Aydın Örs

Aydın Örs — Biography

Aydın Örs (born 23 July 1946 in Ankara) is a Turkish basketball coach and former player. He took up the game in 1963, played for DSİ Spor and Şekerspor, and won 35 caps with the Turkish national team.

He moved into coaching with the Efes Pilsen youth set-up in 1981 and became the club's head coach in 1992. In 1996 he led Efes Pilsen to the Korać Cup, and his zone scheme earned him a reputation as the architect of the so-called "death" defence; he is credited with 20 trophies across 29 years on the bench. He was in charge of the Turkish national team when it reached the final of EuroBasket 2001, and won a further domestic title with Fenerbahçe in 2007, a spell also marked by his public disagreements with Will Solomon, whom he benched after several incidents.

Örs recovered after being treated for Covid-19 in 2021; that same year Ergin Ataman kept a promise by bringing him Anadolu Efes's European trophy. A sports complex in the Beylikdüzü district of Istanbul carries his name.