Cedi Osman writes on his blog on Eurohoops just before the start of the pre-Olympic tournament at Manila! What went wrong with Efes, the dream of Rio with Turkey and the first thing he’s going to do when he puts on the Cavs jersey!
I’m going to ask LeBron for a selfie!
Cedi Osman is in the Philippines with the national team of Turkey and is getting ready for the big challenge of the pre-Olympic tournament with the dream of qualifying for the Olympics games in Rio.
He returns to his official blog on Eurohoops and writes about everything! About the season with Efes Anadolu that didn’t turn out like he expected, about his ambitions with the national team and about the biggest dream, to put on the jersey of the NBA Champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers, starting from the 2017-18 season.
He thinks about that everyday and he reveals the first thing he’s going to do as soon as he sets foot in Cleveland!
We were defeated by the pressure
When Dusan Ivkovic came to the team, he said that in the first season we’re going to try for the best we can get and in the second the target is going to be to qualify for the Euroleague Final Four and win the titles in Turkey.
The ambitions for this second season were very big. We made several important signings, guys with a lot of talent joined the team and we had a roster with great quality. The truth is that we didn’t make it. Whereas in the first season we got into the playoffs and got very close to a break that would make us favorites for the final four, and we won the Cup at the same time, this year we didn’t bring it off.
What I felt is that we had a great deal of pressure throughout the entire season. Which, in the end, affected us and we weren’t able to deal with it. That was our biggest problem. High expectations and pressure, which, as it turned out… defeated us.
I still believe that we had a great team and we could’ve achieved a lot more. The reasons we didn’t were the pressure and the lack of chemistry. We had a good atmosphere and good players in every position. But we didn’t create the perfect, harmonious chemistry, and in modern basketball chemistry is a bigger key than elements such as talent and quality.
Fenerbahce won the domestic titles and reached the Euroleague final. Where they differed from us was mostly chemistry, not talent. They found better chemistry. The key for the outcome of the finals series was the break they made at the Abdi Ipekçi. In the games we won, especially in the second final, we did so in an emphatic way. But we didn’t have the stability and the consistency that are required at this level to go the extra mile and win titles.
We’re going to have the same core, Perasovic is a good fit for us
I’m still optimistic and I believe in next season. Because we’ve created an excellent core and this summer we are going to make a few changes and some good moves. It’s very important that a core does not change and that is going to help us a lot.
Our new coach, Velimir Perasovic, achieved great things with Laboral, they played amazing basketball and I think that the basketball he likes suits our own roster. I’ve spoken with him and I feel that we can have an excellent collaboration and present fast and beautiful basketball.
I’m excited about the tournament in Manila!
I’m in Manila and we’re getting ready with the national team for the battles of the pre-Olympic tournament. Honestly, I’m excited about the tournament that we have ahead of us, I’m thrilled! We’re going to give everything we’ve got to get the qualification and it’s going to be something great for us and the national team, as well as for the whole of Turkey!
We know that it’s going to be difficult and we know that we might possibly need to beat France in order to make it. The fact is, though, that it’s not going to be like Lille, where we played a knockout game in front of their crowd. Now the games are going to take place on neutral ground and no one is going to have a home advantage.
We’re hungry, we have chemistry, we’re a family and the only thing that is certain is that we’re going to fight like mad to go after the dream of qualifying for Rio!
Every day I dream of myself in a Cavs jersey!
As I wrote on my first blog entry on Eurohoops, in the summer of 2017 I have an option to go to the NBA and it’s definite that I’m going to use it and try my luck in the USA!
It’s a decision I’ve made and everyone knows about it. Every day there will be a moment when I’ll picture Cedi practicing and playing games in the NBA in the colors of the Cavaliers! I dream about it every day, I won’t hide it! I feel that the organization believes in me and I’m very happy that they won the title.
I’m going to go there and do my best in order to get established/ establish myself, to find a place on the team and vindicate their choice. I have a season ahead of me in which I’m going to fight for Efes Anadolu and then I’m going to dedicate myself to the great goal of the NBA.
When I meet LeBron, I’m going to ask him for a selfie!
One more thing that I think about all the time? How important it’s going to be for me to make it in time so that LeBron James is still on the team so that I can play with him, become his teammate! It’s going to be unbelievable! I have so much to learn from him. LeBron’s presence in Cleveland is a huge motivation, playing with him a big dream.
A dream that I feel is going to come true and I’m very happy about that! I’ve already thought what my first reaction is going to be when the time comes for me to enter the coaching center of the Cleveland Cavaliers and have my first practice as a member of the team.
As soon as I see LeBron James I’m going to go up to him, say hi and ask him for a selfie! This is the first thing I’m going to do as a player of the NBA Champions!
We’ll meet again soon! Be well, Cedi