Five talking points from round two of Six Nations — and more

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It had been an emotional and busy weekend filled with basketball, media obligations and fan events, but after finishing his All-Star debut with a pair of narrow defeats, Deni Avdija had one last responsibility.

A postgame interview session.

There was just one problem. San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama was sitting at the dais in front of a microphone, delaying Avdija’s session.

So the Portland Trail Blazers forward plopped down on the floor near the doorway of the interview room, still draped in his white No. 8 World Team uniform, and took a break.

“It’s been a long weekend,” Avdija said, smiling.

Long and memorable.

Avdija’s breakout season reached its highest peak yet Sunday when he participated in his first All-Star game. The 6-foot-8 forward started two matchups in the new round-robin format, which featured three teams, condensed 12-minute games and a mini tournament at Intuit Dome. And while it was hardly his most jaw-dropping performance — Avdija finished with a modest five points, four assists and one rebound in 15 minutes — it stamped his arrival as one of the game’s best and brightest young players.

His ascension has been both improbable and precipitous, coming after an unremarkable stint with the Washington Wizards, a rough launch in Portland and years of growing pains. But much like his nickname, “Turbo” has blasted his way inside the NBA’s elite with a dynamic and dominant sixth season, during which he’s averaged 25.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.6 assists and recorded three triple-doubles. Only two other players — two-time MVP Nikola Jokic and six-time All-Star Luka Doncic — are averaging at least 25.0 points, 7.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds this season.

Along the way, Avdija has established himself as a pillar of the Blazers’ multiyear roster rebuild, giving the burgeoning roster a bona fide star. He is the 17th All-Star in franchise history and the first not named Damian Lillard since 2015. He’s also the first-ever Israeli-born All-Star in the 75-year history of the event, a fitting footnote in a year the game featured a team comprised exclusively of international players for the first time.

So as he stepped into history this weekend, Avdija not only represented a sleepy basketball-crazed city in the Northwest, but also a small country across the globe.

“I have definitely worked hard, sacrificed a lot of my time to get to the best stage in the world,” he said. “And I feel like this is a dream come true for every kid that actually wants to play basketball. Having a whole country behind me, it’s just a blessing to represent it on the biggest stage in the world.”

Basketball wasn’t a given

Avdija grew up in Herzliya, a town situated about 20 minutes north of Tel Aviv known for its white sandy beaches and trendy restaurants.

His mother, Sharon Artzi, is an Israeli who excelled in track and field. His father, Zufer Avdija, grew up in former Yugoslavia before carving out a distinguished professional basketball career in Europe.

But Avdija did not immediately follow in his father’s footsteps.

He wasn’t particularly tall as a kid and, he says, “I was a little chubby.” Eventually, at his parent’s urging, Avdija gave basketball a shot and he was a natural, using his “good instincts and good feet” to emerge as a prodigy on the Israeli youth basketball scene. At age 15, Avdija finally hit a growth spurt. And a year later, he signed a professional contract with prestigious Israeli club team Maccabi Tel Aviv, becoming the second-youngest player to do so.

It was a difficult transition for the teenager. Avdija not only missed six months with a back injury, which he says stemmed from growing pains related to that growth spurt, but also found himself surrounded by new teammates who were grown men in their 20s and 30s. He technically continued to attend high school, but in reality he spent very little time there over his final two years. Basketball practices took place during the day and he was hyper-focused on the sport.

Along the way, Avdija didn’t just miss classes, he also missed out on the high school experience, including dances and prom. He left without earning a diploma.

“Obviously you want to be a kid and grow up and enjoy the journey,” Avdija said. “But you have to make some sacrifices to be great.”

He found ways to adapt. For example, he learned English by watching Nickelodeon sitcoms, which aired in Israel with subtitles.

“I watched all the classics,” Avdija said. “Like Drake and Josh. iCarly. Victorious. You name it.”

In the end, his otherworldly talent was enough to smooth out the bumpy transition. He led Israel to back-to-back gold medals at the FIBA U20 European Championships, earning an MVP award on the way to the second title, and flourished in EuroLeague tournaments, elevating Israel’s national team and generating NBA draft buzz. The Washington Wizards selected him with the No. 9 overall pick of the 2020 NBA draft.

Nine years after watching those Nickelodeon sitcoms, Avdija had Israeli eyeballs glued to television screens for a different broadcast: NBA All-Star Weekend.

As Avdija’s star has risen, he has become a must-see attraction in his home country.

Israel is small, boasting a population of roughly 10 million, but it has a passionate sports culture. Yair Kattan, deputy sports editor at the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper in Tel Aviv, said news of Avdija’s All-Star selection flooded home pages of web sites and front pages of newspapers, and landed at the top of local television broadcasts, a rare feat in a country flooded with daily news about politics and military conflict.

“It’s unprecedented,” Kattan said. “We are mad about sports, but not very good at it. Avdija is a wild fantasy come true, a top player in a top league. He’s way beyond just popular.”

Hungry Israeli sports fans gobble up every nugget of information they can get their hands on, Kattan said, devouring Avdija’s highlights, statistics and interviews on social media. When the Blazers acquired Avdija in a trade from Washington, it was a welcomed development across the globe because it meant that Israeli fans could rise early before work to watch his games, which now typically tip off at 5 a.m. — instead of 2 a.m. — in Israel.

“Everything (about) Avdija catches fire,” Kattan said. “People also strive to travel to the States to watch him live and there was high demand for tourist packages for the All-Star game.”

The fervor has sparked an intriguing debate among Israeli sports fans, who can’t help but wonder whether Avdija’s ascension has cemented him as the best athlete in the country’s history.

The candidates, according to Kattan, include basketball legend Miki Berkovich, who was named one of FIBA’s 50 Greatest Players in 1991, and a pair of decorated Olympic athletes — Gal Friedman, a windsurfer who won the country’s first Olympic gold medal, and Artem Dolgopyat, a gymnast who owns an Olympic silver medal in the floor exercise.

“I’m a bit torn,” Kattan said. “I think he will be the greatest, just not yet. He’s definitely a phenomenon. We’ve had some wonderful athletes, but they either reached the top in (less popular) sports or at the national level. Deni is a megastar in a world renowned league, and we’ve never had that. He also serves as a source of pride in hard times.”

That he is even a part of the conversation is mind-blowing for Avdija.

“It’s a really small country, very controversial, and every time that I play and I can represent it is an honor,” he said. “It made me who I am. … I think I still have a long way to go. I’ve reached some good, respectable milestones, but I feel like there’s a whole (other) level that I can reach. I have never stopped chasing that. Obviously, I want to be the top of the top. I want to be the best. But I’m still humble, I still have a lot of things I need to accomplish, so at the end of my career we can start to talk about that.”

Indeed, Avdija is only getting started in Portland.

Portland becoming a second home

It’s harder to get farther away from the white sandy beaches of Herzliya — both in distance and atmosphere — than Portland. But Avdija has grown to adore his home away from home.

He spends sunny offseason days lounging on his boat along Oswego Lake, fishing and relaxing. He spends off days visiting local wineries. And he spends nights out savoring Portland’s “diverse” food scene.

He said he finds peace living among the “nature” of the Pacific Northwest, which he describes as “amazing.”

As the Blazers continue to rise and his game continues to grow, Avdija can’t help but imagine a long future here.

“I definitely want to amplify a good culture into the organization,” he said. “I hope I’m going to stay in Portland. I love the city, the fans, and I think we’re in a good spot. I’m glad to be part of this rebuilding (effort) and I’m really seeing a bright future.”

This bright future is largely tied to Avdija, of course. He has emerged as the most important piece of the Blazers’ rebuild and the archetype for how they like to play: fast, physical, free and aggressive. He was largely constrained in Washington, where the Wizards primarily used him as an off-the-dribble shooter and long-range threat. But after a rocky start to his Portland tenure last season, Avdija flourished over the final two months of the season, averaging 24.9 points as the Blazers went 23-18.

He has only built upon the success this season, taking advantage of Portland’s myriad injuries and an expanded role to change his perception around the NBA.

The Blazers have been so besieged by injuries that they were forced to play two months without a natural point guard. It left acting coach Tiago Splitter no choice but to lean on “Turbo,” using Avdija in a point-forward role as the team’s primary playmaker and facilitator. The results have been transformative.

Avdija ranks among the top 16 players in the NBA in scoring (25.2 points per game) and assists (6.6), an increase of 8.3 points and 2.7 assists per game from his averages last season. In January, he became the 14th player in franchise history to be named Western Conference Player of the Week, and he’s the frontrunner for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award.

All the while, an intrigued injured teammate has admired from the bench, imagining the possibilities of playing alongside him one day.

“It’s been fun to watch, just to see Deni grow and evolve into the player that he’s become to this point,” Lillard, a nine-time All-Star who won Saturday’s 3-Point Contest, said. “This is the first time in my career … I’m able to see practice every day without participating, I’m able to watch games every day and I’m not emotionally tied to the game. I’ve spent a lot of time seeing how the dynamic, if I’m on the floor with him, can go. He’s been special.”

And it was a special week in Southern California.

When Wembanyama finally stepped away from the dais, Avdija picked himself up off the floor and walked toward that microphone.

He talked about representing Israel. He talked about his first All-Star game experience. He talked about the new format and the renewed competitiveness.

Across the globe, a country watched for the first time as one of their own spoke for Israel on the NBA’s biggest stage.

“It was hectic, but it was fun,” Avdija said. “I was really enjoying the experience. Especially when it’s your first time, you embrace everything a little better. But I hope I can be here for many years to come.

“It wasn’t so bad.”

Read the original article on oregonlive.com.