By Cesare Milanti / info@eurohoops.net
Turkey will play the 2023 FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Istanbul to keep on dreaming about a spot at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, but the red-and-white national team won’t have Scottie Wilbekin on board.
Following the latest Turkish friendly game won 87-84 against Poland, the national team head coach Ergin Ataman said they couldn’t reach the 30-year-old playmaker. “We reached out to his club but I believe they couldn’t persuade him either”, the former Anadolu Efes head coach said.
Now, Fenerbahce published an official press release in which the yellow-and-blue responds to the accusations regarding its player. Stating he suffered two long-term knee injuries, Fenerbahce said that Scottie Wilbekin “has programmed the entire summer period to strengthen his injured knee within the special program, to do exercises to prevent injury, and to prepare for the new season with minimum risk”.
“Our player, Scottie Wilbekin, explained the above-mentioned process in detail from the first day we were contacted by our National Team administrative teams and presented his reports to our National Team officials both about his injury processes during the season and all the details of the special program he applied during the summer period”, it was also said in the statement.
Moreover, “Our athlete did not refuse to join the National Team as claimed, he just stated that he was far from playing a match at a competitive level due to this serious knee injury he suffered for the first time in his career and the process after, and he asked for his forgiveness from the qualifying matches to be played this summer. All the details in this process were also conveyed to the Turkish Basketball Federation officials regularly and in detail by our branch”, Fenerbahce’s press release continued.
In the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, the former Maccabi Tel Aviv player averaged 11.1 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 50.6% from two. At the 2019 FIBA World Cup with Turkey, instead, he had 10.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 6.5 assists per game.
Zorunlu Açıklama | Oyuncumuz Scottie Wilbekin hakkında oluşturulan gündeme dair.
🔗 https://t.co/OX3sWVNduz pic.twitter.com/steWZQTek9
— Fenerbahçe Beko (@FBBasketbol) August 11, 2023
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague