By Giorgos Adamopoulos / info@eurohoops.net
After six years with the Cleveland Cavaliers and playing alongside Victor Wembanyama at the San Antonio Spurs last season, Cedi Osman returned from the NBA to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Osman, 29, talked to Eurohoops about the NBA, his career and a potential comeback, the differences between the league based in North America and Europe’s premier club continental competition, and more.
“I do not think it is over for me, but you never know what happens,” he talked about his NBA career.
“I am fully committed to Panathinaikos right now and I really want to win EuroLeague with this team,” continued the Turkish forward, “We have a great team, a very talented team that I believe can go for the back-to-back and I want to win all the cups that we can. I want to achieve everything here. So, that is why I am happy to be here and I am excited and hopefully it is going to be a great year for us.”
Among several players moving from the NBA to the EuroLeague this summer, he shared his opinion about them dominating on the court.
“It depends. I do not think it is that easy. Playing in the NBA and then coming back to play in Europe, first of all, it is a different type of basketball,” he said, “There is a part that for sure we are going to dominate, but we need some time. It is not going to happen like this. It is not going to be that quick. So, that is why we need some time. We need to play games. We need to understand. We need to remind ourselves how it was playing in Europe. How it was playing in the EuroLeague. So, that is why there are going to be times when we are going to be ourselves and everything, but for now, we need some time until we adjust again to EuroLeague basketball.”
“Maybe everything would be different”
Back in 2017, Osman left Anadolu Efes and the EuroLeague to play for the Cavs in the NBA. His rookie campaign reached the NBA Finals but his side fell short, shaping the biggest ‘What If” of his career.
“If we had won, maybe everything would be different for me,” he told Eurohoops, “I had a really good seven years in the NBA but definitely the special one was my rookie year when I reached the NBA Finals.”
“It was great. We played one year together. But that year, I had a lot of fun. He took me under his wing. He was sharing his experience with me. He was always trying to help me,” he talked about his relationship with LeBron James.
“LeBron stepping on my foot and twisting his ankle was probably not a good start to my NBA career,” he recalled the awkwardness of the first training session alongside James, “I felt bad. It is my first practice. We were doing five-on-five. It was not my fault. I could not do anything.”
Ivkovic, Ataman, Popovich, Wemby
Playing under the late Dusan Ivkovic at Efes, the native of Ohrid introduced himself to the EuroLeague.
“He trusted me. He was a legend. Playing with him for two years was a great experience for me,” he said.
“We had a lot of chats off the court,” Osman added, “On the court, he was a little bit difficult. He loved basketball so much. He was into basketball so much. He definitely helped me a lot on the court. But off the court, you could sit with him and talk about life. I think that everything that we talked about was a great experience for me.”
From Ivkovic, the interview went from reuniting with Panathinaikos boss Ergin Ataman to working with Gregg Popovich, before projecting French prodigy Wembanyama as the next ‘face of the NBA’.
“He is great. He is unbelievable,” he talked about Wemby, “In one or two years, he will probably be the face of the NBA. That is what I think. He is a talented kid that we have never seen before.”
In addition, Osman sided with most opinions from players with experience on both ends of the Atlantic Ocean that scoring points in the NBA is easier than in the EuroLeague.
“Because of the rules and the way the game is played in the NBA, I think it is easier to score in the NBA. You can not be in the paint there. In Europe, the big guy can stay in the paint as long as he wants,” he explained to Eurohoops.
Talks with Real Madrid
Before completing his move to the Greens and inking a one-year contract, Osman was linked to Real Madrid, earlier in the offseason.
“Nothing serious,” he described the interest of Los Blancos to Eurohoops, “They were mostly looking for a big guy. Somebody who would replace [Guerschon] Yabusele.”