By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
The cruel reality of life is money don’t bring happyness. Neither titles. And yes Olympiacos was the last example of what a relatively small budget team can do, over a team with four times bigger budget, when everything is in place. But, another reality of life is that it’s always interesting to read about the money each team spent to complete its roster, specially when there is a competition is stake and they fight for one place: the last one at this year’s Euroleague!
From the eight teams which are going to fight during the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds, starting this Tuesday, for the empty spot on Group A, together with Panathinaikos, Real Madrid, Khimki Moscow Region, Fenerbahce and Union Olimpija in Desio, Italy (photo) Unics Kazan gave what Pallacanestro Cantu and BC Donetsk spent, combine, to sign players: the Russians’ budget reached to 16 mil. euros, while the Italians invested almost 8.5 mil. euros and the Ukrainians around 8 mil. euros.
But yet again, there is another way to look at it: Unics gave what PBC Lukoil Academic (around 2 mil. euros), Telenet Oostende (3 mil.euros), Cez Basketball Nymburk (3.25 mil. euros), Le Mans Sarthe (4.8 mil. euros) and Ratiopharm Ulm (3 mil. euros) spent for this season’s rosters.
And now that you know all about the economics, let’s take a look at some other interesting numbers.
- Pallacanestro Cantu is the team (from QR) which has the representatives from 7 different countries (Czech Rep., Italy, Serbia, USA, Georgia, Belgium and Israel). BC Donetsk follows with 6 different nationalities (Ukraine, USA, FYROM, Lithuania, Serbia and Bulgaria).
- On the other end of this list, Ratiopharm Ulm has only… two different cultures (Germany, USA), while PBC Lukoil Academic and Le Mans Sarthe have players from 3 different countries (Lukoil from Bulgaria, USA and Sweden and Le Mans from France, USA and Brazil).
- Croatia wins the battle of the coaches with two representatives (On Unics Kazan’s and Telenet Oostende’s bench), with Le Mans, Pallacanestro Cantu and Ratiopharm Ulm having native coaches (John David Jackson, Andrea Trinhcieri and Thorsten Leibenath).
- Twenty countries (USA, Russia, Greece, Croatia, Germany, France, Brazil, Ukraine, FYROM, Lithuania, Serbia, Sweden, Israel, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Belgium, Slovenia, Czech Rep., Italy, Georgia) will have at least one player on the 2012 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds
- Of course the US players are the leaders of the list with “representatives from each country” with 31 members and Bulgaria is second with 10 members. Russia, Belgium, Czech Rep, Germany and France have from 8 representatives, each one.
- Khalid El Amin (Le Mans) and Miljan Pavkovic (Nymburk) are the shortest players of the tournament (height: 1.78) and Ian Vougioukas (Unics Kazan), John Bryant (Ratiopharm Ulm), D’ Or Fischer (Donetsk), Drew Naymick (Nymburk), Marco Cusin (Cantu) and Darryl Watkins (Lukoil Academic) share the first place on “the tallests players” with their 2.11 cm.
- Rumen Vasilev (Lukoil Academic) is the youngest player and he beats Giacomo Siberna (Cantu), by 10 months (they both were born on 1996). Kelly McCarty (Unics Kazan) is the oldest one, only cause Nicolas Mazzarino was born two months later. Both they belong at 1975’s class.
The first round couples are: Nymburk vs Oostende, Cantu vs – Lukoil Academicc, Unics Kazan – Ulm, Le Mans – vs Donetsk. And here are their rosters
UNICS KAZAN
4 Terrell Lyday Guard 1.91 12.08.1979 USA
5 Aleksandr Dedushkin Center 2.08 12.08.1981 Russia
7 Igor Zamankiy Guard 2.02 16.11.1977 Russia
9 Petr Samoylenko Guard 1.85 07.02.1977 Russia
10 Pavel Sergeev Guard 1.86 28.07.1987 Russia
12 Vladimir Veremeenko Forward 2.08 21.07.1984 Russia
13 Marko Banic Forward 2.04 31.08.1984 Croatia
14 Chuck Eidson Guard 2.02 10.10.1980 USA
15 Ian Vougioukas Center 2.11 31.05.1985 Greece
16 Dmitrii Kriukov Forward 1.97 12.01.1990 Russia
18 Kostas Kaimakoglou Forward 2.04 15.03.1983 Greece
21 Kelly McCarty Forward 2.01 24.08.1975 USA/Russia
22 Pavel Antipov Forward 2.03 19.09.1991 Russia
24 Victor Zvarykin Guard 2.00 06.05.1986 Russia
32 Mire Chatman Guard 1.87 24.10.1978 USA
HEAD COACH: Aco Petrovic, Croatia
RATIOPHARM ULM
5 Tommy Mason-Griffin Guard 1.80 29.9.1990 USA
6 Per Günther Guard 1.84 05.02.1988 Germany
7 Sebastian Betz Forward 1.97 12.06.1985 Germany
8 Kay Gausa Forward 1.99 01.07.1992 Germany
9 Till-Joscha Jönke Guard 1.89 04.01.1992 Germany
10 Daniel Theis Forward / Center 2.04 04.04.1992 Germany
13 Femi Oladipo Forward 2.01 27.06.1990 Germany
14 Allan Ray Guard 1.88 17.06.1984 USA
17 Andreas Wenzl Forward / Center 2.10 07.02.1993 Germany
20 Marcel Heberlein Guard / Forward 1.96 16.07.1990 Germany
25 Steven Esterkamp Forward 1.96 08.01.1981 USA
32 Dane Watts Forward 2.03 24.04.1986 USA
33 Philipp Schwethelm Guard / Forward 2.01 01.05.1989 Germany
34 Lance Jeter Guard 1.90 18.07.1988 USA
52 Keaton Nankivil Forward 2.03 18.01.1989 USA
54 John Bryant Center 2.11 13.06.1987 USA
HEAD COACH: Thorsten Leibenath, Germany
LE MANS SARTHE BASKET
4 Khalid El Amin Point Guard 1.78 25.04.1979 USA
5 Charles Kahudi Forward 1.96 19.07.1986 France
7 Alain Koffi Forward 2.05 23.11.1983 France
9 Cuthbert Victor Forward 1.97 30.01.1983 USA
10 Pape Sy Forward 2.00 15.04.1988 France
11 Dounia Issa Forward 1.98 03.06.1981 France
13. Joao Paulo Batista Center 2.06 29.10.1981 Brazil
15 Henri Kahudi Guard 1.94 08.01.1991 France
16 Thomas Ceci Guard 1.97 07.03.1992 France
17 Soriah Bangura Forward 1.98 27.10.1993 France
18 Kevin Mendy Forward 2.00 18.05.1992 France
20 Cameron Long Guard 1.93 30.12.1988 USA
HEAD COACH: John David Jackson, France
BC DONETSK
5 Denys Lukashov Guard 1.90 30.04.1989 Ukraine
6 D’ Or Fischer Center 2.11 12.10.1981 USA
7 Ramel Curry Guard 1.91 17.04.1980 USA
8 Vojdan Stojanovski Guard 1.94 09.12.1987 F.Y.R.O.M.
9 Dairius Songaila Forward 2.06 14.02.1978 Lithuania
10 Andriy Malysh Forward 2.03 06.07.1983 Ukraine
11 Oleksandr Lypovyy Guard 1.99 09.10.1991 Ukraine
12 Ivan Radenovic Forward 2.08 10.06.1984 Serbia
14 Maksym Pustozvonov Forward 2.00 16.04.1987 Ukraine
23 Doron Perkins Guard 1.89 06.05.1983 USA
24 Dmytro Gliebov Guard 1.96 20.07.1988 Ukraine
55 Kalojan Ivanov Forward 2.06 18.03.1986 Bulgaria
HEAD COACH: Vlade Jovanovic , Serbia
CEZ BASKETBALL NYMBURK
4 Petr Benda Forward 2.03 25.03.1982 Czech Rep.
5 Ladislav Sokolovsky Guard 2.00 28.07.1977 Czech Rep.
6 Aubrey Coleman Guard 1.93 09.10.1987 USA
7 Vojtech Hruban Forward 2.02 29.08.1989 Czech Rep.
8 Adrian Abrams Guard 1.80 16.10.1986 USA
9 Oliver Tot Guard 1.98 30.11.1994 Serbia/Slovakia
10 Pavel Houska Forward 2.03 23.01.1984 Czech Rep.
11 Lukas Palyza Forward 2.01 10.01.1989 Czech Rep.
12 Radel Necas Forward 2.05 18.07.1980 Czech Rep.
14 Mike Taylor Guard 1.88 21.01.1986 USA
21 Christos Tapoutos Forward 2.03 21.09.1982 Greece
41 Drew Naymick Center 2.11 18.02.1985 USA
44 Miljan Pavkovic Guard 1.78 20.04.1981 Montenegro
55 Tomas Pomikalek Forward 2.00 07.07.1989 Czech Rep.
HEAD COACH: Ronen Ginzburg, Israel
TELENET OOSTENDE
4 Dusan Katnic Guard 1.93 03.03.1989 Serbia
5 Quentin Serron Guard 1.90 25.02.1990 Belgium
25 Dragisa Drobnjak Forward 2.00 05.11.1977 Slovenia
10 Veselin Petrovic Forward 1.95 01.07.1977 Serbia
14 Brent Wright Forward 2.03 06.05.1978 USA
9 Matt Lojeski Guard 1.98 24.07.1985 USA
15 Khalid Boukichou Center 2.08 17.09.1992 Belgium
20 Dusan Djordjevic Guard 1.93 29.03.1983 Serbia
22 Tomas Van Den Spiegel Center 2.14 10.07.1978 Belgium
Wes Wilkinson Forward 2.06 24.04.1984 USA
Mario Stojic Guard 1.98 06.05.1980 Croatia
Gillian Schouteet Forward 2.03 15.10.1995 Belgium
Yassine El Mahsini Guard 1.86 26.10.1993 Belgium
Jean Salumu Guard 1.93 26.07.1990 Belgium
Oskar Eryatmaz Guard 1.90 13.10.1993 Belgium
HEAD COACH: Dario Gjergja, Croatia
PALLACANESTRO CANTU
4 Jakub Kudlacek Guard 1.93 03.03.1990 Czech Rep.
5 Awudu Abass Guard 1.94 27.01.1993 Italy
7 Marko Scekic Forward 2.07 23.05.1981 Serbia
8 Jerry Smith Guard 1.88 26.09.1987 USA
9 Manuchar Markoishvili Guard 1.95 17.11.1986 Georgia
10 Maarten Leunen Forward 2.06 03.09.1985 USA
12 Nicolas Mazzarino Guard 1.81 21.10.1975 Italy
13 Andrea Casella Forward 1.96 22.09.1990 Italy
15 Jeff Brooks Forward 2.03 12.06.1989 USA
16 Alex Tyus Forward 2.03 08.01.1988 Israel
18 Beye Tabu-Eboma Guard 1.90 07.10.1985 Belgium
21 Pietro Aradori Guard 1.94 09.12.1988 Italy
22 Marco Cusin Center 2.11 28.02.1985 Italy
Giacomo Siberna Forward 1.92 08.01.1996 Italy
HEAD COACH: Andrea Trinhcieri, Italy
PBC LUKOIL ACADEMIC
4 Brandon Heath Guard 1.93 01.03.1984 USA
5 Nikolay Grozev Forward 1.99 17.02.1994 Bulgaria
8 Nikolay Kolev Center 2.04 17.07.1988 Bulgaria
9 Thomas Massamba Guard 1.85 28.03.1985 Sweden
10 Bozhidar Avramov Guard 1.95 08.03.1990 Bulgaria
11 Devin Green Forward 2.01 25.10.1982 USA
12 Pavel Marinov Forward 1.99 12.06.1988 Bulgaria
14 Tencho Banev Center 2.10 14.08.1980 Bulgaria
15 Todor Stoykov Forward 1.97 03.03.1977 Bulgaria
22 Darryl Watkins Center 2.11 08.11.1984 USA
24 Veselin Veselinov Forward 2.01 16.02.1983 Bulgaria
34 Mohammed Abukar Forward 2.08 01.01.1985 USA
Ilko Valchev Guard 1.81 20.10.1994 Bulgaria
Rumen Vasilev Center 2.00 04.11.1996 Bulgaria
HEAD COACH: Marin Dokuzovski, FYROM