Nigel Hayes-Davis explains online conflict with Lithuanians, shares Saras' change / News - Basketnews.com

Hayes-Davis opened up about his Instagram conflict after a visit to Moscow, his career development, the change he saw in Jasikevicius, and the reality as a basketball player in Istanbul.

Credit: Dainius Lukšta Credit Dainius Lukšta

Nigel Hayes-Davis has been having the best year of his career in the 2023-24 season so far. He was instrumental in Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul's comfortable win against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv on Thursday as well.

Nigel Hayes-Davis

MIN:33.42PTS:13.3 (55.47%)REB:4.6As:1.75ST:0.9BL:0.25TO:1.1GM:20ProfileEuroLeague2023/2024

Fenerbahce scored 109 points, breaking the club's all-time EuroLeague single-game scoring record. There was one odd thing, though - the game was played in Panevezys, Lithuania, a place where a EuroLeague game had never happened before.

"I was pissed, everybody was pissed. One, it's a home game. In EuroLeague, these games are tough, as you know. To play a home game and have the crowd behind you is always a huge advantage. Maccabi feels the same way with the situation that's going on in that part of the world. They've been playing in empty gyms, and everyone knows that their home arena helps them win a lot of games,' Hayes-Davis said.

Fenerbahce were welcomed with heavy snow both in Kaunas, where they landed, and in Panevezys, where they played. Despite having previously played for Zalgiris Kaunas, Hayes-Davis doesn't want to remember the Lithuanian weather one bit.

"First thought was that it was unfortunate. The second thought was - why Lithuania? We couldn't go to Spain or somewhere in the South where the weather was warm? I appreciate the hospitality to be able to play the game here, it was good for us, we were able to win. Maybe we should play the rest of our games here if we play like this," he smiled.

"The first thing Saras said was 'Welcome home' when we landed," he said about head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius. "All the gentlemen at passport security said 'Welcome back', everyone has the same joke - 'Do you miss the Lithuanian weather?' No. The Lithuanians don't like the weather, so why would I like it? It's good, though, that I guess I was able to forge relationships and good times, and people are, I guess, not angry to see me come back. It's good, it could be the opposite way."

Free throws this season

80%12,0Points made:12,0Accuracy:79,7%Place in standings:14Record max:22Record min:2Most made FTs:Nigel Hayes-DavisTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

When Hayes-Davis first played for Jasikevicius, the Lithuanian specialist was still up and coming in the EuroLeague ranks, trying to prove himself. When Saras got hired by FC Barcelona, he took Hayes-Davis with him.

After this year, the 29-year-old will have played more seasons with Jasikevicius on the same team in the EuroLeague than without him. As such, Hayes-Davis has been able to witness how the Lithuanian has been changing throughout the years, both as a coach and a person.

"I think he's doing his best to be more calm. As you know, and as you've seen in Zalgiris, he can get really demonstrative, animated, angry. It's all coming from a place of just wanting to win. My time in Barcelona wasn't, from a numbers standpoint, one of the better seasons in my career. There were things between Saras and I that, when he got here, we were able to talk about. I told him I wanted to talk about things, start a clean slate, and go forward. Now he's my best friend, we're BFFs," Hayes-Davis smiled.

"We're best friends now, we're moving forward. It's unfortunate when any coach gets fired, everybody knows how I felt about Itoudis. It's out of my control, no one told me, 'Hey, we're hiring Itoudis', no one's going to tell me when they're firing him," the player said. "It's unfortunate, it's part of the business, it's part of life. You have to move forward and go forward. When Saras came back, it's a guy I'm familiar with, we were able to start back clean slate, do a 180 from where we left off. I'm so happy to have my best friend back, he's my guy."

After leaving Barca to play for Fenerbahce, Hayes-Davis has seen a significant increase in his playing time. This year, he's playing the best season of his career, averaging 13.5 points and 4.7 rebounds for 15.9 PIR in the EuroLeague.

According to Jasikevicius, Hayes-Davis is now more mature than in Barca. Asked about it, the player said he simply had to be more selfish on the court.

"I try to do a lot of reading, I've met a lot of good people in my life that've helped me, giving me books, giving me talks. I read things. There's a healthy level of selfishness you need to have whenever you want to do something in life. That's something I've been told growing up. Forever, I was always too nice, too nice, 'you're too nice', 'oh he's a really nice guy', 'oh you're so nice Nigel'. It's true - nice guys finish last. Nice doesn't get you where you want to be," he said.

"There's a healthy level of selfishness I've developed. It's paying dividends. Combine that with work and sprinkling in delusional confidence that I feel when I go on the court that I'm the best player on the court, like I work the hardest. You combine that with being selfish and making sure you do what you can to get the goals you want, you can do good things in life. It's something that a lot of people should adapt not only in basketball but in anything in your life," Hayes-Davis shared.

The departure of head coach Dimitris Itoudis was swift and sudden. Equally suddenly, news broke out about Sarunas Jasikevicius' arrival to Istanbul despite early reports about Andrea Trinchieri being the specialist chosen for the job.

With Saras under the helm, Fenerbahce have won eight games and lost only once - last Tuesday against Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade.

"When something like that happens, it kind of shocks the organization and the program. Not only Fenerbahce but any program - when you change the head coach, it's big news across Europe. That really wakes people up, like, 'Hey, we need to get our s--t together.' That stems down to everyone that's working in the organization that's not a player, and also to the players," Hayes-Davis said. "If they're firing a coach, you've got to be, 'Hey, I have to make sure my performance is better.' When a new coach is coming in, he's like, 'I have to get results, and I have to do what I need to do to get these results, whether that's force fire or anywhere in between.' You have to get results because that's why they brought him in here."

"I always say that that's the biggest thing, that's the big wake-up call for everybody to get on their shit and get their stuff together. He came in, we put in a couple of different things, he's maybe doing a couple of things differently. Moreso, I think the guys' efforts have changed," he explained. "It's not so much different. Itoudis and Saras are from the same coaching tree, Obradovic. Saras has played for both of them as coaches. A lot of things they preach and teach are very similar. It's more of a wake-up call I'd say we got, like, 'Alright, we need to get our stuff together, we need to get going in the right direction and not waste this year.' We're a very talented team, and we're giving away a lot of games - we just gave one away on Tuesday. We need to make sure we don't do that anymore because we're a very good team, and we have a lot of potential when we play the right way."

Fenerbahce have the biggest fan base in European basketball. The club has the most followers on social media, thousands of fans are constantly active on Twitter. Nevertheless, Hayes-Davis says the regular day-to-day experience is nothing extraordinary.

On the contrary, the 29-year-old admits that the most interesting interactions have come from taxi drivers instead.

"I don't really leave my apartment, I'm usually going to the gym when I'm in my apartment. Occasional times I get out, there are people that recognize us. It's a little different, though. In some of these countries and cities that people play in, the fans are crazy," the player agreed when Belgrade was mentioned as a follow-up. "Exactly, or you play for one of the Greek teams. Fans can be crazy, but in Istanbul, everyone's excited, they want your picture, they're very friendly."

"Most of my interactions happened with taxi drivers. Taxi drivers always like to go, 'What's your favorite team?' Then I always answer, 'Whatever your favorite team is, it's the team I play for.' I don't want any trouble, I don't want you to drive me somewhere the wrong way and drop me off because you like a different team than Fenerbahce," the player smiled. "Whatever's the team you like, that's the team I play for, and I stay out of trouble."

Fame can also be virtual. Nigel Hayes-Davis best experienced that way back during his college days when his light-hearted and honest comment about a reporter being beautiful went all around the world. This season, Hayes-Davis went viral on Instagram due to his love for kittens.

Namely, Nigel made a collab with a social media giant The Dodo, which focuses on fun animal content. The video got millions of views and has amassed more than a million likes on Instagram alone.

"It's easy. Fame is fading, and all that notoriety, it doesn't exist. Instagram is not a real place. People have to make sure that they remember that. You have to live a life once you close your phone. It's nice that people see it. I love my cat. It's paid benefits, I've gotten a lot of free stuff for my cat - a lot of cat food, a lot of cat toys, and stuff like that," the player smiled.

"It's good. You just have to use it wisely and not let it use you. There's always good and bad with everything in life. As long as you take something and you use it the right way for something positive, then it will be a good thing," he shared. "As long as you don't let it get to your head or use it negatively, or let it use you, then you'll be good."

Besides heartwarming stories, social media can get pretty hostile at times, and Hayes-Davis could attest to it this season. Before the season, Fenerbahce went to play in a friendly tournament in Moscow. After getting back from the trip, Hayes-Davis posted a carousel of photos from his trip.

The post triggered a bunch of Lithuanian fans who insulted Hayes-Davis for his choice to post photos from Russia, a country that had occupied Lithuania for multiple decades and is now waging war on Ukraine.

The negative comments were overwhelming to the point that Hayes-Davis had to limit the function under his post, while some of the people wrote angry personal messages to him directly, prompting the player to share some of them in his story.

"That's crazy! About that... I understand the history, I'm a history guy, I try to learn and know as much as I can so I won't be ignorant, and I just like to learn. I think it's a personal thing that happens to a group of people. There are unfortunate things that happen to a lot of people in a lot of countries all the time," Hayes-Davis explained. "Right now, as we're talking, there's a group of people that are being killed, oppressed, mutilated, etc., etc., by another group of people, but it doesn't involve us, Lithuanians I'm talking about. You know what I'm saying?

The player went on to explain his point of view in detail.

"I understand that from the whole perspective with the Russians, what happened with the occupation and the communism, that is a touchy subject. I do think that the people who know me and know my character, the Lithuanians that I'm friends with, that I've played with, that I talk to, they know that it was Nigel experiencing a culture," he said. "If that's the case, the fact that a country did something to another country, you're not allowed to go there, you wouldn't be allowed to go to a lot of places. You understand what I'm saying?"

"You know all the Spanish colonies around the world? You know how they got them? It wasn't friendly. The French colonies in Africa, you know how many countries there speak French? You wouldn't be allowed to go there if it was solely based on 'you did something bad, don't ever go there'. I think that it was unfair for them to do that, and ignorant and rude to say the things that they said, but I understand that it's a sensitive issue for them. Like I said, I did my best to understand, and I hope that it wasn't seen as me praising Russia for what they did to Lithuania. I don't know how someone could interpret that, but I try my best to make sure it wasn't something that came off like that," Hayes-Davis concluded.

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