By Stefanos Tatsios/ info@eurohoops.net
Barca is one of the strongest brand names in basketball and, of course, in sports in general… Their image, however, on the courts of the EuroLeague in the last two seasons is disproportionate to the special weight the jersey of the Blaugrana carries, and consequently, their course has been poor and has gotten the historic Spanish club in… trouble.
Eurohoops decided to take a look into the “black hole” that the pride of Catalonia has fallen into, as they haven’t been able to meet the huge expectations of their thousands of fans this season either (at least in regard to the first half of the top club competition in Europe).
Barcelona 2016-17: Injuries, a lot of changes and total failure!
Last season in Barcelona started with a lot of changes, the main one being on the bench with the arrival of Georgios Bartzokas, who officially took over on 8/7/2016. In the time he had, the Greek coach tried to change the roster and reinforce it, but he wasn’t able to do so, as was seen later. In fact, late in the summer transfer period, Barca lost Satoransky and Abrines, and their losses were never covered.
The strongest players on the roster of the 2016-17 season were Rice, Tomic and Koponen, and there was also the constant value of Juan Carlos Navarro. The season, however, started in the worst possible way in terms of injuries, since certain players were already out of game action and the changes in the roster had already been made. Which means that, from very early on, the Catalans didn’t have chemistry as a team. Their start in the EuroLeague, however, with a 4-2 record, was encouraging.
What followed in the season in the EuroLeague was a nightmare, as there were more injuries, the players that came on didn’t perform as expected, and in the first 13 games, Barcelona had a 5-8 record. What could be clearly seen on the court is that the injuries, the lack of automatisms and athleticism and the wrong management on the part of the coaching team – in spite of the injuries – intensified the pressure and the results they were after never came!
The “black hole” of the 2016-17 season: The word “injuries” might be popping up a lot in reference to that Barcelona team but it is not an excuse, it is a reality. To understand what happened to Barca, for a certain period of time they were having a new injury in every single game. Of course, the wrong and rushed planning of the summer, as well as the poorly judged additions and removals during the season, was the icing on the “bitter” cake the Catalans made last season.
The roster of the 2016-17 season: Xavier Munford, Tyrese Rice, Justin Doellman, Victor Claver, Juan Carlos Navarro, Vitor Faverani, Sasha Vezenkov, Rodions Kurucs, Stefan Peno, Marcus Eriksson, Moussa Diagne, Brad Oleson, Alex Renfroe, Petteri Koponen, Stratos Perperoglou, Ante Tomic
Georgios Bartzokas (coach)
Barca’s results in the first 13 games of last season in the EuroLeague (6-8)
| Games | Score |
| Unics Kazan (away) | 63-69 |
| Fenerbahce (home) | 72-73 |
| Crvena Zvezda (away) | 76-65 |
| Bamberg (home) | 78-74 |
| Maccabi T.A. (away) | 69-79 |
| Zalgiris Kaunas (home) | 92-79 |
| Olympiacos (away) | 59-52 |
| Real Madrid (home) | 63-102 |
| Galatasaray (away) | 78-64 |
| Panathinaikos (home) | 72-57 |
| Anadolu Efes (away) | 72-68 |
| CSKA Moscow (away) | 92-76 |
| Baskonia (away) | 65-62 |
| Olimpia Milano (home) | 89-75 |