By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
Anyone can get a chance in a team, but not everyone will seize it.
Eurohoops presents five players who have made the competition their own and who are slowly attracting some of the limelight on the biggest stage in European basketball, the EuroLeague.
SERTAC SANLI
Anadolu Efes Istanbul | Center | 5 August 1991 | Turkey
7,3 pts | 1,5 reb | 0,7 ast | 0,5 stl | 0,2 blk | 0,5 tov | 13:23 min | 6,5 PIR | 9/22 GS
There are more than a few well-known names in Anadolu Efes Istanbul, but there are also more than a few opportunities given by Ergin Ataman to anyone who wants to show what they’re worth. There’s no better example than Sertac Sanli, who stepped up in the absence of Tibor Pleiss and has now worthily earned his place in the rotation with a playing time that exceeds 20:00 in recent games. In fact, he scored in double digits in seven of the last ten games and now has a career-high point average.
Efes is making an impressive run in the second part of the regular season and Sanli, in his third season with the team and fourth in the EuroLeague, is credited with his fair share of this success.
NICK WEILER-BABB
FC Bayern Munich | Guard | 12 December 1995 | USA
6,3 pts | 3,3 reb | 2,2 ast | 1,2 stl | 0,1 blk | 1,2 tov | 23:35 min | 7,1 PIR | 10/29 GS
FC Bayern Munich is having the best season in its short history in the EuroLeague and wouldn’t have gotten so far (5th place with 18-11) if each of the players didn’t contribute something. Nick Weiler-Babb is one of the benchmark players, even though he’s only in his second season as a pro and a rookie in the team and the competition.
He’s one of only four Bayern players who have played in all 29 games and Andrea Trinchieri gives him the third-highest playing time. How could he not when Weiler-Babb contributes in every area of the game, from defense to offense?