By Lefteris moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Most of the presidents and coaches follow the rule: “Never change a winning team”. Imagine then what should happen after winning Euroleague…
Olympiacos this season tied the record of the players’ number who stayed in a championship team. The Reds will have in their roster eleven of the European champions after the departure of five players who didn’t have important role in the rotation (with the exception of Keselj).
Eurohoops.net searched and found out how many Euroleague champions kept their roster almost intact after their triumph. Those teams were 2006’s CSKA Moscow, 2009’s Panathinaikos and 2010’s Barcelona, who kept also eleven players. However, this isn’t a bad omen about the Reds, since only the Russians succeed to qualify to next season’s final four.
The team that changed mostly its roster after winning Euroleague was Panathinaikos in 2002. The Greens lost at that time most of their players with Dejan Bodiroga’s departure being the most… painful.
2001 Virtus Bologna
Stayed: Ginobili, Abbio, Bonora, Frosini, Andersen, Rigaudeau, Griffith, Smodis, Jaric (9)
Left: Sconochini, Ambrassa, Jestratijevic, Akrivos, Brkic (5)
2002 Panathinaikos
Stayed: Alvertis, Kalaitzis, Ballogiannis, Middleton, Kutluay, Papadopoulos (6)
Left: Bodiroga, Rogers, Sioutis, Albano, Giannoulis, Sanchez, Mulaomerovic (7)
2003 Barcelona
Stayed: Fucka, Rodriguez, Femerling, Bodiroga, Navarro, Duenas, De La Fuente, Varejao (8)
Left: Jasikevicius, Bravo, Alzamora, Van De Hare (4)
2004 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Stayed: Baston, Sharp, Vujcic, Parker, Shelef, Burstein, Halperin, Jasikevicius, Thomas (9)
Left: Blu, Sundov, Ben Chimol (3)
2005 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Stayed: Baston, Sharp, Vujcic, Parker, Burstein, Dotan, Green (7)
Left: Shelef, Halperin, Jasikevicius, Kommatos, Thomas (5)
2006 CSKA Μoscow
Stayed: Papaloukas, Kurbanov, Smodis, Vanterpool, Holden, Pashutin, Andersen, Savrasenko, Kashirov, Langdon, Van Den Spiegel (11)
Left: Dyachok, Panov, Zavoruev, Shabalkin (4)
2007 Panathinaikos
Stayed: Alvertis, Becirovic, Batiste, Hatzivrettas, Dikoudis, Tsartsaris, Diamantidis, Vujanic (left Nov ’08), Tomasevic (9)
Left: Delk, Papanikolaou, Siskauskas, Xanthopoulos, Sakota, Javtokas (6)
2008 CSKA Μoscow
Stayed: Zisis, Smodis, Siskauskas, Holden, Zabelin, Vorontsevich, Langdon, Shved, Khryapa (9)
Left: Papaloukas, Kashirov, Pashutin, Andersen, Goree, Van Den Spiegel (6)
2009 Panathinaikos
Stayed: Spanoulis, Perperoglou, Batiste, Fotsis, Nicholas, Tsartsaris, Diamantidis, Pekovic, Shermadini, Verginis, Jasikevicius (11)
Left: Alvertis, Kecman, Hatzivrettas, Sakota (4)
2010 Barcelona
Stayed: Basile, Rubio, Lakovic, Navarro, Vasquez, Ndong, Morris, Sada, Lorbek, Mickeal, Grimau (11)
Left: Trias, Barton, Rabaseda (3)
2011 Panathinaikos
Stayed: Maric, Perperoglou, Batiste, Sato, Tsartsaris, Diamantidis, Vougioukas, Calathes, Kaimakoglou, Zoumpos (10)
Left: Tepic, Fotsis, Nicholas, Bogris, Karamalegkos (5)
2012 Olympiacos
Stayed: Hines, Antic, Spanoulis, Dorsey, Gecevicius, Printezis, Papanikolaou, Law, Mantzaris, Sloukas, Katsivelis (11)
Left: Papadopoulos, Keselj, Pelekanos, Glyniadakis, Vasilopoulos, Howard, Lukas (7)