By Mete Budak/ info@eurohoops.net
Galatasaray had its Euroleague media day today at “Abdi Ipekci” Arena and coach Ergin Ataman didn’t hide his ambitions. The latest Eurocup winners want to be a factor also in the Euroleague.
Even if the plans of Ataman changed during the summer, the Turkish coach believes that his team can do it: “We wanted to keep most of the players from last season but this didn’t happen for various reasons. Now we have only five players continuing from last season. Even though that wasn’t planned, we built a team with potential. We have 2-3 good players for each position and we will be able to rotate more this season. Our budget stands somewhere between 11th and 12th in Euroleague. That means we have to get past at least four teams to be among the top 8 spots of the standings. We want to defend our home court, win a bunch of away games and make it to the playoffs”.
And despite many new faces, Ataman expect his team to be ready for the start of the season: “This team needs some time to bring things together, but I think it will be fully ready to go by the start of Euroleague games”.