By Melikşah Bayrav / info@eurohoops.net
As one of the most important clubs in Turkish basketball history, Turk Telekom was struggling to meet expectations in recent years despite its quality rosters with experienced players. The team, which made a fresh start with their new head coach Erdem Can this summer, has managed to be one of the best teams in whole European basketball so far.
In addition to the new head coach, Turk Telekom has bolstered its roster with additions such as Tony Taylor, Axel Bouteille, Jerian Grant, Tyrique Jones, Nate Sestina, Erkan Yılmaz, Rıdvan Öncel, Semih Erden, and although almost starting from the scratch with completely new faces, they made a great start to the new 2022-23 season.
As a club that competes both in Basketbol Super Ligi and 7DAYS EuroCup, Turk Telekom has had a great run so far in both campaigns. They won six of their eight games in EuroCup regular season so far and that great run makes them the leader of Group B.
In addition, Turk Telekom, which won all their last nine games in the Turkish league, attracted attention by beating Fenerbahce Beko in an away game.
Returning to head coaching with Turk Telekom this year after a 10-year hiatus, Erdem Can, who has shown a very impressive coaching performance so far, answered Eurohoops’ questions.
Although Turk Telekom is a club that has had quality rosters with experienced players for many years, we have been seeing that the expectation hadn’t been met in recent years. You, on the other hand, have achieved great stability in a very short time with the roster you have. What is the secret formula for this?
“First of all, we’re only at the beginning of the season. So it would be much better if we did an analysis at the end of the season to talk about stability. The most important thing is that all of our players have great characters, they are very concentrated right now and they are all open to developing their games. They also train very hard in our training sessions. As the coaching staff, we also work very hard. So because of all these factors, I think we found a rhythm so far but we haven’t accomplished anything yet. It’s true that we won 16 of our 19 games so far but the most important thing is to finish the season well. Because of that, we have a long way ahead but as I said before, we have a team of individuals with really good intentions, and this is a hard-working team. Both players and coaching staff work very hard.”
As you said we’re only at the beginning of the season but as a team with new players and a coach, Turk Telekom seems a very well-organized team on the court. Also, team chemistry seems very high, how did you create such a well-organized team in such a short time?
“Actually I have to say that our rules are obvious on this matter, we have some clear rules on both offense and defense. We are working on those obvious rules in every training session and also talking about those rules in team meetings. Therefore, when we repeat those obvious offense and defense rules every time, it becomes a habit for players. This habit allows players to react and move together on the court. In that sense, it’s obvious that we are in a really good development process so far. Especially in the offense.”
This season, we can easily see that your team gets great contributions from local players like Ridvan Oncel, Erkan Yilmaz, Berk Demir, and Semih Erden. What are your thoughts on the contribution and importance of local players in your team?
“Looking at Erkan (Yilmaz), he has great potential like all of our local players. I had face-to-face meetings with all our new players this summer. Even if we were not in the same country, I made these calls via video chat applications. The main purpose of doing this was to mutually understand what I wanted to express. The feeling of trust is very important with players. Today, having regard to the whole European basketball, it’s obvious that there aren’t so many versatile players, especially at the elite level. I think that Erkan has great potential to compete at the elite level. This is also valid for Ridvan (Oncel), too. So I’m aware that none of these players have been trusted in the past as much as here, and have not been given a certain credit. On the first day, I told these players that they should not hesitate to be the decision-makers with the ball in their hands. If a certain moment calls for the player to shoot the ball, the player shouldn’t hesitate and should make the correct decision. Players have to shoot the ball, make decisions, attack the paint and play pick-and-rolls. Of course, they can bring these skills to higher levels by working extra. At this point, Erkan takes responsibility and he’s getting better each and every day. I think he can be much better than this, it’s also valid for Ridvan. Ridvan has a quickness that you can’t see in many players in Europe. He can use that quickness much better in offense and defense. He should improve in the following aspects: his static shooting percentage, attacking to closeout situations and making the correct decision in the paint. We’re working very hard with him on these aspects, and we’ll continue to work. Also, Berk (Demir) is a great player with such potential. He contributes so well to our team at the power forward position but he should be much more aggressive on defense. Semih Erden is the captain of our team; he didn’t play last season due to injury problems but so far he contributed so well in every game. Sometimes he has ups and downs on the court but people should realize this, Semih is now 36. It is very difficult for a 36-year-old player to come back from such a long injury and perform 100 percent every second. But when Semih checks in the game, he changes the whole rhythm. He did this in so many games this season. I trust his skills and character so much. I would also like to mention Boran Güler, who also suffered a serious injury at a young age last season. We are very patient with him and we’re giving him chances slowly. For example, he started the game against Trento in the EuroCup. We’re trying to help him find his self-confidence. I believe that if Boran keeps working that hard, someday he’ll become a very important player. We’re working so hard to get contributions from local players; they are also working very hard in practices. I hope that we can continue this process in a positive way and when the season comes to an end, we can create a team that everyone enjoys watching.”
Considering foreign players, we see that you have received great contributions from Jerian Grant, Axel Bouteille, Tony Taylor, and Nate Sestina. Especially, you use Grant as a playmaker and get valuable assist contributions from him. What would you like to say about their contribution?
“I, my assistant coaches, and our GM Onder Kulcebas, spend a lot of time doing research on the character of the players in our transfer list. It’s not that hard to see the level of the player in a technical way when you watch them play. I wanted to choose players with characters suitable for the offensive and defensive systems in my mind, and more importantly, the team chemistry we will create. I think we made great choices so far, especially in terms of character. This is very pleasing. Here I already knew Nate (Sestina) from his NBA Summer League stint with the Utah Jazz. Also, Jerian Grant’s skills and character showed that he could fit in our team. I actually disagree with you saying ‘You’re using Jerian Grant as a playmaker’ here. I think the word playmaker has no place in basketball anymore. Maybe it would be more accurate to say the decision-maker instead of the playmaker. A classic playmaker gets the ball to half-court, starts the half-court offense, and dominates the ball so much, just like Petar Naumoski (smiles). Today’s basketball is much more different than that. As a team, we want to play dynamic basketball with a high tempo. So Jerian Grant is one of the decision-makers in our team, especially when he plays in the shooting guard position. The main thing is for us to have players who can play both sides of the court, offense and defense. We have players who can perform well on offense and defense. Also, Axel Bouteille is a great shooter, he is one of the best shooters in all of European basketball. When he finds his rhythm, it doesn’t matter for him to take contested shots. However, we still have a lot of aspects to improve, as I said, we are at the beginning of the season. We haven’t created a success story yet, we have to improve step by step. We have a good roster, we’re training very hard. However, we still have a long way to go.”
Also, Tyrique Jones had a great season so far. When he takes the ball in the paint, he’s nearly impossible to stop. What are your thoughts on Jones’ performance and potential so far?
“Regardless of their age, all our players have the potential to play at the higher levels of European basketball. There is an important point here about Tyrique (Jones), which I tried to explain to him when I first met him. Most people think that he had a good season in Italy last year, but I disagree with that. Yes, he made some good stats with Pesaro but against the toughest teams in Italy, he wasn’t very effective. He will show that he is a much more important player when he can be effective also against big teams. Yes, it’s obvious that Tyrique Jones is a player with great potential but in the last two summers, he waited for an offer from the NBA or the G-League and came to Europe in October. That means he couldn’t be part of his team during the pre-season training process. In my opinion, this situation negatively affects the adjustment process of foreign players like Jones to European basketball. They need to learn about European basketball, so Tyrique joining us in the summer was very important for me. I believed that his presence with us during the pre-season process would have a positive effect on his basketball, and I told him that as well. He is also a player with a really great character, just like our other players. He is getting better day by day by working on the features he can develop in practice. If he continues to work in this way, he has the potential to play at higher levels, yet he is at the beginning of the way like our team.”
In an interview you gave this summer, you said that you want to “revive the basketball culture in Ankara” with Turk Telekom. We see that your arena is nearly full, especially in most of the games you have played recently. Do you think the basketball culture in Ankara has started to revive?
“There is definitely more support from the fans compared to the past years. The fans who come to attend our games enjoy being there. Our fans started coming to the games and supporting us more and more. I believe that this will continue to increase because Ankara is a very important basketball city. We have great potential as an organization. I think there’s no reason why this team shouldn’t compete at higher levels. Our organization has the power to achieve those higher levels, we have a very beautiful city besides our potential fans. We hope to take this to a higher level. I hope we can, but there is definitely a positive development at the moment.”
Yes, you have made a great start to the season, but as you said, we are only at the beginning. What is your definition of success for this season?
“I always say the same thing in the statements I make or in the interviews I give. We have only one goal this season, and that is to get better every day and play better basketball every day. We want this development to be seen not only by us but also by the people who follow us. If you start the road with this mentality and do your best every day, the result will take you to a good place. If we don’t fight enough, don’t share the ball, don’t run the court, or don’t do our best on the court, that means we’re unsuccessful. That is my definition of failure. For example, I can talk about the first half of the Gran Canaria game in the EuroCup. Yes, in the end, we lost the game but we were able to come out in a completely different way in the second half and come back from 20 points. Therefore, it is important to be able to reveal a collective sharing rather than the names of players on the court. If we can keep that collective sharing for the whole season, it would mean we’re successful. We can evaluate the point we have reached at the end of the season together. For example, you can say things like ‘Turk Telekom finished the season like this and they were successful’, or ‘It ended like this and they failed’. As a coach, my goal is to get my team better every day.”
Last year, you were an assistant coach in Utah Jazz head coach Quin Snyder’s staff. What kind of positive effects did this one-season NBA adventure have on your career?
“Obviously it had a lot of positive effects on my career. First of all, I felt that I needed to understand the players more, listen to them more, and empathize more often emotionally. However, you should never give up the organizational and technical discipline in Europe. Therefore, by making a synthesis of these, I try to create a formula that will keep my relations with the players well and keep them following me. I try my best to create a team that is aggressive, hungry, and willing to succeed. While doing this, I think that subjects such as listening to and understanding the player better in the NBA contribute to me positively. In terms of technical aspects, I had the chance to work with coach Quin Snyder. He also worked in Europe before his career. Quin is a genius with a great basketball IQ. I had the chance to work with two great basketball minds, Zeljko Obradovic and Quin Snyder. I can include Igor Kokoskov next to these two names. It’s a great chance for me to have worked with these coaches, it was very valuable for me to be able to create my own coaching philosophy alongside these names.”
Sometimes we can see that you get angry at your players or raise the volume of your voice, especially during the timeouts. As a coach, how do you set the limit for this?
“The most important thing for me is to be myself. If players feel that I am acting the way I am during the game, in the meeting or during the timeout, they know what my sincere intentions are. Therefore, they are aware that my approach is not a personal attack against them; I’m talking about my players in Turk Telekom. If we talk about the limits, I think your players will feel this attitude if you are yourself and sincere. Sometimes the player shows extra tolerance towards your angry behavior because he sees you are fully natural and thinks, ‘This guy is saying something good for my improvement’. When this happens, players show extra tolerance. Sometimes when you feel that the player is doing something for the benefit of the team, you are more tolerant when you realize that the mistake he made actually happened while trying to do something positive. I think it’s about mutual understanding and being sincere with the players. That is a situation that develops more naturally rather than a certain limit, so I can’t say something like my limit is this or that.”
So, what percentage of basketball do you think is tactics, and what percentage is communication?
“I want to add one more option to this, it’s chemistry. I think team chemistry is one of the most important things about basketball. The factors that compose team chemistry also have two dimensions: One of them is the tactical aspect, which is, bringing together the players who are suitable for the tactical and technical part. The second aspect is the chemistry of the characters. To create a group that can be together, enjoy playing and perform together if possible. I can separate these two factors as 50-50 percent, but there are many different details within these 50 percent portions. As a coach, you cannot make your players follow you if your technical knowledge is not enough. The solution, especially in critical moments, should be you as the coach. At this point, you need to motivate the players and give the necessary tactical information. If you cannot do that, players won’t follow you as a leader. Also, if you can’t communicate properly and the player doesn’t trust you, no matter how many plays you know, you can’t convince the player to play in a proper way. So these are intertwined details, which is why I just said 50-50 percent. If you want to be among the best in your job, you have to be at the top level in these two aspects.”
Some of the players and coaches who went to the NBA from Europe say they can’t feel they belong there. As a European coach, have you ever felt like you don’t belong to the NBA basketball?
“Actually, there has never been a time when I felt like I didn’t belong there, but basketball played in Europe and basketball played in the USA are very different. Both games are called basketball but durations, court sizes, rules, number of spectators, and timeouts are different. So almost everything is different except basketball. There is a different culture and people who have completely adopted this culture. When you go there, you have to accept that culture from the beginning because the structure in the NBA is very different from Europe. Also, when the offer comes, you go with knowing it. When you act with the presumption of this, it may be easier to live there both as a coach and as a person from a different country. Of course, the game there is not like in Europe. Especially the structures are very different. So everything from marketing to TV revenues to arenas is different.”
Do you think we will see a coach leaving Europe in the near future for being a head coach in the NBA, or is it very difficult to change the system there?
“It’s very popular for ex-players to be head coaches in the NBA these days. Other than that, I don’t think it’s too far for a European coach to be a head coach in the NBA because basketball has some obvious facts. So many European players went and became very successful in the NBA, I think there is a chance that European coaches who have good communication with these players and also speak English will have a chance. It is important to know that basketball in Europe and basketball in the NBA are very different from each other. There is pure basketball in Europe, you need to play collectively in Europe if you want to become successful. Basketball in America is more individual. In addition, there is a structure that emphasizes this individuality with its rules and marketing strategy. So, a coach who goes to the NBA should be able to maintain this individualist structure there. From the way he manages the player to the basketball he plays, he has to promise this to his organization. If these conditions are met, there is no reason why coaches from Europe cannot be head coaches in the NBA.”