at least 12 rebounds in 11 straight games, not bad for an undrafted rookie

Two days ago, the Heat won on the floor of the Phoenix Suns with rookie Omer Yurtseven who finished the game with 7 points, 16 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals. So a busy line of statistics, but the young pivot is starting to get used to the fact, he who is simply writing his name alongside the legends of the game!

The Turkish pivot is catching rebounds to no longer know what to do with it since mid-December. But by the way, where does this one come from? Omer Yurtseven started his career at Fenerbahçe at the age of 16, he went to NC State then Georgetown in NCAA before appearing for the 2020 Draft, where he was properly snubbed. So he took his time before joining the NBA, going through the G League last year, then signing for the Heat just before the Playoffs. His integration went smoothly and the pivot gradually scratched playing time from the start of the season, until Bam Adebayo does not get a thumb injury requiring surgery. Absent for several weeks, the starting center of Miami left a vacant place in the Heat’s major five. In December, the young Turk started to have more and more minutes off the bench and finally entered the major five on Boxing Day, after Dewayne Dedmon injured his knee. Since then, he has not quit his role as a starter and inevitably, when we go on… 11 games with 12 rebounds or more – a performance that he is also the only rookie with Blake Griffin to have achieved since 1976 – it gives arguments to Erik Spoelstra to keep you in the five. The boy is downright quoted with real legends at the moment as he became the first rookie to compile more than 15 rebounds in four consecutive games since the great Shaquille O’Neal. As a starter, he has some pretty crazy averages: seven games, 12 points and 15.3 rebounds on average.

Omer Yurtseven is the first rookie since Shaq to record 15+ rebounds in four consecutive games ????

(h/t @TheAthletic ) pic.twitter.com/oj7U4MQMBI

— NBA Central (@TheNBACentral) January 9, 2022

It is therefore a new find from behind the bundles that the Heat, specialist in developing non-drafted guys, brings us out. The pivot had already illustrated this summer when he released a game with 27 points and 19 rebounds in the Summer League, many observers had then noticed his good hands and his touch. Obviously, it will be necessary to succeed in confirming over time, but the 23-year-old pivot is already starting to have a good number of “benchmark” performances. His last against the Suns is all the more impressive since he was opposed to Deandre Ayton, number 1 of the 2018 Draft and in his fourth NBA year, we remind you. The question arises of what to do with the young pivot after the return of Bam Adebayo. If the kid continues like this, he will have largely shown that he deserves more than the meager minutes he was entitled to since the start of the season. This explosion of Yurtseven should therefore lead Erik Spoelstra to consider new possibilities and perhaps reorganize his rotations.

Turkish pivots are all the rage this year, with two rookies showing good things. If we can say that we were impatiently awaiting Alperen Sengun on an NBA floor after his MVP season in the Turkish championship at only 18 years old, on the other hand, there are not many people, let’s be honest, who saw the great Yurtseven dominate. NBA rackets like that.

Omer Yurtseven last night:

✅ 7 PTS
✅ 16 REB
✅ 8 AST

Yurtseven has recorded at least a dozen rebounds in each of his last 11 games.

He has tied Blake Griffin (2010-11) for the longest such streak by a rookie since the ABA-NBA merger. pic.twitter.com/TzHZtt9RIJ

– Justin Kubatko (@jkubatko) January 9, 2022