What is happening with Besiktas?
At the beginning of the season, Besiktas Sompo Japan was looking pretty good, a title contender in Basketball Champions League and definitely a candidate for the Turkish playoffs at least. The squad had one of the largest rotation including many local talented players and an experienced coach in Dusko Ivanovic. But the results had failed to come and this week is a tragic one for Besiktas. After being the favorite at home vs. JDA Dijon, they were destroyed by 33 points in BasketballCL. And then, yesterday, in the domestic league they lost again by 20 at Darussafaka, a team that has at the moment only 3 foreigners.
The passion of playing basketball and the appetite for victories seem to be an old memory for Besiktas. They are again in a crucial moment in the European campaign, where the squad is needing almost only positive results from now on. They are in a group where anything is possible and the level of the other teams is average, so it had to be easy for Besiktas to reach out to the next stage, the BasketballCL playoffs. But it’s very complicated now!
Besiktas’ evolution is affected by a couple of real problems that’s why we don’t see actually the real value of their game at the moment. Let’s summarize them here:
- they have 2 important players injured, the American center James McAdoo and the Turkish forward Birkan Batuk, who are very important for the rotation. With them back in the roster, the situation can radically change.
- the lack of motivation of some foreigner players who had sometimes a very poor contribution to the game. Excepting Jordan Theodore, the other foreigners are not having a constant evolution.
- Oguz Savas can do better than that. The Turkish center has a lot of experience in the Euroleague but he is making a very weak season so far. Nobody is expecting from him to do miracles, but he is playing like a 42 years old guy when he actually is only 32!
Photo: Basketball Champions League
Gratian Cormos
