By Bilal Baran Yardımcı/ info@eurohoops.net
In his sixth season with Fenerbahce Beko, Marko Guduric resurfaces in the Final Four, five years after his last appearance. Sitting down with Eurohoops, he discussed the differences between the previous berth. He also praised teammate Tarik Biberovic, stashed in Europe by his former team, Memphis Grizzlies.
“Coming to Fener in 2017-18, they had just won the EuroLeague. That team was already great,” he recalled playing under legendary tactician Zeljko Obradovic until 2019, “We went to the Final Four that year and the next year. I thought this was normal. I did not take it for granted. For me, it was easy to adjust to this system. And then I went to the NBA and came back, and I saw it is really hard. That is why this Final Four is the most special one so far, because of all the things we had to go through.”
Guduric, 29, logged 44 appearances with the Grizzlies during the 2019-20 NBA Regular Season, before reuniting with Fener. Three years later, the Tennessee franchise selected Biberovic with the 58th overall pick of the 2023 NBA draft.
“He has been through a lot. And he is one of the hardest-working people I have ever seen. He was always in the gym, all those years. In the previous years, when he did not play, he was always here taking 1,000 shots and lifting,” the Serbian wing remembered a young Biberovic working in Ulker Sports Arena toward earning an opportunity to play for the senior team, “I am just happy he got the chance he deserved.”
Averaging 10.2 points, 3.2 assists, and 1.8 rebounds per contest in a best-of-five series versus AS Monaco, Guduric was among the key players for the team coached by Sarunas Jasikevicius to lead the Istanbul outfit back to the Final Four. “I like these games. I like the pressure,” he explained to Eurohoops, commenting on improved showings in the Playoffs.
Preparing for the Semifinals of the Final Four, Fenerbahce is set to face Panathinaikos Aktor in Berlin’s Uber Arena on Friday.