**Frutti Extra Bursapor begins a new 7DAYS EuroCup season fresh off a historic 2021-22 campaign in which the team beat all expectations to reach the championship game. One of its pillars is power forward David Dudzinski, who will once again blog on the EuroCup website this season. Nicknamed “The Dude”, Dudzinski started his professional basketball career in Italy and also played in Lithuania and Romania before joining Antwerp Giants, his first EuroCup squad. Last season, he was an essential player for Bursaspor during its impressive run. Dudzinski is back to keep us informed of what is going on in at Bursaspor, one of the most fun teams to follow, right here on EuroCupBasketball.com! **
Dave Dudzinski, Bursaspor: 'People are hungry for more'
Blogs
6 Mins read
A new EuroCup season is ahead of us, and our expectations are higher! This is now a team with some guys who know what it takes and we also brought in a bunch of guys from higher levels: from Fenerbahce, from Efes, guys with high-level experience in the EuroCup and the EuroLeague. We have guys that what it takes to win and now the expectations are a little bit different, not only from other people but from ourselves. Last year, we just wanted to make the playoffs, which was the most important thing. This year, I think people are hungry for more.
We had three players go to EuroLeague teams, but kept Onuralp Bitim and Derek Needham. A big reason for those of us who stayed is that we really enjoy playing together and for Coach Dusan. With the team investing more in our club and wanting to make this project bigger, it was something we wanted to be a part of. Sometimes, you don't have to leave to take a step forward in your career and I think we realized that. I am happy to be back playing with these guys because it is a lot of fun.
Derek keeps everybody together. He is our captain this year and he definitely deserves it. He is a natural leader and has become a really good friend of mine. His coming back was huge for us and it helps our team this year come together faster.
"Sometimes, you don't have to leave to take a step forward in your career."
We signed two very good players to our frontcourt, Zach Auguste and Ahmet Duverioglu, at the '5' position. They complement each other and have different playing styles. Zach is fast and a very athletic guy. Ahmet is also very skilled, but is the kind of guy that if he catches it anywhere in the paint, it's over; he is going to score it. It is great to have these two guys coming with us. They kind of move me back to my natural position at '4'. Just having this depth at the start of the season is amazing and we don't have to worry about one of our guys having foul trouble or something because we know that we have that depth that can cover these situations.
It's been a few months since our wild ride in the EuroCup Playoffs and looking back, it was a lot of fun. I have been lucky in my career to have some fun moments, some really good playoff runs... but by far, this was the most fun I had in my basketball career. I didn't go back and watch all the games this summer, though I will, eventually, but it was amazing. I told everyone that it sometimes feels like a dream. When I look at the pictures and think about all the times we had, all the wins we got, it doesn't always feel real... but it happened! Now, we have the chance to build on that success and those memories and to make something even more from it.
"We have to chance to build on that success and those memories."
I think that by the end of the season, everybody in Bursa knew who we were. The club, Bursaspor, has a big name in the city, so to have the people of Bursa see basketball as a sport that they want to come to and watch us play is great. There is a healthy amount of buzz here for this year, like any team that has really good fans. Sometimes, from year to year, you have to earn it a little bit. We will have to go out there and win some games and get people really excited about our program again. I think that as we go through the season, we are going to continue to grow our brand and get fans in the seats.
This is my third EuroCup season already. All of a sudden, I am the second-oldest guy on the team! For me, it is all about trying to make the right play. We say it all the time: everybody has skills, but knowing when to make certain decisions is the most important thing. I think this is something that I bring to the table for this team, especially with so much talent here. I can be a little bit of a leader. Not necessarily like last year, when I had to grind it out for 35 minutes a game or something by the end. I can just go out there and make the right decisions and do whatever it takes to get our team a win.
I think our group is really tough. Looking at our group last season, we just wanted to be in the top eight, but this year, we can be top four or better in our group. We are not going to even talk about the playoffs. There are some very good teams. Cedevita is still a very good team. Reyer, with our old friend Allerik Freeman, are always tough and put together a very good team this year, just like Joventut. In the other group, you cannot ignore Gran Canaria: year after year, they are showing that they can put together a really good team. This year, they are kind of going for it. These are the main teams but at this point, they are also looking at us because we have a very good team, too! We will find out right away: Let's have a great start to the season!