Its just 9 month till Eurobasket 25 and after watching half of the season I want to draw some conclusions.
The front court: The front court will consist of the players Alperen Sengun, Ercan Osmani, Omer Yurtseven, Berke Buyuktuncel and Adem Bona. This is a tremendous Mix of skillset. Sengun is probably the best European player after Jokic, Giannis and Doncic, at least this season. Competing players are Franz Wagner, Wembanyama and Kristaps Porzingis.
Sengun slowly rises his fgp and this with little help from his team. He has to fight against two three guys in order to score and he mostly creates for himself. Not only he creates with his prolific footwork but he also has also developed a very efficient push shot and a turn around fade away jump shot although its not as efficient as it was last season. Shortly said, he is unstoppable in one against one. Just Wembanyama can stop him under the rim efficiently. On the defensive end he showed what he can do with capable wing defenders. With improving positioning and understanding of the game he became a plus defender in the NBA
I was thinking a lot about his pairing on the court and who might complement him the most. He needs a guy who can make open shots and drive to the rim smartly when Sengun gets doubled and in the perfect case pass when the opposing team manages to rotate successfully. The good thing is we have such a guy. Ercan Osmani is his perfect fit in the offense. Ercan is still very sloppy but he is also very talented and his game is growing from day to day. Defensively, both have size and they are good rebounders. Ercan still makes many unnecessary fouls because of excitement. This might be the only problem and he is a lost case against fast guards. But lets stick with the front court for now...
Sengun - Sanli, Sengun - Yurtseven didnt work at all. Sengun - Bona and Sengun - Buyuktuncel are other options that will probably work very well.
Yurtseven is showing his value in the offense with PAO and he will strongly benefit from the possibility of playing Euroleague at high level. He still has strong ups and downs within the game but his concentration was high in the last two games. He just needs to play with a guard who can attract the opposing perimeter player and this will be our problem. About his pairing he needs to play with good wing defenders. Fortunately, Cedi Osman is showing that he can defend exceptionally well if he wants to. Hernangomez showed how good he worked with Yurtseven. If someone can find Yurtseven near the rim after drives Yurt is unguardable in one against one. A power forward who can drive and dish plus someone who can defend multiple positions would be the perfect fit for Yurt and yes there is a guy. Berke Buyuktuncel is his name.
And we havent talked about Adem Bona yet. His role in the Eurobasket 25 is to come in from the bench when defense and energy is needed.
We have the talent set to react on every possible scenario more or less.
The back court:
What the Turkish basketball lacks the most are players who can deal with the ball. In 2025 nothing has changed. Thats the reason why a ready Shane Larkin absolutely crucial for our game. He is the only guy we cant replace in this team. Without him we wont be able to compete against no significant team. The opponents would close down the painted area and let our guys shoot and they would fail like always. He must come early and prepare well.
Besides him Kenan Sipahi is our best PG without the slightest doubt. He is a solid guy who makes everyone around him better and as a 30 year old veteran he can read games wisely and play efficient. I dont have the slightest doubt about his defense but he might slow down our game a lot. Posting up smaller guys could be a way to create though.
Here I would make the big change. I would start with Sipahi instead of Larkin. Kenan Sipahi needs a team around him that can score.
Kenan Sipahi - Furkan Korkmaz - Cedi Osman - Ercan Osmani - Alperen Sengun would be a very well functioning offense defense balanced team. The reason for this change is to pair up Yurtseven with Larkin and we have to use Larkin efficently without exhausting him. Without Larkin we wont be benefiting from Yurtsevens offense at all and his defensive shortcomings would hurt us a lot.
Cedi Osmans and Omer Yurtsevens performances in the EL is really something that should make us happy.
The case of Furkan Korkmaz: he is the biggest question mark on this roster. He is clearly the most talented offensive player that we have behind Shane Larkin but he is not ready at all. He has a horrible shape rn. There are sequences where you can see his talent but if he does not get in shape till September he should stay at home. With Bahcesehir he will get solid playtime. We need a good Furkan Korkmaz!
Melih Tunca is by far not ready to play do or die games but I would take him to the EB 25 anyway. He could play meaningful minutes against teams like Belgium. Since he is our future it will boost his development additionally.
Sehmus Hazer or Onuralp Bitim: considering the role they have taken in this season and their contribution it should be Hazer. Hazer despite having a horrible touch around the rim can step up big time in important games. Still not the best solution for the shooting guard position.
Conclusion: The team is exciting and can surely fight against any team but much will depend on how prepared our guys will come to the tournament. The team is offensively gifted and has unlike the previous tournaments solid pieces for the defense. Still there might be pieces that wont work together in a perfect way.
France is still our nightmare. I dont want to meet them. Hopefully in the final.
We can give a good fight against Serbia but it wont probably be enough.
I am not very afraid of Germany tbh. Much will depend on the participation of Isaiah Hartenstein and I dont think that he will come to help the Germans.
Latvia is a strong team and Greece might be a difficult case just because of Giannis but we can beat any team on a good day.
