Today in the presence of representatives from the mass media PBC CSKA genera director and Turkish forward Mirsad Turkcan signed a contract stating that the Turkish national team forward will be wearing the Army club’s jersey next year. The Euroleague regular season MVP didn’t hide his joy about his return to Moscow and gladly answered journalists’ questions:
“I’m very happy that I’ve returned home. In my 10-year career, the best year I spent was with CSKA. Now, of course, CSKA has a different face – it’s a more serious team that showed its ambition last year. I would like to thank everyone who believed in me and helped me to become a CSKA player once again. I’ll do everything I possibly can for my team to reach the goals we set. Three days ago I talked with Gordan Giricek and told him that there’s a good possibility that I would return to CSKA. He told me that if he doesn’t sign a good contract with an NBA team, that he
would also return to CSKA.
Have you already spoken with Dusan Ivkovic?
“Yes, we talked after the Euroleague Final Four, and the next conversation took place five days ago. He explained to me wheat my role would be. I’d very happy to be working with the best coach in Europe.”
Dusan Ivkovic is a strict coach who demands absolute discipline. Are you prepared for that?
“If I weren’t prepared, I wouldn’t have come here. Discipline is what gave CSKA its results last year: capturing the Russian Championship and making it to the Euroleague Final Four.”
When will you arrive to begin practicing with CSKA?
“Right now I’m working out with the national team. When that’s finished I’ll come straight to Moscow.”
Did you have offers from other clubs?
“Of course. Panathinaikos and Tau Ceramica were interested, but I came to CSKA.”
Sergei Kushchenko, PBC CSKA C.E.O.:
“In the offseason all the clubs become chess players and starting playing difficult games. Today we see the results of one of them. Mirsad Turkcan was a club priority immediately after the end of the season. We became more interested after Darius Songaila decided to play in the NBA. We knew that Mirsad belonged to Siena and had several offers from other excellent clubs. That this is happening today is a testament to the hard work of the CSKA managers. I’d like to give them special thanks and also special thanks to the player, who is well-loved in Moscow.
I’ll be honest: I’m extremely happy that we were able to get Mirsad back here, literally taking him from Panathinaikos. Late yesterday evening we spoke a lot about the new CSKA. I told him the concept and the goals of the team. Here we are on the same page. He is one of those players that can’t lose. Those are the type of players we want at CSKA. The contract with Mirsad Turkcan is a 1+1, but I think that our relationship will be a long-term one.”
Is CSKA going to keep looking for players?
“As I understand, everyone is waiting for me to name a center. Let me explain: The CSKA team is put together under the head coach’s concept. After signing Mirsad Turkcan, the next step in putting the team together will take a slightly different course. We have offers. But I think CSKA will go a non-standard route. We’ve invited several players for try-outs, and at some point we’ll know which one we need. It might be a promising young player or a very expensive one playing for statistics. More than likely we’ll have to choose someone in between. Everything should fall under the coach’s strict concept of the new CSKA. The team should be fast, mobile, but at the same time have a big center to be able to handle Sabonis. But the main thing is that the player wants to play for CSKA.”
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