Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is convinced that Regal Barça will put up a good fight against the LA Lakers when the two sides meet on October 7th. The former NBA legend spoke to us about Barca, the Gasol family and the final between Lakers and Celtics.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the NBA title six times with the Lakers and was voted MVP also on six
occasions. He attended the official unveiling of the game between Regal Barca and Los Angeles
Lakers (October 7th here in Barcelona) and afterwards, he spoke to Barca TV and
www.fcbarcelona.cat.
First of all I’d like to ask you about the NBA final between the Lakers and the
Celtics.
"I think the Lakers will win because they have had fewer injuries. Their only serious injury
was to Andrew Bynum while the Celtics have had to contend with a number of problems leading up to
the final. They haven’t been able to play as many games together as the Lakers and that will
favour the Californians”.
This season Regal Barca are playing such attractive and effective basketball that many
people think they could compete in the best league in the world. What do you think?
"The only
way to find out is to watch the game on 7th October. Only the game itself will show us the results.
That’s what’s good about this sport. I’m sure that Barca will be a competitive
team. The standard of European basketball has improved a lot over the past 20 years. Right now the
NBA is full of great European players that come from great teams”.
Do you know any of the Regal Barca players?
"The truth is that I haven’t seen Barca play and I don’t know exactly who the
players are. I know that Ricky Rubio has great potential and that he will end up in the NBA”.
What could Ricky’s future in the NBA be?
"I’m convinced he’ll have to go through a period of adaptation but without having
seen him play I know he’s a player with great potential. When he’s assimilated the
change from European to American basketball I’m sure he’ll play very well”.
Two of the players in the NBA, the Gasol brothers, came up through the ranks here with
Barca…
"I have the pleasure of knowing all the Gasol family. I train with Pau and his family always
visit us. They are lovely, friendly people. They’re great ambassadors for the city of
Barcelona”.
By the way, how do like Barcelona?
"I’m having a great time here. People are really friendly and I’ve been received
with open arms. It’s been a great trip”.
The other day, the president of the United States, Barack Obama, said that Pau Gasol is
currently the best center in the NBA. Do you agree?
"Yes, one of the best. It’s hard to say he’s the best because there are different
teams with different players… Pau Gasol is fundamental for the Lakers. He’s going to
win the NBA title so he must be among the best”.
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Not a soccer fan
In contrast with one of today’s Lakers stars, Kobe Bryant, who came over here to Barcelona
and dropped in on a football first team training session, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is not so keen on
what he would call soccer: “In Los Angeles people talk about soccer on a world scale.
We’ve got professional teams in America but it isn’t as popular as baseball, basketball
and American football. For the moment it’s growing. There are some American players who have
managed to sign for European teams and that’s unusual”.