26/27 European basketball discussion: Euroleague/BBL/ACB/LegaA/LNB/TBL..

[Distraction]

At one point, there were reports that Banchi would replace Laso, but sticking with Laso turned out to be a smart choice.
Letting a coach like Laso go after just one year wouldn't have made any sense.
Efes is trying to build a strong team; in my opinion, they are attempting a rebuild. Shane leaving the team was a good thing for Efes. I don't know much about Malcolm, the latest addition, but while Efes has a solid roster, I really don't think this squad will make it to the Final Four.

Banchi was really called back for the job and he accepted it for a short time period which was interesting. Because he got sacked before while things were going in a good direction. However he changed his mind later on because of family reasons.

You are so right about Laso decision. When you get a coach you shouldn't be in a hurry. Unless he makes obvious big mistakes... Laso is a Euroleague winner coach, 2 times even! He deserves to be given more time with the new roster. 

[yenerbatmaz]

At one point, there were reports that Banchi would replace Laso, but sticking with Laso turned out to be a smart choice.
Letting a coach like Laso go after just one year wouldn't have made any sense.
Efes is trying to build a strong team; in my opinion, they are attempting a rebuild. Shane leaving the team was a good thing for Efes. I don't know much about Malcolm, the latest addition, but while Efes has a solid roster, I really don't think this squad will make it to the Final Four.

Banchi was really called back for the job and he accepted it for a short time period which was interesting. Because he got sacked before while things were going in a good direction. However he changed his mind later on because of family reasons.

You are so right about Laso decision. When you get a coach you shouldn't be in a hurry. Unless he makes obvious big mistakes... Laso is a Euroleague winner coach, 2 times even! He deserves to be given more time with the new roster. 

I also think Laso is a very good coach, but he lost his old rhythm after his heart condition.
Perhaps he even lost his drive.
For instance, Obradovic is someone who fully projects his intensity onto his players from the sidelines, but I didn't see that kind of thing from Laso last year.
I am curious to see what he will do this year, especially in the EuroLeague, because the Anadolu Efes brand has started to decline.
At the very least, they should make the top eight, and then the goal should be the Final Four.
I don't expect Anadolu Efes to win the championship this year.

[püsür]

Pao has an incredible roster but Oly also managed to improved their roster, which was already reallygreat. The Olympiacos squad for the 26–27 season, with Thomas Walkup remaining:

PG: Codi Miller McIntyre–Thomas Walkup–Cory Joseph

SG: Jean Montero–Tyler Dorsey–Netzipoglou

SF: Evan Fournier–Tyson Ward–Larentzakis

PF: Sasha Vezenkov – Papanikolaou

C: N. Milutinov – Tyrique Jones – Hall

Montero to this champion squad is kinda mind blowing. Montero was my favorite player last year, his performance was really remarkable.

Dubai had stated that its buy-out offer for Thomas Walkup was its final offer, and Olympiacos has rejected it. He is gonna join the pre-season training camp. Seems like the matter is closed. I guess Dubai also will get 1-2 players more and done.

[Yabani]

Pao has an incredible roster but Oly also managed to improved their roster, which was already reallygreat. The Olympiacos squad for the 26–27 season, with Thomas Walkup remaining:

PG: Codi Miller McIntyre–Thomas Walkup–Cory Joseph

SG: Jean Montero–Tyler Dorsey–Netzipoglou

SF: Evan Fournier–Tyson Ward–Larentzakis

PF: Sasha Vezenkov – Papanikolaou

C: N. Milutinov – Tyrique Jones – Hall

Montero to this champion squad is kinda mind blowing. Montero was my favorite player last year, his performance was really remarkable.

Dubai had stated that its buy-out offer for Thomas Walkup was its final offer, and Olympiacos has rejected it. He is gonna join the pre-season training camp. Seems like the matter is closed. I guess Dubai also will get 1-2 players more and done.

Olympiacos undoubtedly had a strong roster and has strengthened it further with one or two additions.
Montero is a player who will be very beneficial to the team.
Panathinaikos has built a strong squad.
Fenerbahçe's roster is strong once again. The league is a long marathon. Next year, the EuroLeague promises to be highly entertaining.
It seems the Dubai basketball team is also trying to sign Westbrook... I occasionally come across news about it. If he joins as well, a truly unique season awaits us.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

It seems the Dubai basketball team is also trying to sign Westbrook... I occasionally come across news about it. If he joins as well, a truly unique season awaits us.

"
To be honest, I don't see this happen. I mean what would he gain from it, other than the obvious (money). He doesn't need it, he has been the MVP on the highest level. Basically going to "Europe" (Dubai) wouldn't help him in any way, he can only lose and tarnish his legacy. Nothing to win, nothing to gain, just having to adjust to a fundamentally different style of basketball. What for at his age? For that reason, not gonna happen.

PS: would be so funny if he proved me wrong tbough. 

[meser#]

It seems the Dubai basketball team is also trying to sign Westbrook... I occasionally come across news about it. If he joins as well, a truly unique season awaits us.

"
To be honest, I don't see this happen. I mean what would he gain from it, other than the obvious (money). He doesn't need it, he has been the MVP on the highest level. Basically going to "Europe" (Dubai) wouldn't help him in any way, he can only lose and tarnish his legacy. Nothing to win, nothing to gain, just having to adjust to a fundamentally different style of basketball. What for at his age? For that reason, not gonna happen.

PS: would be so funny if he proved me wrong tbough. 

There is no reason for Westbrook to transfer to Dubai Basket.
There are teams in the NBA that would pay him the same amount Dubai Basket would offer.
Of course, if Russell Westbrook were looking for an adventure, he might come to Europe, though I don't know if it would be to Dubai Basket.
Still, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a surprise move.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

There is no reason for Westbrook to transfer to Dubai Basket.
There are teams in the NBA that would pay him the same amount Dubai Basket would offer.
Of course, if Russell Westbrook were looking for an adventure, he might come to Europe, though I don't know if it would be to Dubai Basket.
Still, I wouldn't be surprised if there were a surprise move.

Yeah as I said there was no world in where this would have happened. And in the last days this whole dream of them signing him just evaporated anyway since he now announced his retirement from basketball. Maybe it was also just a hoax and they wanted some free publicity, who knows. From a team like Dubai I would expect exactly that tbh. 

[LTU_btc]

Yeah as I said there was no world in where this would have happened. And in the last days this whole dream of them signing him just evaporated anyway since he now announced his retirement from basketball. Maybe it was also just a hoax and they wanted some free publicity, who knows. From a team like Dubai I would expect exactly that tbh. 

It wasn't only Dubai, but also Hapoel interested in him. It's sad that we won't see what he would do in Euroelague and in general it's sad that we won't see him playing anymore. But on the other hand, it's nice way to retire, being at top level - it's not case when player retires because of injuries or playing in random league like some former stars do.

[meser#]

Yeah as I said there was no world in where this would have happened. And in the last days this whole dream of them signing him just evaporated anyway since he now announced his retirement from basketball. Maybe it was also just a hoax and they wanted some free publicity, who knows. From a team like Dubai I would expect exactly that tbh. 

It wasn't only Dubai, but also Hapoel interested in him. It's sad that we won't see what he would do in Euroelague and in general it's sad that we won't see him playing anymore. But on the other hand, it's nice way to retire, being at top level - it's not case when player retires because of injuries or playing in random league like some former stars do.

As a basketball fan, I would have liked to see him win at least one championship ring.
He retired after an 18-year NBA career without ever winning a championship.
He ended up promoting Dubai or Hapoel Tel Aviv.
I had thought he might gain some European experience for a year or two, but Westbrook chose to bow out while still at the top.
The courts will miss a player who recorded over 200 triple-doubles throughout his career.

[LTU_btc]

Probably you guys already saw news about Euroleague Supercup, but we haven't discussed it here. Interesting what you think about it? Offcourse they had to include Dubai . But nothing strange when you see where tournament will be played. But in general, I like this idea of such season opener. But it's a bit risky location to play in Dubai, considering unstable situation in middle east:

[LTU_btc]

Hey, guys, where are you? Time to wake up, summer is almost over and new season is approaching.
There is sad news about Monaco - they got excluded from French league:
https://basketnews.com/news-254597-as-monaco-reportedly-excluded-from-french-basketball-competitions.html
Probably it means the end. History of this team was short, but they made quite big mark during these years.

Few words about World Cup qualifiers. Greece under Spanoulis most liley won't make to the World Cup. Not even talking about Lithuania, considering in how deep crisis we are. We played with our B or C team and got trashed by 30 points in Turkey.
And not sure how Spain managed to lose against Portugal. We're not talking about football there.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

True, it’s time for basketball to return. I have watched some club team exhibitions over the past weeks, many of them missing their internationals though because of the WC qualifier window.

Taking about WC, you are right, some big hitters like Slovenia and Greece are in big trouble while Lithuania is as good as out and won’t qualify. The Lithuania group though is a tough one with them having Italy, Serbia and turkey ahead of them. Too bad not seeing them in the WC most likely, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

[LTU_btc]

True, it’s time for basketball to return. I have watched some club team exhibitions over the past weeks, many of them missing their internationals though because of the WC qualifier window.

Taking about WC, you are right, some big hitters like Slovenia and Greece are in big trouble while Lithuania is as good as out and won’t qualify. The Lithuania group though is a tough one with them having Italy, Serbia and turkey ahead of them. Too bad not seeing them in the WC most likely, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

You know, strong group isn't main problem for us. It's more about that we f8cked up with our own hands, wasting huge lead in the end against Iceland and Italy in previous group. But not getting into WC may be healthy for us. Maybe it will cause some changes in basketball federation. Now things looks so bad that all our NBA and almost all Euroleague players decided to boycott playing in national team during this window.
We got difficult win against Bosnia which keeps hope alive, but we will need to win both times against Serbia, win against Turkey may be needed too.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

You know, strong group isn't main problem for us. It's more about that we f8cked up with our own hands, wasting huge lead in the end against Iceland and Italy in previous group. But not getting into WC may be healthy for us. Maybe it will cause some changes in basketball federation. Now things looks so bad that all our NBA and almost all Euroleague players decided to boycott playing in national team during this window.
We got difficult win against Bosnia which keeps hope alive, but we will need to win both times against Serbia, win against Turkey may be needed too.

I wondered why none of the guys playing. Though maybe Buzelin, Valanciunas and Sabonis are injured or something like that. Then after reading some new I saw that Valanciunas played the preseason opener for Zalgiris, so there is that. I always like to watch Lithuania in the big tournaments since they are always good for an upset against a big team but can also slip against some no-name smaller country. You never know what you get with them. Too bad they won't be in this time around.

[yenerbatmaz]

Probably you guys already saw news about Euroleague Supercup, but we haven't discussed it here. Interesting what you think about it? Offcourse they had to include Dubai . But nothing strange when you see where tournament will be played. But in general, I like this idea of such season opener. But it's a bit risky location to play in Dubai, considering unstable situation in middle east:

This is certainly a risky move; however, the fact remains that they are putting up huge sums of money to launch a new tournament and draw other teams to the Middle East.
I don't quite understand where Abu Dhabi came into the picture. Presumably, a team from the UAE will join the EuroLeague within a year or two; I just hope this isn't the first step toward that.

When money is involved, the EuroLeague management agrees immediately; after all, the Arabs have plenty of money.
They even changed the dates of the World Cup for the sake of money.

Our team doesn't look very ready right now; considering it's the preseason, this is perfectly understandable.
We played a friendly match against Tofaş yesterday and won 83-78, but I don't know if we'll be ready in time for this tournament.
No matter where it is held, Fenerbahçe should be the champion

[LTU_btc]

This is certainly a risky move; however, the fact remains that they are putting up huge sums of money to launch a new tournament and draw other teams to the Middle East.
I don't quite understand where Abu Dhabi came into the picture. Presumably, a team from the UAE will join the EuroLeague within a year or two; I just hope this isn't the first step toward that.

When money is involved, the EuroLeague management agrees immediately; after all, the Arabs have plenty of money.
They even changed the dates of the World Cup for the sake of money.

Our team doesn't look very ready right now; considering it's the preseason, this is perfectly understandable.
We played a friendly match against Tofaş yesterday and won 83-78, but I don't know if we'll be ready in time for this tournament.
No matter where it is held, Fenerbahçe should be the champion.

Mate, did you missed whole last season? Because last season we already had team from UAE in Euroleague - Dubai Basket, who will also host this Supercup tournament. When you see that Abu Dhabi and Etihad become main sponsors of Euroleague, this expansion to Midsle East doesn't looks surprising.
But I don't like when teams from completely different continent joins competition that is supposed to be only for European clubs. What if someone from let's say China will offer them lot of money, will they accept them too?

[Joca97]

Probably you guys already saw news about Euroleague Supercup, but we haven't discussed it here. Interesting what you think about it? Offcourse they had to include Dubai . But nothing strange when you see where tournament will be played. But in general, I like this idea of such season opener. But it's a bit risky location to play in Dubai, considering unstable situation in middle east:

This is certainly a risky move; however, the fact remains that they are putting up huge sums of money to launch a new tournament and draw other teams to the Middle East.
I don't quite understand where Abu Dhabi came into the picture. Presumably, a team from the UAE will join the EuroLeague within a year or two; I just hope this isn't the first step toward that.

When money is involved, the EuroLeague management agrees immediately; after all, the Arabs have plenty of money.
They even changed the dates of the World Cup for the sake of money.

Our team doesn't look very ready right now; considering it's the preseason, this is perfectly understandable.
We played a friendly match against Tofaş yesterday and won 83-78, but I don't know if we'll be ready in time for this tournament.
No matter where it is held, Fenerbahçe should be the champion

Im really shocked that the first ever super cup in euroleague is being played outside of europe. Still i think this is a good idea,some top teams will be seen in this small tournament and we will see good basketball for sure i just wonder how serious this tournament will be because its before the season starts. I wonder how much money will the clubs and euroleague earn from these supercup.

[AHOYBRAUSE]

Im really shocked that the first ever super cup in euroleague is being played outside of europe. Still i think this is a good idea,some top teams will be seen in this small tournament and we will see good basketball for sure i just wonder how serious this tournament will be because its before the season starts. I wonder how much money will the clubs and euroleague earn from these supercup.

I think it's nonsense. In my opinion the winner of the EL should host this event, not some random country that isn't even in Europe. Of course everything is about money but events like this make it even more apparent, which really is sad. Somehow this feels like FIFA 2.0, squeezing every last cent out of the sports and it's players.
Well, just another reason to rout against Dubai this upcoming season, as if we didn't have enough already, hahaha.

[yenerbatmaz]

We have a friendly match against Olympiacos today. This is the most serious game of our preseason. We lost our first match to a team called Glint Körfez Basket (a team I’d never heard of before).
Then, we defeated Tofaş. Now, we are set to play against Oly in Greece.
This match will be of EuroLeague caliber, though Sarunas might experiment with various players since it is the preseason. An Olympiacos victory is highly likely. We have two more friendly matches coming up after this, but I don't consider them as important as the game against Oly.

[yenerbatmaz]

I liked our team. I think we’ll do great things in the EuroLeague this year, but Olympiacos poses a bigger threat. Fournier played well yesterday, too; we managed the game well, but we struggled to stop him.
Dorsey also contributed with some crucial baskets.
We’ll be facing Olympiacos again in the Super Cup match. I hope we’ll be better prepared for that game. It looks like we’re going to feel Tarık’s absence this season.