VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor’s Eurovision) - The management of Anadolu Efes might have moaned and groaned after X-rays revealed that Nenad Krstic had broken his arm during a Turkish league game against Pinar Karsiyaka last week.

There were some who felt that Efes had overspent this summer when signing the former NBA center, a big hit during his time at CSKA Moscow the past three years.

But Efes coach Dusan Ivkovic, who had the 2.12m Krstic in his Serbia national team line-up every year from 2008 through EuroBasket 2013, understood what a talent the veteran is.

He felt that to be reunited with the national team captain at Efes, a new club for both coach and player, was only going to be a good thing.

Krstic, who had helped Serbia reach the Final of this summer's FIBA Basketball World Cup despite not being 100 percent fit due to injuries, thrived in the first three Turkish Airlines Euroleague games with Efes.

The Kraljevo-born player led the competition with an average performance index rating of 22.3 per game and was also the team's leading scorer at 17.3ppg.

Then came the injury.

Efes did not look like a team that would be able to recover from the loss of its only true center, but with Ivkovic, anything is possible.

He is not afraid to put youngsters into battle, and Efes have plenty of them.

One is a 20-year-old, rising Croatia national team star Dario Saric.

He has had some injury problems but on Thursday in a 76-66 win at Nizhny Novgorod, Saric had one of his best games in the Euroleague, scoring 18 points.

Saric, who played at the FIBA Basketball World Cup, was selected 12th overall by the Orlando Magic in this summer's NBA Draft.

The Magic then traded his rights to Philadelphia.

Saric is supposed to be one of the team’s top players but Ivkovic didn’t know he could be as influential as he was against Nizhny.

"I think Dario Saric is a big talent and I was positively surprised with his game," Ivkovic said. 

"He played very well." 

In fact, in the first three Euroleague games with Efes, Ivkovic had already leaned heavily on youth and seen his team win two of three games.

Cedi Osman, 19, is one of the players in the Turkish national team set-up who has been contributing to Efes.

A 2.04m forward, he was the Most Valuable Player of the U20 European Championship this year before linking up with Turkey’s senior team and playing at the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

His teammate at the U20 European Championship, 2.12m center Emircan Kosut, is on the Efes roster.

Osman is closer to the finished article, although he still has work to do.

He is one of the first players off the bench.

Another bright talent with Efes is Furkan Korkmaz, a 1.97m shooting guard who only turned 17 on 24 July.

He averaged 25.3ppg at the 2013 U16 European Championship and this year, contributed 11.6ppg for Turkey at U18 European Championship. 

Korkmaz led the tounament in three-point shooting at 69 percent (16 of 23).

A Krstic-less Efes and their young guns got on top of Niznhy in the first half and led by 24 points at one stage.

Osman and Korkmaz were especially effective in the open floor in the second quarter.

It would not be incorrect to describe their play as dazzling at times.

In the fourth quarter, Efes wobbled.

Their youngsters didn’t make all the right decisions on offense and Nizhny began to hit shots.

The Russians pulled to within six but Efes held on.

"I have some young players on my roster, a new wave in European basketball," Ivkovic said. 

"But tonight, they were not that good in the second half, when I gave them a chance."

It doesn't matter that the young players had some difficult moments late in the game, and Ivkovic knows that.

The only way they are going to learn is if they play.

Remember when Ivkovic was at the start of his spell as Serbia coach, in 2008? 

He relied on a new generation of players that included Milos Teodosic, Nemanja Bjelica and Stefan Markovic, just to name a few.

His Serbia side at EuroBasket 2009 was the youngest in the tournament and still reached the Final.

The following year, Serbia finished fourth at the FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

The aim of Efes right now is to weather the storm in the Euroleague without Krstic, who won’t play again in the Regular Season.

They need to survive and get to the Top 16, which will happen with a top-four finish in Group A.

These youngsters will get better and not just because of Ivkovic, but also thanks to the presence of intelligent players like point guard Dontaye Draper, a true coach on the floor.

He said it best after the win at Nizhny.

"We're a young team, still growing up, and we are going to grow game by game…," Draper said.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA