Alperen Sengun spoke to Fatih Altyali about the long-standing idea that it is easier to score in the NBA than in Europe. He noted that European players enter the league with the idea that scoring in the NBA is easy after watching American stars do that. He added that the pace of the American game and fast-break opportunities make it tougher to score in the NBA.
Via Eurohoops:
“Before you go to the NBA, you think, LeBron scores 50, an unknown player scores 50. You think it’s easier to score there. But when you get there, it’s not like that. I used to say the same, ‘Europe is harder, America is easier.’ But when you go there, you see it. Here, there are more set plays. There, it’s more one-on-one and fast break plays.”
Sengun is perhaps one of the first European stars to make this admission. Players like Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic have spoken in the past about how it is harder to score in Europe than it is in the NBA due to the stricter offensive and defensive rules that are in place.
But Sengun does make a fair point about the speed of the game in the NBA not comparing to that in Europe. In the European game, coaches take a far more methodical approach, with set pieces drawn up and a strict adherence to plays and plans given by the coach.
Whereas the NBA has a little more dynamism in its style of play, not just with the speed, but also the skill at display by players.
On top of that, players on the court who are considered superstars usually have a little more freedom when it comes to making decisions on the court. With the NBA being more conducive to flashy players, we get to see more awe-inspiring displays of skills and ingenuity from players.
Is It Harder To Play In The NBA Or In Europe?
The debate about the difficulty of playing in the NBA compared to that of Europe has been running for quite some time. Former European stars like Nikola Jokic have explained in the past why the European game’s structure and rigidity make it harder to adapt to than the NBA.
Players like Damian Lillard have agreed about the difficulty of playing in Europe, talking about how the FIBA rules were stricter and enforced more consistently across the board, which made playing through the solid defense a lot harder, especially after years of playing the NBA style of basketball.
However, not everyone believes this to be the case, as Kevin Durant dismissed the idea of European players being more polished because of playing in the league. He noted that other than European superstars, several European players have tried to make the jump to the league but failed to do so and returned back to Europe in the end.
There is perhaps no right or wrong answer when it comes to this argument. There will be those that argue for the NBA and those that argue for the European scene. And both arguments will have merit.
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