By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Justin Dentmon doesn’t really have the fondest of memories from his short tenure in Galatasaray. The American guard felt that he wasn’t used properly by coach Ergin Ataman and that the wrong way he was treated didn’t only negatively affect his performance, but took a toll on his enjoyment of the game.
“It was hard to play for a coach that didn’t appreciate the type of player I am,” Dentmon said to Lithuanian website 15min.lt. “I’ve been successful, for the most part, everywhere I played. But playing under this situation (in Galatasaray) kinda make me not love this game anymore. I’m a top level player and I felt like I was treated like someone that didn’t have a resume. That didn’t win at the highest level. Just felt like a beginner. With a player like me… you can’t control me like a robot. You let me be on the floor. That’s how I win that’s how I’ve been successful as a professional athlete.”
Dentmon also revealed that he wouldn’t agree with Galatasaray if he knew how things would turned out to be. “I thank Galatasaray for the opportunity they gave to me but if I’d have known that it was going to be like that, I would’ve turned them down for the 4th time in my career.”
The 31-year-old player believes that his coach blamed him for all the maladies that happened on court and, at the same time, didn’t give him the opportunity to potentially fix things.
“It was the first time in my career that I’ve been under these circumstances. I’ve never been blamed for every loss or taken out of the game for every mistake. How can a player play under this kind of conditions?”