Second-year pro and 7DAYS EuroCup rookie Dylan Osetkowski has helped lead ratiopharm Ulm to the brink of the Top 16 at the same time that he and his girlfriend Annie have developed a travel blog named after his dog Duke.
Dylan Osetkowski, Ulm: 'We deserve to be playing in the Top 16'
Interviews
10 mins read
After a three-week break in the competition, ratiopharm Ulm resumes its fight to reach the 7DAYS EuroCup Top 16 from Group B on Tuesday. Ulm has a 3-5 record but sits fourth in the group thanks to a tie-break advantage against Mornar Bar, which is 3-5, too. Ulm's last two games, against Buducnost VOLI Podgorica at home and Unicaja Malaga on the road, will determine its fate. Ulm's leader until now has been big man Dylan Osetkowski, who ranks second among all EuroCup players with an average performance index rating of 21.5. In his first EuroCup season, Osetkowski is averaging 17.1 points on 55.6% three-point shooting, 5.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists as a full-time starter. Osetkowski knows his team's game on Tuesday against Buducnost is a do-or-die showdown and his team is really focused on it. "This could be the most important game for us in the EuroCup so far, and it's not going to be easy by any means," Osetkowski told EuroCupBasketball.com. "They are a quality team. They have got a lot of weapons, offensively and defensively. So I think the biggest thing right now is just making sure we are aware of what we face."
Hello, Dylan. This is your first EuroCup season, a new experience for you. How challenging is it?
"So far, I am loving it. Coming overseas, I always had in my mind that I wanted to be playing internationally. So obviously – this being my first year in the EuroCup, being able to travel and go to different countries and play some of the top teams from leagues around Europe – it's definitely a lot of fun being able to travel, play good competition. As far as everything I wanted coming overseas, I think the EuroLeague is definitely next on my list of aspirations and goals. But right now, to be playing the way I am and the way we are as a team in EuroCup, it's a lot of fun."
How have you adjusted so well to playing twice a week and to a new competition like the EuroCup?
"Last year, playing once a week was a little tough in my eyes. You know, as basketball players, as professional athletes, everything we want to do is to play in the games, to actually compete against real competition rather than being in practice every day. Practice can get lethargic and you start to know people's tendencies, and it can get a little monotonous. But games are where you're at and only playing one game a week last year was definitely challenging at times. It definitely gave me an opportunity to work on my game, work on my body, on basketball, on the mental side of the game. But playing two games a week now with the German League starting to get into full swing, it is challenging in the sense that you have got to take care of your body a little more than if you were just playing one game a week. But I have no complaints as far as playing two or three days a week. Like I said, for basketball players, the game is the most important thing."
"this could be the most important game for us in the EuroCup so far."
Ulm is making 40.1% of its three-point shots as a team. Coach Jaka Lakovic was a great shooter. Has he given you tips to shoot better?
"Coach does a really good job of letting the players figure it out themselves, letting them go through their good times or bad times on their own. But obviously, him being a player and him playing on some pretty high-level teams and high-level stages, it allows him to have the opportunity to coach us and speak to us on a – not a personal level by any means, because I think every coach has an ability to speak on a personal level – but just from experience. He can say to some of the guys, 'This is what I did when I played,' or 'This is how I see good shooters do things.' Or what the right play is. So because of his experience and who he was as a player, I think it allows him a unique perspective that not all coaches have."
You were the EuroCup's MVP of the Week last month after scoring 32 points against Germani Brescia. Was it the best game of your pro career so far?
"Yeah, I would definitely say one of the best for sure, being that efficient. I think I made 4 threes in that game. I think that's the second-most I've made in my career. In college, I made seven in one game. But yeah, it was a good performance for myself. That was a pretty important game for us to win, to really allow ourselves to be in position to move to the Top 16. We really wanted to get the last game in Paris (against Metropolitans) and only having two games left. Myself, team included, we're going to have to continue to play well if we want to move to the Top 16. The biggest thing in my head going into the Brescia game was to put ourselves in a position to move on in the EuroCup."
Ulm plays a critical game now against a team that already beat you, Buducnost. How much are you looking forward to it?
"Very much so. Like you said, this could be the most important game for us in the EuroCup so far, and it's not going to be easy by any means. They are a very good quality team. They have got a lot of weapons, offensively and defensively. So I think the biggest thing right now is just making sure we are aware of what we face, how they guard ball screens, what threats they have offensively inside, outside, and also progress to working on everything that they do as far as plays, concepts and things like that."
You have 10 German teammates in Ulm. How did they help you adjust to the city and the club?
"They have been a big help, as far as inside the city and things like that, just helping myself and a lot of the Americans kind of figure out where things are, where to go, things like that. But as far as myself, now being a German citizen, the biggest thing that they're helping with helping me with is the language and the language barrier. There's not a day goes by that I don't ask, you know, three or four guys, multiple things a day on. What does this mean? How do you say this? You know, they're talking to each other in practice in German. I'm trying to listen and try and pick out words that I understand. So I think for me, personally, I think that's the biggest thing that these guys are helping me with, is trying to understand and trying to immerse myself into this German language."
You and your girlfriend Annie started a traveling blog, Duke's Destinations, named after your dog. Can you tell us a little bit more about it?
"My girlfriend, Annie, she had started it. You know, I'm not going to take any credit for any of the posts or anything like that. She's the brains behind it and everything on the blog has been great so far, just trying to put it out in the world to family and friends, and hopefully it catches on. It's just our tips and guides and dos and don'ts of traveling. Being in Europe and playing overseas, especially coming from the U.S., is a really unique opportunity, but an amazing opportunity in our eyes. We drive two hours in the States and we're still on the same state. You drive two hours here in Europe, and you're in a completely different country. It is a very unique and a very rewarding opportunity to be able to go somewhere on an off day and take an hour drive and feel like you're in a completely different place that you haven't been in before. So I think the biggest thing with the travel blog is just sharing our experiences and continuing to make memories as a family with my girlfriend and our dog."
"In our eyes, we're just two kids living in another country having a blast."
How important is it to share that experience with her, that she is there for good and bad times?
"One of the biggest struggles that a professional athlete can have, in my opinion, is not having somebody with you. If I didn't have Annie here with me, you know, I would definitely be more lonely. I wouldn't have my rock, my partner that I'm used to having all the time just to experience life with me. So to have her here is great. It brings me happiness on a daily basis. And I know she enjoys being out here. It can be very tough at times with the language barrier and not being in a place that we've lived for 20-something years of our lives. But to experience a whole nother country, to experience the opportunity to travel, deal with Germans and them not speaking English, and we're trying to speak with them... We go to a grocery store and we don't know where anything is. You know, in our eyes, we're just two kids living in another country having a blast."
Has any EuroCup player or team in particular impressed you so far?
"I don't have the EuroLeague pass, so it is tough to watch some EuroCup games, but just watching Unicaja on film, they seem like a pretty well put together team. A lot of weapons offensively and it seems like they have a good coach. But a lot of those Spanish teams in the EuroLeague games that I've seen always seem pretty diverse and pretty well-accustomed to European play."
How important would it be for you, and especially for Ulm, to make it to the Top 16?
"It would be very important. I think it would be a great step for myself to continue to play better teams in the EuroCup and continue to put myself on a platform to to show, you know, EuroLeague teams, EuroCup teams and obviously teams back in the U.S. that I am a high-level player, and that guys on our team are high-level players, as well, that we deserve to be playing in the Top 16 and further."