[Sengun] Basketball Origin Story in Turkey- The White Shadow

Yes l remember it.
Coach Reeves and his players.
It was a popular show in Turkiye and affected generation.
During that shows airing, basketball investments increased in Turkiye, basketball fields and college teams.
It is the reason Sengun has very high basketball fundamantal and postplay- he is probably the best post player in the world right now, after Dream.
Because after this show, basketball camps for Kids, basketball trainings catapulted in Turkiye and Alperen is the 4th wave product of this philosophy.

 

Finally, you found Sengun's nickname

 

Yup. The White Shadow.
Carver High School, Coach Reeves, Coolidge, Salami, Goldstein, Reese, Ms. Buchanan etc etc.
I wrote about The White Shadow inspiring a whole generation here:

https://bbs.clutchfans.net/threads/...franchise-player.320671/page-75#post-14957362

@napalm06 great idea! It would make Alpi so happy and proud!

 

it's fantastic to see a new Sengun thread with "Sengun" in square brackets. OP could improve thread title considerably by adding "OFFICIAL" to the bracketed thread label

 

Loved that show!

 

Important steps in basketbal (last 50 years) :
1-1976:Turkish conglomerate Anadolu Group was struggling and Americans suggested them to invest to sports. Efes Pilsen Basketball Club was formed.
2-1979-80: Ken Howard appeared in White Shadow. Older generations already liked him as Dave Barrett of Manhunter, he captured the young ones as Coach Reeves, we were all Coolidge, Salami, Curtis Jackson, Gomez,.. Coolidge was the description of tall guys during next decade. Lots of basketball progress in junior schools. Basketball was vulgarized, not a sport for elites/uni students anymore.
3-1981: Turkish National team became Balkan Champions, the first and only title. All Serbia/Croatia/Bosnia/Slovenia/Montenegro! Macedonia was part of Jugoslavia. Not a small success then.
4. 1980s:The first former NBA player was signed (Paul Dawkins) together with Summer Camp attendee Calvin Roberts. People started to watch professional Americans, not the teachers of Robert College or Military base soldiers (Greg Popovich was coaching in NATO base once but the level was amateurish).
5-Early 90s: Jugoslavia shattered, lots of young moved to Turkey but two of them had huge effect, first of all Petar Naumoski of Macedonia and secondly Mirsad Turkcan of Bosnia. They were part of the team when Efes brought the first European cup to Turkey. Mirsad became the first player to be drafted in NBA.
6-2000s. Turkey was the runner up in European championship, NBA had serious Turkish players. Memo Okur had a ring, became all-star, Hedo Turkoglu was in finals, was voted MIP.
7-Turkey was runner up in World Championship, lost to USA (I hate Lamar Odom)
8: Late 2010s: Fenerbahçe won Euroleague, followed by two Euro title by Efes. Turkish teams dominated Europe.
Meanwhile nursing team Bandirma produced wonderful players including Alperen Sengun and Furkan Korkmaz.
9: Non-Fenerbahce/Efes player Alperen Sengun was drafted to be the very first multiple Turkish all-star player.

Creation of Efes, White Shadow and Petar Naumoski are the most important reasons for Turkish Basketball ascending (my opinion). The World championship final and Alperen Sengun are the best returns.

 

The White Shadow and the Black Mumble, a dynamic duo to rule the league for the next decade.

 

Brilliant nickname for Alperen.

 

Too soon.