Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have long since accepted him as one of their own. The top stars of the Toronto Raptors see Jakob Pöltl from Austria as an important building block for the future of the NBA team from Canada, which will play against the Boston Celtics on Sunday (from 9.30 p. m. in the free SPOX-LIVESTREAM),”He has all the prerequisites for a great basketball player,”said Playmaker Lowry of the APA.
He is a young player with a lot of energy, and his IQ is definitely high,”said DeRozan,” He is great. And he understands what he’s great at.”
For example, in unblocking his teammates. For the Raptors stars, this is an important part of their game:”It’s fun to play with him because he’s always good at blocking things and getting rid of them himself,” explained Lowry. It’s always fun to give him the ball.”
Even though Pöltl often has to earn his own chances with rebounds on the offensive, the Viennese player has earned the respect of his fellow players in his second NBA season. He’s on the right track,”said Lowry, 31 years old and a seasoned team player. As such, the Point Guard, who will move from Houston to Toronto in 2012, will also take on the young players.
Pöltl is currently sharing his minutes of action with the Brazilian Lucas Nogueira behind Jonas Valanciunas’s ancestral centre. Lowry:”I keep talking to him about what it means to be a professional and to understand that his time will come” What distinguishes Pöltl from other centres?”His athleticism and his wisdom. He understands his chance to be something special.”
DeRozan also likes to play with him,”He knows how to get people out of the ball,”said Toronto’s top scorer, who was ranked ninth in the draft in 2009 by the Raptors – the same as Pöltl seven years later.
DeRozan said it was important to keep the 22-year-old with the Raptors for the long term,”It’s only his second year, but he has evolved. He has already helped us win a lot of games:” Every single effort is conducive to Pöltl’s development.”It’s all about experience.”
The two Raptors captains believe in the potential of the 2.13m man.”It could be endless, but it’s all down to him,”emphasized DeRozan,”It’s about how he works, what he invests in his game.” Lowry looked similarly:”There’s no limit, it’s boundless.”