PIESTANY (FIBA U18 European Championship 2017) - The final position in the standings isn’t Turkey coach Serkan Erdogan’s primary concern at the FIBA U18 European Championship 2017, with the former national team shooting guard hoping to pass on his knowledge and give his players a solid foundation that will set them up for long-lasting professional careers in the future.

In spite of opening Group A play with victories against Germany and Russia, the 38-year-old specialist is adamant he is oriented in the process itself rather than the final result. 

Focused on giving the players the same lessons he benefited from while playing for youth and senior national teams, Erdogan told FIBA.basketball that building a roster of high-character players who are eager to soak in the knowledge was high on the priority list this summer.

"I think my decisions in assembling this team this summer show that. As a former player myself, I think that what matters in sports is character. You can be super talented, but there will come a point in your career, when you will be lost if you don’t have a strong commitment to basketball and then also to your team. If you’re thinking only about yourself, I do not care. I am concerned with teaching my players what I was taught when I was just becoming a player," spoke Erdogan after the first day of the tournament.

"It is, first of all, about the team and not yourself. Then, if some personal achievements come, so be it, but players have to be ready to fight for their teammates and for the team as a whole. It doesn’t even matter if we get the results, I’m more looking at how this will impact them in 2-3 years down the road. They have to learn this mentality and this philosophy, that’s my biggest challenge in this tournament."

According to the coach, the team's standout center Ragip Atar, who posted 12 points and 10 rebounds against Germany and added 16 points and 5 boards versus Russia, is someone who fits that team-oriented mold and is one of the best big players at the FIBA U18 European Championship this summer.

"He's a big target for small players. He can seal inside the paint very well and he's a very good offensive rebounder. However, he has to add a mid-range shot if he wants to be good player at the next level," Erdogan spoke of his center.

"Everybody knows he's a good player and everybody takes special care of him on defense, so he now has to learn how to be effective on the court when he gets double-teamed and find the other players that are open. But I'm happy with his contributions. Our big disadvantage is that he didn’t practice with us all summer, as he was with the U20 team and we only had 4-5 practices with him before the start of the tournament."

Boasting a strong frontcourt as it is, Turkey could have been an even bigger threat inside had Fenerbahce prospect Ahmet Can Duran been able to join the team in the Slovak Republic, but the big man is unavailable due to injury.

"Duran would have been a very important player for us. He's a high-character person and it’s very bad luck that we’re missing him because of the injury. He really wanted to be here, working hard every day in spite of feeling pain in his knee. That's how it goes in sports – you have to compete even if your best players aren’t here and that’s the case for other teams too. But I only concern myself with who is here," said the coach of the team.

"I’m looking for the other players who are here to make good contributions. I trust my team and all my players. That is why they are here. We have a lot of players in our national team pool. They’re all talented and they're all high character guys and hard workers, that's what matters to me."

FIBA