The Latvian basketball team approached the 2009 European Championship with the resounding slogan “now or never”. The enthusiasm was understandable, because the national team of the southern neighbors included veteran Ulvis Helmanis, Kristaps Valters in his prime, Kaspar Kambala, Kristaps Janicenoks, Janis Blums and Andris Biedrins, who was raging in the NBA at the time. However, in reality, the team at that time was in fourth place in the four subgroups of the European Championships, after France, Russia and Germany, with which the matches were played.
In memory of the 213 centimeter Biedrins, who represented the Golden State Warriors and the Utah Jazz during his NBA career, it was rumored after the European Championship that he spent all his free time in Poland doing squats. The rumors were fueled by a report published after the tournament by the national team’s then sporting director, Edgars Buļis. “First of all, you should not regularly drink before training and come to training in the morning with a hangover. Secondly, the hotel room should not be confused,” Bulis wrote about Biedrins then. Of course the media also picked up this story and the matter ended in further problems.
Biedrins, the scapegoat, now admits that the sporting director’s chatter was nonsense. “It was absolutely not like we were celebrating during the EC. I remember that we were very focused and did nothing outside of basketball. I really don’t know why this combination didn’t work on the court. At one point, in fact, Kristaps Valters thought we should relax, but the EC results have nothing to do with the party. There wasn’t even that possibility,” the basketball star of the southern neighbors now told local media.
“The results were mediocre and these rumors were spread to punish us. There was a lot of air in these stories,” continued Biedrins, who said he definitely didn’t vandalize his hotel room right away. “One of the main concerns was the slogan ‘now or never’, which was not a very good choice. It was very popular, but at the same time it put us under pressure. We put together a very strong team, but in the end everything collapsed.”
The European Championships held in Poland in 2009 were also the last for Biedrins, because the athlete, who participated in the tournament at the age of 23 at the time, no longer represented the national team. At first, the NBA schedule interfered with him, and the center’s sports career was too short. But we know that twists of fate are strange. If 14 years ago Bulis publicly criticized Biedrins, now they are in the same club: Bulis is the president of the Riga Zell basketball club and Biedrins is an ambassador.
“He grabbed my button just in time. If he had arrived two or three years earlier, I wouldn’t even have agreed to move into his neighborhood. But now I wanted to play basketball again and I didn’t have many opportunities. This project seemed interesting, because such an approach to basketball had never been seen before in Latvia. They really care about their fans. The feud with Edgars is over and I have no hard feelings towards him. He then did his job and published what he published. This is life. Now we only think about sport,” added Biedrins, 37.
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2023-12-25 19:42:57
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