By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Turkey head coach Ergin Ataman was asked to clarify the decision of his club Anadolu Efes to not allow star guard Vasilije Micic to play in the November’s 2023 World Cup Qualifiers. Micic’s Serbia was facing Ataman’s Turkey and managed to win 77 – 76.
“I made my last statement on what happened,” Ataman said in the post-game presser before elaborating a bit. “I don’t want to make any other comment again about this. Please you [Serbian] media ask the same question to Sarunas Jasikevicius on why Barcelona didn’t send [Nikola] Kalinic here. You can ask Zeljko [Obradovic] why they [Partizan Belgrade] didn’t send [Ioannis] Papapetrou to the Greek national team.”
Ataman received a lot of criticism from Serbian media after Efes didn’t permit Micic to join the Serbian national team for the important clash vs. Turkey. What complicated the situation is the fact that Ataman is the head coach of both the Turkish national team and Efes and thus came under fire for something that wasn’t a personal call.
“Everything is clear,” Ataman said. “There’s nothing provocative. Anadolu Efes is fighting in EuroLeague and is in a difficult situation without Shane Larkin. Micic is the only point guard and he also had a small injury. He didn’t practice in the last two days and didn’t play in a friendly game against Besiktas.”