Turkey NT head coach Ergin Ataman calls out Omer Yurtseven for skipping EuroBasket

Ergin Ataman, head coach of the national team of Turkey, called out Omer Yurtseven for his decision to skip the FIBA EuroBasket (September 1-18).

The big man of the Miami Heat was included in the preliminary roster of Turkey for the Basketball World Cup Qualifiers and EuroBasket.

Omer Yurtseven and his agent, Keith Glass, still insist that they had informed the Federation about the player’s decision. However, president Hedo Turkoglu and the Federation never confirmed Omer Yurtseven’s claims.

For his part, coach Ataman told TRT Spor that he is sad and shocked from Omer Yurtseven’s decision and called him out for his behavior.

“I was shocked. I even talked to the assistants Hakan Demir and Mehmet Okur. They tried to reach him. What hurt me the most was that he didn’t answer them. He always left us in contact with his American agent.

On the last day, he spoke with federation president Hidayet Turkoglu. I can’t imagine the American manager understanding our feelings. I see a very serious managerial influence here.

I go in when I want, I go out whenever I want, there is no such thing. We’ll see if he comes and apologizes to the Turkish people, not to me, not to the TBF, but to the Turkish people because he made a mistake, he was supposed to be here,” The head coach of anadolu efes noted.

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“There is not any other issue if he wants to play again, but he has a debt to the Turkish people because of the way we set out for such a goal. We’re not just here to play basketball right now. We are here to bring Turkey to the top. If you are an important part of this group, you had to fulfill that responsibility. We can’t do anything to anyone. If he does not come and play, we have no sanction for him.

The biggest sanction is the sanction in the consciousness of the Turkish people. Come out and apologize. There is nothing else for me. He is a young man who I love, but as I said, I think his manager should not be allowed to do business in Turkey anymore,” Ataman said.

On Wednesday, Turkey trimmed its roster to 16 players, after cutting Berk Ugurlu, Egehan Arna, and Kartal Ozmizrak.

After the end of its training camp, Turkey will face Latvia on the road on August 25 and will then host Serbia on August 28 in the Second Round of FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers.

They will then travel to Tbilisi for the group stage of the EuroBasket. They will take on Montenegro, Georgia, Spain, Bulgaria and Belgium in Group A.

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