The NBA is back as clubs around the Association held their respective media days including the Portland Trail Blazers as their brand new Israeli forward met the press as he looked ahead to the season.

“I feel like I fit in well. You know we all try to compete, we are all trying to be better. I’m one of the experienced guys now 5 years in the league and I’m just glad to see everybody wants to work, wants to improve and to get better and I think I can bring a lot to the table in terms of being competitive and showing passion.”

Avdija is known to have a ton of passion as he mentioned and will being that to the floor game in and game out, “I think just that’s how I’ve always been is really passionate, the passion to win. I came from overseas from Europe where winning is a big part there and I feel like that’s part of my culture. You know obviously my first year I had Russell Westbrook which he was a very big competitor and I saw how he set the tone as a rookie and kind of made me understand that at some point I’ve got do it too. I grew into it, definitely the mature part of it came along and I felt like I was experienced and can take on more leadership.”

Over the pst few years, Avdija had continued to hone is skills and has seen a marked improvement in numerous areas, “I focus on what I need to focus and improve. I feel like the summers are the time for you to understand what you do good, what you do bad, what to improve and what to maintain. I feel like I did a great job of maintaining the things that I brought last season and building from it which is my shooting, being consistent, keep shooting good shots and from there building my game through maintaining things I’m good at and improving things I’m a little lacking in.”

Avdija expanded on some of the areas that he’s worked on, “I didn’t really go a lot from the left and using my left hand more is definitely something I’m willing to do and I improved a lot on. Creating off of the dribble a little bit if it’s the end of the shot clock or when the defense collapses inside.”

“I was making sure when shooting that my feet are under me. I focused the whole summer on shooting which was big for me because I always addressed it but I took steps to breakdown my shot and see what’s going on and what I can do better. I feel like bringing more power from my legs was a big part and obviously my confidence as well.”

With a new team for the first time in his career, Avdija will look to find a seamless way to fit in with his new teammates, “The team is young, we’re athletic, we’re going to run the floor a lot this year definitely because we’re so athletic and fast. This is going to be huge for us this season and at the the end of the day I don’t know what my role is going to be yet but definitely I’ll be a great playmaker as I like to involve everybody and I like to give everybody open shots and get everybody into the game. I feel like it’s part of what I do so I really need to work hard during the preseason with the team, see how we all fit together. I feel like we have very good talent and we’re going to be good.”

Finally, Avdija spoke about his personal and team goals for the season ahead, “Just better than last year. Be more confident, be a better leader, talk on the court way more, be good defensively, be in the right spots making sure I’m helping the young guys be better every day. I think winning more than last year when we were last in the west. Hopefully this year we’re not.”