Tag: Turkey

Highlights: Rockets center Alperen Sengun shows out in Turkey’s friendlies

Second-year Rockets center Alperen Sengun has had a strong week in Turkey’s international friendlies versus Ukraine and Slovenia. Here’s a look back at his statistics and top plays.

As part of preparing for next month’s EuroBasket 2022 tournament, Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun and the rest of Turkish national team are competing in a handful of August friendlies.

Perhaps the most noteworthy of those friendlies came in a star-studded matchup on Friday filled with current NBA players — with the likes of Sengun, Furkan Korkmaz, and Cedi Osman leading Turkey against Luka Doncic, Goran Dragic, and Slovenia.

From a Rockets perspective (and for Turkey, as well), the good news is that 20-year-old big man has had very strong showings. On Friday versus Slovenia, Sengun had 19 points (55.5% FG), 9 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots in only 23 minutes before fouling out. Led by Doncic, Slovenia went on to win the game by a point in overtime, 104-103.

Earlier in the week, Sengun also played well (15 points) in a friendly versus Ukraine. Scroll on for some of his best highlights.

[lawrence-related id=102804,101266]

Aiming to provide a boost to Serbia in …

Aiming to provide a boost to Serbia in upcoming international fixtures, Vasilije Micic backpedaled to earlier in the offseason and developments regarding his NBA status. The Anadolu Efes star talked to the news outlet Sport Klub. “The deadline was on 20 July and I did not change teams,” he confirmed the time constraint on moving his talents to the NBA this summer, per Google Translate, “I stayed at Efes. But even before the deadline, I was at peace with any possible development. Everything is so good for me, I wouldn’t want to say something and possibly damage my relationship with the team.”

It was previously reported that Omer …

It was previously reported that Omer Yurtseven, who was one of the select bunch of NBA players who participated in the 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers window in July, will allegedly miss EuroBasket 2022. On Thursday the Turkish center released a statement that he shared on Twitter, confirming he will not attend the upcoming EuroBasket and calling out the media in the process.

“I won’t have hard feelings with …

“I won’t have hard feelings with Turkish NT despite media manipulations” Yurtseven’s tweet caption said. “I wanted you to hear from me personally the missing parts in the news these days when you read the news that ‘I did not attend the national team camp without permission’ written by a single person without even calling me,” Yurtseven stated.

The Miami Heat center said he would …

The Miami Heat center said he would participate in tournaments with the national team in the future. “I may not have been able to participate in this tournament, but my teachers, managers, and friends who know me best are the ones who know best that if I am called in the Olympic Games and the World Championships, I will go running,” said Yurtseven in his statement.

Yurtseven doesn’t plan to participate …

Yurtseven doesn’t plan to participate in either the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers or the 2022 EuroBasket since he wants to shift his focus on the upcoming season with the Heat. The 24-year-old big man is currently in Miami where he where he attended the Jr Heat camp yesterday. He posted some photos of the event on his social media profiles. This isn’t the first time that Yurtseven skips activities of the Turkish national team without notice. He was previously suspended for eight games in 2018 for this reason.