Turkish Prospects

[Levenspiel]

The age limit for the EL most promising youngster award was 22. So I've kept the same criteria (born in and after 1986). Here are a few of the most promising prospects we have, but not all. Please add other players also.

I'm not gonna give descriptions about their player profiles, which you can find everywhere on the net written by experts, but my predictions about their future.

Omer Asik (1986, 2.11, C - Fenerbahce)
Drafted by Blazers, traded to Bulls.
I can put my money on this guy that he's gonna be one of the most dominant centers of Europe. He's the real deal.

Semih Erden (1986, 2.10, C - Fenerbahce)
Drafted by Celtics.
Ordinary tough big man. He'll end up with a career similar to Kaya Peker's.

Oguz Savas (1987, 2.13, C - Fenerbahce)
Having played for 4 EL seasons already, he's experienced enough. He's had very good and mediocre periods, so it's really difficult to cast a prediction about his future. Somewhere between Mehmet Okur and Huseyin Besok.

Baris Hersek (1988, 2.07, PF - Efes Pilsen)
A few years ago, people were predicting him to be the main guy in our 2010 NT. I don't think they still believe that. I just hope he doesn't end up like Valentin Pastal.

Dogus Balbay (1989, 1.85, PG/SG - Texas Longhorns)
I'm not optimistic about him also, though I could only see him a couple of times. Besides, all of our brillant guard prospects tend to become mediocre players as they grow up. He'll become another Ender Arslan or Kerem Tunceri.

Birkan Batuk (1990, 1.96, SF - Trabzon)
Impressive performances in u18 and u20 tournaments so far. We really need a good SF in the coming years, he can be the one.

Enes Kanter (1992, 2.05, PF/C - Fenerbahce)
I can see people are very enthusiastic about him and he's justifying that till now. Considering our history of being able to produce mostly quality big men, we might say that he's gonna be good.

[Khalid80]

The age limit for the EL most promising youngster award was 22. So I've kept the same criteria (born in and after 1986). Here are a few of the most promising prospects we have, but not all. Please add other players also.

I'm not gonna give descriptions about their player profiles, which you can find everywhere on the net written by experts, but my predictions about their future.

Omer Asik (1986, 2.11, C - Fenerbahce)
Drafted by Blazers, traded to Bulls.
I can put my money on this guy that he's gonna be one of the most dominant centers of Europe. He's the real deal.

Semih Erden (1986, 2.10, C - Fenerbahce)
Drafted by Celtics.
Ordinary tough big man. He'll end up with a career similar to Kaya Peker's.

Dogus Balbay (1989, 1.85, PG/SG - Texas Longhorns)
I'm not optimistic about him also, though I could only see him a couple of times. Besides, all of our brillant guard prospects tend to become mediocre players as they grow up. He'll become another Ender Arslan or Kerem Tunceri.

Baris Hersek (1988, 2.07, PF - Efes Pilsen)
A few years ago, people were predicting him to be the main guy in our 2010 NT. I don't think they still believe that. I just hope he doesn't end up like Valentin Pastal.

Birkan Batuk (1990, 1.96, SF - Trabzon)
Impressive performances in u18 and u20 tournaments so far. We really need a good SF in the coming years, he can be the one.

Enes Kanter (1992, 2.05, PF/C - Fenerbahce)
I can see people are very enthusiastic about him and he's justifying that till now. Considering our history of being able to produce mostly quality big men, we might say that he's gonna be good.

Which players from the names mentioned above have the greatest chance of representing Turkey in the World Championships in Turkey in 2010?
(I personally think Samih and Omer have the highest chances because they're the eldest from the group and cuz of the posts they're playing (center position) ).

[Levenspiel]

Which players from the names mentioned above have the greatest chance of representing Turkey in the World Championships in Turkey in 2010?
(I personally think Samih and Omer have the highest chances because they're the eldest from the group and cuz of the posts they're playing (center position) ).

Omer Asik and Semih Erden will be there unless something really unexpected occurs. I forgot to mention about him above, but Oguz Savas (1987, 2.12, C) will be in the squad, for sure. We will see how the younger generation will develop till that time, but Tanjevic is known for his faith in youngsters, so I expect him to call Kanter and Hersek also.

[rikhardur]

Kanter has a very bright future ahead of him no doubt... His numbers in the U18 Eurobasket surprised me a great deal, I had never heard about him. To manage more than 20 rebounds consecutively is not for many. Debuting in Euroleague at 16... I can only think of Rubio recently and that tells much. Besides he's already very strong physically (his upper body especially) and that's quite important.
Aşık and Savaş's future is also very bright (don't know much about the others). As you mentioned sariss, Turkey has been developing quality big men over the years, the NTs future in that section is garanteed, but previously Turkey was known for it's guards, isn't that position a bit overlooked now?

[Levenspiel]

I really don't know, Rikh. Anyone who had seen Tunceri at EC1999 (then 20 y.o.) and E.Arslan at WBC2002 and EC2003 (then 19 yo) thought that these guys were already fantastic and could be dominant in the very near future. Once I even thought Ender Arslan could be an NBA-star . We're still waiting for them. Instead of improving, they've gotten worse each year. Other true prospects, Hakan Demirel and Engin Atsur seem to follow the same path, only they already disappeared without making any peak. So, when talking about a guard prospect I'm always cautious.

[MarkoMilic]

Sad to tell that but our prospects at guard position are all disappointments. Players with great potential like Ender, Hakan and Engin couldn't develop as it had been expected from them. I don't know if it is only a coincidence or it is all about players own but lack of developing quality guards seems to be the biggest problem of Turkish basketball.

Anyway, i want to say something about Sariss' list. I think Semih Erden's future will be at PF position. I am not expecting him to be a high-level player, actually i count him as the weakest link of Fener's hot prospects.

Enes Kanter is a monster; he has a great potential and he's really strong. His future is also at PF position. He is just 16 and i am curiously waiting to see his development. Oğuz has a great technic and basketball IQ but he is lacking toughness and this hinders him about being a star player.

Omer Asik is may be the best part of that center-list but he has been badly injured. He was showing a great progress but he will lose a whole year now, a very important year for his development... Dogus Balbay was also badly injured last year. There are also rumours that he will return to Fener in the future.

And i think Maxim Mutaf Can should be added to that list. He is just 17 and can play both point and shooting guard positions. We can't see him at Fener's A-Team roster this year but he has an important role at Fener's long-term plans. And another note: he made his EL debut against Barca at the 06-07 season, when he was just 16 years old...

[TB-Fan]

http://texassports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/balbay_dogus00.html

as you know our top PG prospect Dogus Balbay plays in the NCAA for the Texas Longhorns. He gave his debut a few days ago.

http://www.texassports.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/111808aab.html#

as you can see on the Photos his body is getting stronger. Hope he will have a good season.

[AlbionGate]

Enes Kanter is a monster; he has a great potential and he's really strong. His future is also at PF position. He is just 16 and i am curiously waiting to see his development.

Any news about Kanter's injuries? He was out 4 months since November.
It seems his both knees are in bad shape.

[MarkoMilic]

Any news about Kanter's injuries? He was out 4 months since November.
It seems his both knees are in bad shape.

Unfortunately we don't know much about his injury. As you said, he has been out for a very long time and there is nothing new about him...

[hopelives]

The age limit for the EL most promising youngster award was 22. So I've kept the same criteria (born in and after 1986). Here are a few of the most promising prospects we have, but not all. Please add other players also.

I'm not gonna give descriptions about their player profiles, which you can find everywhere on the net written by experts, but my predictions about their future.

Omer Asik (1986, 2.11, C - Fenerbahce)
Drafted by Blazers, traded to Bulls.
I can put my money on this guy that he's gonna be one of the most dominant centers of Europe. He's the real deal.

Semih Erden (1986, 2.10, C - Fenerbahce)
Drafted by Celtics.
Ordinary tough big man. He'll end up with a career similar to Kaya Peker's.

Oguz Savas (1987, 2.13, C - Fenerbahce)
Having played for 4 EL seasons already, he's experienced enough. He's had very good and mediocre periods, so it's really difficult to cast a prediction about his future. Somewhere between Mehmet Okur and Huseyin Besok.

Baris Hersek (1988, 2.07, PF - Efes Pilsen)
A few years ago, people were predicting him to be the main guy in our 2010 NT. I don't think they still believe that. I just hope he doesn't end up like Valentin Pastal.

Dogus Balbay (1989, 1.85, PG/SG - Texas Longhorns)
I'm not optimistic about him also, though I could only see him a couple of times. Besides, all of our brillant guard prospects tend to become mediocre players as they grow up. He'll become another Ender Arslan or Kerem Tunceri.

Birkan Batuk (1990, 1.96, SF - Trabzon)
Impressive performances in u18 and u20 tournaments so far. We really need a good SF in the coming years, he can be the one.

Enes Kanter (1992, 2.05, PF/C - Fenerbahce)
I can see people are very enthusiastic about him and he's justifying that till now. Considering our history of being able to produce mostly quality big men, we might say that he's gonna be good.

Enes is a real prospect without a doubt. We can see this after U18 tournement. He's going to have a place on Fenerbahçe rooster this season and I beleive that he's going to have some important minutes.

It is interesting that except Barış Hersek, all of those prospects includin Maxim Mutaf are from Fenerbahçe Ülker.

Also from Fenerbahçe, Berkay Candan (1993, 2.03, SF) is another prospect. We are going to follow him on U16 tournement starting this week.

[turk-jugoslav]

hot prospects

erbil eroğlu and berkay candan are our hot prospects from fenerbahçe ulker.especially,berkay candan started very well in U16 european championship but then he lost his performance during tournament.erbil is all-around palyer.he can make point,rebound,asist,steal and block! that's fantastic.another player,kenan sipahi.he's from kosovo-prishtina(albanian origin) but he plays for tofaş bursa in turkey for 2-3 years and he has a big fundemantal and basketball iQ.and he only was born in 1995 but... anyways. i can say they are our future basketballers.of course,enes kanter

[penzias]

I really don't know, Rikh. Anyone who had seen Tunceri at EC1999 (then 20 y.o.) and E.Arslan at WBC2002 and EC2003 (then 19 yo) thought that these guys were already fantastic and could be dominant in the very near future. Once I even thought Ender Arslan could be an NBA-star . We're still waiting for them. Instead of improving, they've gotten worse each year. Other true prospects, Hakan Demirel and Engin Atsur seem to follow the same path, only they already disappeared without making any peak. So, when talking about a guard prospect I'm always cautious.

Safak Edge really impresed me in the bronze medal game vs Lithuania in the european u18 but, as you say, Demirel also was expected to be a lock in the senior NT for the future when he was 17-18.

[turk-jugoslav]

Safak Edge really impresed me in the bronze medal game vs Lithuania in the european u18 but, as you say, Demirel also was expected to be a lock in the senior NT for the future when he was 17-18.

i agree,şafak edge was pretty good in bronze medal match.he is fast and he has high basketball iq,i think but his shooting abilities and phisycal situations doesn't seem like great.i remember,4-5 months ago,he played in turkish U18 championship:in one match,he made 6/19 3-points,in another match he made 4/13 3 points.that's terrible!! but another skills look great.speed,passing,deffense,driving...

[rikhardur]

Balbay A Part Of Bright Future For Turkey
By Jeff Taylor

The talent pool is deep in Turkey.

Just one look at the national team program, especially in the under-16, under-18 and under-20 sides, and one sees promise at all positions.

There is quality in the backcourt, on the wing and underneath the basket.

While the veterans will be in the spotlight this summer in Ankara at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, rest assured there are plenty of youngsters on the verge of breaking into the squad.

One of those is 21-year-old Dogus Balbay, a junior point guard with the Texas Longhorns in American college basketball.

The 6ft 1in playmaker has already captured a gold medal, in fact.

He averaged 15 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.6 steals when Turkey won the U16 European Championship in Leon, Spain, in 2005.

Balbay gave this interview to Basketball World News.

Dogus, when did you first start to play basketball, and which players, both in Turkey and North America, captured your imagination?

Dogus Balbay: I started playing basketball when I was eight or nine years old. I didn't actually know anything about basketball at first because soccer was the biggest sport in Turkey. My sister just pushed me into basketball and I started playing with her. I didn't actually know any players in Turkey or in the States. I started playing with my club team and played for them at least seven or eight years. I played for the national teams for five or six years until I decided to come to the States.

You represented Turkey at the under-16, under-18 and under-20 levels. How did that experience help you develop as a player and also, what did it mean for you to compete for your country?

Dogus Balbay: Playing for the national team helped me a lot. It was the best experience I've had in my life. I played for the under-16, under-18 and under-20 teams. We did a really good job in the competitions. We won the European Championship in the under-16 group. We got fourth place a couple times and we got third place another time. I had a great time playing for the national team. It really helped me a lot to get to the United States. Playing for my country is the biggest honor to me. Representing my country in competition was great. You had the flag on your chest. You're just playing like it's your last game. That's how you fight for your country.

Which country do you like to play against most in international competition and why?

Dogus Balbay: I guess I could say Spain because basketball is at a really high level in Spain. Their basketball IQs are really high. They have some talented players at each age group. Every time I played against Spain, I was really having fun out there.

Was it difficult to adjust to the game in America when you arrived from Turkey?

Dogus Balbay: It was kind of hard because I realized that in the States, basketball is more about individual play. You've got to be really talented, strong and athletic in order to do some special things. In Europe, you don't really have to have those talents. I would say American basketball is more individual and Europe is slower paced.

Are there any big differences between the way the games are played? Also, what about the atmosphere in the arenas?

It's the same. There are a couple different rules in college basketball. I'm just going to talk about the attendance, the fans. In Turkey we had at most 5,000 people at a game but here, even college games, we have at least 17,000 watching and supporting us. That's the biggest difference, I guess.

What about the coaching? Is there a big difference?

Dogus Balbay: It's not, but here we are watching more film and doing scouting a lot, but in Europe and Turkey, we didn't really do a lot. We still watched film of our opponents sometimes, but here, we do it a lot.

Why did you decide to play college basketball instead of launching your professional career in Turkey?

Dogus Balbay: I knew that it was going to be really hard playing basketball and going to school at the same time in Turkey, so I decided to come to the States because I wanted to get my degree and play basketball at the same time. I didn't really care about playing for a professional team because your degree is really important. You're going to be done with basketball when you get to be 35 or 40. That was the main point, to go to school, get my degree, and play basketball at the same time.

You have a reputation as a solid defensive player. Is that accurate? What is the difference between a good defensive player and a great defensive player?

Dogus Balbay: I'm really trying to be aggressive on defense because I believe that you can play defense every night. You can play really aggressive on defense. That's why I'm trying to be a solid defensive player every night. At an early age, like 12 or 13, we started playing defense really hard and we were taught that defense is the most important part of a basketball game. We learned almost every detail of defense - coming off screens or how to avoid screens, how to stay in front of the ball and how to deny the ball, that kind of stuff. I think I really paid attention to what my coaches said and I executed on the floor. I have a habit of playing good defense right now and I'm trying to do it every night. I think being a great defensive player, you've got to bring your energy, your toughness every night. If you can do it, you're a great defensive player. That's the only difference, I guess.

If you could improve one aspect of your game, what would that be?

Dogus Balbay: My shot, my shot selection and free throws. I've been working a lot and trying to improve my percentages from the free-throw line and the three-point line. That's one aspect of my game I'm trying to improve every day.

Talk about missing a season with an injury at Texas and how difficult it was to come back.

Dogus Balbay: I had a tough injury my first year. I really worked hard to get back into shape. It was really hard coming back from the injury, but I felt like I really worked hard to get back on the court. I worked on my knee until I felt like I was 100%. It was really hard sitting on the bench and watching my teammates and not helping them. When I came back, I just tried to be more careful in what I do because I didn't want to get hurt. I kept working on my knee to try to get stronger and stronger every day.

There are so many places where you could have gone to college. Why Texas? What kind of coach is Rick Barnes?

Dogus Balbay: Texas being one of the best is one of the reasons I came here. This was the only school I officially visited. I really liked it as soon as I walked on the campus and saw the facilities. I said, ‘Yeah, this is the school I like. I want to come to Texas.' I can really tell this is one of the best schools academically and athletically in the United States. Working with Coach Barnes, he is one of the best college coaches. He is a great person. He's always thinking about his players. He wants his players to get better every day. This is a great opportunity for me to work with him every day. He's not just talking about basketball, he talks about life too, from his experience. He's a great person and a great coach.

Do you expect to be named in Turkey's Preliminary Squad for the FIBA World Championship?

Dogus Balbay: I would like to play for them for the World Championship. If I get selected, I would definitely go play and represent my country.

What does it mean for Turkey to host such a prestigious tournament and can your country win a medal and possibly gold?

Dogus Balbay: It's a great opportunity for Turkey. We're going to have a lot of tourists come watch the games. They'll also see the cities and the country and learn about our culture. I think it's going to be great for our country. It's going to help us economically and with everything. It's going to be our goal to try to get a medal in this World Championship. We can definitely do it if we really get prepared and work hard. We have great players. That's going to be our goal.

You have done well academically at Texas. What are you majoring in and what career would you like to have after you play professional basketball?

Dogus Balbay: I'm majoring in Middle Eastern studies. One of the reasons I picked this is because it's familiar to me. I have some background about Middle Eastern studies. I wanted to learn more about the Middle Eastern countries around Turkey. It includes Turkey, too. I think it's really interesting. I'm learning a lot about Turkey's neighbors. I don't know what I'm going to do after my basketball career, but I'm sure after getting my degree in Middle Eastern studies, it's going to open a lot of doors for me.

Is your hope to follow in the footsteps of Hedo Turkoglu and Mehmet Okur and play in the NBA one day?

Dogus Balbay: Definitely. They're really good players and they represent Turkey in the NBA. They have done a great job so far. Mehmet Okur has already played in the All-Star game. He's also got an NBA championship ring and Hedo Turkoglu played in the NBA Finals last year. They're really doing great. I want to be like one of them one day and I'm working hard for it.

http://www.fibaeurope.com/coid_VNO7jy29GcU4jJOgqBI-t1.articleMode_on.container_frontpage.html

[nic39]

fenerbahe has great prospects i saw them in turkish national team they can play in nba mab..