Former Appalachian State University men's basketball standout D.J. Thompson continued his professional success this week, signing with AEK Athens in the A1 Ethniki league, Greece's top professional league.
Thompson moves up the professional ranks after spending last season in Poland with the AZS Koszalin club, leading the team to the playoffs and finishing fifth in the league in scoring with 15.7 points per game.
The league he is joining has been making news internationally, recently luring away Josh Childress from the Atlanta Hawks. The league's 14 rosters feature eight players that have seen NBA action.
“I'm really excited and ready to see what that talent level is like,” said Thompson. “I expect it to be a whole new level and I want to see how hard those guys work and how talented they are.”
While he will be moving to entirely different surroundings, Thompson should at least feel at home in his uniform as AEK, short for Athlitiki Enosis Konstantinoupoleos, wears the same Black and Gold as the Mountaineers. The club plays its home games in the Athens Olympic Indoor Hall which seats 18,800 and hosted the Olympic basketball finals in the 2000 Athens Olympics.
Notable past American members of the club, founded in 1924, include UCLA's Toby Bailey and Duke's Williams Avery. Former Los Angeles Laker and NBA Champion Kurt Rambis also began his professional career with AEK. Last season, the squad finished seventh in the league with a 13-13 record and bowed out for the playoffs to the eventual league runner-up.
Thompson will begin his newest European adventure flush with knowledge and experience gleaned during the past season in Poland. In Koszalin, Thompson found the type of environment he had been looking for, not a big city, but a small mid-sized city that embraced its basketball club.
“Despite being bigger than Boone, the city really felt a lot like being at Appalachian,” said Thompson. “We had a very good fanbase but the town didn't have any other sports so it was a very basketball-minded environment.”
Getting used to the European crowds was an eye-opener for Thompson as flares and fireworks being lit in the crowd were not out of the ordinary. The amount of imbibing by the crowds also came as a surprise.
“The really get after it during the game. I guess it makes them enjoy the game more and it definitely creates a very rowdy environment.”
Not being entirely fluent in Polish, Thompson was somewhat blessed with not fully comprehending the taunts of opposing fans, but still knew when the barbs were being hurled in his direction. From his accounts, most fans snapped their fingers in approval and clapped in disgust.
“If they clapped at you, that was bad. I think,” said Thompson.
The lingual and cultural differences also proved to be a hurdle at first as he got accustomed to his new surroundings and being the new kid on the block.
“I've never been in situation where I was such an outsider, where I had nothing in common with anyone and couldn't even communicate with people around me,” said Thompson. “At first it was hard to order food, hard to shop, hard to do anything. Not knowing the language I couldn't even really go out by myself so you always had to make plans with other players to go out.”
He eventually overcame the language barrier and picked up enough Polish to get through each day and was also aided by his surroundings adapting to him, noting that it got to the point at his favorite restaurants that he didn't have to attempt to stumble and stammer through ordering. He'd become such a familiar face that the staff would put in his favorite order as soon as he walked through the door.
Perhaps the most difficult adjustment was having for the first time in recent memory, an ample amount of free time. After four years of a college schedule that afforded little free time between class, practice, weights, study hall and travel, Thompson was floored with a schedule that only featured one game a week and what he estimates to be about 8-10 hours a day of free time.
“On a typical day we'd wake up at about 9 a.m., get something to eat and go lift weights at 10 a.m. After that we'd start practice at 11 a.m. and go until about 1 or 2 p.m.” said Thompson. “Then you and some teammates might go grab lunch, but the rest of the day was all yours, I wasn't used to so much free time and time alone.”
Part of his free time was spent just keeping in touch with friends and family back home, which points out at times was practically a part-time job in itself.
The time to himself with few constraints also forced him to develop the maturity, focus and discipline needed to play professional basketball.
“There isn't a whole lot of teaching or guidance. You're expected to know the game at a professional level and perform each day at a professional level,” said Thompson. “If you can't do that, you don't just get benched, you get sent home and they find someone who can perform.”
Performing at that level is Thompson's ultimate goal upon his arrival in Athens. However, to do that he admits he needs to get acclimated in his new home as possible as comfort and familiarity are paramount to a player's success in a foreign land.
Thompson certainly hopes to become as comfortable in his new Black and Gold as he was in the Mountaineers' in which he finished his four-year collegiate career sixth all-time in scoring (1,599 points), first in three-pointers (270) and steals (293) and second in assists (508) on the way to becoming one of the best players to ever suit up for the Apps.
He will depart for Athens near August 20 to begin preparations for the 26-date season that begins in mid-October and stretches into April.
