Enes Kanter eligibility issue becoming a landmark case, Kanter's dad gets out his side of the story
By Paul Jordan
Back when Enes Kanter commited to Kentucky, there were murmurs about his eligibility. Everyone pointed at the case of West Virginia Deniz Kilicli hoopster and his 20 game suspension. While the Commonwealth fered that the Turkish big man would suffer the same fate, we were assured that the NCAA was going to pass some new rules in August that would ease the transition of Kanter and other similar European players to play in the NCAA.
In theory, it seemed like a slam dunk. We should get confirmation of Ene’s eligibility in August and Wildcat fans can start planning the victory party for number eight. In reality, it never happened.
Somewhere along the way, Enes Kanter has become the poster child for a landmark NCAA decision and this whole ordeal is on the verge of becoming an international incident. Think I am over reacting about that one …. well you don’t know the Big Blue Nation.
Dr Mehmet Kanter, Enes’s father had an email exchange with the Sporting New’s Mike DeCourcy and the one common theme was that his side of the story was drastically different from the Nedim-Karakas-as-told-by-Pete-Thamel side of the story. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
According to Kanter, has turned down multi-million dollar contracts from Enes’s Turkish club “more than a few times” because his intent was always for Enes to play college basketball in the United States. Kanter feels that the Turkish team is trying to control his son and that they oppose Enes playing in the States because:
"“because they are trying to set an example with my son to coming generations in Turkey, so they can control and use the talent and youth any way they like to.”"
Even Pete Thamel acknowledged slightly that the Turkish GM Karakas had an ulterior motive in keeping Enes away from Kentucky, but Thamel chose to focus on his interview with Karakas which may or may not have been done without a translator. Plus Pete Thamel is as biased as Karakas, so it’s good that Kanter is getting a voice to tell his side of the story, and not surprisingly Kanter disagrees with Karakas about “all the facts” and that he has the records to prove that Enes never accepted the disputed “salary”:
"“Since 2007, I wanted Enes to go to the USA and continue his basketball and education there, so I try everything to keep my son amateur and keep meticulous records of all the expenses knowing someday I may be asked (to) fully cooperate with the NCAA.” Dr. Kanter said “never once” was a salary demanded from Fenerbahce or discussed. “I always try to protected Enes from anything might damage his future.” Dr. Kanter said the difficulty of Enes’ situation led him to remove his younger son, 15-year-old Kerem, from the Fenerbahce system and send him to Arlington Country Day School in Florida."
So there you have it. One assumes that the NCAA has received Karakas’s documents and Kanter’s documents and are in the midst of deciding which set of documents may be more reliable. Or they may just flip a coin. Who knows with the NCAA.
But for Kentucky fans, the torturous wait goes on.
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