Enes And The Menace: The Kanter – Max Ergul Story

Feb 9, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Utah Jazz center Enes Kanter (0) celebrates with forward Gordon Hayward (20) and guard Dante Exum (11) during the fourth quarter of a game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. The Jazz defeated the Pelicans 100-96. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

February 11, 2015, inside the visitor’s locker room, American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas: Enes Kanter doesn’t think twice about his agent Max Ergul before spouting off in frustration to media then ominously hugging teammate of nearly four years, Jeremy Evans, before the extended break for the NBA’s All-Star Weekend.

It’s almost as if Enes was saying goodbye.

April 2008, somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean: A small group of Turks are tens of thousands of feet over the water, heading from Istanbul for the east coast of the United States in the pursuit of a future in the game of basketball, second only to soccer in popularity in Turkey. The Turks rabidly root for their national team and members in the NBA, European basketball leagues and tournaments.

More from The J-Notes

• With the FIBA World Cup over for Simone Fontecchio, it’s clear he deserves minutes for the Utah Jazz
• Best, Worst and Most likely scenarios for the Utah Jazz this season
• Hoops Hype downplays the significance of the Utah Jazz’s valuable assets
• 3 Utah Jazz players who have the most to gain or lose this season
• Former Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay is a free agent still and it shouldn’t surprise anyone

One of the members of the party will not be returning home to live again, and will only visit briefly a couple of times before becoming a pariah to his people.

Prominent in Turkish social standing, Dr. Mehmet Kanter is escorting his son to his new home in America. Only the good doctor, now a professor, and his sizable son Enes don’t yet know exactly where home will be, only that it will be somewhere with a promising basketball school.

They are hoping that no one notices that Enes played professional ball briefly in Turkey for powerhouse Fenerbahce Ulker in 2008-09, receiving salary and benefiting his family in the way of paid housing, as that would eliminate him from playing for the NCAA in a year or two after finishing high school.

Dr. Kanter is a conservative man, with relatively narrow views both politically and religiously that have been inherited by his lineage, descendants that grew up in a country currently in political turmoil. The Kanters are members of the Gülen movement.

This wouldn’t be the last time Max Ergul miscarries the communication game, maybe the most important facet of managing an athlete as an agent

 February, 2015, Dallas, Texas: When asked where he will spend the time off, Enes Kanter replies that he will be going to visit friends in Pennsylvania.

1999, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.: Forward-thinking for a preacher, Fethullah Gülen arrives in the United States for purported medical treatments. He would never leave, making his new home in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, some say to avoid trial over controversial comments made in the midst of a swing in political power in which Gülen decries those currently in power.

A supporter of science, education, democracy and free-market politics, Gülen isn’t what many Americans have come to associate with Islam, very much considered moderate within the religion’s circles.

He retires from preaching in 1981, going on to publish numerous works, and the Gülen movement is born and spawns millions of followers and over a 1,000 educational facilities in more than 140 countries worldwide. English is taught from the first grade on in a Gülen school.

A year after arriving in the U.S. Gülen is tried in absentia in Turkey, then acquitted in 2008.

In 2013, Fethullah Gülen is named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.

April 2008, New York City, New York: After making the cut of some 40 international players, Enes Kanter is deposited in New York to participate in the 2008 Jordan Brand Classic International Game as one of ten prestigious invitees.

Dr. Kanter informs the small party that includes his son that he will be leaving them to meet with high school administrators in Boston. Only the promise of his U.S. hook-up never materializes and he ends up staying overnight.

This wouldn’t be the last time Max Ergul miscarries the communication game, maybe the most important facet of managing an athlete as an agent.

May 2011, Chicago, Illinois, NBA pre-draft camp: For the second time, Max Ergul emerges at the center of controversy centered around a Turkish basketball player in America linked to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Ergul begins showing a pattern of reaction to circumstances surrounding a Turkish ballplayer he’s associated with when he is forced to do damage control when Enes Kanter doesn’t show up for a reported workout for the Bucks. It’s not the first time he’d let neglecting duties dictate his role in a franchise and player.

In 2007, reports that Ergul was Ersan Ilysova’s agent ran rampant for some time before Ergul would be forced to field calls in retort, admitting he was nothing more than an “advisor to Ilyasova,” the same role the would-be agent would claim for Kanter in 2010.

From Max Ergul’s LinkedIn profile

It’s unclear when exactly Ergul became Enes Kanter’s full blown agent, but it seems clear he’d had machinations and ambitions toward becoming an NBA agent for some time, a career choice he seems ill suited for, always racing to put out a fire rather than taking proactive precautions.

Despite listing himself as an NBA agent since 2005, Ergul’s only confirmed client is Enes Kanter.

2010-11, Massachusetts: Younger brother of Enes, 15 year-old Kerem Kanter is also sent to the United States to play basketball. He’d play for two Massachusetts schools, finishing up in Florida before committing in 2014 to Green Bay to play college ball.

August 2009, Metz, France: Enes Kanter dominates in FIBA Under-18 championship tournament play, leading the Turkish National Team to bronze while blowing away Dirk Nowitzki‘s averages record with 18.6 points and a tournament-best 16.4 rebounds per game. He would post games of 32 points and 25 rebounds and 35 points and 19 rebounds in the tourney, leading to huge excitement by rabid Turkish basketball fans for his future on the Men’s National Team.

2010, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.: Hanging at Max Ergul HQ, Enes Kanter declines an invitation to play for the Turkey National Team, Dr. Mehmet Kanter citing a focus on preparing for college at Kentucky.

Summer 2011, Lithuania: With the NBA in a lockout, and Kanter not having played competitive basketball for two years now after being denied by the NCAA at Kentucky, Enes joins the Turkish National Team for the EuroBasket tournament. Turkey would finish a disappointing T-11 with a 3-5 record.

From Enes Kanter’s Twitter

Summer 2012, Somewhere, U.S.A., presumably Chicago, Illinois: Team Turkey technical coordinator Bogdan Tanjevic and head coach Orhun Ene are unable to reach Enes Kanter or Max Ergul. Kanter has committed to practicing with the team in the summer of 2012 as they attempt to qualify for the next round of upcoming FIBAs.

After neither Enes not Ergul answer repeated calls, Dr. Mehmet Kanter is informed, who in turn is unable to reach either his son or his son’s agent. They’ve gone off the map, Ergul sheltering Enes from anything and everyone else.

Kanter turns up on Twitter soliciting blondes and brunettes to join him at various restaurants, but continues to ignore calls from home.

Back in Turkey, the natives get restless and upset and begin grumbling of Enes being “a traitor to his country” and national team. The Turkish National Team goes with the “We didn’t want him anyway” defense, lambasting Kanter in the media saying his game lacks necessary facets, is one-dimensional.

Kanter finally quietly returns home at some point only to put on 20 pounds, then suddenly reemerges into the public eye 50 pounds lighter than the season before with an 8-pack of abs he posts various poses of on Twitter just as fall camp begins for the Utah Jazz.

After neither Enes not Ergul answer repeated calls, Dr. Mehmet Kanter is informed, who in turn is unable to reach either his son or his son’s agent

Summer 2013, Somewhere, U.S.A., presumably Chicago, Illinois: Kanter injures his shoulder in a game in March that will require surgery forestalling any further shots fired back and forth with Team Turkey.

That is, until the Turks lose three straight EuroBasket games and get eliminated. Curiously, an Enes Kanter “Hahahahhahahaa” tweet happens right as Team Turkey is ousted.

Kanter would delete the tweet claiming it was an inside joke with brother Kerem that featured unfortunate timing.

Summer 2014, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A: Blood is bad between Enes Kanter and Team Turkey at this point, but they’re still willing to bury the hatchet and welcome him home to help the team cause in the FIBA World Cup, the most important international tournament in basketball. Kanter says he intends to join them. And then…

Kanter’s camp announces he will require minor knee surgery in June rendering him unavailable to Team Turkey for the FIBA World Cup in September. Hmm. Convenient. It was very minor precautionary, corrective surgery with no structural damage.

December 2014, Turkey: A witch hunt for members of the Gülen movement ensues with more than two dozen senior media members being arrested for “forming, leading and being a member of an armed terrorist organization” in response to accusations of corruption tendered.

Sometime in early 2011: After serving as the right-hand man for Turkish super-agent Tolga Tugsavul for many years, Max Ergul finally lands his first real client as an independent agent and not just an advisor. Enes Kanter remains his only client, aside from a cup of coffee with Dee Bost.

For the second time, Max Ergul emerges at the center of controversy centered around a Turkish basketball player

February 2015: Enes Kanter informs the Utah Jazz media that he hopes to be traded before the February 19, 2015 NBA trade deadline effectively neutering both his trade value and upcoming restricted free agency value.

Yet again, Max Ergul is put in the position of putting out a fire because he let someone play with matches in the fireworks booth while he was off doing whatever he does, which certainly isn’t conducive to creating a reputation that he has the slightest inkling of how to manage even a pee-wee league team, let alone a multi-millionaire with a history of poor decision-making.

This is the latest, most damaging instance of a lack of meaningful communication between Max Ergul and a situation critical to his own success, one that might mark the end of Max Ergul the agent.

“The cat’s out of the box” concerning Enes Kanter’s agent.