Turkish NT head coach Ergin Ataman spoke on the dynamic of his team ahead of the EuroBasket 2022 during an interview with Greek outlet Sport 24.
The veteran coach talked on the differences between the job with Turkey NT and Anadolu Efes and why he believes his team is not among the favorites for the EuroBasket.
“The Turkish National Team is a new team, with many young and inexperienced athletes. With an average age of 24, you know what I mean… OK, we have some NBA athletes, but we don’t have dominant players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic,” Ataman said.
Turkey NT will challenge for a medal according to the veteran coach, but he’s not sure if they will be able to make it considering the fact that many other more experienced teams like Serbia and Slovenia are also participating in full strength.
“At this moment I do not consider it realistic to speak with such confidence. If I can say anything, it’s that we will fight hard. We will challenge for a medal, but I don’t know if we will succeed. This is my first experience with this particular team, so we’ll see… So I can’t say we’re favourites, like Slovenia, France, Greece and Serbia.”
Turkey has only two major successes. However, both were recorded in events hosted on its own soil. The first one was the EuroBasket 2001 and the second one the Basketball World Cup 2010. It remains to been seen if Ataman and co. can surprise people in the 2022 edition.
