign clubs will at least contact you. And even if you don't want to take advantage, to have a small satisfaction and awareness in your head thanks to it.
