you're watching on t.v. it's great to have you with us the head of. israel's defense chief one pressing gaza that will be known sooner or later palestinian militants tomei to rockets in retaliation point strike. also iran says it's ready to attack ships that get too close to it so when the games near a vital oil supply a supply route the maneuver is a taking place in a neutral at a crucial moment straight and this comes out how to iran's threats to block passage if the west postings with doubts. unclear prosecution forces raid human rights

groups offices nationwide reports a soldier has been stopped on three interrogations while central that control critics claim to know the true leadership is news in the barak era time takes toward revellers. and now she talks to n.b.a. star andrei kirilenko about what it takes a russian guide to become a sports celebrity spotlight is up next. culture is that so much of allaah to people at hearing all that was it all tell the difference between altruistic two thousand and eleven the world changed in ways hardly anyone could have expected we witnessed the rise of people power on. how we're here and welcome to the spotlight i'll do nov and today my guest on the

show is kitty lanka russia supported by the world always known around the world they were always among the best in the world but after the iron curtain fell off the soviet borders twenty years ago many russian stars started to go abroad to play in the best clubs of europe as the united states a bit later russian club started making big bucks and they also started hiring the best athletes in the world and sometimes recruiting the russian stars so came back so stayed abroad what does it take to make a living to make a career in big sports today we have a chance to ask a person who made it both in russia and in the united states kill no one in the n.b.a. as a k forty step. and drink or lentils basketball career is

a great success story he first played in russia's top league at the age of sixty but didn't stay there for long after two successful years he was drafted in the n.b.a. becoming the youngest european player in the league during the twelve years he spent with due to jazz he was one of the team's best players with an annual salary above fifteen million dollars due to an n.b.a. lockout in the. moved back to moscow to play for say a scott club which is where he wants to stay still many american teens want to recruit him and keep making proposals. drain welcome to the show thank you very much for being with us well first of all you play in russia today and european basketball is generally considered to be softer than in the united states do you believe that's true after that game when you suffered a broken nose and

a concussion is released after that in the states well i don't believe it so far because you know the level of the basketball growing up every year and you know more and more n.b.a. players players with the n.b.a. experience coming to europe and playing here it's different yes but i wouldn't say it's softer. so it is a tough game style games you know people people doesn't want to lose e everybody fighting for every piece of on the floor and everybody competes hard so there's probably the same type of in terms of. pro dilemma will probably a little bit lower but you know you played. in your team here in moscow in new year two thousand now it's two thousand and eleven more than ten years have passed can you compare the level of basketball in russia well has it changed during these ten years oh definitely definitely future. improvement.

to the russian team after ten years being an m.b.a. and. all the infrastructure of the team changed it's more professional people and here way better players the league or improved so much more and more players playing professionally and the highest level right now a lot of young guys who potentially can be a man be. planned here and that's why the level you know well really was raised and everybody stepped up. interviewed you last time it was several years ago you told me i remember that your own club says ca which is also known as the red army club you said if we bring it to the states and give them a chance to play in the n.b.a. for one season they would level up with a level up of the n.b.a. clubs and a and b. like of the same level is this still true i would say that the current team if you

bring to term be their root there would get probably fifteen twenty wins or season but if they play more and more time i mean they would get some time to adjust and get used for the n.b.a. style. i wouldn't say we would be a playoff team but we would be somewhere close and fighting for that spot what is the reason i don't know you ask yourself this question why why. clubs other than the united states be as good as n.b.a. what's what's the main reason. well all pros the well i think it's all preparation before the n.b.a. you know the double a it's a huge. leap for the students where all the young talents grow up to be. you know as best as they can be and they join in and be a right after the great great using was you know

a very big. proving and they've grown up getting you know muscles and fighting so hard them. unfortunately there's not a lot of good steering basketball guys who was very talented at the age of fifteen sixteen years old they. have to play for the for the senior teams and then you also become because for the states america's basketball is just like football for brazilians it's like a religion as well a lot of a lot of contras have a basketball as a religion likely to any sort of. but i'm saying those those america have all the steps and you know with the little kid having a great talent he comes to school then he comes to the coach then he comes to the n.b.a. . those are three steps and you know there's why they become such a complete players and europe unfortunately you know after right after school

players have to go to the professional team and they skip that part. with their student basketball with a coalition of university basketball and i think there's the future loss of the well but even the best machines break down we have this lockout this is the reason why i came here to play what was the reason for this and for the previous lockout only greed or something else i mean we only see the one part you know all the fans want to see the basketball everybody thinks it's the greed and the you know everybody mad on the players everybody made their own errors and you know i can understand that but you should understand one thing it's a huge huge business. which is broadcast in a three hundred contrasts everybody likes to watch everybody likes to. be around basketball and you know be involved somehow so so that's why you should have a rules you should have agreement between two sides one little things so in the

future you don't have problems and when you don't have that agreement that's why the problems all the problems comes out so right now there was a time when two sides cannot reach that agreement you know fortunately right now everything is set up you know and players can play basketball owners can own and you know enjoy the basketball and all the fans can enjoy it now we know when the lockout is finished and. who's the winner is there a winner the players all the others i think they have their winners as the fans really your friends you've lost. i don't think you know both most sides cannot win because this is where i see it should it is it should be compromised both sides should have to stand there for one hundred governments before without the lockout because there is not enough time for you know they only have like two or three months to reach that agreement and unfortunately there wasn't enough time to reach it so this wife lockout happened that's why you know for three months

almost four monist lockout was happened and you know the season didn't start in the right time you tell me that in russia. is progressing it's moving to would becoming better and better well do you think that the police here the russian players should also defend their rights and defend their rights the same way they do that in the united states it's impossible because because players in europe don't have a lever which. it's a profitable league which is making money and you know if the players stop playing and stop making money in the europe. teams usually i would say ninety nine percent of the team is not profitable and not making market and most are sponsored you know they're the reason guys who like storm the best for both teams they pay money just to supported and they're not making money so that's

why there's the only reason why the players can step up and say look we're not going to play ok at home play we're going to have someone else who will say this you know the way we go this is the reason so listen so that means that players in the league in the n.b.a. i mean they they they feel themselves freer. because because the they're in business i mean i mean they know that somebody needs them well that's definitely you know i think blair is an m.b.a. down the stamp their part of the product you know they know if they don't play well they're going to lose money so you know every time they step on the court they have to give their best they have to give hundred percent they have to make people like the game of basketball like themselves like it will organization because you know they're working on the same side with their own arse to make. basketball as a product very attractive. you are a russian you are

a guy born in the soviet union and just before before this interview you just told me i make a decision for my future and money isn't everything you know there are things that matter more than money well what is it in russia that matters so much for the for the players what they come get in the united states. i mean when you play in russia from when misunderstandings for you know you're playing with the guys here you grew up with you know we have nine russian guys on the team right now and you know every day you're spending so much time when the locker room. or the chemistry you know when you have your guys coming every day and you know joking around the you know having fun with together and playing together you know you always on the same page always kind of have same mentality and this is worth

a lot you know we all want to play in the best league definitely you know n.b.a. is the best way for the small character and we want to play there but you can't through plays. in a locker room because it's just a little different so so so so this locker room stuff you know talking about i understand that it's maybe even more important than the game itself. well it's not important in the game but but. what i was saying is a part of the life if you want to feel as comfortable as you want as you can be and i think. through a locker room playing in the russia and playing a lawyer remember it's a little different it's just more easy for myself because i'm russia. to feel the chemistry here rather than in america says. the davis russian and n.b.a. basketball spotlight will be back shortly after the break so stay with us and.

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fish. welcome back to spotlight i'm now going over in just a reminder that my guest on the show today is on the kiddie lanko the famous russian basketball player known in the n.b.a. as a k forty seven and rate well there we started talking about the the the the ability of russians to play abroad the sort of a comfort of this come for that you have when you play well well when you play in

a fairly well this is true not only for basketball this is also true for for hockey players in the n.h.l. this is also true it might sound funny for the russian girls in the modeling business the last of them or are working work it's also a kind of sport you have brought well what do you think what's the reason that russians do really but often they do really fit into that. for the though they may be very good professionally well look i know a lot of examples for the for the athletes who plays in america and you know they feel very comfortable and i know a lot of examples of people who doesn't know it but there's a language barrier i think it's all individual in a language probably psychologically you know people get to use for the russia and for the russian friends you know they don't want to miss their family their friends you know they get to use for the you know you know sort of co. food i think it's

important sometimes and. chinese is different from russian but america is american food so different. it is different you know you have to get used to it. i think when the people come into america alone you know i was a little bit lucky because i came and i came here with my wife and i have a support on my side. good cook. so she supported me and i feel like you know i have somebody on my side but you know a lot of a lot of the common alone and that's why they are always alone you know they suffer to feel lonely or warm you know a bit nostalgic you know bringing them back home kids. oh the american do they feel themselves american all recession or what i have two boys who was born and salt lake city and i believe they feel america but you know what they

eat this big both languages they they know they have russian they have american. feel pretty free normal and. very comfortable in russia or it stays and i like it like that you know they don't have a problem to leave moscow and leave unsold lake city or leave in france i think it helps. in the future you know a bit they want to feel anything any badness you know being in and out of contract . i've heard in the pinion from from russian fleet try to two were can broaden that came back to russia that working abroad especially in the united states in the best leagues and the channel and the in the n.b.a. requires who are self disciplined who are sacrifice if you won then when you play here way can be more relaxed is that true. maybe partially because if

you want to be math with on the highest level you have to have it anyway it doesn't matter where you play in n.b.a. or you play in the russian elite if you want to be of the top when you want to be a successful athlete. you have to you have to have self-discipline you have to be you have to work hard you know what to reach for go you have to sacrifice some some some things in your life to get there and i don't think it's particularly go to m h o n b a. you know american sport when you personally enter a career like a k forty seven when you come back now to play in the army club and that are you different from the other guys i mean because you've got your good n.b.a. today you'll have four hands so does that make you different does that make you special. well i think n.b.a. experiences definitely helps. players look at your little bit different.

know that you have a great experience but it gives you away more responsibility because you can't. misstep you have to be on the same level every day and you have to. give the good example for everybody a bit you know i'm here but i'm here to relax i'm here to work i'm here to show you the example how it's supposed to be and you know it. some probably external just sometimes because if you play in the n.b.a. you already been everybody knows that you know you're in the team you play and what you can but it is no more than i am here you're more like a symbol of n.b.a. and you know you can't really have you know. they would allow you the usual mistakes and mean you know it's not you know love to make. everything you mentioned that only nine. russians

this is only fifteen guys that really i don't know. well now you are native here but you are a foreigner when you play and in the states what's your opinion there's a huge discussion now in russia about about attracting foreigners to play for russian teams in football and ice hockey and basketball your opinion about that for is it good or bad should we limit the number of foreigners i mean i think it's a different situation. in russia. you know r. and b. is the best league and everybody will support it doesn't matter if whole team is foreigners you know because there's a lot of examples like when a lot of foreigners play there in russia i think it's a little different situation because. we. have a very big national teams and we all want own national team to be successful. or there are to be successful we have to have russian players to play well and if

we have every team you know to bring a lot of foreigners and the russian players in a play we're going to lose our national team. that's why we should have a restriction so you are in favor i think we should have a reason to move. but it shouldn't be like a crazy you know it should be balanced what would you say how many how many is enough pretty in first person. only for first to be honest well you never know the cause you know that you don't have an answer you know and there will be involved and the wiser you know should be it should be analyzed because you know they're for the relationship then lies and see how the season goes how many russian players played well you know monitor the situation so next year because change it will keep it like a vase you know keep it the same way. it's not my job right now maybe in the future when i you know finish my career i'll become somebody in a federation and them will do it ok well speaking about your career you definitely

wouldn't want to take part in the london olympics you were pretty successful at me personally at least at the previous limbic the olympics even with the flag bearer for the russian team so what can you say about that london is sort of. look forward to two london work is about the future russia would definitely looking forward to be on the olympics and a lot of them we know there are you know you know we july second we're going to have a qualification tournament and three teams going to go to la so we're going to do our best to be there and you know being a russian delegation team. in two thousand and twelve what do you say today this winter the russian national team isn't something to really be afraid of you can compare the teams i mean the russian the american team you know a lot about oh i don't think we should be afraid of you know well i think we have

a very promising team a last european championship we get the bronze medal two thousand so i want to get the gold medal and we play in pretty well you know we have young guys from all the girls you know he plays inventor and i guess right now he improved a lot and we got another guy from one bit which is pretty good for the team you know for the experience and the rest of the guys we have a great young guys from brother. club. point where i think we have a very very good young talented team. do you think that that basketball is one of the one of the rushes go that's potations villain or not really. here in the first of all we have to be there we can jump ahead to you know think about the gold medal before we even you know we're going to fight for that for the invitation and. then i think o. main goal will be to get from the group for the quarterfinal and try to beat them

try to get the best for five for the medal if we talk about the quality of qualifying for the for the olympic tournament who do you consider your main rival. was that what i. always been pretty successful and pretty good grief team always tough. you know solid as much don't most are going to show the great corage last year obamacare plus the teams from south america sport and new zealand team will be tough. it's going to be probably five sixteenth's who is really going to be great for three spots thank you thank you very much andrei and just to remind you that my guest on the show today was i will be related to the famous russian basketball players that are in the n.b.a. i'm a k forty six and that's it for they're from all of the spotlight will be back

with more to comment on that while there we go and and. if you want to send me a letter if you have so why do you want me to enter the next right just took me a lot of television r.t. if you need are you let's keep spotlight and we'll be back until then stay on r.t. and take.