Ekpe Udoh’s last season in the NBA was the 2014-15 season, which he spent with the Los Angeles Clippers. Udoh was only featured in 33-games and averaged 3.9mpg. Basically, he could’ve stopped showing up to games and Doc Rivers wouldn’t have even noticed.
This was a hard time for Udoh. After a dominant junior season at Baylor, he was the sixth overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. After five seasons in the league, he didn’t look like he belonged. He ended up packing his bags and heading to Istanbul to team-up with another former NBA lottery pick in Jan Vesely at Fenerbahce.
While this wasn’t an easy time for Udoh, he was going to learn a vital lesson that many of us have had to learn in the real world. Sometimes we need to fail and fall to our lowest point, to be forced to look within ourselves, so we can rise again.
For Udoh, this would be a two-year experience, and these two years would be arguably the most important of his basketball career.
Ekpe Udoh told New York Times reporter Patrick Kingsley just how hard it was for him in a recent feature he did on him.
“Hoo, that was brutal,” Mr. Udoh remembered during a recent courtside interview. “I probably didn’t accept it until January, February that I was overseas.” Finally, he thought: “Yeah, I’m here. Let’s make the most of it.”
And boy, did he. Udoh immersed himself in Turkish culture. He started his own book club, has spent a large amount of his free time studying the ideology of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the man who created modern-day Turkey, set-up a photo blog for the places he goes to eat at, and also organized a movie night for fans as well. The list goes on, and you can read all of it in Kingsley’s piece for The Times here.
Udoh’s giving of trust and faith off the court led to him receiving trust and faith on the court from the Fenerbahce faithful, and his own head coach, Zeljko Obradovic.
Obradovic is arguably the greatest coach to have never coached in the NBA. He had nine Euroleague titles to his name when Ekpe Udoh signed—he now has 10 after winning the title this past season—and was already getting the most out of Vesely.
Playing the two together wouldn’t be easy as neither had range past 15-feet at best. This was where Obradovic thrived though. His fantastic basketball mind not only discovered a way for Udoh and Vesely to work, but he also helped Udoh discover skills within himself.
At the start and for most of the first season, Udoh continued to do what he had always done. He rebounded well, averaging 5.11 per game, and protected the rim, averaging 2.26 blocks per game. Udoh also flashed other abilities like scoring in the post and switching onto ball handlers on the perimeter and keeping them at bay.
Although Udoh was awesome in his first season, as he made the All-Euroleague second team and helped lead Fenerbahce to the title game, it was his second season where he showed everyone just how good he really is.
With Fenerbahce having injury issues with key players throughout the season, coach Obradovic began to run the offense through Udoh.
He allowed him to operate as a face-up scorer,
shoot midrange jumpers,
work in the low-post,
and then most importantly, facilitate the offense as a passer.
Ekpe Udoh was the best defender in Europe, but his most improved skill under Obradovic was his passing. This was 1 game @utahjazz #TakeNote pic.twitter.com/y5iIarea67
— Austin Green (@LosCrossovers) July 13, 2017
Two-years ago, if a scout told an NBA front office to sign Ekpe Udoh because he can pass out of the post and pick-and-roll, they would’ve lost all credibility as a scout.
But Udoh regained confidence in himself after the people of Turkey supported him like no fan base had before. With that newfound confidence, Obradovic was able to see a side of Udoh no other coach had seen, and that allowed him to develop a new skill.
Fenerbahce finally got a clean bill of health when the post-season started and it led to them sweeping Panathinaikos without home-court advantage. Fenerbahce was in the Final Four for the third straight season, and Udoh decided he wasn’t going to accept defeat this time around.
In the semifinal against Real Madrid, Udoh was the best player on the floor, as he finished with 18-points, 12-rebounds, 8-assists, and 2-blocks. He made Gustavo Ayon and Anthony Randolph become afterthoughts for Real Madrid and was now at the same stage he reached in the previous season, the Euroleague championship game.
Facing off with Olympiacos for the Euroleague crown, Udoh threw his first dime seconds into the game as he linked up with Vesely for an alley-oop.
Udoh played 36 minutes in the title game and dominated on both ends for every single second. Here he is switching on the perimeter and locking down Vassilis Spanoulis.
He also showed his value down low, protecting the rim and swatting Kostas Papanikolaou’s kay-up.
His dominant performance in both games led to him being named Euroleague Final Four MVP. When talking to Euroleague media after the game, Ekpe Udoh showed his competitive drive and gave all the credit to Obradovic and his teammates.
“Winning the EuroLeague is winning the EuroLeague. It doesn’t matter who you play against. If my mom was playing on the other team I would have tried to go after her too. This [MVP award] is for all the big guys out there, who have to hustle. I’m here for my teammates. That’s what the man next to me (Obradovic) wants me to do.”
Udoh’s destruction as the best two-way big man in Europe over the past two seasons led to him getting the offer he had been dreaming of, another shot in the NBA. The Utah Jazz signed Udoh to a two-year deal worth 6.5-million.
He is back in the league and coaches and teammates will finally understand how to use him. This is all thanks to the Fenerbahce supporters, staff, and his team. In his farewell letter to the club, Udoh said just that.
“The reality is that Fenerbahce and Turkey rekindled my love for basketball. You all helped me become ‘me’ again. For that I am forever grateful. “
With Ekpe Udoh, the Jazz will have either Rudy Gobert or mini-me Rudy Gobert on the court most of the time. He will allow them to almost always play the ICE pick-and-roll defensive scheme that they love. Udoh is back and better than ever, and he might just help the Jazz make the playoffs.
