Fyondo Campengele was one of the big transfers of the summer for AEK. The Canadian – with roots from the Congo – is the center known as Dikebe Mutombo’s nephew. But it’s much more than that.

As the Clippers’ number 27 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Campengele went to the NBA with great ambitions. However, the teams he found had no room for him, so he played only 55 games in 4 years in the world’s top league and spent a lot of time in the G-League, where he occasionally dominated.

Kampengele is aware of this. He is now 26 and knows that he might not have been ready back then. But he is now more mature than ever and ready to raise the level of AEK, hoping to play a big role and talk about it all SRORT24.

Interview with Stefanos Makris

“I never aim for second place”

The Canadian center is a player who likes to set the bar high. He believes in his abilities, he believes in his teammates. And he showed that from the start by not shying away from talking about titles with “Union”.

This is your first season in Europe. What do you expect to find here?

“I expect to do my best. I have demands, but not so much in the area of ​​results, but more in the area of ​​effort, so that at the end of the season I can look back and say that I gave my best in every training session, in every game, that’s what I did don’t relax. And whatever happens, I will be happy.

Let’s say I set a goal and achieved it. I won’t be disappointed, but I’ll be happy. I am open to any maximum goal that I will achieve with my efforts. If I give 100%, I hope I get the best.”

What can we expect from you and AEK? And what are the goals?

“The goal is to achieve victories. We want to win titles. My goal is not 3rd or 2nd place, but 1st place. That’s what I’m here for. Whatever obstacles we face, this is what I strive for, no matter what position I find myself in.

I think if we have these standards, the requirements will increase. If you say you want to win a title, work harder. After seeing the team’s roster, I believe that if we work hard and aim for the first place, we will fight for the first place.”

Do you think AEK has what it takes to create a wedge for Olympiakos and Panathinaikos?

“In my opinion, anyone can lose. I saw it in college, where surprises were a constant occurrence. I’m not saying it will be a surprise if we do it because we have a great team. At the same time, we have to be ready because we have to compete against great teams with good chemistry.

We’re going to face a lot of obstacles, but I’m excited about the opportunity we have because I don’t want to bow to anyone.”

“I feel like one of the important parts of the team”

For years, Campengele was a role player in the NBA, where certain demands were placed on him, and he was looking for an opportunity to take on a leadership role on a team. Feeling important again. can see things. AEK gave him all of that.

How did AEK convince you to come to Greece? How did he approach you?

“He made it clear to me that I would have the opportunity to be a player who would play an important role. If anyone has followed my career, they know that I didn’t play much in the NBA. Some of it had to do with myself and some of the situations I encountered.

I just thought AEK was a good team to start my career in Europe and influence things positively. And when the coach told me his story and where I came from, I just thought it was a good career to optimize my talent.

At the end of my career I want to say that I played on great teams and that I have something to show my children. AEK gives me the opportunity to play. I didn’t know much about Europe, but I knew Athens.

My representative in Greece told me that AEK and Greece were a good starting point. It’s a safe situation and I won’t feel like I’m in the middle of nowhere. So I felt comfortable with that decision and now I’m here.”

Was there a time in the past when you were close to another European team?

“NO. I remember once deciding that I was open to the prospect of Europe and receiving a few offers, but I never really thought about it until AEK came along. AEK was the first European team I really spoke to. They were the team that tried the hardest, they saw something in me and I felt like they wanted me.

You want to go to a team, to a coach who wants you, not just someone who talks to you. My representative may have made some contacts with European teams in the past, but the first time I spoke to a European team was when I spoke to AEK.

In college you were teammates with Bacon and Rattan-Mays, who came via Greece. Did you talk to them before making this decision?

“Yes, I spoke to Bacon. I asked him how it was, he said he liked it. He told me that culture shock occurs, not in terms of people, but in groups. In the NBA, depending on your role, you’re expected to be a certain player and do certain things.

When I came here, I realized that I can be counted on, that I play an important role and that I need to be more consistent to be able to talk to my teammates more. That brought out a quality in me that I didn’t use in the NBA because I was just a team player. But here I feel like he’s one of the most important parts of the team and I want to be the best I can be for myself and my teammates.”

“I’m more than just a big guy who plays pick and roll and defense.”

In college at Florida State University, Campengele was a big guy who played with his back to the basket and the offense ran through him. However, in the NBA he was primarily tasked with setting screens and playing defense. But in his first experience in Europe, he wants to show the world that he is much more.

You’ve mentioned in the past that when you transitioned from college to the NBA, you had to change your game and evolve from a player who played with his back to the basket a lot to a great pick-and-roll player. But what kind of player are you now? What kind of player do you expect for AEK?

“I’m excited for the opportunity to showcase my ability to make an impact with the ball.” In the NBA, I felt like every team had an idea of ​​what they wanted to look like and had players with them a specific profile. Some shined in it, others didn’t.

I had difficulty adapting to the role I had. Now I’ve come here, I’m creating phases with the ball, I’m posting more, whereas in the NBA I just played pick and roll and maybe didn’t get any lobs. Here I get the ball early in the attack, I pass, I have more short roll, I post, I roll to the basket, I have more contact with the ball.

I’m not just a big guy that plays pick and roll and defense, where I was told if you can’t practice something or don’t practice it, then you shouldn’t do it. But especially in college I showed that I can create phases with the ball and I will be able to do that here, while in defense I will talk more about defense.”

Pick and Roll in Europe is a little different as the venues are smaller. In the NBA, you’ve said how you’ve changed the way you check. Do you think you should change again?

“Here the rooms are smaller and the club fills up quickly. You get the ball and the help is there. I usually opened the screen a little to see the ball. But here, after the screen, I sprint to the basket and use my peripheral vision to look at the thin side. These will help me.”

“I learned things from my Uncle Mutombo”

Campengele’s story is slightly different. When he was in high school, he was only 6 feet 2 inches tall and had to take the bus and then walk two miles to get to practice.

However, within a few years he gained 26 points and reached 2.11 meters. Basketball became a priority. At the same time, he gradually began to learn from his uncle, the legendary Dikebe Mutombo, one of the best defenders in NBA history. At the end of that interview, the 26-year-old center remembered all of that.

When you were younger you had to walk two kilometers to the stadium. They went to college, played a small role in the NBA and spent years in the G-League. How did all of this help you become the player and person you have become?

“It helped me because I’m more focused. When you’re constantly working, you have to respect what you’re doing. You just don’t want to stop. Now considering how much I’ve worked, I want to make the most of the opportunity before I get old.

All this work has made me realize that what I do isn’t forever. This work got me here, so let’s keep going and see how far I can go.”

Within a few years you have grown from 1.85 meters to 2.11 meters. You went from being a supporting player to becoming a midfielder. What was that transition like?

“It gave me severe knee pain… It helped because I was a good shooter but a mediocre athlete and it was difficult to mark sports peripherals. But as I grew, I was able to keep up with players of similar speed and strength, so there was a balance.

Once my body was fuller, I worked on speed and explosiveness so I became stronger and faster for my body. I’m grateful to God for giving me some points because it definitely gave me an advantage over slower, bigger and smaller opponents.”

Dikebe Mutombo is your uncle and one of the greatest defenders in history. Did he ever give you advice on defense or basketball in general?

“When I was a kid and we visited him, it was mostly a family situation. His whole life revolved around basketball, so we didn’t talk about basketball, we talked about how I went to school.” But when I got serious about basketball in college, the conversation turned to basketball.

He talked to me about how if I want to be a good blocker from the weak side, I have to be careful that the opponent doesn’t see me because he will make a quick decision and I have to surprise him.

He told me not to pay attention to what I was going to do because some people look at their opponents. He talked to me about the importance of taking care of my physical condition and stretching. He knew that the coaches would take care of the training, but details like proper nutrition, sleeping on time and the tricks I need to do to rest during away games, these are things I learned from him.