Fenerbahçe-Lottomatica Roma İmpressions
Like last week, I did a little write-up of my observations. It was a pretty eventful game behind the scenes as our group was sitting behind the owner of Lottomatica Roman himself and was able to hear Repesa barking at his charges the whole time.
I went to the Fenerbahçe match today with a few friends, including fellow ballineurope afficianado Kerem Oktemus, and fully expected to see Lottomatica Roma put on an offensive show. This is a team that barely lost to Panathinaikos and Real Madrid on the road visiting a team that had not yet been in a close game against Real Madrid at home and FC Barcelona on the road. It seemed like a sure-fire defeat was in order for the Fener faithful, clad in their navy-blue and yellow scarves - even Kerem brazenly predicted that Fenerbahçe was "about to get destroyed" and "wiped off the floor."
As I am beginning to learn, though, in the Euroleague, like the NBA, nothing is so easily predictable. These are professional players, after all, and at this level each team has at least the capability to beat any other team on a given night. Fenerbahçe was able to stifle our faulty, woefully amateurish predications and pull out a resounding 85-66 upset.
Without further adieu, he are some observations on the night -
1. Lottomatica Roma head coach Jasmin Repesa is the single most intimidating coach I have ever witnessed. Our group sat just a couple of rows behind the visitors' bench and watched, slack-jawed, as Repesa tore into his players with a ferocity and laser-eyed intensity that simply had to be experienced to be understand. As I looked into Repesa's cold, black, beady pupils, I can only liken my impression to him as a combination of Dennis Hopper and Jaws. I do not think that his players made eye contact with him one time the entire game. I once read that there are two types of coaches - the kind that teach through fear and intimidation (the "Bobby Knight" type) and the kind that teache primarily through patience and positive reinforcement (the "Mike Kryzewski" type). Well, in Europe, clearly the master of the "Bobby Knight" style of coaching is the Croatian Jasmin Repesa.
2. On the opposite end of the personality spectrum is the sporting director of Lottomatica Roma, the recently retired Dejan Bodiroga. Our group spotted him observing his team from the sideline and, like any true basketballophiles, could not pass up the opportunity for a photo-shot with this all-time great, once referred to by adoring Serbians as simply 'God'. 'God' was a nice, chill guy and graciously let us take some photos with him.
3. Maybe I went to the wrong game, but the Fenerbahçe fans do not seem anywhere near as crazy as the Efes fans. The noise level was no where near as frenzied as the previous Euroleague game. Kerem informed me that employees at the Efes Pilsen corporation receive tickets to the games which they distribute to their families. This helps explain why the the crowd was both bigger and younger at the Efes-Armani Jeans game than this one. I have a feeling that the Fener faithful are a little louder at their football matches....
4. Concerning the game itself, I was impressed by Roma's guard Roko-Leni Ukic. He has a superb first step and quickness slashing to the hoop. Once there, he showed very good awareness of his teammates' position and was able to deliver some impressive assists (had 8 overall). He seems equally comfortable dribbling with left or right hand. He will have to gain weight, improve his defensive intensity, and improve his shot ( in shooting 1-4 threes it seems like he releases it quicker than is necessary), but I see him ultimately being able to contribute to the Toronto Raptors (who drafted him in 2005 with the 41st pick).
I was also interested in seeing Fenerbahçe center Semih Erden, who is viewed by some as the top NBA potential pick from Turkey in next year's draft. For sure, he has impressive height ( 2.13 meters) and wing-span, but needs to add muscle (113 kg). He shows good fluidity running the court and is able to jump well, but besides an impressive 2-meter hook shot, did not show an advanced back-to-the-back game. He missed a dunk of the back of the rim and I was told he does this in every game. I got the sense that he is physically blessed but that mentally he is not as focused as he needs to be to dominate at the higher levels of play. He is still young (21), though, and he may develop this yet. But generally if a player does not have the drive, intensity, and focus at 21, he will not acquire it with age (see Kwame Brown).
Finally, I must mention that this was my first time to see the renowned Turkish sharpshooter Ibrahim Kutluay live and I came away impressed. At age 33, he is no longer as quick off screens as he used to be, but his release is as pure as Rocky Mountain spring water. The form is ridiculously textbook, and the rotation..... well, it is a spin for the ages. For a while I didn't even care that he plays porous defense, shows lack of foot speed, and has a poor handle - all that mattered was the sweetest sight in basketball - a great shooter curling, rising, the arm an L, eyes all steel, the release, the nylon, the splash. Nothing else... only 3, only perfection.
LINK to the photo of 'God' and I -
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=347306&op=1&view=all&subj=20601445&id=508382817
I went to the Fenerbahçe match today with a few friends, including fellow ballineurope afficianado Kerem Oktemus, and fully expected to see Lottomatica Roma put on an offensive show. This is a team that barely lost to Panathinaikos and Real Madrid on the road visiting a team that had not yet been in a close game against Real Madrid at home and FC Barcelona on the road. It seemed like a sure-fire defeat was in order for the Fener faithful, clad in their navy-blue and yellow scarves - even Kerem brazenly predicted that Fenerbahçe was "about to get destroyed" and "wiped off the floor."
As I am beginning to learn, though, in the Euroleague, like the NBA, nothing is so easily predictable. These are professional players, after all, and at this level each team has at least the capability to beat any other team on a given night. Fenerbahçe was able to stifle our faulty, woefully amateurish predications and pull out a resounding 85-66 upset.
Without further adieu, he are some observations on the night -
1. Lottomatica Roma head coach Jasmin Repesa is the single most intimidating coach I have ever witnessed. Our group sat just a couple of rows behind the visitors' bench and watched, slack-jawed, as Repesa tore into his players with a ferocity and laser-eyed intensity that simply had to be experienced to be understand. As I looked into Repesa's cold, black, beady pupils, I can only liken my impression to him as a combination of Dennis Hopper and Jaws. I do not think that his players made eye contact with him one time the entire game. I once read that there are two types of coaches - the kind that teach through fear and intimidation (the "Bobby Knight" type) and the kind that teache primarily through patience and positive reinforcement (the "Mike Kryzewski" type). Well, in Europe, clearly the master of the "Bobby Knight" style of coaching is the Croatian Jasmin Repesa.
2. On the opposite end of the personality spectrum is the sporting director of Lottomatica Roma, the recently retired Dejan Bodiroga. Our group spotted him observing his team from the sideline and, like any true basketballophiles, could not pass up the opportunity for a photo-shot with this all-time great, once referred to by adoring Serbians as simply 'God'. 'God' was a nice, chill guy and graciously let us take some photos with him.
3. Maybe I went to the wrong game, but the Fenerbahçe fans do not seem anywhere near as crazy as the Efes fans. The noise level was no where near as frenzied as the previous Euroleague game. Kerem informed me that employees at the Efes Pilsen corporation receive tickets to the games which they distribute to their families. This helps explain why the the crowd was both bigger and younger at the Efes-Armani Jeans game than this one. I have a feeling that the Fener faithful are a little louder at their football matches....
4. Concerning the game itself, I was impressed by Roma's guard Roko-Leni Ukic. He has a superb first step and quickness slashing to the hoop. Once there, he showed very good awareness of his teammates' position and was able to deliver some impressive assists (had 8 overall). He seems equally comfortable dribbling with left or right hand. He will have to gain weight, improve his defensive intensity, and improve his shot ( in shooting 1-4 threes it seems like he releases it quicker than is necessary), but I see him ultimately being able to contribute to the Toronto Raptors (who drafted him in 2005 with the 41st pick).
I was also interested in seeing Fenerbahçe center Semih Erden, who is viewed by some as the top NBA potential pick from Turkey in next year's draft. For sure, he has impressive height ( 2.13 meters) and wing-span, but needs to add muscle (113 kg). He shows good fluidity running the court and is able to jump well, but besides an impressive 2-meter hook shot, did not show an advanced back-to-the-back game. He missed a dunk of the back of the rim and I was told he does this in every game. I got the sense that he is physically blessed but that mentally he is not as focused as he needs to be to dominate at the higher levels of play. He is still young (21), though, and he may develop this yet. But generally if a player does not have the drive, intensity, and focus at 21, he will not acquire it with age (see Kwame Brown).
Finally, I must mention that this was my first time to see the renowned Turkish sharpshooter Ibrahim Kutluay live and I came away impressed. At age 33, he is no longer as quick off screens as he used to be, but his release is as pure as Rocky Mountain spring water. The form is ridiculously textbook, and the rotation..... well, it is a spin for the ages. For a while I didn't even care that he plays porous defense, shows lack of foot speed, and has a poor handle - all that mattered was the sweetest sight in basketball - a great shooter curling, rising, the arm an L, eyes all steel, the release, the nylon, the splash. Nothing else... only 3, only perfection.
LINK to the photo of 'God' and I -
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=347306&op=1&view=all&subj=20601445&id=508382817
posted by Evin Demirel at 4:07 AM
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