Free-agent NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom spoke with Greek newspaper Ethnikos Kirikas (h/t Eurohoops) about a number of topics related to his career, including why he believes no NBA team has picked him up after the Houston Rockets waived him Feb. 14.
Kanter said:
"When I started talking about what’s happening in China, they stopped showing the Celtics on Chinese TV. This cost the NBA money. The NBA says that the league stands by our side when it comes to freedom of speech. I don’t believe it.
"They stand on our side as long what we say helps the league’s pockets, otherwise they’ll do whatever they can to finish you. I’m saying that because they are trying to retire me at 29. However, I know that I can play six to seven years more because I love basketball, I’m healthy and I believe that people can see that I deserve to be in the NBA."
Kanter Freedom has frequently called attention to human rights abuses against the Uyghur people
"Right now as I speak this message, torture, rape, forced abortions, sterilizations, family separations, arbitrary detentions, concentration camps, political reeducation, forced labor … this is all happening right now to more than 1.8 million Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region in northwestern China," he said last October (h/t the Guardian).
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has previously said the league does "support freedom of expression" in 2019 after the controversy following ex-Houston general manager Daryl Morey's tweet in support of protestors in Hong Kong.
As far as Kanter's basketball career goes, he is an 11-year NBA veteran who averaged 3.7 points and 4.6 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per game for Boston this year (35 games, one start). He was traded to the Rockets on Feb. 10 and waived four days later.
He posted 11.2 points and 11.0 rebounds in 24.4 minutes per game for the Portland Trail Blazers in 2020-21 (72 games, 35 starts).
There aren't issues in the scoring and rebounding department for Kanter. The issue is his defense.
Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian broke down Kanter's 2020-21 season and listed this as his weakness:
"Defense. Defense. Defense. Kanter’s defensive rating was 114.8 during the regular season but he made up for that with his offense to finish with a net rating of 4.9. He is simply not agile and athletic enough to stay with most big men. In the playoffs against Denver, things really went south. Kanter looked so overmatched on defense that he ended up losing backup minutes to Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. How bad did it get? Kanter had a playoff defensive rating of 143.1."
On the flip side, Kanter Freedom is efficient on the offensive end. His 63.6 percent true shooting percentage in 2020-21 was the highest mark of his career, per Basketball-Reference.
He's also a stout rebounder, averaging 7.8 boards per 21.5 minutes per game for his career. Fentress complimented his work last year on the glass, saying that Kanter Freedom is "a rebounding machine who makes up for his lack of athleticism with guile and desire."
The problem Kanter Freedom faces is that he's largely contained to the post. He's a much better fit for older NBA eras, whereas many teams today either have big men who can spread the floor or forwards capable of playing the five for small ball. Kanter Freedom is neither, leaving him in a precarious spot.
Still, it's not as if Kanter Freedom is washed at the age of 29. Perhaps he gets work down the line, but he'll have to set his sights on playing next season at this point.
If the NBA doesn't come calling, Kanter Freedom did say he's be interested in playing for Greek Basket League team Panathinaikos, which he called his "first choice."
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