Anadolu Efes Istanbul has moved quickly to cover the injury of Dogus Ozdemiroglu, with the club signing Justus Hollatz on a one-year loan from Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana. Hollatz (1.91 meters, 22 years old) joined Cedevita earlier this summer, but an agreement has been reached for him to spend the 2023-24 campaign at Efes. Last season, he played outside of his native Germany for the first time last season, averaging 7.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals for Rio Breogan in 34 Spanish League games. A German international, he will back up star guards Darius Thompson and Shane Larkin at Efes next season.
Efes grabs talented point guard Justus Hollatz
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He already has European experience
In addition to representing Germany at the international level, Hollatz has also played in European competition at club level. After signing for Veolia Towers Hamburg in the 2018-19 season, he made his first-team debut in the 2019-20 campaign but had to wait until 2021-22 before playing in the BKT EuroCup for the first time. In 13 EuroCup games for Hamburg, Hollatz posted averages of 8.2 points, 2.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.3 steals per night.
Testing himself on foreign shores
Last summer, Hollatz took the decision to move away from Germany as he signed for Rio Breogan. The young point guard had some notable performances last season, including a 21-point outing against Real Madrid in early April, an 8-assist night against BAXI Manresa in Round 6 and a 5-steal performance against Coviran Granada at the end of January. Hollatz's displays on the court saw him named to the Spanish League Best Young Five for the 2022-23 season.
His first shot at the EuroLeague
Next season will see Hollatz make his long-awaited EuroLeague debut, and he will do so under Efes's first-year head coach Erdem Can. As noted above, Hollatz has the opportunity to learn under the likes of Thompson and Larkin on a day-by-day basis at Efes, which will no doubt work wonders for his development. The German came up against Thompson when the American was playing for Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in the previous campaign, so he will now get to see what makes the playmaker tick up close and personal.