Kaya Peker

Kaya Peker enjoyed a great start to the season this year, even being named Euroleague player of the month in November. Later on, due to injuries, his game dropped and he finished the season averaging 10.0 points and 4.9 rebounds per game playing for Efes Pilsen. It was still impressive enough to earn himself a transfer to the richer and more respected Tau Ceramica of Vitoria.

Peker is a very strong and tough player in the low post, being one of best back to the basket scorers on the Old Continent. He has an array of moves down low, including an effective half-hook shot, spin move and drop step. Kaya has also improved his shooting in the last few years, now being reliable from mid-range area which gives him some added versatility to his offensive game.

Just like Erdogan, Peker lacks more size and athleticism to get serious looks from NBA teams. However, his strong body and solid lateral movement make him good man-to-man defender on the European stage. On the glass his lack of size and leaping ability becomes exposed, as Kaya is a very average rebounder for a big man.

The fact that we had to choose two solid, but not spectacular Euroleague players as team stars tells enough about Turkey’s quality and ambition at this tournament, being probably the weakest European side present in Japan. It will still be an interesting team to watch, though, mainly because Tanjevic invited five players who won the gold medal for Turkey at the U-20 European Championship this summer - Cenk Akyol, Ersan Ilyasova, Hakan Demirel, Oguz Savas and Semih Erden.