Omer Jurceven, the center who upsets Obradovic and breaks the NBA

Five years ago, at the age of 18, it was the young Fenerbahce center who took Zeljko Obradovic out of his clothes. It was February 2016 when he left the Turkish team to travel to Toronto and take part in an NBA program, he complained because the Serbian coach did not give him a significant role and enough time to participate and European basketball somehow missed the back turned.

Omer Yurceven played at NC State from 2016-18 and at Georgetown University for one season (2019-20), he saw all 30 league teams overtake in the 2020 NBA draft and after a year in the G-League he found his chance this year , not just to play, but to emphatically dominate the highest level of world basketball.

Last March, he poked fun at the partner league and reported on Alexei Pokusevski, who he was living with at Oklahoma City Blue. In May, one day before the end of the regular season, the Miami Heat put him in their potential against the backdrop of the 2021-22 season. In the Summer League, the 23-year-old Turk (2m.13) had no opponent and somehow in Florida they started to think they were hitting a gold vein. Even if they didn’t count on him for the basic rotation at the beginning of the year.

In the first few weeks of his rookie season, Jurceven was patient. He played in 13 games, averaging 3.1 minutes and had 1.6 points and 1 rebound. It wasn’t the role he wanted but problems soon began with the result that Adebayo-Dentmon’s absence paved the way for him to gain recognition.

Without Bam, Jurceven had 5.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per 14.9 minutes in 13 games. And when Dentmon got hurt, Eric Spolstra had to throw him deep. He knew the Turk would swim, only that Omer as… pole vaulter in the first sprint proved that he is not an addition, but a player who can make a difference with the above.

In four games as a fiver, the young center has 14.5 points (50% on two points, 50% on shots), 14.5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1.5 steals and just 1.3 errors per 32.4 minutes Mission. He has four double-doubles and culminated in 22 points and 16 rebounds in yesterday’s Heat loss to the Kings in Sacramento where he had 11/18 two points!

With a $1,489,065 contract this year and an unsecured $1,752,638 contract next season, Yurceven knows he will have to wait until the fall when The Heat can offer him an early extension. or by summer 2023, which will be released as a free agent on the market. He knows his talent is enough to keep him in the NBA for many years. In any case, that was a child’s dream, even if Obradovic criticized him at every opportunity.