Notable from born in 2002 to 2005 Turkish prospects #2

I’m Kuzey, 19. I’ve been writing about basketball since I was 9. I have been working in Eurosport Turkey for the last 1,5 years. I have written on various sites and magazines before. I’ve been working as a freelance scout for three years. I worked as a consultant. I have interviewed dozens of prospects such as Theo Maledon, Deni Avdija, Henri Drell, Aleksej Pokusevski, Arturs Kurucs, Yves Pons and dozens of notable basketball people such as Luis Scola, Xavi Pascual, Jonathan Givony, Dimitris Itoudis, Joan Plaza, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Derrick Williams. I write an article every day. I live in Turkey, I go to all the Euroleague and Youth League games. MY BIGGEST GOAL IS SCOUTING! Anyway, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and feel free to DM!

I started a new series. I will write about two or three interesting Turkish prospects until October 5. These are not very detailed reports, just a preview, detailed with background, coming in December.

Koralp Türk — Mount Carmel High School — 2003 — Center

Standing 6-foot-9 wingspan with an around 7-foot wingspan and strong frame, Koralp Türk has solid dimensions for a big man in my opinion. Long upper body but needs to lose some kilos, from his lower body, more strength than quickness. I think Türk is not an athlete who can make highlight dunks or something. His athlectisim package based on lob target, physical fight, and average vertical pop around the basket. Koralp does the majority of his scoring finishing around the basket physically and aggressively but also shows good flashes creating one-on-one in the post. On my observations, he is more effective in the left post zone than the right post zone. The ability to finish and create contact makes him an effective painted area player on the offensive end. He is not a great roller and cutter but has an off-ball motion mentality. I mean, Koralp knows how to create spacing for others. While he did it, he running the weak-side of the court well in my opinion. Thanks to his strength and physical fight, KT is good in back to the basket and staying active inside (not general, just for inside, as I mentioned, he is not a great off-ball motion player) off the ball. I think he should improve his shooting. Showed some flashes on that but too low and inconsistent. His shooting mechanics look good. KT can rotate well and has a good arc (great moves from low to high) but needs mentality, footwork, timing, quickness, and decision-making in his shooting in my opinion. Possessing the length, mobility, and timing to offer some rim protection, Türk is a good painted area player on the defensive end. He sees things well and reacts to those things physically. He is not a great pick-and-roll situation but has the potential to close his opponent’s dribble and shooting arcs. Needs arsenal on his defensive package. I mean, he is not a great rim protector and has not great eye-hand coordination. Needs improve on the defensive end in general.

Adem Bona — Pınar Karşıyaka — 2003 — Center

Standing 6-foot-9 with 7-foot-2 wingspan, Adem Bona has impressive size for his age. Making dozens of highlight dunks, Adem Bona is a great athlete both laterally and vertically in my opinion. Quick footwork, smooth hip turns. Has a good balance on core strength. Long arms, wide shoulders, and strong lower body. The end of the day has rooms to get stronger but for his age, not too bad physically. I think he is a monster around the basket. Adem Bona does a bit of everything on the offensive end: Creating one-on-one in the post, his effort level changing ends, moving off the ball, lobs target, buckets after the unorthodox dribbles (He is 6-foot-9 but can dribble both low and high on average levels, his style is interesting, I mean, he hasn’t a great balance but somehow dribble with hesitations) crashing the glass. Scoring with great efficiency and his ability to finish through contact is his ninth symphony. Can play pick-and-roll with good rolling timing in my opinion. Has soft touch too and great leaper but needs to improve his post games. For the shooting window, Bona showed some flashes around the perimeter but has a lot of room to get better. This will be the subject of my detailed report. Needs balance on the offensive end. I mean, he has a good BBIQ but a lot of times uses his dribbles and explosiveness unnecessary. In my opinion, Adem Bona is still figuring out how to maximize his tools defensively, but even so, makes an impact as a rim protector and showed impressive mobility sliding his feet on the perimeter for his size and age. Using his physicality more aggressively on rebounding the ball, Bona can dribble in transitions after the grab thanks to his average handling, wide court vision, general awareness, and quickness.

Acar Şen — Galatasaray Doğa Sigorta — 2003 — Shooting Guard

Standing 6-foot-4 with strong upper body for his size, Acar Şen’s game mostly revolves around spotting up for the 3-pointer or filling the lanes in transition looking for easy buckets. I can say that easily, Şen has some problems with finishing at the rim. He is not a great finished as a primary scorer but in his team, he usually takes primary shooter and cutter role. With a great shooting mentality and self-confidence, AŞ’s shooting form is smooth with catch-and-release ability, quickness, timing, and footwork. He is not great at creating his shots but showed some flashes on that (He can shoot off the dribble with a nice mid-range pull up). If he can increase his ability to creating shots, he will be one of the fittest players for the modern-era game in my opinion. On the defensive end, Acar needs to add weapons to his arsenal. I mean, he should learn to play pick-and-roll consistently and be more active on transitions. Acar is active and has good BBIQ on the defensive end, showing a good stance to go along with nice footwork and quick hands. AŞ sees things and running through passing lanes, coming up with deflections. Needs improve on switches, off-ball defenses, and general awarenesses.