There has been a lot of upheaval at Turk Telekom Ankara over the summer as it looks to improve upon last season's eighthfinals exit to Frutti Extra Bursaspor. Perhaps the most interesting change is the appointment of Erdem Can as head coach, with the 41-year-old bringing 10 years of experience as an assistant at Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Utah of the NBA in the last decade. In particular, he spent seven years learning under the legendary Zeljko Obradovic while with Fenerbahce and together they reached five Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Fours and went on to win the title on one occasion. Coach Can should bring hunger and determination to Turk Telekom that sets it up well for the season ahead.
Roster rundown: Turk Telekom Ankara
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BACKCOURT
Given that Burak Gozeneli – a player who had a very limited role in 2021-22 – is the only remaining guard on the roster from last year's Turk Telekom team, there had to be several additions made during the off-season. At the point guard position, new signing Tony Taylor is expected to get the nod. He has EuroLeague and EuroCup experience from his time with PGE Turow Zgorzelec in 2014-15 and he joins from Pinar Karsiyaka Izmir after helping the team reach the 2021 Basketball Champions League championship game. Last season, Taylor averaged 11.8 points and 4.3 assists in 33 Turkish League games for Karsiyaka. Joining Taylor in the backcourt is Jerian Grant, who signed for the club from EA7 Emporio Armani Milan. He will be eager to build on that as he embarks upon his debut season in the EuroCup with Turk Telekom. The other two guards fighting it out for game time are Ridvan Oncel and Boran Guler. The former spent the last campaign with Galatasaray Istanbul and he returns to the EuroCup after representing Bahcesehir Koleji Istanbul in the competition in 2020-21. The latter is set to feature in the EuroCup for the first time following his move from Socar Petkimspor.
FRONTCOURT
A total of six new signings have been made for the frontcourt with wing Batuhan Acar being the sole survivor from last year's options. The 19-year-old is likely to once again have a small role as he has some more established names ahead of him in the pecking order. One of those is Axel Bouteille, who is a renowned three-point shooter with plenty of EuroCup experience from his time with Limoges and Unicaja Malaga. He averaged 10.0 points on 41.1% three-point shooting in 31 Spanish League games for Unicaja last season. Erkan Yilmaz played an important role for Bahcesehir Koleji in 2021-22 as it won the FIBA Europe Cup. During the team's European campaign, Yilmaz averaged 6.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 19.3 minutes on the floor. At the center position, there are a number of quality options set to battle it out for minutes. The first of those is Tyrique Jones, who was picked up by Turk Telekom following his league-leading rebounding numbers with Carpegna Prosciutto Basket Pesaro in Italy. As well as being dominant on the boards, Jones also averaged 13.1 points on 65.8% two-point shooting. He is set to appear in the EuroCup for the first time next season. On the other end of the scale, 36-year-old Semih Erden has joined Turk Telekom and brings a plethora of EuroLeague experience with him, having played 160 games in the competition for four clubs across 10 seasons. There is yet more know-how available to Coach Can in this position, as Emircan Kosut has arrived from fellow Turkish side Yukatel Merkezefendi. He was a member of the Darussafaka team that won the EuroCup in 2018 and he also played a total of 25 games in the EuroLeague over four seasons with Anadolu Efes Istanbul and Darussafaka. Last but not least, Turk Telekom brought in Nate Sestina from Yukatel Merkezefendi, where he averaged 9.9 points and 4.4 rebounds in 30 Turkish League games during the 2021-22 campaign.
PLAYER TO WATCH
One signing that stands out, in particular, is Turk Telekom's deal to bring in small forward Axel Bouteille. The 27-year-old has just over three years of EuroCup experience; he made his debut in the competition with Chalon in 2013-14, averaging just 4.0 minutes in four games, before going on to represent Limoges (2017-18 and 2018-19) and Unicaja (2020-21) in far bigger roles. In his last campaign in the EuroCup with Unicaja, Bouteille recorded averages of 12.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists, as well as a shooting percentage of 47.5% from three-point range. Having someone on your roster who knows how to find the basket is a luxury and Turk Telekom knows it can rely on Bouteille to do just that.
OUTLOOK
The 2021-22 EuroCup Regular Season saw Turk Telekom return to the competition after a three-year absence, with the team going on to finish with an 8-8 record – 6-2 at home and 2-6 on the road – before falling at the eighthfinals stage to Frutti Extra Bursaspor. Coach Can will be looking to follow on from the work done by previous head coach Henrik Rodl, who helped turn Ankara Spor Salonu into a fortress. It is on the road where the team needs to make a marked improvement, so it will be important that the experienced new additions display their leadership and look to silence home crowds where possible.