Turkish NT 2019

[Toruko]

I didn't notice problems on center position you talking about. Maybe you forget that we don't have the best centers in the world. We use what we have.

On pg spot we have better players then Balbay and sharing minutes between them is key for better and more fluid game.
Berk and Bugrahan should be first options. It's a bit risky but we don't have much to lose.

Balbay should have special role but not as pg. Sarica used him in that way in 3rd qt and if I remember that was much better.
Start of the game where awful, we were lost and without any idea in offense until Bugrahan replaced Balbay.

In that point i totally agree with you. No objections at all.

[janketa]

Last qt without Balbay +15 for Turkey.

We could beat Italy much more easily if we played the whole game with real pg.

[okanial]

The way Cedi played this tournamet worries me. I get it, his shot werent falling it happens but that is not my issue. He used his drive very limited which is the strongest part of his game. He never tried PnR. He didnt create much for the others, he lacked his regular energy. He wasnt the leader of the team on the court as he was in last Eurobasket. I think his improvement would solve a lot of problems we are facing such as playmaking and involving centers to offense

[slice me nice]

I agree. He was unable to carry his role during preparation games. We normally expect much from him, but we are missing a significant point here. Our players are just role players or bench warmers in their club teams. So it takes so much time to adjust their new roles in NT. I think he will meet the expectations by taking the leadership role in tournament.

We got stuck behind the arc, as there were no offensive weapon underneath and no inside/outside balance. That's also a factor why the likes of Osman seemed below average in those games since they had to force too much to make the team score. I just don't want to get my hopes up too high on Erden because he is outmoded. It is not hard to forecast he will fail big time in this tournament. Just in case as a surprise, he manages to manifest himself on court more than our expectations, things positively would turn towards us a bit. We definitely need some scores from painted area. Our 3 points shot volume in preparation games is insane and unacceptable. We will have three exhibition games on 23rd, 25th and 27th. I expect to see better NT that cast the roles within the team more meaningful.

[Toruko]

First of all never underestimate Erden with the nt in short tournaments. He hadnt played 8 month before Eurobasket 17 and he performed better than expected.

I dont have any fear about Cedis performance. He always fails if he tries to rescue the team with scoring. He is the main engine of the team he must fill the stats paper with rebounding, stealing, blocking etc and is perfect for the third scoring option and he must play a significant part of the game as point forward but he may never try to be the scoring leader. Never!

The biggest problem seems to be Wilbekin. He had a horrible season with maccabi and came very late to the nt and to be the play maker is not enough. We need his elite scoring. I hope he will find his true role on this team. We expect much bigger impact of the naturalized guy. His current performance is not acceptable.

One thing about our game plan. Even if we have 25 turnover we never may give up on playing with pace. Its the most efficient way to play basketball nowadays and we have the player for it.

It seems Melih will get a bigger role in this team. I dont like him but I also gladly admit that he made a jump in the last season.

So partly a linup with Wilbekin Melih Furk Cedi Ersan for lets say 15 minutes would make us very short but also very very fast. Rebounding will be a big concern but we must play like that. There is imo no other way.

Furk is the biggest question mark. He must be our main scorer and he is also our best player. He must have at least 15 attempts per game. He vanished in some games totally in a half or quarter. Just one attempt in Slovenia. This is not acceptable.

The biggest candidate for being a x factor was Tolga Gecim but he is injured. Another well developing guy is Yigit Arslan. He is a Cedi light. He also can make everything on the court. On ball game, off ball game, shooting, penetration. He is a fairly complete player technically but he has also a very strong mind. Even if he cant make 4 three pointer he is not afraid of taking the next one if the right position comes. I expect much from him.

I dont expect a problem during the first round. Greece will probably be the bottle neck. Even if we lose a placement in single digits can be counted as success right now. The max is being among the best eight.

At last this will be most probably the last tournament of a very special and reliable player. Ersan Ilyasova. Thank you for everything king. May the force be with you. I hope we see you as a coach later in turkey or in the states. His position knowledge is really unique.

[Toruko]

The turkish press seems to demand heads because of the wc result and tbh this is the second tournament that ended up in a catastrophe in terms of lets say result.

Our problem in the big rotation is obvious now regarding Ilyasova wont come anymore. The play making problem still remains too and we have to come up with a plan asap. I dont think that we are far away from the top teams but the lack of depth, play making and rim protection must be solved.

Yurtseven cant be reached but i am sure he will come to play for turkey on the long term. Ercan Osmani is another mystery. We dont even know if he got his passport and now he is in the second team of Bandirma. Its also time to use Egemen Güven next time. I am also very optimistic referring to Yigitcan Saybir.

Mert Akay should be our starting pg for the future and i am willing to endure his fails to an extend. Berk Ibrahim Ugurlu is another guy i trust.

And Bona despite being 16 should be taken to the olympic qualifiers. His elite defense and rebounding abilities can be used even now even though he wont produce anything in the offense.

[okanial]

I wanted to write what Im thinking after it is over for us.

Everyone blames Cedi. Which is really silly. He played with 28/42 from inside which is 66,7% and makes him 4th best in that regard while everyone above him is in big rotations. His 3 point % is terrible I'll give you that but that is due to an issue I will come later. He is actually 16/19 from ft line. I wish he shot that 2 but you can't blame the guy for everything. Overall, if our expectations wasnt as high as this from him we would be saying he had a great tournament.

I can't say anything bad for Ersan or Melih in this tournament despite both failed to match expectations in Czech game. Wilbekin is also free of criticism, Ege Arar shouldnt even be there.

One criticism I have is for Furkan Korkmaz who is still afraid to take the leading role. I don't know if he ever will but he and the team needs to figure that out. If he won't then we need to make our plans according to that.

My biggest criticism is to Sarıca. I cant wait for Ataman to return. I don't blame him for playing hard in US game like some other Turkish people. But even his speeches were problematic. We need to get up after this loss speech was terrible. Despite the loss your team played amaizing and he could have easily say "we showed our potential and will be even better". Ersan was tired in the Czech game but something else was missing with Sarıca. He couldn't get over the loss to US and he did a really terrible job in that game. Lets start with those problems

1- Point guard situation: I can actually make this a two parter but lets keep it short. Buğrahan played 20 minutes against Japan and 17 minutes against the US. He played very well in those games and all of a sudden his playing time stopped after the US game as if it was his fault that we lost. He played for 5 minutes in each game after that. What happened there? Wouldnt he be a better option while we were trailing against Czech republic instead of Doğuş who was a no threat on offense. Second part of this is rotation during the crucial moments. Why did Buğrahan played the good portion of the 4th quarter against US instead of Wilbekin? Why same happened with Doğuş who is by far the worst option against Czehcia?

2- Big rotation: In Czech Republic game Sertaç played for 5 minutes. He is not a great player but he was a good option we had for shooting while Ersan couldnt score anything. We could have try our small line up with Cedi at 4 and Sertaç at 5. Semih used 4 shoots during that game. Another bad idea. Baldvin was free to focus on offense cause he didnt worry much on the defense.

3- No chance to shine for Yiğit Arslan: Yiğit is one of the best shooters on our roster but he didnt see any meaningful time. He didnt play at all in the Czech game. And even in the New Zealand game where it had no meaning he only played for 7 minutes while Furkan and Ersan was out of the roster. There were no reasons for him not to play bigger minutes.

4- Weird plays: We used a lot of zone defense against Czech Republic. Whenever game was going down we stopped going inside and tried to score with a 3 pointer. Our team was hyped with a good chance to play a tempo game but we were afraid of it and tried to slow down the game a lot.

So overall, Im less hyped for Cedi then ever and Ive been following him since he was 16 and he was one of the players who raised my interest on basketball. But he gets a little criticism for his excitement and over enthusiasm. Main criticism is definetely to Sarica.

[SaliH]

Didn’t know where to write it but they talk about Shane Larkin getting a Turkish passport and joining the Team.

ps Senol Latif sounds good for a passport name.

[Levenspiel]

Didn’t know where to write it but they talk about Shane Larkin getting a Turkish passport and joining the Team.

ps Senol Latif sounds good for a passport name.

Larkin made it clear he wanted to get the passport, but TBF (Hido) and Sarica were seemingly reluctant. Now, RTE mentioning it, they will run after his heels and make it happen in a day.

I guess he will keep his name, but it would be fun to try something new, like Dixon did. Or, like Kartal Resat Firincioglu did (aka Ricky Winslow).

Btw, someone mentioned, Justice Winslow, the son of Ricky Winslow, is eligible for a Turkish passport, too, as his father is a Turkish citizen. Imagine that now.

[Toruko]

Shane Larkin decided to play for Turkey.

I am honored and humbled to have an opportunity to represent this country by joining the Turkish National Team. Extremely excited to wear this jersey with the Turkish Flag across my chest with pride.

https://twitter.com/shanelarkin_3/status/1223574298255818753?s=21

[SaliH]

Now that’s a good move. He is a guy that can be a game changer in European ball.

[Toruko]

Well he definitely solves our starting PG problem and we have very good guys who can come from the bench. Bugrahan Tuncer, Berk Ugurlu or even Baris Ermis are performing very well.

We are also european top class in positions for shooting guards and small forwards. Can play with Cedi pick and rolls from 3 to 5 or 4 to 5, all our forwards are good passers with intelligence. We can also shoot the ball.

Just the Center position is a weak. Sertac, Muhsin cant grab a rebound and doesnt give rim protection at all. I dont count Semih Erden. Just Yurtseven will contribute with rebounding and rim protection to a certain degree. But Muhsin as well as Sertac as well as and especially Yurt7 will give us strength on the offensive end. I want definitely see Berkan Durmaz on the roster from now on. I love his defense and he has a vey versatile skill set.

[janketa]

Sretac and Muhsin are more then enough for center position. Larkin and Sertac are already good duo in Efes so I don't see any reason for problems in nt.

[gockun]

Shane Larkin decided to play for Turkey.



https://twitter.com/shanelarkin_3/st...255818753?s=21

I am a little bothered that this process took too much time, which probably means there was a big negotiation behind. He probably demanded a lot of money.

[Toruko]

OK after Larkin is on board now, here is my wish roster for the Olympic qualifiers:



PG: Shane Larkin, Dogus Balbay, Bugrahan Tuncer ( Berk Ugurlu)

SG: Furkan Korkmaz, Melih Mahmutoglu

SF: Cedi Osman, Metecan Birsen (Okben Ulubay)

PF: Ersan Ilyasova, Berkan Durmaz

C: Yurtseven, Sertac Sanli, Muhsin Yasar

Position 1 and two could be a bit short, especially for teams with long guards. Satoransky is 201cm and Calathes 197cm but I dont see any creation problems. Small Forward Position cant be much better. They are long, can handle the ball etc. On 4 Berkan Durmaz after this season is a must. Ersan will appear probably a very last time with a serious role. Alternatives would be Samet Geyik of BJK or Metehan Akyel of Antep.

Center position is also weak but Yurt can boost that position even though he is still very young. I dont like Sanli at all but due to his performance in Euroleague hell be the second option for sure but in Real all our other Centers are better.

Other options: Oguz Savas brings a lot experience and performs well offensively but has a crazy pick and roll weakness due to slow legs. Considering the opponent Center it shouldnt be a big concern except Tristan Thompson.

The second Option is Berke Atar, a fairly less probable option of course.

What do you guys say?