Lauri talked on the podcast of a finnish basketball commentator and free agent coach Kristian Palotie (@CoachPalotie on twitter, he tweets also in english) after the Atlanta game.
The conversation was about 30 minutes long and in finnish. Lauri is very comfortable with the hosts (also hosted by his former finnish national team teammate Shawn Huff) and so he was telling about all sorts of behind the scenes stuff from the start of the season.
He talked about his own development during the off-season and the work he’s put in during the summer. He’s really brimming with confidence, but in his typical, humble and team-oriented way. He did not lack praise for his teammates, especially Mike Conley. He told how Mike is really laid back and chill behind the scenes despite the veteran leadership he provides, truly a great locker room presence. He also told how Mike, like himself, enjoys videogames while traveling between games.
He told how Will Hardy had put them through a very rigorous set of running sessions during pre-season. The team went through A LOT of conditioning training compared to other off-season camps that he or other players were used to in the NBA, and he attributed some of the difficulties of pre-season games the team had to the fatigue accumulated during these sessions. The high level of conditioning is really showing in the energy levels of this team during these early weeks of the season.
I wish I could translate the whole thing because the episode had great insight in to his mindset, the team and how he is as a person.
The second half of the episode was in english, the hosts interviewed Howard Beck, Ramona Shelburne and Nate Duncan on the Utah Jazz season and Lauri Markkanen. Definetly worth a listen!
Link:
https://www.supla.fi/episode/583bb444-41f4-4b0d-be2c-ad9a3fa67a31
( The episode in question is divided in two parts with titles beginning with “Utah Jazz”, the latter episode is completely in english and the former from about halfway onwards. Lauri’s interview is at the start of the first episode. Hope you like it!)
by haaganlateboi
