No Go For Niko In 2017 EuroBasket Tournament
Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic apologized to his Spanish teammates in a heartfelt Twitter post on Friday morning after making the decision to skip the 2017 EuroBasket tournament at the end of the summer.
Rough translation courtesy of Pippen Ain’t Easy writer Michael Whitlow:
Dear Friends,
This is a hard day for me. The FEB and I have decided that I will not participate in the EuroBasket 2017. I think you all know the illusion with which I have always attended the call of the coach. I continually say that playing with this group is a privilege and today I maintain it. If I wait to see if my future is solved I would be betrayed to the team, and that is why we have decided that it is best to give up my position, so that another player displaces the call from the beginning. I feel that I can not be selfish with whom I have given everything. Lots of luck on this EuroBasket, I know you’ll blow it up.
Mirotic has been a mainstay on Team Spain and U20 Team Spain squads throughout his professional career. He was part of a Spanish team that won gold in the 2015 EuroBasket tournament, and he also earned a bronze medal with Team Spain in the 2016 Olympics.
The backdrop storyline to this decision is Mirotic’s continued stalemate with the Chicago Bulls regarding his next contract. Mirotic remains unsigned, but a dried out free agent market means that he will eventually have to relent and sign with the Bulls for a discounted price unless he wants to be out of a job in the fall.
Mirotic’s decision to skip EuroBasket 2017 is also interesting because Bulls General Manager Gar Forman and Vice President of Basketball Operations John Paxson publicly talked about how they wanted returning players to bypass international competition this summer in favor of training with the team.
It’s a dilemma around the league, but international players, a lot of times they spend the summer around their national team. And Niko had a great experience doing that last year, winning the bronze medal,” executive vice president John Paxson said in early May. “But in reality, from our seat, he lost some time in the weight room with us, lost some time on the floor with our coaches. And it’s interesting, some of the statistics we look at with Niko, in his three years here, he’s been statistically much better after the All-Star break.
“We want him back. We hope we’ll be able to work something out. But we also hope that he’ll be here all summer long. And we hope that statistically, what he’s done after the All-Star break these first three years, we’re hoping he can do it more consistently. Because let’s face it, in this game, you need floor spacers and shooters. And when he’s playing that role, he does help our basketball team.”
-Per Chicago Tribune writer K.C. Johnson
It appears that Mirotic has upheld his bosses’ wishes and has trained with Chicago Bulls teammates and staff for most of the summer.
