NBA
Chima Moneke: “The Pistons wouldn’t even get past GO in in the Euroleague”
Chima Moneke, who struggled to find his place in the NBA and is now on the books at Baskonia, highlights the differences between the two basketball leagues.
“The Detroit Pistons in the Euroleague? They would be Play-In - max. That’s what people need to start asking. Think about all the young guys that they have - and dealing with the European coaches… they would not do that well. Honestly”. That was the statement, juicy headline included, which Chima Moneke made this week in an interview with Hoopshype.
The Euroleague’s new Play-In format
The Baskonia power forward believes that the Michigan franchise, the worst in the NBA so far this season (with only 8 wins in 52 games) would not even secure a direct ticket to the quarter finals if it played the Euroleague. He sees them more in the range of the Play In - the new format that opens the continental competition this year. It copies the NBA format, offering two last places for the playoffs to the winners of the two Play-In games between those who finish lower down the table in the regular season - seventh vs eighth, and ninth vs tenth.
“It’s not about basketball rules, and what you are used to matters. There are guys that are averaging 20-something over there then you come over here and it’s a 40-minute game - and you don’t play the entire first quarter... how are you dealing with that? You’re averaging 14 minutes a game when in the NBA, you can play 26. It’s different,” Moneke told Dionysis Aravantinos.
The 28-year-old power forward tried his luck at the Sacramento Kings last season after an excellent campaign at Manresa. But he had no luck stateside and in January, returned to Europe - first playing a few months in Monaco and is now in Vitoria, Spain where he has rediscovered his best form. In the Euroleague he is averaging more than 14 points and 7 rebounds per game with a 19.3 rating.
The hapless Detroit Pistons meanwhile are having a torrid time. They have a dismally poor record of eight wins and 44 defeats. With a very young team and in deep reconstruction, they have improved in recent weeks however after the worst run in the entire history of the NBA: 28 consecutive losses, something that has never happened to a franchise during the same season - although it has, over the course of two campaigns: the Philadelphia 76ers having that dubious honor.