Basketball: Pleiß:”Belong to the best centres in Europe”.

Tibor Pleiß has joined the ACB (live on DAZN) in Valencia Basket after disappointing years in the NBA and a good season at Galatasaray.In an interview with DAZN, the center spoke about its new role, looked back at years of jazz and did not rule out a comeback in the German national team.

Tibor Pleiß is back in Spain.After the German center played for Saski Baskonia and FC Barcelona between 2012 and 2015, Valencia Basket is now the new challenge.The start was promising.With the Taronjas, the oranges, the German promptly won his first title on the Iberian peninsula.

In the Supercopa de Espana, the reigning ACB champ won the semi-final against Unicaja Malaga, also thanks to 13 points from Pleiß, and then in the final Real Madrid contender Gran Canaria with 69:63.

I don’t really know my role yet,”said the Big Man in an interview with DAZN,” Boban Dubljevic is another good center in Roster.He’s got a different set of skills than I do.I think we’ll take turns there.”

On the first two rounds, at least the Montenegrin player was ahead.In the successes against Real Betis and Monbus Obradoiro Pleiß played only about 14 minutes, in which he played 6 points and 3 rebounds on average.

Pleiß sees the step back to the ACB as the right one for his further development, not least because the level in Europe is no higher “We have five EuroLeague teams here.Spain is a very fast and attractive basketball game,”A comparison with BBL was shy of Hüne,” but I can’t compare it with Germany because I’ve been out of BBL for five years now.

Nevertheless, the ACB does not necessarily have to be the end of the line for Pleiß.The center doesn’t rule out a second attempt in the NBA:”I haven’t checked the NBA yet.If the offer’s good and I get a chance to play, I’ll think about it.”

The scouts in America will certainly continue to take a close look, as Pleiß is now once again measuring himself against the best players in Europe week after week.I think my self-assessment is correct when I say that I am one of the best centers in Europe.”

He continues to trust himself to give a team in the NBA important minutes.There was a phase in Utah where Rudy Gobert was injured, I got many minutes and used it very well.That was really fun, too.”

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In the end, however, Gobert was clearly ahead of the pack after his injury and has developed into one of the best centers of the NBA in recent years.Not a good situation for Pleiß, who is grappling with fate a little bit “If I had gotten another chance to play more after that, I might have gained a foothold.You can’t influence it, that’s professional sport.”

A bitter experience for the native of Cologne, but also a learning process.At the age of 27, he now comes to his Prime and wants to play rather than wait,”that was the frustrating thing in Utah back then.When an offer comes in, I won’t sit on the bench again.I’d love to play for that.”

He could do it in the near future not only in Valencia.After Henrik Rödl has now inherited Chris Fleming as national coach at the DBB, the door to the national team seems to be open again.As a reminder, Pleiß left the team during the EuroBasket 2017 qualifying round to sign a contract with Galatasaray shortly afterwards.After this incident, Fleming no longer considered the center.

“What has happened in the last few years, I don’t want to sit back like that,”Pleiß said, referring to his position and hinting at a possible return,”I can’t say anything about it now, but I can well imagine playing for the DBB again.”I proudly carried the eagle with my chest.”

But first of all, however, other things have priority.At Valencia, the 2.21-metre man wants to prove himself and try to defend the championship title in the ACB with the Taronjos.The next hurdle, however, is not overseas, but on the Canary Islands, when Valencia hosts Tenerife on Sunday (from 6.30 pm live on DAZN).