No team has won more games over the past four seasons than Anadolu Efes Istanbul and that period of time coincides with the first full season of Coach Ergin Ataman’s current reign on the team’s sidelines. Ataman has been the perfect fit for his squad as he combines the confidence his team needed, the ability to get all of his players to buy in and the tactical knowledge necessary to build a juggernaut. And while all of that was also true when Efes won its first crown in 2021, Ataman’s ability to steady the ship through the difficulties of a title defense was even more impressive.
Tribute to the Champs: Ergin Ataman
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Under Coach Ataman, every player got his chance and those who played well earned bigger roles. Injuries throughout the season made it so that everyone saw ample time on the floor and Ataman reached the crucial moments of the season with an in-form and confident group. So even though key players like Krunoslav Simon, who missed the Final Four entirely, and Rodrigue Beaubois, who was limited in Belgrade, could not give the team what they would have initially expected at that time of year, there were many role players eager and able to step in.
Ataman was careful to always credit his veteran players for their ability to sacrifice egos for the betterment of the team and for players who had much larger roles with other teams to be happy to just do what was necessary to win at Efes. But that culture starts at the top and Ataman deserves a large share of credit for Efes’s success, not just last season, but for the club’s impressive four-year run.