By Giannis Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
The rosters are constantly changing, even during the year, affecting every team’s game, but the goal remains always the same: success. And the road to success passes through chemistry. To achieve chemistry usually takes time and, depending on the additions and removals in the roster, cases differ for each team.
Eurohoops tried to measure it through the amount of years each player has been present and the result is anything but irrelevant.
For the survey a limit of three appearances this year was set so that there is a balance between all those who have been on the team since the beginning of the season but haven’t played much, and all those who were acquired recently and have completed at least one month’s presence. Also, multiple terms in one team are counted together.
From CSKA to Darussafaka
You don’t tamper with a winning team and CSKA Moscow, with the highest chemistry average, espouses this doctrine. With players like Victor Khryapa (2+10), Andrey Vorontsevich (11) and Nikita Kurbanov (9) they tally 4.6 years of chemistry on average and lead the pack. CSKA is ahead of Real Madrid (4.3), with Felipe Reyes (13) and Sergio Llull (11). In third place comes Olympiacos Piraeus (4) behind Georgios Printezis (6+6) and Vassilis Spanoulis (7). Perhaps it’s no coincidence that this particular triad is the one leading the race in this year’s competition (Madrid 17-5, CSKA 17-6, Olympiacos 16-7).
On the other side, Paulius Jankunas (6+7) and Arturas Milaknis (9) raise Zalgiris Kaunas’s average to 3.4 years, placing them in fourth place, but that has no impact in the standings, where Zalgiris is in 10th place with a 9-13 record. Likewise with Guy Pnini’s (8) Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv (3.2) and Juan Carlos Navarro’s (9+10) FC Barcelona Lassa (3.1) who are also currently out of the playoff positions. In contrast, Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens is fifth in the chemistry tally (3.0) behind Antonis Fotsis (4+1+3+4) and Nick Calathes (3+2). Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade (2.9) are in the top eight here as well, but from there on down the changes in rosters are more frequent.
This hasn’t affected in the least the course of Fenerbahce Istanbul (2.4) who are fourth in the standings or Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz (1.9) who are seventh. With the oldest players on the roster being Adam Hanga and Ilimane Diop, with 4 years each in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Spanish team is one of three averaging less than 2 years. EA7 Emporio Armani Milan (1.7) and Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul (1.6) are the other two, but have a different course in the competition.
The fate of the coaches
Changes on the benches are more frequent proportionally and coaches who have a presence of many years in a team are scarce.
Pablo Laso, present in Madrid since 2011, is the longest-lasting among his colleagues, while Ergin Ataman follows behind with 5 years at Galatasaray Odeabank Istanbul. Fenerbahce‘s Zeljko Obradovic and Zvezda’s Dejan Radonjic are the only ones who are in their fifth year in their team, while cases of coaches in their first year abound.