Ataman: “Sloukas will play with Fener – Panathinaikos lacked enthusiasm”

We went to a new structure. There is a lot of interest right now. We lost our first EuroLeague derby against Olympiakos in extra time in front of 20,000 people, but we are a new team. We are a newly developed team. We beat Bayern Munich last week.

The goals are big. Of course the transfer period was not easy. We have made serious transfers, but it is not easy to make these transfers in Europe and build a new team with the aim of the championship. Nevertheless, I believe that we have built a good team and we will pursue our goals until the end.

There is great love not only in OAKA, but also in Greece. Panathinaikos has high expectations, and there is a lot of respect from Olympiakos. Of course, this respect does not come from my name. They see me as a coach who dominated European basketball in recent years with Anadolu Efes and won the EuroLeague twice in a row.

They want the seventh star every time they see it. I believe they lacked that excitement. I raise my fists for the world every time I step on the field. It is with this enthusiasm that we built this team. We try to connect with the audience and create the irresistible atmosphere at OAKA. In general, the relations, the perspective of the public and the people on the street are very good. Many people watch basketball in Greece. It is at the same level or even ahead of football. That is why it is so gratifying, but also a great responsibility at the same time.

Slukas hasn’t played in about 10 days, but this afternoon he will have his first training session with the team. We intend to use him. He is an important player in our system.

Fenerbahce is a good team, but also a very dangerous team, especially at home. In their first EuroLeague match they beat Armani, one of the favorites this season. I’m used to the atmosphere at the Ulker Arena. I think players at this level are used to it. We will try to play well and show resistance.

Fenerbahce come hurt from a last-minute defeat at Valencia. That’s why they will make a little more effort, they will definitely want to win the match at home. We will try to get results by playing good basketball. It’s only the third week of the EuroLeague, it’s a very long marathon, but of course it’s a difficult away game.

When the Turkish national team is full, it can play head-to-head with any team in Europe and achieve any result. Our next goal is to revise the mistakes made in the past, to take part in the European Championship and to be a complete team.

In 2025, Alperin will also reach its maximum level of maturity. New players are coming from below. Onurlap Bitim will also gain NBA experience. The goal of this team in 2025 will now be to win medals.

Turkey’s national team is more important than anything else. Once again, congratulations on the success of our volleyball team. Everyone in Turkey says football. Of course, soccer is very important, but we have all seen the impact of our girls’ success in volleyball. This has also happened in basketball in the past. We must be united to achieve this.

Our players should not see the national team as oppression, they should be there to honor Turkey with great love and enthusiasm. If we manage to achieve this by 2025, there will be a Turkish national team aiming for medals again.

The Turkish Basketball Federation will shed light on this process when the time comes. As the coach of the Turkish national team, my task is to call all the players who have the right to play to the national team and try to get these players to come until the last day when the squad is decided. I made this effort, so I feel very comfortable in my conscience.

Here I find the club coaches a little guilty. The players, who played an average of 30-35 minutes in the finals and semi-finals of the playoffs, were too injured to play for the national team at the time, but played in the club friendlies 10 days after the match against Croatia on 20 August or two weeks later.

I did not impose these penalties on the players. I don’t have that kind of power, I’m just the coach. However, there are some regulations previously set on this matter in Turkey. When you get Turkish citizenship, there are material and moral advantages that come with it. Clubs have their advantages. There are also regulations for when you are not using it and you are not in the national team. In my opinion, the federation, the disciplinary board and the arbitration board made these decisions within the framework of these regulations.

Who wants to lose players like Larkin and Wilbekin? But of course, everyone had a responsibility here. Everyone is very sorry that such a punishment was meted out. You can’t say: ‘I’ll play the whole EuroLeague season, the Turkish League playoffs, the club friendlies and when it’s national team time, I’ll fart recovery’. Then it would be unfair to other players.

Wilbekin came to Rhodes with a somewhat disagreeable attitude. I may not have spoken to him at all, but he wanted us to have a dialogue. I said there was a misunderstanding without entering into any confrontation. “I was injured,” he told me. Yes, you might have been, that’s a question mark. You may have injured yourself walking down the street in the summer.