Interview: Bahadır Erdil, TrendBasket
Editing: Kemal Rutkay Özcan, TrendBasket
After last night’s game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Houston Rockets, the one that was won 117-113 by the home team -the Rockets, the Cavs’ Turkish star Cedi Osman gave an exclusive interview to TrendBasket.
Cavs’e bir darbe de Rockets’tan
Maç sonucu : 117 – 113 pic.twitter.com/qXbfW4aQ2y— TrendBasket (@TrendBasket) 10 Kasım 2017
First of all, commiserations, Cedi. You lost to Houston down the stretch in a very close game. You’re together with a legendary roster; alongside very important guys who have serious NBA careers. They’re like the Dream Team. How does this make you feel?
Like you said, it really is like a dream. Being in the same roster, sharing the same court as this many All-Stars, this many experienced players in your rookie year is really proud and it excites me. There’s an incredible friendship, an incredible sense of team here.
You’re full of life on the bench. You have a serious dialogue [with your teammates]. Is this about your friendliness, or the overall level of friendship in the team?
The team accepted me very quickly. From day 1, they were so nice to me and we hit it off instantly. You were in the game as well, you might have seen our bench; we’re always on our feet, supporting each other. There’s a great atmosphere here. I’m obviously very happy.
Geç de olsa @HoustonRockets @cavs mücadelesi için salondaki yerimizi aldık. #TBHerYerde pic.twitter.com/zws1q9IyeY
— TrendBasket (@TrendBasket) 10 Kasım 2017
Everybody in the league talks about being permanent. Do you really believe that you’re going to be in the NBA for a long time?
Definitely. When I got into the senior team of Anadolu Efes, my job wasn’t easy. It’s never easy. Very experienced and very good players were also ahead of me there. Here, NBA players are ahead of me but this was my dream. And another thing I want to make real is to stay here until the end of my career. I believe I can do it. I believe I can make it. In my first year, a lot of people may think ‘You’re not playing, you did wrong.’ but I certainly disagree. At the end of the day, getting minutes in a team like that immediately is impossible. So, we’re doing individual practices each day, improving step by step. And whenever an opportunity comes -two minutes or five-, I’ll make the best out of them. Later, I’m hoping these minutes will increase.
As Turkish people, we trust you so much. Thank you for your time.