Deron Williams’ New Turkish Team Also Wants Kobe Bryant


OK, now you’re just getting greedyDWill’s new bench boss wouldn’t mind coaching Williams, Zaza Pachulia, and Kobe Bryant (who, incidentally, is a Turkish Airlines endorser.) The NY Times reports: “We confirm’ the contract with Williams, said Ergin Ataman, the coach of the Turkish team Besiktas, in a telephone interview Thursday. Ataman said that the deal should become official in the next 24 hours and that Besiktas’s president, Seref Yalcin, would join Williams for a news conference in the United States next week. Williams is expected to report to Besiktas, which is based in Istanbul, on Sept. 1. The season there begins Sept. 27 … If the lockout is resolved, Williams would be free to break his contract and return to the N.B.A., Ataman said. Ataman said Zaza Pachulia, who plays for the Atlanta Hawks, also has an agreement to play for Besiktas. And the club is not done recruiting locked-out N.B.A. players, he said. ‘If there’s a possibility, we’ll talk with Kobe if he’d like to play in Europe with Deron and with other guys to play we can talk with him,’ Ataman said. ‘If Kobe would like to play with us, we will also contact his agent and maybe with him.'”