By Semih Tuna/ info@eurohoops.net
Galatasaray remains unbeaten in Eurocup and coach Ergin Ataman seems eager to go all the way, win the Eurocup title and return to the Euroleague in the new format of the 2016-17 season.
In a long interview in the GSTV he said among others: “No team in Turkey has won the Eurocup so far. We want to get the title and join Euroleague again”.
Galatasaray wants to build a new arena and this is the key for the future of the team accoding to Ataman: “The new arena project is so important for Gala basketball teams in terms of money. With the new arena, Galatasaray will be a worldwide brand in basketball”.
And money is an issue for the team as Ataman admitted: “I’m not angry with Furkan Aldemir. If he had wanted to come back in preseason, we’d have already landed him. Also If we had paid the money that Dogus Darussafaka offered for Furkan, he would have been with us. But they offered a high amount of money. Huertas was our top summer target. He said he would join us but his priority was the NBA and he went there. Still, he doesn’t play much. We never thought of landing Arroyo again cause we cut our budget from 11 to 6 millions euros”.
As for his position as the coach of the Turkish national team, he is not leaving the bench, as rival club Fenerbahce has asked: “No matter what happens, I’ll keep coaching the Turkish national team until 2017. Fenerbahce‘s president Aziz Yildirim’s statements on me can’t affect what I think. I’ve only two presidents. I’ve no problem with Aziz Yildirim. He is a successful president and he managed to persuade Obradovic to coach Fenerbahce”.