By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Ergin Ataman has won back-to-back EuroLeague titles with Anadolu Efes, he is aiming for a medal with the Turkish national team in the upcoming Eurobasket and his next step might even be the NBA.
ESPN’s top NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted the following: “One of Europe’s most accomplished coaches – Turkey’s Ergin Ataman – is surfacing as a candidate for assistant coaching jobs in the NBA, sources tell ESPN. Ataman, the Turkish national coach, has won back-to-back EuroLeague titles with Anadolu Efes”.
This is not a surprise to those familiar with the flamboyant coach whose quotes usually produce headlines. Ataman has created a system in Efes which gives a lot of liberties to his players, namely to the guard duo of Vasilije Micic and former NBA player Shane Larkin.
It’s only natural that after two seasons of unprecedented success in the history of Turkish basketball, Ataman also turned heads in the NBA. It remains to be seen if he wants to make the step and continue his career in the NBA as an assistant, like Italian coaching legends Ettore Messina and Sergio Scariolo have done in the past.
56-year-old Ataman has won pretty much everything in Europe, including the FIBA Saporta Cup, the FIBA EuroChallenge, the EuroCup, and five Turkish league championship titles.
He started his career back in 1996 and he spent time at Stanford University in the United States as an observer during the 1998-99 season. While he has implied that he is aiming for a three-peat with Efes, his contract expires this summer.