Though the Chicago Bulls couldn’t sign any of the so-called “Big Three” free agents this summer, they have come to terms with their 2008 second-round draft pick, Team Turkey’s shot-swatting Omer Asik, signing him to an approximately $1 million per year deal.
And the Bulls have also reportedly extended an offer sheet to J.J. Redick.
Asik is the latest in a pack of Turkish big men invading the NBA, chasing new Boston Celtics/former Fenerbahçe Ülker center Semih Erden – that team’s first foreign player on the roster in three seasons. Mehmet Okur of the Utah Jazz paved the way for the Fenerbahçe-bred duo, and just wait until the U.S. gets a load of certain 2011 lottery pick Enes Kanter at Kentucky this season…
In eight games with Fenerbahçe in 2009-10, Asik was good for 11.1 points on 60.7% shooting, 5.9 rebounds and just under two blocks per game; in seven Euroleague games, his line was 8.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg and 1.3 bpg: clearly indicating the main problem with the big guy whom Euroleague press once proclaimed “One of the world’s most promising young big men,” i.e. injuries.
