Utah Jazz rookie Enes Kanter talks about his fitness issues – NBA Update
Rookie centre Enes Kanter sat down for an interview recently and talked about his lengthy spell out of the basketball court.
Kanter, who was drafted as the 3rd overall pick by Utah Jazz, has played almost no competitive basketball for around 2 years.
The Turkish prodigy came to the United States last summer after some sizzling performances in his home country and in the FIBA under-19 World Cup. Although his talent was not in doubt at even that young age, Kanter was barred from
playing in college basketball tournaments by the NCAA, who deemed him a professional rather than an amateur.
The player looked forward to finally getting on an NBA court when he was drafted by the Jazz, but the NBA lockout, which began on July 1st, has seen to it that Enes gets no competitive basketball action in the United
States.
“I haven't played any game in almost two years or something. I'm just working on my conditioning this week with Tim Grover right now. He told me altitude in Utah will be problem for me. I'm just trying to get in game shape because
if the lockout is over I'm going to start right up.” He told the Salt Lake Tribune.
The player went to Lithuania this summer in order to take part in the EuroBasket tournament. He represented Turkey and helped them get to the latter stages of the European Championship, earning rave reviews in the process.
However the tournament still didn’t give him as much match practice as he would have liked and the player has revealed he came back with a minor injury concern regarding his knee.
“After European Championship, I didn't play, I haven't played 45 days. And after that I just started to play games right after, and that's why I did a little bit overuse. I didn't stretch. It's not a big deal. … Just soreness,
yeah.”
Kanter is in good hands though with renowned NBA trainer Tim Grover. Enes worked with Grover before the NBA Draft and believes the veteran coach helped him a lot in his quest for reaching the NBA.
Utah Jazz fans would be hoping the centre can recover from his knee concerns and get in shape for whenever the NBA season starts. The franchise has been calling out for a new super star ever since Deron Williams left in midseason
to join the New Jersey Nets.
Carlos Boozer had left in the summer before, and the Jazz now seem genuinely short of star quality. They have some good players, but no one that can be called a game changer.
People who have seen Kanter player believe he can fill that void for Utah if nurtured and eased into the league in a proper way.
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