While perusing twitter today, I ran across this interesting take on the Enes Kanter situation. As a UK fan, I started reading this post and anticipated the normal “I hate KY and Calipari” slant. Surprisingly, that didn’t happen at all.
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The JerseyChaser.com gives us some insight into the motives of some of these Turkish basketball teams. Believe me, they’re definitely not people you should trust.
This might be a great opportunity for the NCAA to prove there’s a way for talented young people to make their way to the NCAA and then to the pros.
Here’s an excerpt…
[QUOTE]Hundreds of thousands of dollars are invested in the housing, education, training and development of these players. Because these players are youth level, they can’t sign an official FIBA contract until they are 18 years old. Until then they aren’t contractually bound to a specific club, but are loyal based on their word and bond as well as the club’s.
This unofficial arrangement can give a club like Fenerbahce the flexibility to doctor records and fabricate documents concerning the player. I played professionally in Turkey and have had it done to me.
[/QUOTE][B]Here’s some insight into what Fenerbahce has to lose…[/B]
[QUOTE]Kanter would be circumventing this process, and Fenerbahce losing a dominant presence in the middle and a financial bargaining chip when the NBA came calling. I don’t agree with Fenerbahce, but I can’t blame them for being salty.
Like most European clubs, Fenerbahce Ulker feels like they own their players, and homegrown talent defection is a blow to their basketball business, as well as a stab at their personal and national pride. Kanter’s controversial exit from the team was less than amicable, due in part to the involvement of pseudo agent Max Ergul.
Ergul has been linked to several Turkish players, most recently Ersan Ilyasova of the Milwaukee Bucks. Ergul is a mysterious figure in this saga, the Kasier Sose of a Turkish melo-drama. Though officially recognized as Kanter’s advisor, Ergul has been called an agent by Karakas (which Ergul denies) and is directly blamed for Kanter’s exit.
Because Kanter is attending an N.C.A.A. institution, there is no buyout clause so Fenerbahce cannot re-coup their hundred thousand investment. I believe this more than anything else, has ushered them into snitch territory. On the flip side if Kanter is ruled ineligible by the N.C.A.A. and he returns to Europe, Fenerbahce would be in line to receive a buyout from any team that wants to secure his talents.
[/QUOTE][B]And here’s the summary that is the best overview that I’ve read. [/B]
[QUOTE]It is the theater of the absurd, and I have never heard of a high-level European club, essentially opening their books and providing evidence to the N.C.A.A. What’s next? European clubs opening the books on their American professionals to the Internal Revenue Service?
Fenerbahce must have spent a lot of money on Kanter, and his situation highlights a larger issue in international basketball, the one where clubs have the leverage and essentially hold players hostage, with fear of repercussions for their collegiate and NBA aspirations.
But let’s pretend that Kanter’s intentions are honest, and he simply wants to attend one of the most prestigious basketball institutions in the country. Does it matter? He isn’t officially a professional under FIBA rules and the benefits he received are comparable to those received at US prep schools, which are legal.
If a kid wants to chase the American dream, can you blame him? Year in and year out, Kentucky has been a top flight program under coach John Calipari. Next year’s team is a favorite to win the National Championship, and several of Cal’s players get drafted in the early picks of the NBA Draft.
A no brain-er right? Kanter obviously has no interest being shackled by a Turkish club that will overwork and underpay him, hell he can make more than $6500 a month playing for Calipari at Kentucky.
All jokes aside, the opportunities and exposure that Kentucky will give him, expedite his goal of playing in the NBA one day. A player with aspirations of going to school for an education and playing college basketball should not be denied, especially by unscrupulous club teams who will sink to the lowest of depths to sabotage that dream.
[/QUOTE]You can [URL=”http://jerseychaser.com/kentucky-recruit-took-cash-to-play-pro-in-turkey/”]read the entire article here…[/URL]
