The American is enjoying an impressive first season with the Montenegrin club
Rasheed Sulaimon, Buducnost: 'We believe in ourselves'
Interviews
8 Mins read
After Buducnost VOLI Podgorica started the season with a pair of losses in Group A, it managed to win its next two games and has positive momentum for a tough schedule ahead. That begins with its Round 5 showdown against top-of-the-table Bahcesehir College Istanbul.
Rasheed Sulaimon, who is in his third EuroCup season with as many teams, comes off a strong Round 4 performance against Trefl Sopot, in which he led Buducnost to a 92-85 home win with 14 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 3 fouls drawn.
The 30-year-old Sulaimon won a gold medal with the U19 USA national team at the 2013 World Cup over Serbia, led by Nikola Jokic and Vasilije Micic. He has played in six different countries and seems to have found a perfect spot to showcase his talent with Buducnost, as he told Euroleague.net's Javier Gancedo in this interview.
Hello, Rasheed. Congratulations on beating Trefl Sopot. How tough was it to hold off their comeback?
"Trefl has a lot of individual talent on their team, so they are a tricky matchup, as you can see. Even though they haven't won a game yet, I believe all their games have been relatively close. I thought we had a great game plan. We executed well in the first half and when we extended the lead, I thought we just had a little bit of complacency, a little bit of relax. And that's something we have to improve on, especially if we want to continue to go deep in this competition."
"Our talent in the last couple of games is starting to show."
After a 0-2 start, Buducnost bounced back with a couple of quality wins. How did the team regroup so quickly?
"I think we believe in ourselves. I think we have a talented roster. We have a good group of guys and also, we don't just get together on the court, but off the court as well. And that chemistry is continuing to build day by day. And as you know, with everything going on this past summer, everything kind of started quickly and right out of the gate, we played some really tough teams. In this competition, you think you might have a good team and you can go down 0-2. But we believed in ourselves, and as we continue to build that chemistry and that feel of playing with each other, I think our talent in the last couple of games is starting to show, and we are looking forward to continuing developing and trying to reach our potential as a team."
This is your third EuroCup season after playing for Bourg and Wolves. How do you like the competition?
"I like it a lot. It's very competitive, especially this year. If you look at it, I think from top to bottom, especially on our side of the bracket, every team is pretty much stacked or has very high-level quality players on their roster. So just from a competitive level and then, the added bonus of the opportunity to play in the EuroLeague. You look at teams like Paris Basketball and even Monaco a couple of years back that have taken that opportunity and become EuroLeague teams, so I think it's a great competition and I like playing in it."
Have you been following your former teams? Bourg made it to the finals last season, Wolves had a huge win in Badalona just last week.
"I'm a basketball junkie, so I follow basketball all over the world. And yes, I have been noticing the success of my past teams. Like I said, it just shows you the quality of the league from top to bottom. There are a lot of teams with a lot of quality, and it makes for good entertainment and makes for good, competitive basketball. And I'm happy to be a part of it."
"I have known Yogi [Ferrell] for a very long time, but always as rivals."
You played against Yogi Ferrell in college. How great is it to play with him this season?
"It's actually a big relief. A funny story about me and Yogi: when we were about 7-8 years old in America, he was from Indiana. I'm from Texas. Our teams met, I think, in the final four of nationals for 7 to 8 years old, and he beat us! And then after that, we kind of started that rivalry. We beat them the next year. I have known Yogi for a very long time, but always as rivals. So I have a big respect for his game and I think he does for my game as well. So it's a unique situation that we have never played with each other, but the chemistry just was instant because we have known each other our whole lives."
After a good season with Wolves, what made you choose Buducnost over other options? Was playing with Yogi one of those factors?
"It actually was a big, big pulling factor. I enjoyed my time at Wolves last year and I was hoping to stay. But you know, in this business, a lot of crazy things happen. I just kind of went for the team that had the biggest ambition and the team that showed me not only that they wanted me, but they had the ambition to build a big team and try to compete at every level. And time and time again, I think they were just always one of the teams that were in the mix. And they were always there from the beginning and just showing their relentless pursuit of me and their ambition. Talking with the coach, talking with the owner, it just felt like, 'yeah, this is a place that I want to take my next step'."
You have played professionally in the U.S., France, Spain, Turkiye, Lithuania and now Montenegro. How is it to live in such different countries and get so many new experiences?
"I think you just touched on the head. I mean, who would have thought a kid from Houston, Texas, with two immigrant parents, just because of a basketball, just because of a game, I get to travel and experience different parts of the world? It's been an amazing journey, and I'm grateful and honored that I have had this experience and stayed healthy enough. At 30 years old, I'm still a professional, still seeing the world, still enjoying life and making new experiences and great memories along the way. So I'm blessed, man."
Looking at your schedule, you play Bahcesehir, Hapoel, Ulm with its exciting young players and then a special game for you against Wolves. How much are you looking forward to all those games?
"The schedule here is, when you look at it on paper, you're like, 'wow, game after game, game in, night in, night out, you have to bring your A-game'. But that's why we're here, right? I love this sport for its competitive nature. So in between those games I think we played Red Star and Cedevita as well domestically. So it's one heck of a schedule and we are ready for it. This is what we signed up for. And as a competitor, there's no place I'd rather be than every game playing against the big teams and trying to show and prove that we can compete. And we are one of the top teams in competition as well."
Generally speaking and from your own experience, do you feel like the EuroCup is underrated? And if so, why is that?
"I think you look at everybody just especially from the American perspective, the only overseas basketball they kind of know is the EuroLeague, and which is rightfully so. But as you can see, there are a lot of teams in the EuroCup that have big rosters, that have big budgets. And I think Pat Beverley coming here is kind of putting notice on that. And now you are seeing that teams in the EuroCup can have players with the quality of a Pat Bev or Ish Wainwright or Johnathan Motley or... I'm naming one team [Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv], but there are a lot of different teams that have big rosters as well. I think from that perspective, it's starting to get more and more eyes. And again, I think that added bonus of everybody vying for a spot in the EuroLeague adds that much, I guess, marketability to the competition."
You and your team seem to be improving every day. What would make it a good season for you, personally, and for Buducnost?
"I think it coincides into one goal. Like I said, I know my qualities. I think I'm a veteran at this point of my career. I know my qualities, my teammates know my qualities, everybody knows each other's qualities. But nothing means anything unless we win as a team. So whether I score 20 or I score 10, whatever it takes to win, I think if we all win, we all get the shine. So everybody is pretty locked in. Like I said, we have a talented roster, but the thing I love about this team is everybody takes their individual glory and sacrifices it and just tries to win games. And I think that's what we're trying to focus on doing."