By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
You might know that there’s a city in Turkey called Batman. In 2008, the mayor of the city said he was suing Christopher Nolan for using the city’s name without its permission in his “Batman” trilogy.
This city also happens to be the birthplace of Sehmus Hazer. And if you have not heard of him, you will soon. The 19 years old guard of Banvit was the top scorer of his team during the 78-60 win over Nizhny Novgorod and he continues the tradition of young Turkish talent, which is emerging from the junior teams and can play a pivotal role in the future.
Cedi Osman and Furkan Korkmaz are the marquee names of this “nouvelle vague”, however, players like Hazer can’t be overlooked.
A member of the Turkish U18 team, which played in the 2017 European Championship, Hazer averaged 9.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists in the tournament.
And while the 17 points are his personal best in the Basketball Champions League, this is not the first game in which he is turning heads in Turkey. His record is 26 points for Bandırma Kırmızı, Banvit’s farm team, in the Turkish second division. And last year he had a great game against Nanterre in the Basketball Champions League, scoring eight crucial points.
This week he had to step up. Banvit decided to release two players and Hazer got the opportunity that he needed.
He had already scored 14 points on the 96-67 blow out win against Le Mans, but that was a game in which seven players of Banvit had scored in double digits.
Against Nizhny Novgorod, things were quite different. Banvit was in need of him. Hazer stayed for 25 minutes on the floor, he scored 17 points on 7/12 FG, he grabbed three rebounds, had two steals, one assist and just one turnover.
Not bad for a 19-year-old. And considering the fact that Banvit has a 3-1 record so far in the season, it seems that Hazer can be one of the prospects to watch in the Basketball Champions League.