SEATTLE – Having lost guards Brent Barry and Richie Frahm from last season’s team, and having missed on their bid to sign free-agent guard Derek Fisher, the Seattle SuperSonics have been looking to add an experienced player to their backcourt.
That search has evidently produced 6-foot-6 guard Ibrahim Kutluay of Turkey, one of the top players in his country and one of the best perimeter shooters anywhere.
Just ask the United States Olympic team, which was introduced to Kutluay (who goes by the nickname Ibo, pronounced EE-bo) in a pair of pre-Olympic exhibition contests earlier in the summer. He scored 19 points against the Americans in the opener, then came back to score 26 points in the second game.
Though he is still under contract to Ulkerspor, his Turkish League team, Kutluay wants to spend the upcoming season in the NBA. He has particular interest in the Sonics, partly because of Seattle’s backcourt need and partly because the team plays an up-tempo style that fits his game.
Kutluay arrived in Seattle on Sunday and is expected to be in town most of the week. According to Sonics general manager Rick Sund, there are details to be addressed before Kutluay can sign with the team. Foremost is a release from his Ulkerspor contract, which will involve a hefty buyout. Under NBA rules, Seattle can pay just $350,000 toward a buyout. Kutluay would pay the balance, and although terms are still being negotiated it could be upwards of $2 million from his pocket.
“We haven’t signed anything yet,” Sund said Monday, “but we’re optimistic we can get it done … in the next couple of days.”
Sund would not reveal contract terms, but the team is expected to offer Kutluay, who turned 30 in July, the so-called $1 million exception for teams over the league’s salary cap. The exception is actually $1.6 million in 2004-05 and $1.7 million in 2005-06, and those figures are roughly what Kutluay earned playing in Turkey last season.
Kutluay, who averaged 12.9 points in 23 games for Ulkerspor last season, is something of a one-dimensional player. The one thing he does, though, he does very well.
“He’s a hell of a shooter,” Sund said. “That’s his strength.”
Though the NBA 3-point line is further from the basket than the international 3-point stripe, Kutluay should have no trouble adjusting.
“His range is big-time,” Sund said. “He is known as one of the better shooters in the world and people are looking at him because it’s tough to get shooters.”
On the downside, Kutluay is at best a mediocre defender and despite his size he is not a player who frequently gets to the basket. Still, his showing against the U.S. Olympians certainly drew notice. Two or three other NBA teams are also believed to have sought his signature on a contract.
He is, Sund said, “a player that people are talking about a little bit.”
With the Sonics, Kutluay would be expected to play behind Ray Allen and Flip Murray at shooting guard. If Kutluay was to progress rapidly, he could supplant Murray as Allen’s primary backup.
Fans wanting to get an early peek at Kutluay can go to his Web site, www.ibrahimkutluay.com.
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