The president of the Turkish Basketball Federation, Hedo Turkoglu, talked to the Spanish newspaper AS about the FIBA WC Qualifiers.
Here is what he said:
On whether the FIBA Windows will continue: “I hope not. I hope there is a solution [Between FIBA and EuroLeague] this summer.”
On the absence of star players from the national teams: “There is a conflict between FIBA and EuroLeague and this kind of fights aren’t good. I understand that for certain countries, it’s good to have national team games during this affects big federations: Spain, Turkey, France, Lithuania, Serbia.
Our best players are in the EuroLeague or in the NBA. They can’t play in the Windows. It affects us on ticket sales, it affects us with our sponsors. They [FIBA and EuroLeague] have to look for the good of European basketball. Now I read that there will be 18 teams in the EuroLeague.
We don’t want to fight against our clubs! They also represent us on a European level. I don’t know… this isn’t easy. I wish sooner or later there is a solution and we would do what we used to do: Play in the summer and have big tournaments.”
