If the world of Kentucky basketball was say, a crime adventure comic book, Pete Thamel of the NY Times would be the Joker, the Riddler, or a whole host of villains all rolled up into one. We remember Thamel, he of the infamous Eric Bledsoe story over Memorial Day weekend. In that episode, our hero Calipari, or KATMAN gave Pete Thamel a crotch kick and Thamel went whimpering away into the night, set on doing his evil deeds and bringing down the Big Blue Nation.
As any fan of comic book knows, the villain always comes back, and usually with sidekicks who have amusing accents and seem to be an exercise in buffoonery. In this case, I really don’t think that Thamel’s evil sidekick, Nedim Karakas, the GM of the Fenerbahce Ulker basketball club is a bad Batman villain …..
even though he looks the part …. and I guess it’s appropriate the initials of his club is FU becuase that is what his testimony can do to Kentucky’s hopes of a basketball title this season.
OK, attempt at witty story intro aside, here is the skinny on this latest threat to Kentucky’s basketball season. The notorious Pete Thamel is reporting that he talked to Karakas and Karakas is refuting the claims of the Enes Kanter camp that they received no benefits from his stint in the Turkish pro leagues that could render him ineligible at Kentucky.
Karakas is claiming that Kanter and his family was paid between $100,000 and $150,00 starting when Kanter turned 14 and his family moved to Istanbul. Now, Kentucky had been led to believe that Kanter had only received room and board, which should allow him to retain his eligibility. Max Ergul, who has been Kanter’s advisor, relates Kanter’s time in the Turkey pro leagues as similar to a player in the US that attends prep school:
"“They paid the necessary expenses, like any other kid who goes to prep school and gets the $30- or $40,000 scholarship. I think that’s the truth.”"
According to Thamel, Karakas is saying that Kanter and his family received much more than that:
"While some young prospects remain eligible if they receive only room and board, Karakas said Kanter’s family received more because he was an elite prospect. “For Enes, he was a different guy from all the players because if you have a good player and he’s coming with his family we are renting them a house and giving him pocket money,” he said, putting that amount at between $20,000 and $25,000 a year. Perhaps most important in the eyes of the N.C.A.A. is that during Kanter’s final season with Fenerbahce he played in at least nine games with the senior club and drew a salary on par with those players. Karakas said that meant an initial payment of $19,800 and monthly payments of $6,500 during Kanter’s final season with the team."
There are a lot of things that I do find shady about this latest article and yes, there are a few things that do actually concern me quite a bit. But first, let’s look at the things that seem a bit suspicious.
First, Karakas did not show Thamel any proof of the payments. That in itself, is not a reason to discredit Karakas. Karakas stated that all the paperwork has been sent to the NCAA, so we have to assume that this is the case. Whether it is real, verifiable, documents that the NCAA can verify as valid is another question. I work in insurance, and on a few instances have had to obtain driving histories from other countries for some of my clients. I can verify firsthand how hard and how long it takes to get reliable documents from another country, and what some people consider valid did not meet my underwriter’s version of valid. And isn’t that what the NCAA is here? A big underwriter? I’m sure Karakas feels he has valid documents … but whether the NCAA sees it as valid or as chickenscratch is a big question.
Secondly, Karakas has an ulterior motive in Kanter being denied eligibility at Kentucky. If Kanter is denied eligibility, Karakas will receive a transfer fee if he goes to another European team. In addition, Karakas has stated he is unhappy with how Kanter left his team, seeing how they had so much invested in him.
And what better way to make a statement to “stay away from our players” than to hold the all time leader in NCAA wins a virtual hostage while this is sorted out? Some pundits say that the European leagues are sick and tired of losing talent to the US, and that Karakas and other owners have made Kanter the line in the sand and are saying “No More”.
There are reasons to doubt Karakas and the claims bade by the Turkish basketball league, but there have been some signs of forsehadowing that the Kanter situation may not be entirely a done deal for Kentucky. .
The biggest red flag for me was DeAndre Daniels and what seemed like Kentucky’s insistence that he re-classify into the 2010 class. The story has Calipari basically telling Daniels that if he does not re-classify, he very well could not have a roster spot available next year. Obviously having Daniels on the team would make them a pre-season Final Four team, but it also would have given them an adequate replacement if Kanter was not eligible.
And finally, I have to wonder how in the dark Kentucky was about these allegations. We have been given the story for months that Kanter’s family was not in need of money and that his father had been very diligent in ensuring that the family took no money that would jeopardize his son’s eligibility. Was this all a smoke screen? Or was John Calipari and his staff in the dark? I would assume that Kentucky’s compliance office has already been all over these as well …. so the news of 11th hour documents is quite troubling.
So what happens now? It’s in the hands of the NCAA now and that honestly scares the hell out of me. I have checked around a bit and as of now, everyone is in the dark and offers nothing but speculation. This is truly a bomb that caught me off guard, but perhaps I should have regarded the DeAndre Daniels situation as a true red flag.
A few things can happen right now. 1) Absolutely nothing. Karakas’s claims are thrown out by the NCAA and we have Enes for the full season. 2) It hits the fan. Kanter is deemed ineligible for the season and Kentucky goes into the season undermanned. or 3) Kanter is suspended and misses a few games — I am hearing speculation it may be till January when he is eligible — but at this point, it’s rampant speculation.
It’s scary when
the fate of your season is in the hands of the NCAA and a Batman villain.
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