Ergin Ataman points out mentality some Efes players need to get rid of / News - Basketnews.com

Ergin Ataman: "We need to get out of the mentality that 'I am a player of this championship team without giving the necessary contribution."

Credit: EuroLeague Basketball via GettyImages Credit EuroLeague Basketball via GettyImages

Anadolu Efes Istanbul have been carried by former Final Four MVP Will Clyburn (19.8 PTS) and 2021 EuroLeague MVP Vasilije Micic (19.8 PTS), but the star duo is doing plenty of heavy lifting. They are first and second, respectively, in minutes played this season.

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Coach Ergin Ataman says it's an unfordable tendency for Anadolu Efes, who could feel its consequences in the second part of the season.

"Unfortunately, we have a problem in our team that we don't get contributions from some of our players. I don't distinguish between Turkish and foreign players, but some of our athletes don't contribute in the EuroLeague. Our 11th or 12th man is a very quality player and I expect a serious contribution, especially in the Turkish league," he told S Sport.

"We need to get out of the mentality that 'I am a player of this championship team without giving the necessary performance.' In other words, everyone has to do their part in the best way possible," Ataman added and further commented:

"Now Will Clyburn has to play 35 minutes, while Micic and Beaubois compete for 33-34 minutes. The season can't go like this. In the past years, we were getting serious contributions from our Turkish players, especially in the domestic league. Of course, when you get that contribution on the local front, you can give them a chance in the EuroLeague," the Turkish specialist said, also justifying such a trend.

"However, we have had serious injuries in the squad lately. Egehan Arna has been injured for about 3 weeks, we had to take him out of the national team too. Erten Gazi had pneumonia, he hasn't been able to play for a month. Dogus Balbay is injured right now. There's only Bugrahan Tuncer left, but I couldn't see the necessary energy in him, I couldn't see it in the national team either."

Anadolu Efes are lacking their star guard Shane Larkin, who recently talked about his condition.

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