Debate: The present and future of Turkish basketball

[Black Urum]

After reading this, I think we could have an intelligent, serious, OBJECTIVE and in depth discussion of why Turkish basketball fails to take it to the next level.

I mean, right now Turkey has everything going for them: Economic development, great deal of money allocated to basketball, four teams in Euroleague (incl. Banvit) and Turkish Airlines, new arenas, great numbers of fans (although mainly football fans, which could be a part of the problem), Turkey NT second place in World Championship which took place in Turkey... good specialists (Ataman, Mahmuti etc), huge population, some good talents etc...

So why can't Turkish basketball develop into a giant like so many nations have done in the past? x-Yugo, Spain, Greece, even Italy had its era of dominance, Lithuania etc?

Obviously our Turkish members have greater knowledge and can see the bigger picture. Let's discuss this. Honestly, without prejudices, without biased opinions based on the team you support or which country you are from. What would you change?

[stefans]

For me Turkish Basketball League is second domestic league in Europe.

[Led00]

Personally, I think they lack tradition in sport generally. Turkey is relatively new and expands very fast. It kinda reminds me of a new-born Premier League Football clubs like Chelsea, Man City and the rest that were taken as a small clubs and over night turned into Giants. Thus, opponents don't fear them yet. They need to prove they are worth, they can be counted on every single year, NT and clubs and it must last for at least a decade without some serious changes and then, they will get the respect, thus earn their name in sport history.

[KAPALI]

-

Because of GALATASARAY...

GALATASARAY was the sleepy GIANT in BASKETBALL...

NOW WE COME BACK ...

IN 2-3 years with ALLPOWER...

Its only the first steps, for us...

Everybody will see the this AWAKENING of a GIANT...

[TeoTheGreek13]

-

Because of GALATASARAY...

GALATASARAY was the sleepy GIANT in BASKETBALL...

NOW WE COME BACK ...

IN 2-3 years with ALLPOWER...

Its only the first steps, for us...

Everybody will see the this AWAKENING of a GIANT...

I'm terrified, stop it...

[Led00]

Please, Kapali, don't eat us, I assure you, our Zords are maybe small, but when we combine it into a MEGAZORD, we will stand against the sleeping Titan as Turkey is!

It's morphing time!

[i dont mind]

I personally think that turkish basketball is still in the learning process that started in 90's. You are right about the recent developments in economy, facilities, popularity and fan support however we still don't have our own school of basketball like for instance yugoslavian team had.

defence side of the game is something we still need to work on. a turkish player normally thinks about playing offense and scoring. we can also mention about fast-breaks here.

these things dont happen overnighty of course. you need to start from the youth basketball.

overall i can say that turkish basketball is moving into a right direction. i am sure we are going to take it to the next level in coming years.

[TalkBasket]

Hedo Turkoglu became the head of Turkish Basketball Federation. Maybe our Turkish members could comment more whether it's good or bad for Turkish basketball. Turkoglu will surely use his name in the new position. Lately more and more former players are taking charge of national federations (Kirilenko, Sabonis, Garbajosa).