TUR - Blatt replaces mahmuti at efes pilsen

ISTANBUL (TBL) - Former Benetton Treviso boss David Blatt was on Friday confirmed as the new coach of Turkish giants Efes Pilsen.

The 48-year-old, who announced his departure from Benetton at the weekend after a two-year stint at the club, turned down a chance to coach Dynamo Moscow.

He had also considered taking a position in the NBA but elected to move to another of Europe's most established clubs as the replacement for recently departed, long-time coach Oktay Mahmuti.

Blatt's appointment was confirmed on the Turkish Basketball Federation website, www.tbf.org.

At Benetton, he stepped into the position vacated by current CSKA Moscow coach Ettore Messina and led the famous Italian team to the 2005-06 Lega A title.

Well known for his ability to recruit top players, Blatt got excellent contributions from newcomers Drew Nicholas, Nikos Zisis and Ramunas Siskauskas in his first season, along with holdovers Marcus Goree, Andrea Bargnani and Matteo Soragna.

This year, Benetton won the Italian SuperCoppa and the Coppa Italia, but the season took a horrible turn when the club was slapped with a 12-point deduction for sporting fraud.

The team signed Erazem Lorbek on loan from Unicaja Malaga, a move which put them over the limit for registered players, and the club's subsequent attempts to correct their mistake landed it in trouble.

Failure to reach the play-offs meant that Benetton would also miss out on next year's Euroleague.

Goree and Zisis, who had played for the team this year, only just left for Euroleague powerhouse CSKA Moscow.

Mahmuti and Efes lost out to rivals Fenerbahce in this year's Turkish title race, but he will be a tough act to follow.

Mahmuti joined Efes as an assistant in 1992 and then took the reins in 2001 full-time in 2001 and steered the club into the SuproLeague Final Four - a glamorous event in Paris won by Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Blatt was an assistant coach to Pini Gershon with that Maccabi team.

Mahmuti and Efes won the Turkish league crown in four successive seasons from 2002 to 2005 while also prevailing in the Turkish Cup in 2001, 2002, 2006 and 2007.

Before being fully focused on Efes Pilsen, Blatt will coach Russia's national team.

He is currently with the Russian team in training for this summer's EuroBasket in Spain.

Meanwhile, Aydyn Ors has left Fenerbahce after their glorious title triumph.

Jeff Taylor
FIBA