Usman Garuba: “You always have to be ready, that’s the key in this league”

Behind Alperen Sengun in position 5, Usman Garuba (20 years old, 2m03) is one of the interesting prospects to develop in Houston. After an interesting campaign with Spain at the last Eurobasket, the interior is trying to stay the course, with the aim of doing everything possible to be ready when called upon.

“I have to be intense and do what I know how to do in order to play like I did at the Euros”, he told Mundo Deportivo. “They told me that if I played like I did at EuroBasket, with that intensity, I would have minutes and that’s what I do, trying to give my all on the court, and to progress”.

Opportunities to seize

For the time being, he has already benefited from two outings at 25 minutes, against the Bucks and the Wolves, but his playing time also evolves according to the profile of the oppositions.

While the situation of not knowing how long he will play from game to game is not mentally obvious, the player knows what to do on his side until opportunities present themselves. .

“I have to be ready. In particular, there was the injury of a teammate like Bruno Fernando, who is playing more this year. But during the preseason, I was told that it would not be like last year, that I was going to have more minutes. That was the idea. You have to be ready for anything, you can’t let go because you’re not playing, you have to be ready when you’re called, whether it’s for 5, 10 or 25 minutes. You have to be ready to go on the field and contribute, scoring, passing, rebounding, doing a lot of things. In this league, it is essential to contribute in several areas. A lot of people have made a career out of it and that’s my goal.” he added, citing Draymond Green as his NBA reference.

Everything in its time. His rookie season was a first step, winning the Eurobasket with Spain was another. Place for a new test of his young career, hitch the right wagon with Houston.

“Everything is going well, I’m ready, that’s my current situation. I hope in a few years I will have some consistency in terms of minutes, but I’m still young, it’s normal, it happens in a lot of teams with a lot of young people. We are a lot of young players, quite a few of whom play in positions 4 and 5. Not everyone can play. And the day I don’t play, you shouldn’t get discouraged, but encourage others, do cardio after the game and get back to your best level.he continued. “There may be a day when you’re not supposed to play but you’re going to come in to defend on a particular player. You always have to be ready, that’s the key in this league. This is something I learned last year. Because at first I was frustrated not to play, which is normal because I come from Europe. But here, it’s different, you have to adapt to it”.