Het aftellen is reeds begonnen voor de EuroBasket 2015.
Wat heet ... verrrrrhiepppp ..... het is al bijna eind Januari ... als we onze
goede voornemens achterna hupellen .....
Het is maar paar maandjes maar en als we de vakantie dagen en zo achter de rug
hebben en de nieuwe er aan komen en wij daar naar uitkijken ... van Paassen ... Hemelvaart
en niet te vergeten Pinksteren ... is het voor dat je weet September en waar onze
Oranje mannen gestaag er naar Zagreb toe leven .....
Is het aftellen begonnen voor de Group Dessss Dooooooooodsszzzzzz ....
Kan iemand mij vertellen is het een Na Deel ....of
een Voor Deel om in zo een Poules Des Doods te zitten.
Voor een wel tevreden antwoord ... is een Date met mij naar Antwerpen ... naar
Kinepolis ... uitgaans centrum daar.
Het zij zo en ik vond onderstaande intervieuw met bonds coach van Turkije ...
Ergin Ataman ... die tevens head coach is bij Galatasaray Liv Hospital die Top 16 speelt
in Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
Het stukje is afkomstig van fibaeurop.com web site en zekers van de pen van
Dimitris Kontos.
Waar voor mijn dank voor deze intervieuw wat ik met jullie wilde delen.
Bondscoach van Turkije is openhartig op de vragen van Kontos en bondscoach laat ook geen
twijfel over van de ambities van Turkije in deze Poules Des Doods straks in Berlin.
Nice piece of intervieuw below en the info is from the pen of Dimitris Kontos what is
from the web site of ...
www.fibaeurope.com
ATAMAN'S YOUNG TURKEY AIMS AT MEDAL
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| Ergin Ataman will lead Turkey to EuroBasket 2015 |
By Dimitris Kontos
Back in early December, when the EuroBasket 2015 draw determined that the likes of Serbia, Spain, Germany, Italy, Iceland and Turkey would have to battle it out in Group B for the top four spots which lead to the knock-out stages of the tournament, the immediate consensus was that Berlin would be hosting the 'group of death'.
However Turkey head coach Ergin Ataman, the tactician who took the reins of the Turkish national team following a disastrous EuroBasket 2013 campaign and led them into the quarter-finals of last September's FIBA Basketball World Cup, did not modify his goals for the upcoming EuroBasket in the wake of the draw.
In this interview with fibaeurope.com, coach Ataman explains how he hopes to build on Turkey's enormous success at the U18 and U20 European Championships in recent years in order to prepare a national team that will arrive in Berlin ready to take on any challenge that comes their way, including Turkish basketball's biggest pending accomplishment.
There is the feeling that Turkey's run into the last eight of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 reconciled the national team with its fans, but are you concerned that it has also raised the bar so much that now everybody back home will demand success at EuroBasket 2015?
We came to the World Cup in Spain with a mixed team. We had some very young players getting new experiences in the national team together with some older players for whom it was their last tournament (Kerem Tunceri turns 36 and Kerem Gönlüm turns 38 this year). But that was the situation because two or three of our NBA players did not come to play and, for me, it was important despite that to come and represent Turkey at the World Cup in the best way possible. We showed a good play in all our games and we got our fans excited, because the national team is very important in our country. Turkish supporters have now started to believe again in the national team. At the EuroBasket this year we will have a new generation, I will make a lot of changes in the team. Our golden generation has begun to gather experience, also in the Euroleague and I think that this year we will see a more aggressive, tougher Turkish national team.
So you envision a younger, faster, stronger Turkish team this year, which will include in the roster even more talent from the youth national teams, like you did with Cedi Osman last summer?
Yes, younger, faster, stronger and of course we hope that our experienced players in the NBA join us too, like Ömer Asik. He did a great job in helping us in the summer and he also improved his game, he went back to the NBA and started strong immediately (Asik joined New Orleans from Houston in the summer). I hope that this year also Ersan Ilyasova (Milwaukee), Enes Kanter (Utah) and Furkan Aldemir (recently signed with Philadelphia), who is now also in the NBA, will join us. If our NBA players come to play and enjoy to play for the national team, together with our young generation I think we will be a very good team at the EuroBasket.
If Turkey has all these players available you will count with one of the strongest frontcourt line-ups at the EuroBasket, so how high can a team like that aim? Is your goal to reach the podium, despite starting off in perhaps the toughest first round group?
Of course, that's what we hope. We have many important players and youth, so why not try to go for the medal, that will be my goal. Of course it's a tough group in Berlin, you see the draw and it's like a Final Four of champions. But anyway we are also stronger, and Turkey being there is one of the reasons why Berlin is so tough, so we will see. We'll try to do our best in this group and of course our goal is to take a medal and to get the ticket to the Olympics. This is very important for Turkish basketball because our national team has never played in the Olympics and now we have a very good generation which I hope can make us reach this dream for 2016.
Has the experience of coaching a club like Galatasaray Liv Hospital, which plays in so demanding competitions like the Euroleague and the TBL while simultaneously assuming the role of Turkey head coach been very taxing for you on a personal level?
There is certainly some difficulty, in the sense that you don't have time to rest in the summer and, because of that, sometimes you get stressed during the season. But there is also a huge advantage, and that is that you are constantly in the game. To coach only the national team, only a few official games a year, is not the best for a coach, because a coach needs to practice like the players do. In the Euroleague you get the chance to see almost all the players who play in national teams. So I am very happy, I enjoy very much coaching both Galatasaray and the national team.
There is certainly some difficulty, in the sense that you don't have time to rest in the summer and, because of that, sometimes you get stressed during the season. But there is also a huge advantage, and that is that you are constantly in the game. To coach only the national team, only a few official games a year, is not the best for a coach, because a coach needs to practice like the players do. In the Euroleague you get the chance to see almost all the players who play in national teams. So I am very happy, I enjoy very much coaching both Galatasaray and the national team.
Door LuluHoops
