By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
With some big names missing from this season’s EuroCup due to the absence of Russian clubs, there might be a sense that the competition is not as strong. This perspective changes quickly, however, by carefully looking at the teams that will compete for a spot in the EuroCup Final and a ticket to next season’s Turkish EuroLeague.
At least half of the EuroCup’s 20 teams can aspire to go all the way. Meanwhile, the single-elimination playoffs format, after just one season, has already taught us to expect the unexpected. Some familiar clubs with EuroLeague experience are present in this edition of the competition, but we also find teams in places that you wouldn’t expect, like London and Paris.
Still, there’s a pecking order, which at the moment seems to be the following.
20. Dolomiti Energia Trento
Coach Lele Molin has been an assistant to legends like Zeljko Obradovic and Ettore Messina, who still respect and love him. He has veterans like Trent Lockett, who was part of the Trento team which made it to the 2016 EuroCup Semifinals, and Drew Crawford, plus Real Madrid prospect Matteo Spagnolo. Still, Trento finished the EuroCup season last year with a 1-15 record.
19. Paris Basketball
Kyle Allman, Juhann Begarin, former Olympiacos and Zalgiris forward Axel Toupane, and the 46th pick of the latest NBA draft, Ismael Kamagate. This is a very, very interesting team in a very, very interesting market, as in the case of London. Add to the mix head coach Will Weaver, a former Houston Rockets assistant who is coaching in Europe for the first time and has past experience in Australia. In theory, they should be competitive, but the 0-4 start in the French league forces us to be careful.
18. Slask Wroclaw
Last season’s Polish League champions made it to the EuroCup Eighthfinals despite a 3-13 record due to the withdrawal of the Russian teams. Are they better this year? The answer is maybe, thanks to former Joventut and Andorra player Conor Morgan and to veteran big man Artsiom Parakhouski. Are they enough for Slask to make another trip to the first elimination round? That remains to be seen.
17. Veolia Towers Hamburg
In theory, Hamburg can build on their 6-10 campaign last season and make a step forward this year. Everyone will be watching them – also for the progress of Slovenian 21-years old guard Ziga Samar – however, you can’t really bet on them for something more than making it to the eighthfinals, at least now. Only two players, Seth Hinrichs and Lukas Meisner, return from last season’s roster.
16. 7Bet Lietkabelis Paneverzys
They did make it to the first elimination round last year with a solid 9-7 record against bigger competition. So why are they not ranked higher? Because they lost Gediminas Orelik (15.4 ppg), Panagiotis Kalaitzakis (13 ppg), and Djordje Gagic (10.8), their three top scorers. EuroCup rookie Jamel Morris and former Barcelona and ALBA Berlin guard Stefan Peno will have to replace them, but it will not be easy.
15. London Lions
The English Lions over the German towers? Well, they have most of the best British players – which may not mean much – plus Tomislav Zubcic, Sam Dekker, who had already played in the Eurocup with Lokomotiv Kuban, and former CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos center Kostas Koufos. They have to make it at least until the first elimination round.
14. U-BT Cluj-Napoca
Point guard Jordan Taylor will play for a fifth season in Eurocup – having also a year in the EuroLeague with ASVEL – and will lead newcomers Cluj-Napoca to unknown territories. However, Cluj has a solid home crowd to push them, Brazilian forward Leonardo Meindl as their secret weapon, and the ex-Yugo duo of Stefan Bircevic and Andrija Stipanovic to help. Yes, they are new, but they can make it with ease to the eighthfinals.
13. Bourg-en-Bresse
Frederic Fauthoux, like many others before him, made the jump from a solid point guard to a talented coach, who was associate head coach to TJ Parker in ASVEL last year. So he is the center on a very solid team, which has already turned heads in France with a 3-1 start. There’s also charismatic scorer Jordan Floyd. Bourg seems to be playoffs material, despite last year’s 6-12 season.
12. Ratiopharm Ulm
With Anton Gavel on the bench instead of Jaka Lakovic, Ulm has built a reputation for giving a chance to young players during the last few years. This season, it’s guard Juan Nunez, who left Real Madrid and will get the chance to showcase his talents. Keep an eye, however, also for prolific scorer Matt Mobley, who is expected to carry the team on offense since the departures of Semaj Christon, Jaron Blossomgame, and Sindarius Thornwell.
11. Promitheas Patras
Last season was a letdown for Promitheas (4-14), but this is a team that has a lot more firepower, thanks to Joe Young. A player who averaged 38.3 points in the Chinese CBA in the 2019-20 season has a huge motivation to prove his abilities in Europe. He will be one of the main attractions of the competition, following the legacy of his father, Michael Young, a EuroLeague star and champion with Limoges during the 90s.
10. Buducnost VOLI Podgorica
This is also a new version of a team that’s always solid, as last season’s 10-8 record proved. Newcomer Trae Bell-Haynes from Breogan and Phil Booth from Oostende must deliver and create a solid trio with Petar Popovic in the backcourt. In the front line, former Trento player Cameron Reynolds and former Gaziantep big man Alpha Kaba must do damage. So, new head coach Vlada Jovanovic has the troops, but they must create chemistry.
9. Hapoel Tel Aviv
Thanks to veterans like Xavier Munford, J’Covan Brown, Chris Horton and, first and foremost, former NBA champion Jordan McRae, the team of coach Danny Franco looks good on paper. However, there’s a lack of depth that can’t really push them higher in the rankings, at least for now.
8. Turk Telekom Ankara
This is an ambitious bunch, led by former Fenerbahce assistant coach Erdem Can, who returned from the States and the Utah Jazz. They got a solid leader in veteran point guard Tony Taylor, former Milano guard Jerian Grant and French sharpshooter Axel Bouteille. So they are ready for this level of competition. Plus center Semih Erden, despite being 36 years old, is always fun to watch.
7. Germani Brescia
They stole the show in Italy last year, finishing third in the regular season and having among others Amedeo Della Valle, Kenny Gabriel, David Moss and Christian Burns on their roster. However, the man who gets credited with Brescia’s transformation more than anyone else is head coach Alessandro Magro. Why are they not higher? Because two years ago, they ended with a 2-8 record in the EuroCup.
6. Prometey Slobozhanske
Even if they can’t play at home due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, this is a team with high ambitions. Just look at their roster: Issuf Sanon, Gian Clavell, Oleksandr Lypovyy, D.J. Kennedy, D.J. Stephens, Dustin Hogue, and Ondrej Balvin. Plus experienced Ronen Ginzburg is on the bench. They have all the tools to go all the way.
5. Umana Reyer Venice
This is a good team by any measure, having a ton of experience in Jayson Granger, Mike Bramos and Jeff Brooks, an explosive guard in Marco Spissu, and Allerik Freeman, who stole the show with Frutti Extra Bursaspor in the first half of last year’s season. Yes, they are contenders, no matter how you see it.
4. Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana
They are the best team from the Balkans this season and that should say enough, as does the roster. This is not your typical ex-Yugoslavian team, having players like Yogi Ferrell, Aaron Harrison and Josh Adams. Add also a healthy dose of veteran Slovenians in Edo Muric, Zoran Dragic and Alen Omic, and you get the point. Last year they ended up third in their group with an 11-7 record and this time around they can do even better.
3. Gran Canaria
They are more than a darkhorse. A roster that includes AJ Slaughter, Andrew Albicy, Ferran Bassas, Vitor Benite, Nicolas Brussino, Aleksander Balcerowski, Klahilfa Diop, and former NBA prospect Damien Inglis, who had a sneaky-good last season in Spain with Bilbao, can aim for the top. Plus coach Jaka Lakovic left Ulm in order to make the next step in Spain, having bigger goals. Last year Gran Canaria tied for the most victories in the group phase (12-6) and they seem better on paper this year.
2. Frutti Extra Bursaspor
Coach Dusan Alimpijevic and his team reached the final last year, and from that team they kept, among others, Derek Needham, Onuralp Bitim and David Dudzinski while adding Anthony Clemmons from Turk Telekom, Yigitcan Saybir from back-to-back EuroLeague champions Anadolu Efes, former EuroLeague champion Ahmet Duverioglu from Fenerbahce and former Panathinaikos, Galatasaray and Cedevita-Olimpija big man Zach August. They are that good.
1. Joventut Badalona
Carles Duran’s team is the favorite to win the EuroCup. Simple as that. Their roster includes Andres Feliz, Guillem Vives, Pau Ribas, former ASVEL forward William Howard, Joel Parra, Ante Tomic AND they signed from the US sharpshooter Kyle Guy. They are the team to beat.