Efes announced it parted ways with its head coach.
Efes releases Erdem Can from head coaching post
On the morning after its worst defeat of the season, Anadolu Efes Istanbul announced a parting of ways with Erdem Can, the head coach it had hired last summer to begin a new era. Efes fell to 9-15 on Wednesday with a 96-70 road loss to lower-ranked Zalgiris Kaunas. It was the second-worst Efes thrashing taken by Efes this decade, after a 100-65 defeat at CSKA Moscow in the 2020-21 season.
Efes staggered to a 2-4 record to open the season even before a wave of injuries hit that forced the team to reshape itself with new signings such as Mike Daum and Dan Oturu. A subsequent 7-4 run highlighted by a first road win, 82-89 at AS Monaco, seemed to steady the team. However, six defeats in a row followed, including a 130-126 heartbreaker at defending champion Real Madrid after four overtimes, making it the longest game in EuroLeague history. Subsequent home wins over top-four teams Virtus Segafredo Bologna and FC Barcelona seemed to hint at a recovery, as did the return of injured stars like Will Clyburn and Tibor Pleiss. But a tight home loss to Monaco and Wednesday's debacle in Kaunas proved the breaking point for Efes and Can.
Efes has not yet indicated who will replace Can in time for the team's home game on Friday against EA7 Emporio Armani Milan.
Last season, Can was the 2022-23 EuroCup Coach of the Year after guiding a fellow Turkish side Turk Telekom Ankara to EuroCup Final and the Turkish League semifinals.
Can began his coaching career back in 2008, acting as an assistant at Turk Telekom – the team from where he is born, Ankara – for two years. From there, he took on the role of head coach for the first time at Turkish First Division club Olin Edirne, where he remained between 2010 and 2012.
Ahead of the 2012-13 campaign, Can agreed to become an assistant again, this time at Fenerbahce. In his first season at the club, he worked under Simone Pianigiani and Ertugrul Erdogan, before learning from legendary coach Zeljko Obradovic for the next seven years. Alongside Obradovic, Can became a EuroLeague champion in 2017. The final Fenerbahce head coach that Can assisted was Igor Kokoskov in the 2020-21 season.
Can then departed from Fenerbahce and became an assistant for Quin Snyder at the Utah Jazz. After one season in the NBA, Can returned to his native Turkey having accepted the opportunity to become Turk Telekom's head coach.