janvier 21, 2009

Hello everybody,
Just as it is for all real basketball fans, the arrival of the Top 16 is good news for Fenerbahce Ulker fans. You know, we are challenging on two fronts this season: on the court and off the court. I'm sure you know what I mean: on the court, with our opponents; and off the court, with injuries. We are trying to defend our title in Turkish League, to win the Turkish Cup and of course, the main target, to reach the Final Four in Berlin. So far, we have done well despite the difficulty of successive injuries. Back in the early fall, playing for the Turkish national team in the group qualifying stages for EuroBasket 2009, three of us - Semih Erden, Omer Asik and I - suffered serious injuries. Semih and I started to play again in the middle of the Euroleague regular season. But Omer Asik is still waiting for his turn to come back, hopefully within a month. That's not to forget the long-term injury suffered by our new signing at the beginning of the season, Gordan Giricek, whom we hope will be ready for the Top 16.
Besides the return of Giricek, the main good news is that we showed during the regular season that we were capable of doing something special despite all those very important absences. I think we were able to qualify because of the young talents and newcomers making such a good connection with the experienced players on the team. Emir Preldzic, Gasper Vidmar and Oguz Savas made huge...
OMER ONAN - ISTANBUL, TURKEY