It’s certainly been one of the most interesting and exciting off-seasons in EuroLeague history with many of its stars jumping ship to the NBA and some looking to pad the stats and secure a big payday in China.
However, an old favourite, Sergio Rodriguez will return to the EuroLeague, there has been an exodus of Darussafaka Istanbul players and teams that failed to reach last season’s Playoffs have vastly changed their line-up for the upcoming campaign.
So who has had a good off-season and who hasn’t?
WINNERS:
Milos Teodosic's departure prompted CSKA Moscow into signing Sergio Rodriguez. Photo: EuroLeague Basketball
CSKA Moscow
The question was how would the Muscovites respond after losing their influential guard Milos Teodosic? Answer: by bringing in 2014 EuroLeague MVP Sergio Rodriguez from the Philadelphia 76ers, which arguably has been the most high-profile signature of the off-season.
CSKA also brought in experienced Othello Hunter as well as free-scoring Will Cyburn which shows that the Russians have not missed a beat and will be amongst the front-runners to book their spot to the Final Four in Belgrade, next May.
Khimki
Fellow Russian side Khimki have probably been the busiest EuroLeague team this off-season with no less than seven new faces joining the side this campaign, including James Anderson, Stefan Markovic, Tyler Honeycutt, Malcolm Thomas, Anthony Gill, Charles Jenkins and Andrey Zubkov.
James Anderson is one of many high-profile signings for Khimki this off-season. Photo: EuroLeague Basketball
But keeping hold of talisman and last season’s EuroCup MVP Alexey Shved as well as hiring coach Georgios Bartzokas have been Khimki’s two biggest acquisitions this summer. Bartzokas will especially be keen to forget about his nightmare with Barcelona last season, where he struggled to get five match-fit players onto court and instead, he'll look to get rolling in a country where he has landed some success. The playcaller guided Lokomotiv Kuban to the Final Four in 2016.
The question for Khimki though will be shaping and gelling an entirely new group of players together for the new season. If they do, then the Moscow Region might be the dark horses.
Fenerbahce celebrating their EuroLeague title last season. Photo: EuroLeague Basketball
Fenerbahce Dogus
The champions have lost two key components of their successful campaign last season in Bogdan Bogdanovic and Ekpe Udoh, who both left for the NBA. But EuroLeague Coach of the Year, Zeljko Obradovic has added plenty of new star power, particularly in the shape of Nicolo Melli and 22-year-old Marko Guduric. Fenerbahce also inked Sinan Gular for a spark off the bench as well as keeping hold of Luigi Datome, Pero Antic, Bobby Dixon and Jan Vesely.
The squad will no doubt be amongst the front-runners this season, with coach Obradovic leading the way. It was definitely a question of who will be retained for next term, and Fenerbahce have succeeded.
Barcelona
It’s no surprise to many that following the nightmare campaign last season, Barcelona would be busy in the free agency market this off-season, and the first task after letting go of Georgios Bartzokas was to employ a new tactician.
Sito Alonso, previously of Baskonia, certainly fits the bill as the team’s new coach. And while his attempts to bring Adam Hanga and Shane Larkin with him to Catalonia eventually fell flat – Alonso pulled some strings to bring more star power - and Thomas Heurtel, Adrien Moerman and Pierre Oriola have all been brought in with Tyrese Rice, one of the few that stayed injury-free last season, Petteri Koponen, Juan Carlos Navarro and Ante Tomic also remaining with the Catalan club.
Barcelona will look to the backroom staff to reduce injuries and make sure that they remain competitive the upcoming season. The fans will want to return to the post-season. They feel that they belong there.
Barcelona fans saw their team suffer last season as injuries saw the Catalan giants miss out on the EuroLeague Playoffs. Photo: Barcelona Basket
EA7 Milano
Like Barcelona, EA7 Milano needed to make drastic changes following their disappointing finish last season. The Italian side were rock bottom of the table and they didn’t fare so well towards the end of the domestic season, either.
Milano let go of head coach Jasmin Repesa, and rather controversially employed Simone Pianigiani as the replacement. But hiring the former Italian national team coach angered fans who have not forgotten when he won the Italian league with Montepaschi Siena in 2012 at the expense of EA7 Milano in what was considered a tainted victory due to financial and fiscal fraud.
Regardless of the supporters feelings, Pianigiani will have a strong and radically changed line-up for next season. Their marquee signing Andrew Goudelock from Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv will no doubt bring a strong scoring influence to the Italian side but questions over his attitude on the court and how he can make Milano better as a team will be asked?
Adding Basketball Champions League MVP Jordan Theodore, big man Patric Young, Cory Jefferson, shooter Dairis Bertans and veteran forward Vladmir Micov will surely ensure a season of vast improvement but the question remains: can EA7 Milano gel as a team and make serious noise for a Playoff spot instead of fading away in mid-season?
Valencia
Last season’s EuroCup runners-up and Liga Endesa champions have retained a majority of the championship-winning roster and have further bolstered the line-up ahead of the next campaign.
Keeping French international Antoine Diot as well as veterans Fernando San Emeterio and Bojan Dubljevic have helped. But adding last season’s championship game player Errick Green, veteran Latavious Williams and young prodigy Andres Rico from Gipuzkoa all bring a massive boost for their EuroLeague return.
Olympiacos
Evergreen Olympiacos have not been as active in the free agency list as many of the other sides. But that shows that the core will remain in Pireaus next season. Leader Vassilis Spanoulis, along with Kostas Papanikolaou, Georgios Printezis and Valgelis Mantzaris will wear the infamous red and white next season.
However, Olympiacos have added Jamel McLean, Kim Tillie and Brian Roberts to the line-up for next season, but most importantly, the core will see the Greek giants among the top of the pile.
LOSERS:
Crvena Zvezda
Despite missing out on the final day of the last EuroLeague season, Crvena Zvezda head into the upcoming campaign as the league’s weak link next season. Possibly even a favourite to finish bottom of the pile, come next April when they travel to Russia to face CSKA Moscow in their final game of the EuroLeague regular season.
Due to the financial concerns that they are still facing, most of the roster were let go, while even experienced and talented coach Dejan Radonjic decided to leave the club.
Players like Charles Jenkins, Luka Mitrovic, Marko Simonovic, Stefan Jovic and Marko Guduric have all joined other EuroLeague or EuroCup clubs (Crvena Zvezda earned almost €2.3million from these transfers), with the Serbian team now trying to sign plenty of players in order to again become competitive. But it will be a tough ask.
Unicaja Malaga
The 2017 EuroCup winners need to make their roster deeper and more talented, if they want to fight for a place in the Playoffs.
Last season's EuroCup winners have not been as busy in the summer market. Will they compete for a Playoff spot this term? Photo: EuroLeague Basketball
Even though veteran coach Joan Plaza saw Nemanja Nedovic stay with the team, some of last season’s key players left the club, with Dragan Milosavljevic and Giorgi Shermadini coming in as replacements.
That said, Malaga should add more high-quality players to their roster, if they want to create a decent squad and become one of the top EuroLeague clubs, fighting for a post-season spot.
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv
The 2014 EuroLeague champions are once again are at a crossroads. Last month, the Israelis tried to lure Darussafaka Istanbul coach, David Blatt, back to Tel Aviv, and led them to the top of Europe three years ago in Milan.
However, the experienced coach decided to remain a member of the Turkish squad and, consequently, Maccabi prized Neven Spahija away from the Atlanta Hawks, where he was an assistant.
Apart from Victor Rudd and Sylven Landesberg, almost all the remaining players of the roster have left the Israeli giants.
Devin Smith, Andrew Goudelock, D.J Seeley, Joe Alexander, Colton Iverson and Yogev Ohayon will not play for Maccabi next year, whereas the acquisition of Alex Tyus, John DiBartolomeo, Deshaun Thomas and Michael Roll hasn’t fully covered the gap yet.
Consequently, the Israeli team still needs to add more versatile players to its roster in order to again be considered one of the favourites to go all the way to the end.
Zalgiris
Along with Crvena Zvezda, Zalgiris needs to flex its muscles in the transfer market in order to avoid being amongst the last places in the standings, come next April.
The club’s coach, and EuroLeague Legend, Sarunas Jasikevicius, had to change his initial plans, with most of the roster’s members joining other teams.
More specifically, Leo Westermann, Luka Lekavicius, Brock Motum, Augusto Lima, Robertas Javtokas and Renaldas Seibutis were let go, making Jasikevicius’ effort to create a decent squad more difficult.
With Monaco’s Dee Bost and Brandon Davies being their best signings so far, the Lithuanian giants should try harder to persuade talented and versatile players to join the club; otherwise things will become difficult for them.
Brose Bamberg
Undoubtedly, Brose Bamberg have had a difficult off-season, as a lot of their quality players that led them to domestic glory last season have gone to pastures new.
Coach Andrea Trinchieri has seens Janis Strelnieks, Daniel Theis, Fabien Causeur, Nicolo Melli and Darius Miller sign with other EuroLeague and NBA clubs, weakening the squad’s quality.
However, the acquisition of guards Ricky Hickman, Bryce Taylor and Daniel Hackett will offer decent solutions in the backcourt line.
Ricky Hickman joins Bamberg from EA7 Milano. Will he be the German side's new leader? Photo: EuroLeague Basketball
It is the team’s frontline, though, that needs to become stronger, with power forwards Luka Mitrovic and Augustine Rubit having been the newcomers so far.
Although both of them will effectively co-operate with center Leon Radosevic, Trinchieri should sign two high-quality players to cover the gap that was created by Melli’s and Theis’ departure.
UNSURE MENTIONS
Panathinaikos, Real Madrid, Anadolu Efes, Baskonia
There hasn’t been much activity so far this off-season. Panathinaikos have added new players Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Marcus Denmon and brought back 2011 EuroLeague champion Ian Vougioukas, Real Madrid have yet to add fresh faces, so no news is good news and Anadolu Efes bringing in high-scoring guard Errick McCollum.
Baskonia have hung on to Adam Hanga but their big question will be how will their new head coach Pablo Prigioni lead the team in his first management role?
Accurate from July 24.
Yiannis Bouranis contributed to this report.
https://www.talkbasket.net/25553-euroleague-off-season-winners-losers.html
Milas was a great player. Clippers so lucky have him
Great article