Allen Iverson teams up with Fedor

It’s not Fedor Emelianenko, the greatest fighter of the last decade, “Baddest man on the planet” (documentary) who in the Western world normally goes just by his first name.

But Fedor Likholitov is no pushover either. An athletic 6-11, 260-pound center who played for the Russian national team, VCU (1998-2002) and several top clubs across Europe, he is now the main inside presence for Besiktas. Unlike many European big men, Likholitov doesn’t have much range on his shot and earns his checks by fighting in the paint, rebounding, blocking shots and finishing strong at the rim.

Those four years at Virginia Commonwealth University may come in handy now that the biggest star of the team is Allen Iverson, who will need a lot of stuff explained to him in English. The head coach Burak Bıyıktay is Turkish, and to be fair I don’t know of his language skills. But it will definitely help that the point guard is Mire Chatman, an American. And then there’s A.J. Ogilvy of Australia and Vanderbilt, who quickly went from an NBA prospect to a not so great college center to an ordinary center in Europe.

Likholitov and Chatman joined Besiktas this summer, but they were teammates earlier in their careers, helping Dynamo Moscow win the Eurocup title in 2006. Besiktas plays in the same competition now – Eurocup, a prestigious continental tournament which is second behind the Euroleague and is run by the same organization ULEB. Naturally, the club ownership was hoping that Fedor and Chatman’s experience would result in some wins. Now they can only hope that Iverson is willing to join this fight too.