By Bugra Uzar/ info@eurohoops.net
Ergin Ataman spoke to the “Boyali Alan” program of the “Radyospor” Turkish radio station and he confirmed that Andrea Bargnani will not be joining the Turkish club. On the contrary even his own future is in question.
As he explained: “Bargnani wanted too much money. Our offer was close to what he wanted but his agents kept raising the price and fianlly we gave up. We are talking with other big men. It’s going to end this week and our addition will be a surprise”.
However, the long term future of the team is in question and Ataman doesn’t exclude the possibility of leaving Galatasaray: “If the board of the club decides to downsize the basketball section, then I will leave. That was the reason I left Besiktas. However, Galatasaray is having some tough times but I believe those days are going to end. My biggest motivation is to win the Eurocup”.
He also presented his side of things in the Joey Dorsey situation: “I didn’t make a mistake about Dorsey. We were dealing with his off-court problems. He kept getting punishments from club. Dorsey was always telling us ‘Panathinaikos wants me, Barca wants me, Efes wants me’. I’ve tried to motivate him by criticizing him publicly in the media. He doesn’t have bad intentions, but he just couldn’t concentrate. We were dealing with his issues for the last six months”.