After a few unsuccessful attempts to return to the NBA, Sean May turned his career to overseas. Now the 27-year-old big man is playing in Croatia, KK Zagreb club, where he is having a career year.

May, who averaged 11.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in the Euroleague this season, sat down with RealGM to talk about his tough career, European life and his future goals.

RealGM: As we've reached the middle of the season, could you share your impressions about your first season in Croatia?

May: It is good. The city and people are good. The club is good as well, but we are just struggling right now. We have good and bad games. We are very inconsistent and it is tough to deal with. I am enjoying it. It is an opportunity to play in Euroleague and Adriatic league, which is another really good league with some really good teams like Maccabi, Cedevita, Cibona or Partizan. There is a lot of good competition and I am really happy.

RealGM: Last season you played in Turkey. Do you see any obvious differences between Turkey and Croatia?

May: The countries are very different, especially being in Istanbul. I don’t know about other places in Turkey, but in Istanbul, there are always a lot of people, there is always something going on, traffic, people are really high-strung. Zagreb is kind of laid back. For me and my wife, it is a lot of better because a lot of people speak English. It easy to find what is going on in the city. It is a very good experience so far.

It is a bit different from what I am used to but you still have to be open-minded. When you play overseas, it is an opportunity to see the world and experience different cultures. But it wasn’t a culture shock for me as I grew up in Italy and my dad played there. Living in Europe wasn’t unfamiliar experience for me. I accepted it with open arms; I am trying different things and enjoying the process.

RealGM: Do you remember that day when you made the decision to move overseas?

May: Yes, I was coming back from Ohio. I was just got released from the Nets when I broke my foot. I just thought about trying to get back in the league. Maybe I should go to the D-League and wait for a team to call me up. It could be three or four months through the season and I would be just sitting at home. And then I just talked with my agent. For me, with my injury history, teams need to see me play. It is not necessarily about my skill and what I can do. No matter what team you put me on, I can do pretty much the same thing.

For me, it is about the opportunity to play and that is one of the reasons I went to Turkey. Another reason why I came back this year is because of the lockout one, but two is the opportunity to play more minutes. In Fenerbahce Ulker, I played around 10-15 minutes per game and I wanted to play more than 20. GMs can say “Hey, you played 65 games, 20 plus minutes this year” and hopefully next year I can be back in the league.

RealGM: Your last years in the NBA were pretty disappointing. How does it feel for you to finally have a breakout season?

May: It’s been tough. I have no regrets what happened through my career. I just had a lot of misfortune. With the microfracture, three knee surgeries… It was tough. It was mentally tough and actually I appreciate going through that. It helped me be a stronger man and a stronger human being, especially on the basketball court. There is nothing I haven’t seen, nothing I haven’t done. Nothing that the coach can do to me that I haven’t already been through.

RealGM: Do you catch yourself thinking “what if those injuries never happened”?

May: After I won the NCAA Championship, I was on the top of the world. I could not be happier. The same thing happened to Greg Oden. The things happened to him, you wouldn’t wish it for anybody. It is tough but you just roll with it. I was thinking “what if” for couple of times there’s nothing I can second guess what happens in life. I deal with it and I just try to get back. Now I can only go from here and see, where I can take my career. I am only 27, not 35. I have a lot of good years left. I just try to take care of my body and try not to re-live what happened to me in the past. Definitely, I was on top coming out of college. I had a good rookie year, then good sophomore year and then injuries happened. And then it seemed I could never get over the hump. It’s tough to deal but you just roll with it.

RealGM: What is your current physical condition?

May: A lot of people see, the thing happened in Charlotte is I have got a bad rap with my weight. Weight came while I was on my crunches for nine months because of my knee. I’ve got a bad reputation. When I went to Sacramento, I was in better shape and when I went to New Jersey, I was in even better shape. Some of that I did by myself. I don’t blame anybody for the rap I’ve got. I got hurt and I put the weight on. Nobody else to blame but me. But it was because of my knee, not because I was just sitting at home and being lazy. Now, like I said, this opportunity to play here really helped me to get in better shape and play 35 or more minutes. Pretty much I haven’t done that since college. I’m actually excited about it.

Everyday I’m feeling I’m getting better and better. My condition, my knee is stronger and my game is more developed. I feel that playing over here has helped me a lot. Transition in my game, from low-post scorer to mid-range scorer, doing different things, passing the ball. I’m enjoying trying to expand my game. Over here a lot of people practice twice-a-day everyday. For me, it’s perfect and I love it.

RealGM: Do you see yourself trying to come back to the NBA?

May: No question. I talked to my agents about it. For me, I have to deal with the hard work; I may have to go the summer league. I may have to go and make a good contract. Europe is going to be here and I think playing in the Euroleague will help them see me play and it will be keep me on their radar, hopefully. Whatever happens, if I get a good opportunity on European club, I will come back to Europe. Like I said, I’m only 27, I have a window to get back to the NBA for the next few years. For me, that is what I want to do.

RealGM: This European basketball season is different from previous ones as a lot of NBA players came to play here.

May: A lot of guys came over, but the thing a lot of people didn’t see is a lot of guys went home because it is a different game. If you are not a shooter or you do not have a high basketball IQ, you can’t play over here. All those teams have guys who can shoot, pass the ball, run. In the NBA, it is an isolation game and there’s not so much isolation in Europe. To me, watching it as a lot of guys come and immediately go home. Guys, who averaged 16 points in the NBA, come here and average eight points. It is an eye-opening experience. They got to see that Europe is no joke. When they go back and see guys coming from Europe, where they played for 10 years, they think will those guys can still play. When NBA players go back home they can’t say “Hey, Europe is just a bunch of guys, who dribble and take jump shots”. A lot of guys, who played here, for example, Ty Lawson told me Europe is more physical than the NBA. And it is; they call the game totally different.

RealGM: Is it difficult for you to work with European coaches?

May: Last year was better because I played with Neven Spahija, who is from Croatia and speaks English. If I had something, I can just say it. Here, the coaches are really good, don’t get me wrong, but you have to ask another coach to explain. Sometimes things get lost in translation on the floor in practices and it makes difficult. But again, it is an experience. You have to learn different things about different languages; call the plays in different languages. You are not going to call “five”, they are going to say it in the native language.