Rasim Başak

Rasim Başak — Biography

Rasim Başak (born Ruslan Avleev on 17 February 1980 in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR) is a retired professional basketball player who played as a power forward. The son of a Russian mother and an Azerbaijani father, he was born in Soviet-era Baku; some sources give his date of birth as 17 January 1980.

Standing 2.02 m and weighing around 100 kg, he wore the number 8 shirt for most of his career. He turned professional in the early 2000s and spent his playing years in the Turkish Basketball League, where his clubs included Fenerbahçe and Türk Telekom, before retiring in 2012.

Başak holds both Turkish and Azerbaijani citizenship. He represented Turkey internationally on several occasions and later, with the permission of the Turkish Basketball Federation, became eligible to play for the Azerbaijan national team.