Devon Hall is another young player that we wanted convinced that he will prove us right,” said Olimpia’s general manager, Christos Stavropoulos, introducing the guard who comes from Virginia and also played in the NBA for a while before coming to Europe. “This is the great opportunity that I was looking for, to compete at the highest level, to play for great goals. I am happy and excited to be here,” says Hall.

The EuroLeague debut – “It is the most competitive league that exists in Europe, in some things that I do, I think I am ready. I mean my versatility, the ability to shoot at a high level, to make plays for my teammates, to compete at the defensive end of the floor, switch defensively. I will probably have to work on to be able to slow down a little, to read plays better. Fortunately, I have teammates who will help me speed up the process. Chacho, Delaney. This is what I wanted, you have to accept challenges to improve as a player and as a person”.

The level of the EuroLeague guards – “Every time there will be someone very good, it is a League where you can never sleep on anybody. There is not a particular opponent I can’t wait to play against, simply because everyone is good, starting with the guards I meet every day in practice. To say that I’m looking forward to a specific match-up would be disrespectful to the others and everybody is so goog, American guards, guards from other countries. But I’m not one to back down from a challenge.”

The Shavon Shields comparisons – “It’s encouraging, because the success that Shavon had. I have a lot of respect for him, and this gives me confidence to go in and play multiple positions at a high level, like Shavon did. And Coach Messina’s words, I appreciated those words obviously.”

His versatility – “It might be that from an NBA perspective it has affected me negatively, because that is a league in which everyone must have a role, a position, stuck to be a point-guard, a shooting guard, a lead guard etc. But here in Europe I do understand that my versatility is a strength and talking with Coach Messina I believe that being able to do more things and play multiple positions, guard multiple positions helps you here. What I need to improve in order to eventually return to the NBA at this point does not matter, because I am focused on Milan, the EuroLeague and the Italian league.”

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