Speaking to "Ringvaade," Rauno Pehka, who played for the Estonian national team in the 1990s–2000s, namechecked center Henri Veesaar, 24, who currently plays college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels, as one example.

Veesaar's NBA prospects, according to Pehka, who went on to be a national team assistant coach and now coaches the Estonian women's team, are "right on the edge."

"He attends the same university that Michael Jordan did, and I've had the pleasure of coaching him as well," he said.

Making it to the NBA in terms of player ability is not always as difficult as it may seem, Pehka went on. "It's not easy, but when I sometimes watch NBA games, quite a few players could handle the level of play we see there."

Martin Müürsepp, Pehka's contemporary in the Estonian national team of the early period after the restoration of independence, is the only Estonian to have forged a career in the NBA, playing for the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks from 1996–1998. Much more recently, small forward Henri Drell, 25, got court time — with the Chicago Bulls, as it happens — in 2024, as well as playing for their affiliate G-League team, later moving to the Portland Trail Blazers' G-League affiliate, the Rip City Remix. Drell now plies his trade with Spanish club Joventut Badalona.

Pehka recalled the Chicago Bulls from their glory days of the 1990s. "That was before 1998," he explained, noting that they won six championships in a short period of time.

"Michael Jordan was a major pioneer — suddenly a player like him appeared in basketball, playing in a completely different way than people were used to seeing. He did things that would still be highly valued in today's game," Pehka went on.

The Bulls' success at the time owed a great deal to their coach, Phil Jackson, who approached things somewhat differently than usual and leaned toward Zen philosophy, replete with meditation, and even if some of Jackson's players did not quite share his contemplative enthusiasm, falling asleep during the meditation sessions had its benefits too, Pehka said.

In Estonia at the time it was sometimes hard to get to watch NBA play, he noted. "Back then there was a shortage of top-level basketball, there were no screens, and if you occasionally managed to watch basketball on one of the few available screens, it was a great stroke of luck," Pehka said.

When he and his colleagues, players and enthusiasts did get to view the NBA and other high-level matches and leagues, Pehka said observation was a great teacher. "You saw the guys you trained with — they were more or less like you — but then you saw someone from elsewhere and thought, 'Ah, that's how he does it.'"

Other top Estonian basketball players with U.S. college teams at present include Kerr Kriisa (Cincinnati Bearcats) and Stefan Vaaks (Illinois Fighting Illini).

The original "Ringvaade" segment including footage of the Jordan-era Bulls and ERR's visit to a more recent Bulls' match is below.

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