By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
CSKA Moscow completed the season by winning VTB league and got also the PBL title, a total domination in local competition for one more year in a row since the 2002-03 season. Those two trophies are sweetening the pill of the failure in Euroleague, but the next days will be crucial for the club. According to Eurohoops sources, the company sponsoring the team, “Norilsk Nickel” will decide the next day of the club.
The front office
For the first time the work of GM Andrey Vatutin will be under the microscope and also the results of the team since 2008, when Sergey Kushchenko left the team. Under Vatutin, CSKA Moscow has been five times in a Euroleague final four, but never got the title. Specially the two last season, CSKA had the biggest budget in the competition and failed. Last year the lost it literally from their hands in the last moment and this season the collapse in the semifinal wasn’t the best way to impress the sponsors.
Ettore staying
Not even Ettore Messina is bulletproof, because of the way he handled this season’s budget. He changed a lot a players, the team spend a lot of money and the end result wasn’t the top. The Italian coach however has a contract for next season, he is the man who gave to the team its last two Euroleague titles and he will probably have to chance to win a third one, getting a second chance after this year’s failure.
Changes are coming
The roster is expected to be drastically changed. Aaron Jackson is not expected to return to Moscow for next season and there will be a renegotiation of Milos Teodosic and Nenad Krstic’s contracts. The Serbian center has one more year in his deal, but the best case scenario at this point is that he will be offered a new deal with a reduced salary. Teodosic also has a contract for next year, but CSKA is displeased by his performance and even the possibility of releasing him can’t be excluded. There are sources inside the team who claim that his contract has an option for termination this summer. A renegotiation is also expected for Zoran Erceg and even Vladimir Micov.
The budget and the summer signings
CSKA Moscow is used to strike early in the summer marker. Despite the denials, the former captain of cross town rival Khimki Vitaly Fridzon has already signed with the team and Jeremy Pargo is ready to sign the contract that will bring him back in Europe for the next two season with a total compensation of 4 million US dollars net plus bonuses. Sonny Weems, Victor Khryapa, Sasha Kaun, Andrey Vorontsevich and Anton Ponkrashov are the players that will certainly remain in the team from this season’s roster.