There was no push, no thrust, no insistence that as he grew into what is now a 6-foot-6, 215-pound frame that basketball had to be Pelle Larsson’s destiny.
That, the Miami Heat second-round pick out of Arizona said, simply is not the Swedish way.
“I don’t really think we have that culture in Sweden, because I think sport, in general, is just kind of secondary to education and everything else,” the Stockholm native said ahead of the Heat’s Monday night appearance in the championship game of the Las Vegas NBA Summer League. “So they don’t step in and make that decision for people. It’s kind of, you do what you want to do to have fun.
“And sport, growing up, was just to have fun. It was never like looked at like a serious career for me and a lot of my friends.”
But as with most European sports, decisions also are made early. So while this technically, at least in the eyes of the NBA, is about to be Larsson’s first professional season, there already have been seasons in Sweden with club teams RIG Lulea and BC Lulea before enrolling at the University of Utah for one season and then three at Arizona.
At 23, that makes Larsson a bit more polished than others his age, but also appreciative that the sum total of Swedish players with NBA resumes of note is limited to Jonas Jerebko, the 6-10 big man who split a 10-year NBA career between the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, Utah Jazz and Golden State Warriors.
For Larsson, that makes this trek about love for the game.
“For me, the dream was always to play professionally and have this as my job, at whatever level was right for me and I could compete,” he said. “And now I’ve ended up at the highest one, so I’m really excited to keep doing what I do at the highest level.”
To a degree, from a culture where basketball ranks down the pecking order to the point that Sweden’s professional basketball league plays games in gyms of no more than 3,500 seats, Larsson very much stands as an exception.
But also with a gene pool that allowed for such an exception.
“I grew up, my dad taught me how to play,” he said. “He played in Sweden and for the national team for two years. I had an older brother that played. So I was always competing against my older brother.”
Now he enters the NBA along with another Swede, with Bobi Klintman, a native of Malmo, selected out of Wake Forest at No. 37 last month by the Pistons, seven picks ahead of Larsson.
“There’s two kinds of major basketball academies in Sweden,” Larsson explained. “Bobbi Klintman went to the other one, and then developed there through high school. And then we played tournaments throughout Europe and stuff like that, youth tournaments.
“And then I played with the under-18 national team, where a lot of college coaches come and watch you play, and I had learned from my brother, he kind of did the go pro early international route in Spain and then ended up going to college, anyway. So I kind of saw both worlds through him and just decided I want to go to the U.S. and play college than go early pro in Europe. So from that national team tournament I played really well and a lot of coaches were interested and then I chose Utah from there.”
And now the Heat chose the polished, attack-minded prospect who has been signed to a three-year contract.
Early on, the results during summer league were uneven.
“I think I kind of sped up myself a little too much, just not having played in a while,” he said. “It’s been a while since the college season ended, so I just need to get back to my own basics a little bit more and double down on that, what got me here, and then being what I’m going to be able to bring in the regular season.”
All in all, with encouraging first steps, including his 21 points, six assists and four rebounds in the Sunday victory over the Golden State Warriors that lifted the Heat into the Vegas championship game.
“He’s a tireless worker,” said Heat assistant Dan Bisaccio, who guided the team’s summer roster. “He’s a great leader on the floor and he’s just got a really good disposition and he’s a man of a craft, is the word I’m looking for. Behind the scenes, he’s always trying to work on his shot. He’s always trying to find that new angle that he can give you, that extra detail on a pick and roll. So for him, I think a lot of that, he’s a perfectionist, where he’s trying to make some plays for others, and he’s trying to get some shots, and all this.
“In the first couple of games, there’s always a natural tendency to press a little bit. Maybe a shot doesn’t fall here and there. But the thing about him is he’s never let it affect his play. Whether he’s making a shot or missing a shot, he’s always right into the next play. He’s trying to find the next drive where he can attack the paint and find plays for others. I think one of the best things that’s been established for him is he’s embraced his defensive role on that end, which is guarding everybody on the floor, guarding them 94 feet from the basket and then just being a defensive stopper. And then offensively, from there, you can just see his skillset is starting to expand.”
