He's 7-feet tall, blond and European, he's an adept shooter and can take the ball to the basket. So it's natural to want to compare Chicago Bulls rookie Lauri Markkanen to NBA great Dirk Nowitzki.
"I've been hearing that a lot," Markkanen said Tuesday at the Advocate Center in Chicago.
"It's a huge honor to be compared to him, a Hall of Famer. Of course we have similarities being tall guys, being able to shoot the ball and put the ball on the floor."
Markkanen said he didn't mold his game after the Mavericks' Nowitzki _ or anyone else _ while growing up simply because he didn't watch much basketball while a youngster in Finland. When he did catch rare glimpses, he first studied how guards played before a growth spurt turned his attention to the big men.
"I hear a lot of comparisons to Dirk so of course I watched him when I was growing up, especially when I started getting taller," Markkanen said. "I was more watching guards because I played the 2 (guard spot) and 3 when I was a little bit younger."
Only while playing at Arizona where he averaged 15.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in his only season in North America did Markkanen adjust his NBA viewing skills.
"Before I watched games but it was a couple of games a week maybe," Markkanen said. "You're trying to make it yourself and then you have to wake up at 3 a.m. to watch games so that's not really ideal. I didn't have time. It was mostly highlights and stuff. Last year, I really tried to even though at the same time I had to watch college games."
The fact the NBA is trending toward big men who can shoot makes Markkanen believe that he will be a fit with the Bulls after just one year in college.
"I know the game is changing that way (and) ... that's what I've been doing my whole life," he said. "I'm glad it's going that way so I can fit."
