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Which team has the greatest experience in Final Fours? Which players from those who are going to compete in Berlin have won the Turkish Airlines Euroleague trophy in the past? Eurohoops.net counts the distinctions and trophies.
Beyond the obvious reasons, the Final Four in Berlin is expected to be unique and thrilling for another reason as well. It’s the only one after 2003 in which three teams that have never won the trophy before are going to compete. CSKA Moscow have celebrated winning the title in the past, while Fenerbahce Istanbul, Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz and Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar are going to try to make it for the first time.
Then, in 2003, in the competition that took place in Barcelona, only CSKA already had the title in their trophy cabinet. FC Barcelona Lassa, Siena and Benetton were trying to win their first ever Euroleague.
But how experienced are the players of the four finalists? CSKA’s players are the most experienced, followed by those of Fenerbahce, and then the players of Lokomotiv and Laboral. “Participations in a Final Four” refers to the seasons a player has competed even in one game with his team and was active when that team had reached the final stage.
The situation from the benches of the four finalists is completely different. All four coaches – Zeljko Obradovic, Dimitrios Itoudis, Georgios Bartzokas, Velimir Perasovic – have taken part in a Final Four before, while the three first ones have celebrated winning the trophy (even though Itoudis did it as Obradovic’s assistant).
The team with by far the greatest experience in this Final Four is CSKA! And how could it be otherwise since the Russian team will be taking part for the 12th season in the last 13 years. Ten players from the team’s roster have taken part in a Final Four before and four of those have celebrated winning the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. Kyle Hines did it two times with Olympiacos Piraeus and Kurbanov, Vorontsevich and Khryapa with CSKA in 2006 and 2008.
Very experienced in the Final Four is also Dimitrios Itoudis who coached CSKA last year in Madrid, but who has taken part eight times as an assistant coach on the side of Zeljko Obradovic in Panathinaikos Athens and has won the trophy five times.
| Player | Wins | Defeats | Trophies |
| Kyle Hines | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| Nikita Kurbanov | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| Andrey Vorontsevich | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| Victor Khryapa | 8 | 10 | 1 |
| Milos Teodosic | 4 | 8 | – |
| Aaron Jackson | 2 | 4 | – |
| Vitaly Fridzon | 1 | 3 | – |
| Nando De Colo | 1 | 1 | – |
| Demetris Nichols | 1 | 1 | – |
| Pavel Korobkov | 1 | 1 | – |
| In total | 38 | 42 | 6 |
| Coach | Wins | Defeats | Trophies |
| Dimitrios Itoudis | 1 | 1 | – |
| As Zeljko Obradovic’s assistant | 12 | 4 | 5 |
Fenerbahce Istanbul
Fenerbahce are taking part for the second season in a row in the Final Four, but on their roster there are only five players who were present in Madrid. The Turkish team however, has the “newcomers” Kostas Sloukas and Pero Antic on their roster and together they have won the Turkish Airlines Euroleague two times in 2012 and 2013 with Olympiacos Piraeus.
Of course, Zeljko Obradovic is the most experienced participant in the Final Four in Berlin and the one with the biggest winner’s spirit of all. The Serbian coach has been among the final four teams another 13 times and has won the trophy 8 times.
| Player | Wins | Defeats | Trophies |
| Kostas Sloukas | 6 | 2 | 2 |
| Pero Antic | 4 | 0 | 2 |
| Ricky Hickman | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Jan Vesely | 0 | 4 | – |
| Melih Mahmutoglu | 0 | 2 | – |
| Bogdan Bogdanovic | 0 | 2 | – |
| Berk Ugurlu | 0 | 2 | – |
| In total | 12 | 14 | 5 |
| Coach | Wins | Defeats | Trophies |
| Zeljko Obradovic | 19 | 7 | 8 |
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar
Lokomotiv managed to qualify for the Final Four in just their second appearance in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague and naturally their roster does not consist of experienced players who have seen these kinds of games before. The Russian team has just two players with Final Four experience, while their coach, Georgios Bartzokas, has also taken part in the competition once. The Greek coach took part three years ago in the Final Four in London with Olympiacos Piraeus and won the title.
| Player | Wins | Defeats | Trophies |
| Evgeny Voronov | 2 | 4 | – |
| Dontaye Draper | 2 | 2 | – |
| In total | 4 | 6 | – |
| Coach | Wins | Defeats | Trophies |
| Georgios Bartzokas | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Laboral Kutxa Vitoria Gasteiz
Laboral are back in the Final Four after eight years and their roster this season is inexperienced and without a lot of exposure to the competition overall, let alone in a Final Four. The only player who has ever been in the group of four before is the more experienced and leader of the Spanish team, Ioannis Bourousis. The Greek center has competed in four Final Fours and won the title last year with Real Madrid.
Velimir Perasovic had coached Laboral in a Final Four again in 2006 in Prague, while the following year he departed after the end of the regular period even though the team finished fourth in the Final Four.
| Player | Wins | Defeats | Trophies |
| Ioannis Bourousis | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Coach | Wins | Defeats | Trophies |
| Velimir Perasovic* | 1 | 1 | – |
*In the 2006-07 season he coached Tau until the end of the regular period. The team finished 4th with two defeats in the Final Four in Athens.