23/24 European basketball discussion: Euroleague/BBL/ACB/LegaA/LNB/TBL..

[AHOYBRAUSE]

With the basketball world cup coming to an end I think it's time to make a new general thread for the new upcoming European basketball season.

I hope we can stay away from NBA talk in this thread and focus on Europe only.





This should cover, but not reduce to, Euroleague, Eurocup and domestic leagues like Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Israel, Turkey, Lithuania and more.
A lot of recent NBA talent went to Europe this summer so we can all be exited for the upcoming season.

What's you pick for the Euroleague? Monaco looks strong after adding Kemba Walker. Their back court with him and Mike James is scary.

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[bisdak40]

TBH, I've got no knowledge about this Euro league but for sure there are betting odds for this league and I think this thread will be helpful for us that has little or no knowledge of what's going on in Euro basketball.

Will closely watch this thread so that I can gain knowledge on whom or where to bet.

Do most of those players we have watched on FIBA'23 will play on this tournament?

[Yogee]

The European team's success on the recently concluded FIBA world cup sparked my interest on European competitions so this thread is very much welcome. I checked Rollbit's sportsbook and it says there are about 16 teams that would compete here. Can you confirm that? It looks like Real Madrid is the favorite to win this season with odds at 5.50

[AHOYBRAUSE]

The European team's success on the recently concluded FIBA world cup sparked my interest on European competitions so this thread is very much welcome. I checked Rollbit's sportsbook and it says there are about 16 teams that would compete here. Can you confirm that? It looks like Real Madrid is the favorite to win this season with odds at 5.50

Actually the Euroleague has 18 teams.

There are always the usual suspects at the top of the favourites like Real, Barcelona, Fenerbahce but teams like Monaco, Olympiacos and Bayern Munich recently made a good impression and great player additions.

Barca and Real had some big signings this offseason so they are always a force in this competition.

TBH, I've got no knowledge about this Euro league but for sure there are betting odds for this league and I think this thread will be helpful for us that has little or no knowledge of what's going on in Euro basketball.

Will closely watch this thread so that I can gain knowledge on whom or where to bet.

Do most of those players we have watched on FIBA'23 will play on this tournament?

Well from the European teams almost all players that are not in the NBA are playing in Europe. Many of them are playing for the strong teams represented in the Euroleague.
But the domestic leagues are also very interesting. Spain has a lot of great teams for example and is definitely the strongest domestic league in Europe. Many other leagues only have a couple of great teams. Like in Italy it's mostly Milano and Virtus Bologna competing for the championship. In France it's Monaco and Lyon, Germany Munich and Berlin ( last season was a big surprise with Ulm winning ) or in Lithuania there is mostly Zalgiris Kaunas winning with Lietuvos Rytas trying to battle them.

But in Spain you have Barca, Madrid, Valencia, Saski Baskonia and others playing at a high level.

I also like smaller leagues like the Polish league, the Czech league or even the nordic leagues like in Finland an so on.

Looking forward for the start of many leagues this month. Finally the summer break is over and the basketball season is making a comeback.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Basketball picking up steam.

The first "bigger leagues", the French LBL and the Lithuanian LKL start today, so the waiting time is over.

In Munich there is a great preseason tournament today with Bayern Munich, ALBA Berlin, Kk Crvena Zvezda and Virtus Bologna. 3 Euroleague teams with strong rosters getting ready for the new season.

Finally the summer break is over and the leagues restart action, I couldn't be more exited!

[LTU_btc]

It's time to bump this topic a bit as new Euroleague season begins tomorrow. Little introdution - there is no change in list of participants as Eurocup winners decided not to take part in Euroleague. But there is one big change - Play-in tournament after regular season between 7-10th placed teams.
In opening round biggest game will be between Panathinaikos with new manager Ataman and Olympiacos. Though, just week ago Oly completely demolished PAO in Greek Super Cup final.
Barca - Efes is another big game, though, Barca now doesn't looks like a force which can fight for the title.

I also like smaller leagues like the Polish league, the Czech league or even the nordic leagues like in Finland an so on.

Looking forward for the start of many leagues this month. Finally the summer break is over and the basketball season is making a comeback.

Damn, seems that you have very good knowledge about European basketball if you follow these leagues. From national leagues I follow our local Lithuanian LKL and then Sapnish, Turkish, German, Italian and French league. And offcourse, Euroleague, Eurocup and Vhampions league as well.
What is your favorite team if it's not secret ?

[casperBGD]

this topic looks better than just Euroleague, because it should be more active, more topics/leagues to cover

I follow some bigger European leagues, but most attention to Euroleague and ABA league, where Partizan plays
we start tomorrow against Maccabi in Tel Aviv in Euroleague, should be an interesting match, and will put better view on our team this season, looking at players, we should fight for Top10 for sure, and aim for F4

bookmarking this topic

[AHOYBRAUSE]

this topic looks better than just Euroleague, because it should be more active, more topics/leagues to cover

I follow some bigger European leagues, but most attention to Euroleague and ABA league, where Partizan plays
we start tomorrow against Maccabi in Tel Aviv in Euroleague, should be an interesting match, and will put better view on our team this season, looking at players, we should fight for Top10 for sure, and aim for F4

bookmarking this topic

Thank you.
Yes covering just Euroleague is a bit boring. It's just 18 teams and only 1, max 2, games per week for each team.

While in Europe every league finally started and we have way more games to cover.

Bayern Munich, which is the HUGE favourite to win the title in Germany this year, already have their first loss in a huge upset in Oldenburg. They have 3 world champions, some solid Euroleague veterans, and for whatever reason recently acquired Serge Ibaka. I'm happy to see them lose nationally, I don't like this project. They have no history in Germany and only bought their way into the league several years back.

In France, Monaco still hasn't played Kemba Walker. Slowly rumours coming up their are some issues. Even Mike James mentioned some words about being unhappy they signed him. To be honest, another pointguard was the last thing they needed.

You mentioned Partizan, they have a strong team together this year, just as their arch rival red star. I didn't even see they initially signed Kelly Oubre, who now signed with the 76s in the NBA again.
Watching their home games is always exiting and I'm eagerly waiting for the Belgrade derby this season!!

[casperBGD]

~snip
You mentioned Partizan, they have a strong team together this year, just as their arch rival red star. I didn't even see they initially signed Kelly Oubre, who now signed with the 76s in the NBA again.
Watching their home games is always exiting and I'm eagerly waiting for the Belgrade derby this season!!

yeah, our arch rival started well in Euroleague, easy home win against Asvel, while Partizan is on the way to lose first match against Maccabi (losing 20+ difference in fourth quarter)
but overall, both teams are looking good this season, and will be really interesting to see who will come up better in the end

Barcelona seems to be up against Efes, and Bayern that you mentioned is close to win over Alba

[AHOYBRAUSE]

~snip
You mentioned Partizan, they have a strong team together this year, just as their arch rival red star. I didn't even see they initially signed Kelly Oubre, who now signed with the 76s in the NBA again.
Watching their home games is always exiting and I'm eagerly waiting for the Belgrade derby this season!!

yeah, our arch rival started well in Euroleague, easy home win against Asvel, while Partizan is on the way to lose first match against Maccabi (losing 20+ difference in fourth quarter)
but overall, both teams are looking good this season, and will be really interesting to see who will come up better in the end

Barcelona seems to be up against Efes, and Bayern that you mentioned is close to win over Alba

Yeah Partizan didn't have the start they wanted. But to be fair, it's not easy to start away and in Tel Aviv.
Bayern had a strong 3rd quarter after being down 8 at halftime, damn. I was hoping ALBA could stop them but they totally fell apart in the 3rd.
It was a solid gameday and Zalgiris with a big comeback in the forth giving them the only away win of the 5 games.

Today we will see the first big derby of the new season with Panathinaikos vs Olympiacos. Kostas Sloukas went from Olymp. to Pana this summer, which is an absolute no go. Let's see how his former team will greet him when they meet. 

[casperBGD]

-snip

Today we will see the first big derby of the new season with Panathinaikos vs Olympiacos. Kostas Sloukas went from Olymp. to Pana this summer, which is an absolute no go. Let's see how his former team will greet him when they meet. 

indeed, especially for Greek nationals, USA players can go easier from Oly to PAO and vice versa, but for Greeks that is not the case
similar in Serbia, with Partizan and Zvezda, our current captain, Punter has played for Zvezda, but for Serbs to change from one to another is a no-go (there were few, most notably Vlade Divac had Zvezda episode during NBA lock-down, being big Partizan star before that)

congrats to Zalgiris, 3-point shot-out in last quarter, and 57,9% overall, excellent

[LTU_btc]

1st round of Euroleague didn't disappointed. So many great games that it was difficult to pick which one to watch because most of were played on same time. 2 overtimes and 2 very close games. Greek derby was awesome. It already looked  that Sloukas will kill his former team, but in 4th quarter he was stopped. PAO can blame themselves that they didn't won in 40 minutes. They had everything in their hands, but Sloukas made offensive foul, then there was Lessort mistake. In overtime only one team played - Olympiacos made amazing run 12:0.
Baskonia - Real and Fenerbahche - Milan were great with winner decided in final seconds.
Yesterday Barca looked much better than I expected and won against Efes quite confident. While Partizan disappointed me - they were soft and didn't remind previous season team. But it's too early to make conclusions just after 1st round.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

1st round of Euroleague didn't disappointed. So many great games that it was difficult to pick which one to watch because most of were played on same time. 2 overtimes and 2 very close games. Greek derby was awesome. It already looked  that Sloukas will kill his former team, but in 4th quarter he was stopped. PAO can blame themselves that they didn't won in 40 minutes. They had everything in their hands, but Sloukas made offensive foul, then there was Lessort mistake. In overtime only one team played - Olympiacos made amazing run 12:0.
Baskonia - Real and Fenerbahche - Milan were great with winner decided in final seconds.
Yesterday Barca looked much better than I expected and won against Efes quite confident. While Partizan disappointed me - they were soft and didn't remind previous season team. But it's too early to make conclusions just after 1st round.

Yeah the season started off strong.
In 3 of the 4 games we saw a 4th quarter comeback, with 2 of the 3 teams actually winning at the end.
Pana vs Olympiakos was of course the highlight of the evening.

I also just watched a highlight video of the Red star game from Thursday, their new arena is really nice and the atmosphere was super crazy.

If a NBA team would have to play with this kind of a crowd they would crumble, hahaha.

[LTU_btc]

Because of war in Israel, all their clubs this week games were suspended (Euroleague, Eurocup, Champions league and FIBA Europe Cup) while next week's Maccabi game with Valencia moved from Tel Aviv to Valencia. Maccabi is already training in Cyprus.

There is no Euroleague games tomorrow, but there is friendly game in Madrid between Dallas Mavericks and former Luka Doncic team, Euroleague champions Real Madrid. It should be very interesting, I just don't know whether they will play FIBA or NBA rules.

I also just watched a highlight video of the Red star game from Thursday, their new arena is really nice and the atmosphere was super crazy.

If a NBA team would have to play with this kind of a crowd they would crumble, hahaha.

I will correct you a bit - it's not their new arena, they used to play some big games in Stark Arena in past, but this season they will play all Euroleague games there and they're sharing this arena with Partizan. Great move because atmosphere here is insane. I really would like to see NBA team playing against them there .

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Because of war in Israel, all their clubs this week games were suspended (Euroleague, Eurocup, Champions league and FIBA Europe Cup) while next week's Maccabi game with Valencia moved from Tel Aviv to Valencia. Maccabi is already training in Cyprus.

There is no Euroleague games tomorrow, but there is friendly game in Madrid between Dallas Mavericks and former Luka Doncic team, Euroleague champions Real Madrid. It should be very interesting, I just don't know whether they will play FIBA or NBA rules.

I also just watched a highlight video of the Red star game from Thursday, their new arena is really nice and the atmosphere was super crazy.

If a NBA team would have to play with this kind of a crowd they would crumble, hahaha.

I will correct you a bit - it's not their new arena, they used to play some big games in Stark Arena in past, but this season they will play all Euroleague games there and they're sharing this arena with Partizan. Great move because atmosphere here is insane. I really would like to see NBA team playing against them there .

Oh ok, my bad. I just saw a youtube video on the eurobasket channel and must have understood wrong then.
Anyway, the arena is huge, great venue.
Bayern is also building a new arena, construction will be finished so they can play there next season. It also looks really nice and is a good experience for euroleague basketball. Maybe they will get a final 4 or something to play there soon I think, totally worth it.

The Israel situation is really bad, I thought this might have an influence on their basketball teams.

And about Madrid vs Dalles, I think it's NBA rules because it's still the "NBA global games". And they play 12 minute quarters so the rest should be NBA as well. Hopefully Madrid can put up a good fight and represent Europe in a good manner.

[LTU_btc]

Bayern is also building a new arena, construction will be finished so they can play there next season. It also looks really nice and is a good experience for euroleague basketball. Maybe they will get a final 4 or something to play there soon I think, totally worth it.
And about Madrid vs Dalles, I think it's NBA rules because it's still the "NBA global games". And they play 12 minute quarters so the rest should be NBA as well. Hopefully Madrid can put up a good fight and represent Europe in a good manner.

Yeah, I read about Bayern new arena, Virtus is also planning to enter new arena next year, ASVEL planning to play most part of their games in LDCL arena with 12 000 capacity. Bigger arenas will help clubs to get more revenue from tickets and will make better image for Euroleague. Now I only can't understand how Barcelona, club with A license can play their games in arena that don't meet even minimal Euroleague requirements.
Real - Mavs game wasn't most competetive as Mavs were without Irving, Doncic played just 5 minutes and there was plenty of players with two-way contracts playing big minutes. Real made nice comeback in 4th quarter and laugh of Doncic after Campazzo 3-pointer was moment of game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRfDgzQu8gU. Meanwhile I checked other results and saw that clubs from Australia and New Zealand got destroyed by 40-60 points by NBA clubs, damn, such huge gap of level.
Real have much more important game in Euroleague less than 48 hours later against Efes in Istanbul. Another very interesting game in 2nd round will be between Olympiacos and Barcelona/

[casperBGD]

~snip

I also just watched a highlight video of the Red star game from Thursday, their new arena is really nice and the atmosphere was super crazy.

If a NBA team would have to play with this kind of a crowd they would crumble, hahaha.

I will correct you a bit - it's not their new arena, they used to play some big games in Stark Arena in past, but this season they will play all Euroleague games there and they're sharing this arena with Partizan. Great move because atmosphere here is insane. I really would like to see NBA team playing against them there .

yeah, same Arena in Belgrade, where both Zvezda and Partizan play their matches
will be interesting to see who will have more fans on all matches in the end, it is an informal competition here, and making great atmosphere is also part of the game

we are visiting Asvel this round, and Zvezda is going to Zalgiris, interesting odds on both away wins, but it will tough to see that

edit: no new posts, so I will just edit this one
Partizan had an easy win over Asvel (seems that Asvel will eventually hit the Euroleague bottom, judging by start), and Zalgiris overturned Zvezda in last quarter, almost the same as Virtus in first round

[AHOYBRAUSE]

What a nice bunch of games the euroleague had the last 2 days.

Who would have thought that Monaco, one of the front runners to reach the final 4, would get pounded by Virtus yesterday. Losing by 24 at home against a team that is not really on anybody's radar is crazy.
I also expected Crvena zvezda to win in Kaunas, even though they were a slight underdog but a big last quarter saw Kaunas erasing a 9 point deficit and take the home win.
Barca winning at Olympiacos was also a small surprise I must say.

Only 2 weeks in and the league already gave us some memorable games, that's why we love European basketball!!

[LTU_btc]

What a nice bunch of games the euroleague had the last 2 days.

Who would have thought that Monaco, one of the front runners to reach the final 4, would get pounded by Virtus yesterday. Losing by 24 at home against a team that is not really on anybody's radar is crazy.
I also expected Crvena zvezda to win in Kaunas, even though they were a slight underdog but a big last quarter saw Kaunas erasing a 9 point deficit and take the home win.
Barca winning at Olympiacos was also a small surprise I must say.

Only 2 weeks in and the league already gave us some memorable games, that's why we love European basketball!!

Yeah, it was interesting round. Maybe it's not that huge upset that Monaco lost, bbut how they looked yesterday, it's shameful. Barca is pleasant surprise for me so far. They got weaker on paer compared with previous season, they opponents in opening rounds were so difficult but they started with 2 wins. Didn't watched whole game, but 4th quarter - Barca showed elite defense there.
Valencia win against Fenerbahche also can be called as surprise and they also opened season with 2 wins, though, they played both games at home.

[casperBGD]

-snip
Barca is pleasant surprise for me so far.

they will be tested tonight
home opener for Partizan, and bookies set as a favorites against Barcelona, not a case often

expect a full Arena, but not fully certian that we will win this one, team is still getting together, although it looked really good in last two matches against Asvel and Cibona in ABA league

Real is playing Zalgiris and Fener against PAO