FB Ulker loses Turkcan for season, re-call Mahalbasic

Fenerbahce Ulker's magic season has been dealt another setback with the news Tuesday that the Euroleague's all-time rebounding king, Mirsad Turkcan, will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. Turkcan (207, 34) ruptured the anterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee during the Turkish Cup final, which FB Ulker won on Sunday. Before last week, Turkcan had helped FB Ulker to its best Top 16 start ever, 3-0 in Group H, with a pair of vintage performances in back-to-back home wins. Although he missed the Top 16 opener, he returned to scored 14 points in a two-point victory over Power Electronics Valencia and then had 13 points and 14 rebounds against Zalgiris for the 49th double-double of his Euroleague career, another of his many records. Turkcan has by far the most rebounds, 1,239, of any Euroleague player ever, which includes the most on the offensive (372) and defensive (867) boards. Turkcan has posted three of the best four seasons for any rebounder since 2000 and five of the best six rebounding totals in individual games. Turkcan did all that in just seven full Euroleague seasons, as he was also injured last year and appeared in just one game for 10 minutes. Turkcan returned to form for 2010-11, ranking fifth in the regular season with 6.7 rebounds per game and first so far in the Top 16 with an average of 10.5. His was also tied, after his two Top 16 appearances, for the league's fourth-best performance index rating average, 20 per game. The injury to Turkcan is particularly difficult for an FB Ulker team that its starting power forward, Emir Preldzic, early in the season, also to a knee injury. Turkcan is due to fly to Germany to have the knee operated on Wednesday, while his team visits Zalgiris in Week 4 of the Top 16.

Due to the injury of the rebounding king, Fenerbahce recalled from Tofas Bursa Rasid Mahalbasic. The young player was averaging 3.7ppg and 3.0rpg in 10 games played this season.