By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The race to become the new 7DAYS EuroCup champion at the end of the 2018-19 season has gotten underway in earnest these days as many of the 24 teams due to start the season in less than two months has already begun training camp.
A pair of French teams, Monaco and ASVEL, got an early jump on the rest last week. EuroCup newcomer Monaco took the option of starting its training away from home in Bormio beginning on Sunday, August 5 and will remain in the Italian Alps under the orders of new head coach Saso Filipovski for two weeks total.
ASVEL, meanwhile, stayed right at home in Villeurbanne, where they were able to benefit from the advice of team owner Tony Parker. New ASVEL coach Zvezdan Mitrovic, who will make his EuroCup debut this season, had been on the Monaco bench since 2015.
Cedevita Zagreb was among a few teams that set their seasons in motion over the weekend. Cedevita has the distinction of having two teams this season. One will battle in the EuroCup and Adriatic League under new head coach Sito Alonso. The other will play in the Croatian League under Slaven Rimac. Alonso directed his first practice with the club on Sunday at the Cedevita Dome in Zagreb. The team is scheduled to spend a week in the mountains of Slovenia starting Friday.
Among several teams who have announced plans to begin training camp this week, most with a day or two of medical testing first, are ALBA Berlin, Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade, Fiat Turin, Galatasaray Istanbul, MoraBanc Andorra, Partizan NIS Belgrade, ratiopharm Ulm, Turk Telekom Ankara, Unicaja Malaga and Zenit St. Petersburg.
In the case of Turin, Thursday will mark the day when famed veteran Larry Brown, the only head coach ever to win both NBA and NCAA titles, takes the reins of his first European team at age 77.
Another storyline that starts to unfold this week is the return of Fraport Skyliners of Germany to the competition for the first time since 2011-12. The team will be looking to break a 26-game losing streak in the EuroCup that extends back more than 14 years to January of 2004.
The rest of the 2018-19 7DAYS EuroCup teams will be starting their training camps in short order, too, and turning their attention soon to preseason games, as well.
Their collective goal is to arrive as sharp as possible for the opening week of EuroCup play, which is earlier than ever, with Round 1 taking place on Tuesday, October 2 and Wednesday, October 3 — in other words, right around the corner!
Source: 7DAYS EuroCup
Photo Credit: @kkcrvenazvezda