Turkey’s best NBA prospect blows out his knee

18 year-old point guard Dogus Balbay made a name for himself this summer playing terrific basketball in youth competitions.

He started by competing with guys a year older at the Under 19 World Championships tallying 12 pts and 6 boards and a week later he made the Under 18 squad that played the European Championships. There, he boosted his stats up to 18 pts a game and a couple of other impressive number like 7 boards, 3 dimes and 3 steals.

The 6-1 scoring point guard opted to play college basketball instead of pro ball back (he played in a US high school last year) to Europe. He enrolled at Texas University and we couldn’t wait to see him play alongside or battle for minutes with DJ Augustin.

Balbay seemed very enthusiastic about playing in the Big 12 but he might have to wait for several months before anything like that happens. He indeed blew out his right knee during a pick-up game earlier this month and the team doctors decided the Turkish phenom should go through surgery. He is out indefinitely.