Enes Kanter rips Jazz as Thunder prepare for game in Utah

Enes Kanter returns to Salt Lake City Saturday as the Oklahoma City Thunder pay a visit to his former team, the Utah Jazz.

Acrimony between the Turkish-Swiss big man and the Jazz organization and fans was noted when he was moved at the trade deadline, but he didn't exactly bury any hatchets when talking to media after shootaround Saturday. 

"I actually like playing basketball there," Kanter told reporters about Oklahoma City. "I never liked playing basketball before in my NBA career. It's the first time that I felt like playing basketball."

The conversation naturally shifted to his unhappiness in Utah, something Kanter didn't shy away from. "I don't want to make no comments on them, but I think, after I went to OKC, I was like 'Oh man, this is how NBA teams (are).'

"It wasn't just a two game frustration, it was a three-and-a-half-year frustration," Kanter said of his tenure in Utah. "It wasn't just basketball stuff, it was professionalism."

Kanter, not known for his defence, saw his minutes in Utah being eaten into by Rudy Gobert this year. Since the trade to the Thunder, the more offensively-inclined center has been seeing minutes at power forward - thanks in large part to Serge Ibaka's injury - and has averaged 17.6 points and 10.8 rebounds per game.

All in all, it sounds like Kanter doesn't miss much at all about Utah. He ended the media conversation with this: