Sinan Guler gets that road monkey off his back, but it’s not enough.

Getting that ‘road game monkey’ off of your back

Winning our first road game since Euroleague season in 2009 is a good feeling. Getting that victory in Belgrade, with around 20 thousand fanatics screaming to support Partizan is a bigger achievement I think. It’s really good to see how good we played in a hostile environment and we are hoping to continue to do that. It sure can’t be our first and only win on the road this season if we want to be successful the rest of the way.

The rowdiest fans in Europe?

As far as this season goes, we have played against Olimpija and Partizan on the road, who should be proud of their fans and the support that they get. I am familiar with this type of love for the sport because we have very rooted sports club in Turkey like Besiktas, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe—great soccer teams that are also becoming more successful in other sports every year. I have seen the rivalry between these teams, and also I have seen the rivalry that we have with these teams also. You witnessed the great fans we had during the world championship in Istanbul. It was an amazing feeling. I also would like to point out that support that we (Efes Pilsen) get is amazing also. The fan group that the club has is made of people who really have passion for the game and that’s something that cannot be ignored. And with the club being solely a basketball club with great successes, especially during the 90’s, that helped a lot of kids my age and older to grow up to be basketball fans. As for myself, I am hoping to be a part of a team that can create that sort of synergy with our future success.

Please Tweet Responsibly

Twitter is an interesting medium. I think it’s amazing that I can reach 20-some thousand people with just a few clicks on the keyboard. During the World Championship, I watched my number of followers increase day-by-day and while it was around 6,000 people before the championship, it went up to 12,000 in only a few days. I try not to give much opinion, good or bad, through Twitter; I tend to give information mostly, also I try to answer questions that are addressed to me. I shouldn’t bash on the players who got in trouble for tweeting, but to avoid regulations we can be as careful as we can be. Fans all over the world wants athletes to share more information and I think there are great examples of athletes who do a great job on Twitter.

I love playing with players with experience. Even though we don’t play the same position I try to learn as much from him as possible. He has been on many clubs and played with great players, and he has been a great player himself. So his experience is valuable to me. He is always working hard to help himself and team get better.

Silver medals. Mo’ minutes. Have you ‘made it’ yet?

Best thing I can talk about is confidence. Not only the confidence I have in myself when I am playing, but also confidence that comes from the bench. Mainly due to my inexperience, I was lacking in both in the past years. But I think playing European Championship the year before in Poland, and having a successful World Championship this year brought me that confidence. By now, everybody knows that I am an energetic player, and although I am not at the level I would like to be on both sides of the game, I am trying to improve day-by-day. The energy that I give, mainly thanks to the things I do on the defensive side gives my team a spark that can help us to change the rhythm of the game. But I cannot say I made it yet. Probably I never will say it before I retire. There will be more things to achieve every time I reach an obstacle.