By Stelios Toromanidis/ info@eurohoops.net
The updated Euroleague is… looming, when “old” protagonists of the tournament (players and coaches) return to its courts to impart extra quality and competition to the favorite weekly habit of basketball fans everywhere.
Eurohoops singles out the top 10, presenting everything you need to know about each of them.
The arrivals as well as the departures of players and coaches are a common and inevitable phenomenon in the 17 (including this year’s) summer periods that the Euroleague exists in its current form. What stands out from the summer moves of the 16 gladiators is the return of players and coaches, who left their mark on the tournament in their previous terms.
A total of 33 is the number of… familiar faces that are going to shine once again in Europe’s top club competition. Nine of them have returned after their wanderings in the NBA, the NBDL, and the Chinese league, while the rest either played in other European championships or were simply unemployed.
Eurohoops singled out ten of them and presents to you not only their doings in the Euroleague, but also all the interesting facts that accompany them in the following list. As for the… remaining 23, those are, divided by team, the following:
Pat Calathes, Argiris Pedoulakis (Panathinaikos Superfoods)
Sito Alonso (Baskonia)
Alen Omic, Deshaun Thomas (Andolu Efes)
Adrien Moerman (Dogus Darussafaka)
Blake Schilb, Vladimir Micov, Sinan Guler, Goksenin Koksal, Ege Arar (Galatasaray)
Semyon Antonov (CSKA Moscow)
Anton Ponkrashov, Vadim Panin, Marko Banic, Artsiom Parakhouski, Kostas Kaimakoglou, Pavel Antipov, Evgeniy Pashutin (UNICS Kazan)
Awudu Abass (EA7 Armani Milano)
Arturas Milaknis (Zalgiris Kaunas)
Vladimir Veremeenko (Bamberg)
Erez Edelstein (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
Erick Green (1,93m., 25 years old)
Country: USA
Position: Point guard
Current Team: Olympiacos
Previous Euroleague Teams: Siena (2013-14)
The most important summer addition of the Greek champions, Olympiacos, returns to the best club competition in Europe after two years of wandering in the NBA and the NBDL. His obvious goal is to create an excellent duo with Vassilis Spanloulis that will help the Piraeus team conquer the top once again.
In his last stint in the Euroleague he played in the Italian Siena. Then, the charismatic American guard was traversing his first professional year and in fact a long way away from his own… neck of the woods. Despite that, in the 9 games in which he played he managed to show his rich offensive qualities, being his team’s second best scorer with an average of 11,1 points behind Daniel Hackett (13,3 points) with whom he reunites in the red-and-whites.
In the two seasons he was away from Europe, the Virginia Tech graduate played in the “magical world” (52 appearances with the Denver Nuggets and the Utah Jazz) as well as the NBDL (Reno Bighorns), where he made some excellent appearances and was selected in the top five players of the league for the 2015-16 season.
Highlights from Erick Green’s activity while he was on the other side of the Atlantic:
Andrea Bargnani (2,13 m., 30 years old)
Country: Italy
Position: Power Forward/Center
Current Team: Baskonia
Previous Euroleague Teams: Benetton Treviso (2003-06)
Baskonia made perhaps the summer’s loudest bang by signing the decade-long NBAer, Andrea Bargnani. The Italian center will play once again in the Euroleague after the distant 2006, when he wore Benetton’s jersey, then being one of the biggest talents in the world.
The Basques want to find in Bargnani’s face the replacement for last year’s completely successful choice of Ioannis Bourousis, who has gone to Panathinaikos.
On his side, the 30-year-old Italian – No1 NBA draft pick in 2006 – wants to be reborn in Vitoria, as he’s not really having the best period of his career. Of course, the skills that he has in execution are not up for debate. Besides, the 14,3 points and the 4,6 rebounds on average in 550 appearances in the NBA testify to his great quality. The reason he never became one of the top players on the other side of the Atlantic – like the Toronto Raptors, who chose him, hoped he would – is the stunting of the improvement of his game and some striking weaknesses, mostly in regards to his defense but also his athletic qualities. It remains to be seen to what extent he’ll adjust to Vitoria’s team in order to lead their effort for another great season.
A taste of the excellent center’s skills:
James Anderson (1,98 m., 27 years old)
Country: USA
Position: Small Forward
Current Team: Darussafaka
Previous Euroleague Teams: Zalgiris Kaunas (2014-15)
Darussafaka rightfully want to wedge themselves among the traditional powers of the Euroleague and go as far as they can in this year’s tournament. For this reason they spent a good chunk of money in the summer market, some of which they offered to the American super scorer, James Anderson.
The 27-year-old forward was introduced to the European scene with Zalgiris, in the jersey of which he made excellent appearances in the 2014-15 season. In specific, he scored 14,5 points, grabbed 5,1 rebounds and dished 2,5 assists on average in 24 appearances in the Euroleague.
This impressive season was redeemed with a new contract in the NBA. There, he played in 51 games with the Sacramento Kings, though having a complementary role (3,5 points and 1,7 rebounds in 14,1 minutes of playing time), a fact that led him to decide to return to Europe, wanting to create a sensation all over again with his presence on the court.
One of James Anderson’s amazing nights in the colors of Zalgiris Kaunas:
David Blatt (coach)
Country: USA/Israel
Current Team: Darussafaka
Previous Euroleague Teams: Maccabi Tel Aviv (1999-03, 2010-14)
Benetton Treviso (2005-07)
Anadolu Efes (2007-08)
Darusaffaka’s best signing this year is not a player, as is customary, but the coach. More specifically, the highly experienced coach, David Blatt, was convinced by the plan of the Turkish team’s executives and signed a contract.
In this way, the Israeli-American coach returns to Europe after a two-year presence in the Cleveland Cavaliers with whom he reached the NBA finals in the 2015-16 season. He’s one of the most experienced coaches in the history of the Euroleague, with a nine-year presence, two finals (2011, 2014) and one win (2014 with Maccabi in Milan). Darussafaka is going to be the fourth team he coaches in the Euroleague, while he will have Nizhny’s ex-coach, Ainars Bagatskis, as his assistant as well as a very expensive roster to manage, to go after the qualification for the playoffs of the competition.
Tibor Pleiss (2,21 m., 26 years old)
Country: Germany
Position: Center
Current Team: Galatasaray
Previous Euroleague Teams: Bamberg (2010-12)
Laboral Kutxa (2012-14)
Barcelona (2014-15)
The German giant is Galatasaray’s latest addition after being left without a starting ‘5’ following the new injury of the Serb, Nenad Krstic.
We are talking about a special case of a big man, who can threaten the opponent’s basket in pick-and-roll situations as well as with… his back to the basket from the low post, while he has fast feet for his size, and a big wingspan. He became widely known from his presence in the Euroleague wearing Bamberg’s jersey. The big leap in his career was made in the 2013-14 season in Vitoria and Laboral Kutxa (12 points and 5,4 rebounds on average) that gave him the opportunity to play in Barcelona the following year.
Last season he decided to move to the NBA, where he played in just 12 games with the Utah Jazz and this year he returned to the Euroleague for a new beginning with the “Cim Bom”, as the Mormons… got rid of him with a trade to the 76ers, who after a few days released him by buying out his contract.
Highlights from his season with Laboral Kutxa that earned him a contract with Barcelona:
Justin Dentmon (1,83 m., 31 years old)
Country: USA
Position: Point Guard
Current Team: Galatasaray
Previous Euroleague Teams: Zalgiris Kaunas (2013-14)
The small guard returns to the Euroleague, after a two-year interval that he spent mostly playing in the Chinese championship. He is a very good addition for the Turks, who are expected to gain in scoring as much as in creation.
The American is a basketball… drifter, since in the seven years of his career he has played in ten different teams, while his only season in the Euroleague was in 2013-14 in the colors of Zalgiris Kaunas. In 24 games he scored 16,8 points and dished 4,1 assists, causing a headache for rival defenses.
The playing profile that the Eurocup winners are going to produce this season is going to depend greatly on the outcome of the co-existence of Justin Dentmon with Galatasaray’s other addition in the point guard position, Russ Smith, who comes highly recommended from his presence on the other side of the Atlantic.
Justin Dentmon’s 36 points with 7-for-11 in three-point shooting against Real Madrid:
Ergin Ataman (coach)
Country: Turkey
Current Team: Galatasaray
Previous Euroleague Teams: Siena (2002-03)
Ulker (2003-06)
Climamio Bologna (2006-07)
Efes (2008-10)
Galatasaray (2013-15)
He is perhaps the best Turkish coach in terms of his presence and successes in European tournaments. He has sat at the end of the bench of four Euroleague teams in nine years, reaching the Final Four with Siena in the 2002-03 season.
Since the summer of 2012 he has been at Galatasaray, who he led to the quarterfinals for the first time in their history in the 2013-14 season against Barcelona. Last year, the “Cim Bom” were not eligible to participate in the tournament but they did manage to win the Eurocup (the first European trophy for Ataman and Galata), which resulted in them returning to the updated Euroleague this year.
It’s worth mentioning that the Turkish coach has managed all four of his country’s top teams (Ulker, Efes, Besiktas and Galatasaray), winning the championship with the last three and a EuroChallenge with Besiktas (2012).