Euroleague 2014-15: Group D preview

14/Oct/14 11:28

The new season is about to start in Euroleague and this time group phase counts. Want to know why? Well you will be surprised with the names of the teams which may end up out of Top16 and in Group D the question-marks are many

By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net

Finally it’s time for basketball again. And while nobody denies the fact that under the new format for many people the “real start” of Euroleague is the Top16, this time around the group phase seems more interesting than ever.

It may be just a “warm up” stage for the bigs but is some cases it’s obvious that upsets are right around the corner and some very ambitious teams may have to settle really soon for Eurocup. Here’s Eurohoops preview of the group phase. We remind you that the four best teams of each groups will advance to Euroleague’s Top16, while the last two in each group’s final standings will continue their season in Eurocup.

Group D: Too many questions

The situation is more than complicated in this group. Former champions Olympiacos and Eurocup winner Valencia are considered the favorites, but the Reds are still in turmoil after the resignation of coach Bartzokas. Both teams are pretty much variations of their last season, even if Valencia lost a key player in Justin Doellman and also have seen Oliver Lafayette leaving for the Greeks. On the other hand, Dwight Buycks who signed for the Spaniards was mentioned also as an Olympiacos target.

Then you have Galatasaray, which is a strong group, has a solid leader in Carlos Arroyo and hopefully less injury woes than last season. Laboral Kutxa is building a new team with former NBA parts like Toko Sengheila, Orlando Johnson and lately D.J.White, has some great European talent in Heurtel and Bertans and also a coach, Marco Crespi, who proved last season in Siena that he can produce results no matter the conditions. Still, nobody can underestimate Crvena Zvezda of the Williams and Jenkins duo, a team which will be more than hard to beat at Belgrade.

Between those three teams, one is expected to miss the Top16, a fate that will be shared by newcomer from Lithuania, Neptunas Klaipeda.

CRVENA ZVEZDA BELGRADE

No.	Player	Country	Pos.	Height	Born
3	WILLIAMS, MARCUS	USA	Guard	1.91	1985
4	REBIC, NIKOLA	Serbia	Guard	1.88	1995
5	CVOROVIC, NIKOLA	Serbia	Forward	2.01	1994
6	DANGUBIC, NEMANJA	Serbia	Forward	2.04	1993
9	MITROVIC, LUKA	Serbia	Forward	2.04	1993
10	LAZIC, BRANKO	Serbia	Guard	1.94	1989
11	BLAZIC, JAKA	Slovenia	Guard	1.96	1990
12	KALINIC, NIKOLA	Serbia	Forward	2.02	1991
13	MARJANOVIC, BOBAN	Serbia	Center	2.21	1988
14	KAPLANOVIC, DJORDJE	Serbia	Center	2.09	1995
17	TEJIC, MARKO	Serbia	Forward	2.08	1995
22	JENKINS, CHARLES	USA	Guard	1.91	1989
24	JOVIC, STEFAN	Serbia	Guard	1.98	1990
33	ZIRBES, MAIK	Germany	Center	2.08	1990

	Head Coach
	RADONJIC, DEJAN	Montenegro

GALATASARAY LIV HOSPITAL ISTANBUL

No.	Player	Country	Pos.	Height	Born
5	MICOV, VLADIMIR	Serbia	Forward	2.01	1985
7	ERCEG, ZORAN	Serbia	Center	2.11	1985
11	JAWAI, NATE	Australia	Center	2.07	1986
12	GONLUM, KEREM	Turkey	Forward	2.08	1977
15	VOUGIOUKAS, IAN	Greece	Center	2.11	1985
17	POCIUS, MARTYNAS	Lithuania	Forward	1.96	1986
19	ALDEMIR, FURKAN	Turkey	Center	2.07	1991
21	ARADORI, PIETRO	Italy	Guard	1.94	1988
22	SMITH, NOLAN	USA	Guard	1.88	1988
30	ARROYO, CARLOS	Puerto Rico	Guard	1.88	1979
32	GULER, SINAN	Turkey	Guard	1.92	1983
33	ARSLAN, ENDER	Turkey	Guard	1.88	1983
34	ARAR, EGE	Turkey	Forward	2.06	1996
35	URAL, GOKTURK	Turkey	Guard	1.98	1995

	Head Coach
	ATAMAN, ERGIN	Turkey

LABORAL KUTXA VITORIA

No.	Player	Country	Pos.	Height	Born
3	WHITE, D.J.	USA	Forward	2.06	1986
4	IVERSON, COLTON	USA	Center	2.13	1989
5	CAUSEUR, FABIEN	France	Guard	1.95	1987
6	GOMES, RYAN	USA	Forward	2.01	1982
7	SHENGELIA, TORNIKE	Georgia	Forward	2.06	1991
8	PERKINS, DORON	USA	Guard	1.89	1983
10	DIOP, MAMADOU	Senegal	Forward	2.04	1993
11	HAMILTON, LAMONT	USA	Center	2.08	1984
12	DIOP, ILIMANE	Senegal	Center	2.10	1995
14	TILLIE, KIM	France	Forward	2.10	1988
19	SAN EMETERIO, FERNANDO	Spain	Guard	1.98	1984
22	HEURTEL, THOMAS	France	Guard	1.89	1989
30	VAN OOSTRUM, DEVON	England	Guard	1.93	1993
33	JOHNSON, ORLANDO	USA	Guard	1.96	1989
42	BERTANS, DAVIS	Latvia	Forward	2.05	1992

	Head Coach
	CRESPI, MARCO	Italy

NEPTUNAS KLAIPEDA

No.	Player	Country	Pos.	Height	Born
7	MAZEIKA, MARTYNAS	Lithuania	Guard	1.91	1985
8	GIRDZIUNAS, MINDAUGAS	Lithuania	Guard	1.88	1989
9	NACIUS, RAIDAS	Lithuania	Guard	1.96	1991
10	SINICA, JUSTAS	Lithuania	Forward	2.03	1985
12	DIMSA, EGIDIJUS	Lithuania	Center	2.04	1985
15	SARAKAUSKAS, VYTAUTAS	Lithuania	Center	2.05	1982
21	GALDIKAS, SIMAS	Lithuania	Forward	2.03	1987
22	SHAKUR, MUSTAFA	USA	Guard	1.91	1984
30	BELIAUSKAS, LAURYNAS	Lithuania	Guard	1.85	1997
41	ZAVACKAS, DONATAS	Lithuania	Forward	2.03	1980
42	VASYLIUS, VALDAS	Lithuania	Forward	2.03	1983
51	BUTKEVICIUS, ARNAS	Lithuania	Guard	1.97	1992

	Head Coach
	MAKSVYTIS, KAZYS	Lithuania

OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS

No.	Player	Country	Pos.	Height	Born
4	PETWAY, BRENT	USA	Guard	2.05	1985
5	HUNTER, OTHELLO	USA	Forward	2.03	1986
6	DUNSTON, BRYANT	USA	Forward	2.03	1986
7	SPANOULIS, VASSILIS	Greece	Guard	1.93	1982
9	PAPAPETROU, IOANNIS	Greece	Forward	2.03	1994
10	SLOUKAS, KOSTAS	Greece	Guard	1.90	1990
12	SIMMONS, CEDRIC	USA	Center	2.06	1986
14	CHRISTODOULOU, ANTREAS	Greece	Guard	1.97	1995
15	PRINTEZIS, GEORGIOS	Greece	Forward	2.02	1985
16	AGRAVANIS, DIMITRIOS	Greece	Forward	2.08	1994
17	MANTZARIS, EVANGELOS	Greece	Guard	1.96	1990
18	KAVVADAS, VASILEIOS	Greece	Forward	2.04	1991
19	KATSIVELIS, DIMITRIOS	Greece	Guard	1.96	1991
20	LAFAYETTE, OLIVER	USA	Guard	1.88	1984
21	DARDEN, TREMMELL	USA	Forward	1.94	1981
24	LOJESKI, MATTHEW	USA	Guard	1.98	1985

	Head Coach
	MILAN TOMIC	Greece/ Serbia

VALENCIA BASKET

No.	Player	Country	Pos.	Height	Born
5	RIBAS, PAU	Spain	Guard	1.96	1987
9	VAN ROSSOM, SAM	Belgium	Guard	1.88	1986
10	SATO, ROMAIN	Central Africa Republic	Forward	1.94	1981
12	LISHCHUK, SERHIY	Ukraine	Center	2.10	1982
13	LUCIC, VLADIMIR	Serbia	Forward	2.02	1989
14	DUBLJEVIC, BOJAN	Montenegro	Center	2.05	1991
16	VIVES, GUILLEM	Spain	Guard	1.92	1993
17	MARTINEZ, RAFA	Spain	Guard	1.90	1982
23	BUYCKS, DWIGHT	USA	Guard	1.91	1989
25	LONCAR, KRESIMIR	Croatia	Center	2.10	1983
34	AGUILAR, PABLO	Spain	Forward	2.03	1989
44	HARANGODY, LUKE	USA	Center	2.03	1988

	Head Coach
	PERASOVIC, VELIMIR	Croatia