By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After the second game against Greece, Turkish national team coach Ergin Ataman announced that Maxim Mutaf was cut from the roster.
However, he will be the last player to leave the team before the departure to Philippines. Turkey will travel to Manila with 14 players and the last two cuts will be announced just before the start of the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament.
Those 14 players are: Birkan Batum, Cedi Osman, Dogus Balbay, Furkan Korkmaz, Ender Arslan, Semih Erden, Oguz Savas, Bobby Dixon, Melih Mahmutoglu, Baris Hersek, Sinan Guler, Kenan Sipahi, Samet Geyik and Omer Asik.
Ergin Ataman hopes for a last minute change that could greatly empower his team. And that is convincing Ersan Ilyasova to travel to Manila and join the rest of the squad. The Turkish coach believes that the roster lacks strength in the “4” position, since Baris Hersek and Samet Geyik, the two power forwards of the team, didn’t get much playing time in the previous season.
Therefore, he is going to try and bring Ilyasova to Philippines for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Something difficult, but not improbable.