By Stelios Toromanidis/ info@eurohoops.net
Eurohoops presents the Top 10 of those signings, in what might be the most interesting transfer market period in recent years in the competition.
Big players decided either to change sides within the competition or to leave the NBA and the opportunity for big contracts in order to play in Europe’s top club competition. For a hefty fee, of course, but at any rate, when basketball players with a very good run in the NBA and at an ideal age in their career leave the USA in order to take part in the EuroLeague, that’s newsworthy. Some have left the best basketball league in the world for the first time and others have returned to the old continent after a long presence in the USA.
The champions of the summer transfer period are without a doubt Barcelona, who strengthened their roster amazingly well, though several other teams did the same, most of them improving the quality of their manpower, something they will still have to prove on the court as well.
Eurohoops picked out the Top 10 signings of the summer in the competition and presents them here in random order. As you can understand, it took us a while to come up with the Top 10, since the excellent moves that were made by the clubs were far more!
This is why players like Nik Stauskas (KIROLBET Baskonia), Quincy Acy (Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv), Brandon Davies (Barcelona), Kostas Koufos (CSKA Moscow), Cory Higgins (Barcelona) and Alex Abrines (Barcelona) didn’t make our final choices.
Nando de Colo
Nationality: French
Position: Combo guard
Left: CSKA Moscow (2014-2019)
Joined: Fenerbahce Βeko (2+1 year contract)
Seasons in the EuroLeague: 6 (2010-2011, 2014-ongoing)
EuroLeague trophies: 2 (2016, 2019)
Nando de Colo, who started out his career in the EuroLeague from Valencia and had a brief stint in the NBA in the two years between 2012 and 2014, for the last five years belonged to CSKA Moscow, where he did splendidly well, winning two EuroLeague trophies (2016 and 2019), while also appearing in five Final Fours.
In the summer, the competition’s MVP in 2016 and member of three All-EuroLeague First Teams (2016, 2017 and 2018) decided to leave the Muscovites and join Zeljko Obradovic’s Fenerbahce. There, together with Kostas Sloukas, they can create one of the highest quality guard duos in the EuroLeague and lead Fenerbahce to another title, albeit in a competition that has many favorites.
Jimmer Fredette
Nationality: American
Position: Shooting guard
Left: Phoenix Suns (2019)
Joined: Panathinaikos OPAP (2 year contract)
Seasons in the EuroLeague: –
EuroLeague trophies: –
One of the most amazing shooters in the world was persuaded by Panathinaikos to come to Europe for the first time. With a career in the NBA and China, Jimmer Fredette’s weapon is an excellent shooting ability with which he can really hurt rival defenses.
This is why the Greens paid a hefty amount of money to acquire him with a two-year contract. Their goal is to place an excellent player next to Nick Calathes in order to have a second “pole” of great quality in their offense and increase their chances of qualifying for the Final Four of the EuroLeague for the first time in eight years. While his performance on the EuroLeague is something that will be judged throughout the season, the buzz this transfer created on both sides of the Atlantic can’t be denied.
Malcolm Delaney
Nationality: American
Position: Point guard
Left: Guangdong Southern Tigers (2018-2019)
Joined: Barcelona (1+1 year contract)
Seasons in the EuroLeague: 2 (2013-2014, 2015-2016)
EuroLeague trophies: –
Malcolm Delaney has returned to Europe for Barcelona! This is one of the Blaugrana’s biggest moves in their effort to strengthen themselves and once again compete for the EuroLeague trophy after ten years.
The American, who has experience in the competition as he has played for Bayern Munich and Lokomotiv Kuban (he reached the Final Four in the 2015-2016 season), spent some years in the NBA and in China, and his priority was the NBA and the bigger contracts, as is the case with most American players. This summer he was expecting an offer from the USA that didn’t come in time and this is why he accepted the Catalans’ excellent contract, as they went out into the market with a lot of money to spend after Thomas Heurtel’s injury.
Greg Monroe
Nationality: American
Position: Center
Left: Philadelphia 76ers (2019)
Joined: FC Bayern Munich (1 year contract)
Seasons in the EuroLeague: –
EuroLeague trophies: –
Last season, Bayern Munich brought Derrick Williams to the EuroLeague and a year later they’re signing another very experienced player from the NBA! After nine years in the “magical world,” 632 games and an average of 13.2 points, Greg Monroe crossed the Atlantic for coach Dejan Radonjic’s Bavarians.
Monroe was selected with the 7th overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons, while he was also Giannis Antetokounmpo’s teammate in the Milwaukee Bucks.
Nikola Mirotic
Nationality: Montenegrin/Spanish
Position: Power forward
Left: Milwaukee Bucks (2019)
Joined: Barcelona (3+1 year contract)
Seasons in the EuroLeague: 5 (2008-2009, 2010-2014)
EuroLeague trophies: –
Nikola Mirotic is perhaps the best signing in the entire EuroLeague that took place in the summer transfer period and one of the most important in the modern era. And this is because the Montenegrin power forward with a Spanish passport is someone who could play as a starter in the NBA with a big annual fee.
This is what his numbers from last season show, when he played for the Milwaukee Bucks and the New Orleans Pelicans, with 15.2 points and 7.4 rebounds on average. Despite this, Barcelona was able to acquire the former Real Madrid player (2008-2009 and 2009-2014) with a big multi-annual contract.
Jonas Jerebko
Nationality: Swedish
Position: Power forward
Left: Golden State Warriors (2018-2019)
Joined: Khimki Moscow Region (2 year contract)
Seasons in the EuroLeague: –
EuroLeague trophies: –
Khimki acquired one of the best shooters that were free agents, the NBA player Jonas Jerebko. The Swede left the NBA and the Golden State Warriors in order to play in the EuroLeague with the Russians.
After ten seasons in the “magical world” where he arrived in 2009 for the Detroit Pistons, he returns to Europe. The Pistons invested in his talent and selected him with the 39th overall pick in the draft. He has played in 635 NBA games with 6.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.8 assists on average. Of course, with the Muscovites, he will be one of Rimas Kurtinaitis’s top players.