By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After an impressive showing in the Olympics and one season with the Sixers, Guerschon Yabusele has the chance to be a leader in the French national team during the Eurobasket and hopes that he can make a difference also in New York.
Speaking to Israeli outlet “One” after the defeat to Deni Avdija and co, the French forward also talked about his NBA future.
As he said: “The Knicks are truly a great and magnificent club. I can tell Knicks fans that my DNA is very suitable for them. I bring passion, sometimes also anger, war, and aggression. I can promise them that I will help the team achieve as many victories as possible. There is a good team this year, which wants to reach the playoffs. I can definitely help with that task.”
Yabusele had the chance to get back to the NBA and and he explained what changed in Philadelphia compared to his tour of duty in Boston: “In Boston, I was very young and not with the same confidence that I have now. I didn’t get the same opportunity and the same responsibilities. Since then, I was in China, I went back to Europe, played for a big club like Real Madrid, with a lot of pressure and at a very high level, and that helped me get the confidence I needed to return to the NBA and this time succeed.”
While he admitted that the EuroLeague level of play is not far from the NBA, he also said that a comparison between the two leagues is not easy to make: “The game is really completely different; people always try to compare, but it’s always difficult. They’re separate worlds. I think the Euroleague is getting better every year, and it’s not that far away anymore. Every year, there’s more talent and more ability there. Of course, I still watch and miss it. I can’t say I want to go back, because I dreamed of coming to play in the NBA, but I definitely enjoyed playing in the Euroleague as well, and it’s a great league.”
Yabusele also addressed the infamous brawl in Madrid during the playoffs series with Partizan, and he admitted that he regrets everything that happened: “I don’t like to talk about it. No matter what I say about it, people will always have something to say. These are things that sometimes happen in the heat of the game. I’ve apologized for those incidents since then. These are things that probably shouldn’t happen on the basketball court, but it happened, and I can’t go back. I can only do everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I, of course, regret that it happened.”