Apart from a warm-up game between them in 2006, I couldn't find any thread on the Internet that links Anadolu Efes from the Euroleague to the Golden State Warriors from the NBA.
And yet, I have no doubt that after you read this article, you too will ask yourself how we didn't notice that in order to become an empire in the Euroleague, all the Turkish team has done in recent years - is to imitate the steps of the successful club from the best league in the world.
After years of shuffling in the European arena, the Turkish club used its big money to make some significant changes, which brought it from the last place in the Euroleague in the 2017/18 season, to two consecutive wins for the first time in history, and one more that only the corona took away from it.
And which American group does it really remind of?
The Warriors.
They too, after a 40-year drought in the NBA, won three championships in four seasons, broke a record for a winning streak in the best league in the world, and they are doing all this until 2017/18 - just when the rise of Anadolu Efes in Europe began.
As if in Turkey they saw success and said let's try too.
Thompson, Durant, Green and Curry, photo: Getty
The imagination points
Deadly back line.
Most of all, those who symbolize the success and change that Anadolu Zero has undergone in the last five years are Vasilija Micic and Shane Larkin.
The pair of guards who landed in Turkey in the 2018/19 season became the Splash Brothers of the Euroleague and led the team to two wins in the European title.
Micic was elected MVP of the factory twice in a row (like Steph) and Larkin, who suffered a few injuries along the way that disabled him for long periods, broke the record for three-pointers in a single game in the Euroleague (like Clay in the NBA).
Win through the attack.
The hallmark of Anadolu Efes in the EuroLeague has become its offensive game, which is based on ball movement and high percentages from outside the arc.
This season, they score an average of 10.9 three-pointers per game (the most in the Euroleague), last season, at the head of Maccabi Tel Aviv, the Turks broke a new record for three-pointers in the Euroleague with 22 in a single game. Reminds someone, doesn't it?
Keep the staff.
The motto of Anadolu Eps in recent years has been "don't change a winning horse".
After the successful Corona season that was interrupted earlier than expected, it extended the contract of 7 of its players and its skeleton in recent years consists of Micic, Larkin, Dunston and Rodrigo Beauvois.
In fact, until the last season, the Turkish club had 9 players who played with the team for four seasons in a row.
With the Warriors, when they talk about the skeleton, they obviously mean Steph, Klay, Draymond and Iguodala, who signed 4 championship rings together.
The Durant of the Euroleague.
When I heard at the beginning of the summer that Will Claiborne was nominated to join Anadolu Efes, I immediately thought of Kevin Durant.
The Turks probably saw that the Warriors worked with the superstar, who joined a team that was already at its peak and managed to lead it to another championship and they also got their hands on the best player that was on the market in Europe.
Although Claiborne did not receive as much criticism as Durant who took a "shortcut to the championship", the fact that he landed in Turkey must have been one of his considerations.
Claiborne.
Arrived in high profile, photo: EPA
The man on the lines.
So it is true that as a character, Argin Atman represents the complete opposite of Steve Kerr - the former is nervous and extroverted and the latter is calm and peaceful.
But just like the American coach, the Turk is the face of the club.
The man who is above every player in the team and the one who charts the way.
Like Golden State, Anadolu Efes also started the Euroleague season in second gear.
She will arrive tonight at the Menorah Mitvatim Hall for a match against Maccabi Tel Aviv when she has a record of 8 wins and 7 losses and after a loss in the Turkish league to Fenerbahce.
But the yellows also know that when the Turkish team plays their basketball, for example as they did on Friday against Panathinaikos in the Euroleague, it mainly depends on them.
The players of the Euroleague champions, Anadolu Efes, celebrate, photo: AFP
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