By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
From May 20, when Real Madrid was more than deservedly crowned European champion in Belgrade for the 10th time in club history, until Thursday evening when the curtain on the new season will be raised in the Russian capital with CSKA Moscow hosting FC Barcelona Lassa, almost five months have gone by. Five months without basketball… That’s enough! The EuroLeague is finally getting underway, one more thrilling season is upon us and basketball fans can’t wait to… take the plunge into an “orange sea of basketball,” with nonstop action at the highest level!
Here are 10 of the main reasons why we can hardly wait for the first jump-ball of the competition and why we’re going to love the EuroLeague season that is about to begin. Though, in reality, there are plenty more reasons.
Seven months of a basketball spectacle and upsets in the race for the new kings
We’re talking about the top basketball competition in Europe, which is constantly growing on every level. The most historic and successful teams, the most traditional basketball brands and the new format that will be played for a third season, are all here. And it has been amply demonstrated that the package is more satisfying and exciting than ever!
Top-level basketball, 16 teams that are ready for everything, a scorching hot regular season with 240 games, and playoffs that produce their own unique stories every single time. Above all? The race for the new kings is totally unpredictable, so everyone has the right to dream. We’ll just remind you that in the first two seasons with the new format, the teams that emerged as the European champions were ranked fifth at the end of the regular season (Fenerbahce Istanbul, Madrid) and started the playoffs without the home-court advantage and eventually triumphed by going all the way.
The favorites’ ball
Are there clubs that will set off on this season’s journey as favorites to reach the Final Four? In the EuroLeague, you can never be sure! There are, however, three superpowers – Madrid, CSKA and Fenerbahce – who are rightly called favorites. They have excellent rosters, they always start with the aim of lifting the trophy and it’s not a coincidence that these teams have won the last four titles. Madrid won two (2015, 2018), and CSKA (2016) and Fenerbahce (2017) one each.
Still not convinced? Consider that Fenerbahce has made four straight Final Fours and three championship game appearances in a row, Madrid is the current champion and CSKA has appeared in 15 of the last 17 Final Fours, including seven straight.
Getting to the playoffs is harder than ever
This season it’s going to be harder than ever to earn a place among the top eight and the playoffs than any other time in the history of the EuroLeague. Last season, Madrid, Fenerbahce, CSKA, Zalgiris Kaunas, Olympiacos Piraeus, Panathinaikos OPAP Athens, KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz and Khimki Moscow Region were the ones that made the cut. Don’t you think that some traditional powers with a long history are missing from that list? Correct! Barcelona and Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv, after two sub-par seasons, look stronger and more determined to get back to where they belong. At the same time, AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan and Anadolu Efes Istanbul also made some important moves in the summer to become strong contenders instead of “extras” in the regular season, like they were last season.
But hold on. The eight teams that played in the playoffs last season are once again very strong… At the outset, at least 12 clubs have the clear objective of qualifying for the next phase, but there is only room for eight. Qualifying for the playoffs looks harder than ever before and this could mean that we’re about to watch the most competitive EuroLeague season of all time.
Three returns and a historic debut
The make-up of the best league in Europe has changed by a quarter and this means “new basketball blood,” new destinations and renewal! We have three clubs with a long history and many appearances in the competition: EuroCup champion Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul, which returns after only a one-year absence; FC Bayern Munich, which won the title in Germany and is in the mix once again after two seasons away; and the champions of the Adriatic League for the first time in their history, Buducnost VOLI Podgorica, which returns to the EuroLeague after 15 years and will add another very loyal and passionate set of basketball fans to the competition.
The most important entry is the team that will make its debut in the top league. Herbalife Gran Canaria, from a beautiful city and a great island in terms of beauty, history and culture, enters the shiny company of the chosen ones. The EuroLeague will now be playing basketball in the Atlantic Ocean too!
Strong NBA presence, Europeans dominate
Everybody knows that the NBA and the EuroLeague are the top basketball leagues in the world. This can be demonstrated in many ways. One of them is to count how many players who have played in the NBA are on the rosters of the 16 teams. More or less, 53 players with stints in the American professional league will compete this season and 10 of them will be making their debut!
Rookies in the EuroLeague with a notable history in the NBA include Bayern’s Derrick Williams, Maccabi‘s Tarik Black and Johnny O’Bryant III, Fenerbahce‘s Tyler Ennis, Khimki’s Jordan Mickey, and Baskonia‘s Darrun Hilliard.
But this is Europe! Simply consider the fact that, since the MVP of the season award was established, only one American has managed to win it over the big European players: Maccabi legend Anthony Parker, who did so twice.
The battle for individual awards
Since we’re talking about great players, this season it’s going to be of great interest to see who will emerge as the end-of-season award winners. The boy wonder of European basketball, Luka Doncic, left room for, not one, not even two, but three such awards! And the contenders to succeed him as the season MVP, MVP of the Final Four and the Rising Star are many.
Alexey Shved remains the favorite to win the Alphonso Ford Trophy thanks to his talent and role in Khimki, but he will have competition. The same goes for Kyle Hines, the holder of the Best Defender trophy.
Who will make history on the chessboard of the benches?
In the EuroLeague, as in the European basketball culture in general, the leaders of the benches, the coaches/generals, play a huge part. And there’s room for more than one. For example, Pablo Laso deserved the Alexander Gomelskiy EuroLeague Coach of the Year award 100%, but who wasn’t impressed with Coach Sarunas Jasikevicius’s unbelievable work at Zalgiris?
The balance of power and nationalities on the benches is thrilling. We have four Spaniards, four Serbs, two Greeks, two Turks, one Italian, one Lithuanian, one Croatian and an… American, David Blatt, who also represents Israel. Seven out of the 16 have already won the prized trophy at least once and will do anything to re-live the experience, while the other nine are dreaming of their own big moment.
We’re hungry for… Sergio Llull!
Sergio Llull is one of the most exciting players in the EuroLeague! He’s Madrid’s leader and was the MVP of the 2016-17 season. The truth is that we missed him badly last season and we only got lucky towards the end of the season for four games, the last in Madrid’s wild run to the title. The 72 minutes he played may have been enough for Los Blancos to reach the top, but they were too few for basketball fans who want to enjoy the game. Llull starts the season healthy and hungry. Get ready for crazy slaloms and even crazier shots on target, under any conditions.
