During Ataman's career at Efes, he never had a strong core of Turkish players who could compete at the Euroleague level. I have never thought that this was a matter of trust or distrust in domestic players, and I believe people often criticize Ataman unnecessarily in this regard. Among the main Turkish players he coached during his time at Efes, such as Gecim, Sanli, Tuncer, Young Bitim and Young Saybir, Guven, and Gazi, Sanli was the only player who could contribute effectively in the Euroleague and Ataman already knew how to get the maximum performance from him. In the last 3-4 seasons, there hasn't been a Turkish player market capable of playing at the Euroleague level. Now we have a couple of players like Kabaca or Bitim who can contribute at this level, but Ataman never had the chance to play with players of this profile.
The Greek Euroleague player pool is much wider, and the players in his roster are capable of making direct contributions. Players like Sloukas, Mitoglou, Papagiannis or Papapetrou are proven players and it is fact that they are not included in the team solely because they are Greek. The belief that Ataman has an aversion to domestic players is completely false. Ataman can not tolerate weakness or lack of enthusiasm in players. Some players, especially Turkish ones, want their egos to be stroked and expect the coach to be more instructive or paternal, but Ataman is definitely not that type of person. It can be debated whether this is the right approach, but this approach has never changed in him, and he has achieved many things with this character.