101 Greats of European Basketball

Vladimir Stankovic
relocated to Milan, a team with Dejan Bodiroga, Nando
Gentile, Rolando Blackman and Gregor Fucka. Milano’s
coach was Bogdan Tanjevic, who would be a future
coach of Turkcan’s with the Turkish national team and
Fenerbahce. The Italian team was the favorite, but Efes
won their first duel, played in Istanbul on March 6, 1996,
by the score of 76-68. The hero of the game was guard
Naumoski, who scored 31 points. Mirsad contributed
6 points and 6 boards. The eight-point difference gave
hope to both teams, but the Italians ended up losing
their third straight final in that competition. After PAOK
and ALBA, the executioner this time was Efes. In Milan,
Olimpia’s 77-70 win was not enough. Naumoski was the
top scorer again with 26 points, and Turkcan added 7
points and 13 rebounds. It was the European trophy
ever lifted by a Turkish team.
First Turk in the NBA
In 1997, at only 21 years old, Mirsad Turkcan was
already a future star and a coveted player. At the U22
World Championship for Men that year, he shined with
17.7 points and 10.7 rebounds, and at the 1997 Euro-
Basket, he helped Turkey reach eighth place. In 1998, he
finished the season as the best rebounder in the Turkish
League and nobody was surprised when the Houston
Rockets chose him with the 18th pick in that year’s NBA
draft. Turkcan would become the first Turkish player in
the NBA. Due to the lockout, he remained at Efes for
a while, but when the NBA season finally started, he
was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers and then to the
New York Knicks. After seven games in New York, he
was traded yet again to the Milwaukee Bucks, where he
played 10 more games. His average was 5.3 minutes,
only enough for 1.9 points and 1.9 rebounds per game.
With his height, solid shooting and especially, his great
rebounding capabilities, Turkcan almost had a perfect
profile for the NBA, where physical aspects are important.
But the coaches just didn’t trust him. Disappointed,
he decided to go back to Europe.
Turkcan started the 2000-01 season again at Efes
Pilsen, but he ended up with Racing Paris, where
his 15.9 points and 8.4 rebounds in 14 games were
enough for CSKA Moscow to call him for the start of
a big project that had one goal: winning the EuroLeague.
However, before moving to Moscow he had to
take part in another historic event for Turkish basketball.
At the 2001 EuroBasket in Turkey, the hosts
reached the title game where they lost to Yugoslavia,
led by Bodiroga and Predrag Stojakovic. However,
the silver for Turkey was its first medal in continental
competitions. Together with Ibrahim Kutluay, Hidayet
Turkoglu, Mehmed Okur, Harun Erdenay, Kerem Tunceri,
Kaya Peker, Huseyin Besok, Omer Onan, Orhun
Ene and Asim Pars, Turkcan made the history books.
With 10.7 points, he was the fourth-best scorer on
the team, and with 8.3 boards, the second-best rebounder.
In its first try, CSKA didn’t manage to reach the Bologna
Final Four in 2002. The team finished third in the
Top 16 with a 3-3 record, right behind Maccabi Tel Aviv
(4-2) and Tau Ceramica (4-2). With 16.2 points and 10.7
rebounds, Turkcan was one of the best players on his
team. The following season he played at Montepaschi
Siena of Italy. The team did reach the Final Four in Barcelona
but fell to Benetton Treviso in the semis by a close
65-62 score. It was, probably, the worst day as a pro for
Turkcan. In 29 minutes he didn’t score a single point, after
having averaged 14.8 that season, and he grabbed
just 5 rebounds, way below his season 11.8 per game
until then. In the game for third place, he collected his
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