He is not your ordinary American playing pro basketball in Europe. Mason Rocca of Eldo Napoli made first visit to Italy as a teenage student, when his family came on holiday and tracked down long-lost relatives in a village near Genoa. A decade later he is playing for the Italian national team and leading Napoli on a fascinating, last-ditch try to reach the Top 16 in the club's debut Euroleague season. Rocca, a rookie in the competition, is the highest-rated Euroleague player to come off the bench in half or more his team's games and ranks second in offensive rebounds, the same as his team. So, after a 1-5 start, Rocca and Napoli now have their fate in their own hands as they head to Istanbul to play Fenerbahce in a showdown for survival on Thursday. "We know that we're sort of the surprise team, with underdog status, and that teams are aware of us now, so it's harder to surprise them," Rocca told Euroleague.net. "But we've made it this far and we're going to keep at it with the same attitude and will to win."
Hi Mason. Let's talk first about the game of the week in Group C, Napoli at Fenerbahce. When you guys were sitting at 1-5, did you ever expect to still be in control of your fate with two games left in the Euroleague regular season?
"We definitely didn't expect it. I think we kind of knew in the back of our heads that in the Euroleague things can change real fast because there are so many good teams, and any one can win on any given night. So even though we knew we were in bad shape, we knew we shouldn't give up. We had to hang in there. Jeff Trepagnier is on our team and he told us that last season with Ulker they made it through with five wins. We had a rough start, yes, but after our change of point guards, our chemistry got better. We got a big win at Benetton that jump-started us a bit. And each win after that helped our confidence. We started to realize we had a chance still."
About to visit Benetton in early December, you guys had just one win, by two points at home, and lost the other five games by an average of 13 points. What turned things around just then?
"We changed our point guards about a week before that game. Tierre Brown was there and we were struggling to find an offensive rhythm. It's not that it was Tierre's fault at all, but sometimes the chemistry just doesn't click. They brought in Tyrone and we started to work better. The defense tightened up and we just started playing better basketball. We had our first domestic game with Tyrone and played well before going to Treviso, and when we won there, it just gave us the boost in confidence that we needed."
What about you, personally? After struggling to get noticed earlier in your career, did you imagine yourself someday playing in the Euroleague and succeeding, as you have been this year?
"You know, it was definitely a goal of mine coming out of college. I kind of worked my way up sort of slowly. I had injuries my senior year in college, so I didn't get much exposure. I went tent to Treviso that summer for a camp and was told I couldn't play in Europe without a passport. So I went to the USBL, played well there for a year, then went to Jesi in the Italian second division and slowly worked my way up, finally got a passport and made it to the national team and the Euroleague this year. Each year I just tried to keep working on my game, getting better and sticking with it. Now, I am enjoying some of the fruits of that work."
Have you always been a substitute at Napoli until starting the last four games?
" Yeah, I came off the bench all last season and the first half of this one. When we made the point guard change, the coach said before one game that he wanted to get me in the starting lineup as a defensive presence, which is what I try to do whether I start or not, I want to come in with energy and help any way I can. That first game worked out well, we ended up winning, and he decided to stick with it. For me, it doesn't matter too much. Although my minutes are up a bit since I've been starting, I am still doing the same things."
Unlike a lot of Americans who got passports in the past, you actually have relatives in Italy whom you visited before going there to play, right?
"That's right. My family took a trip to Italy when I was in high school, after my junior year. It was our European vacation year. My great-grandfather had come from small town in the region of Liguria. We went there and found some distant cousins still living there. We didn't speak a word of Italian and they didn't speak a word of English. They were all about five feet tall and we were like giants to them. We got a little communication going and understood a little. Later, when I wanted the passport, it helped that my great aunt was like a family historian who had kept track of all our Italian relatives, so we knew who was there and all the connection between the families."
You played university ball at Princeton, which is famous for a style of play that has been compared sometimes to European basketball. Do you see that resemblance? What does it consist of?
"I definitely thing that the mindset is similar in Europe, especially that of every possession being important, which was something that we always tried to do at Princeton, control the game rhythm with our style of play. We were known for low-scoring games with an emphasis on defense and moving the ball around until we got a good shot. In the NBA now, there's a lot of one-on-one and quick shots in transition. Europe has a much more team-oriented game: ball movement, shot selection and team defense are all very important concepts, the same as at Princeton. Don't forget that David Blatt of Benetton played at Princeton, too."
Did playing a similar style at Princeton make your transition to European basketball easier, do you think?
"I definitely think so. Definitely. At Princeton, I learned how to pass and defend better, and all those principles that I mentioned before were driven into me. Other Americans who come here from up-tempo or run-and-gun programs can struggle with the different style of play."
 You have a reputation for playing all-out and never stopping, which maybe caused you some injury problems at university. Since you've been healthy in the pros, did you tone down how you play in order to avoid injuries?
"I don't think I really toned down my style too much. If anything, I used to try to dunk more, and now I have cut that out. My recent teammates won't believe that I liked to dunk, because I play now below the rim. Our coach at Princeton told me, told all of us something I always remember: 'You don't know how lucky your are to step on the court and play, so play until you can't play anymore for whatever reason and take advantage of all your time on the court. Don't ever risk having that bad feeling that you didn't leave it all on the court when you were playing.' I adhere to that philosophy and I play that way. In fact, I need to play that way. I don't have a great shot, I'm undersized for my position, and I'm not the most athletic guy in the world. I have to make up for it with something, and it's my playing style."
Since this is your first year in the Euroleague, what kind of reports do you give to people back home about this competition?
"Unfortunately, people who haven't played basketball don't understand well. I just tell them it's the second-best league in the world, behind the NBA, and the argument can be made that the Euroleague is right up there with the NBA on the level of team play."
Going to Istanbul, do you feel like you and Napoli have nothing to lose, or now that you're so close to the Top 16, to lose the chance would be brutal?
"We're going there for the win. We know it's going be a very tough game. Their team is playing a lot better now, and at home they are very tough. We know that we're sort of the surprise team, with underdog status, and that teams are aware of us now, so it's harder to surprise them. But we've made it this far and we're going to keep at it with the same attitude and will to win and bring home the W."
|