With two years of professional basketball under his belt and a full season in Poland, Kirk Archibeque is staying put.
Archibeque, 26, helped lead Polpharma to the 2010-11 Polish Cup Title in the Tauron (Polish) Basketball League last season.
The solid 6-foot-9 starting center will head south from Starogard to Polands third largest city, Lodz. He will suit up for LKS Sphinx Petrolinvest Lodz, also of the TBL.
Its the same league, same level of competition, but Ill have a new role, said the former Montezuma-Cortez, Northern Colorado and Fort Lewis hardwood standout. My new role is they basically want me to come in and shoot the ball more, and play a more aggressive game. Ill be on the floor a lot more, so Im excited about that.
Archibeque averaged 9.1 points and 6.2 rebounds a game for front-court loaded Polpharma last year, while shooting an efficient 60 percent from the field. His contract with LKS is for one year, but the Cortez native is just happy to continue his dream of playing pro basketball.
Im definitely excited. When you play basketball, everyone wants to be on the floor at all times, Archibeque said. Their coach (Zych Piotr) was able to watch me play last year. He really likes the way I play. He really wants to use me in the pick and roll, pick and pop. He really wants to allow me to just play and not be so isolated on the low block.
To stay in shape in the off-season, Archibeque has been training in Denver with Italian League player Kevin Fletcher, who played at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Boulder native and Golden State Warriors forward Louis Amundson, and Denver Nuggets center Nene.
Its a whole other level. I feel like Im good, then I step on the floor with these guys. Theyre fast, Archibeque said. Ive really been working on footwork this year. I really feel like its been a real help. Hopefully, if I have a breakout year this year, I can credit it all back to hard work all summer long.
The pros run eight different flight sets of stairs at Red Rocks Amphitheater in the morning. By the afternoon, the four hit the gym at the Ritz Forza in downtown Denver. The gym is co-owned by Denver Nuggets strength and conditioning coach Steve Hess.
Archibeque will fly back to Poland on Aug. 14 with his wife Mandy and 2-year-old daughter Leah Faith, and report to camp to start practicing for the TBL pre-season.
Its going to be a lot better for my family in a bigger town, Archibeque said. The bigger cities have more American teachers. In Europe, you just get that sense of home when you go to an American place after two months of not seeing anything. The bigger cities will have indoor water parks, all sorts of indoor playgrounds, all sorts of cool stuff for my wife and daughter to check out while Im at the gym all the time with practice. Im definitely excited to check out more culture of Poland. I really like the bigger cities a lot.
To follow Archibeque this season, fans can log on to www.eurobasket.com or the LKS website at www.lkslodz.pl.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at [email protected]
