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 |
Barcelona 2017/18: An even worse start than last season, despite the big moves!
Last summer, there were many changes on every level for the Blaugrana. First, Georgios Bartzokas departed and shortly thereafter Baskonia’s former coach, Sito Alonso, took over. Regarding the roster, there was some considerable “housework” done, with the players that didn’t help in the right way departing and several quality players coming on board to fill in the “holes” that existed in the team.
The main additions, of course, were the expensive all-around forward, Adam Hanga, the talented but… “kooky” Thomas Heurtel, and the prolific Kevin Seraphin. Also, Moerman, Sanders and the “internal” addition of the seriously injured last season Ribas, were injections of quality and, at least in theory, boosted Barca to a higher level. A big plus in the beginning for the Catalans and for coach Alonso is that they don’t have any injury problems.
Of course, despite Barcelona’s numerous advantages this season, their start is disappointing, to say the least. Their 4-9 record in the EuroLeague, their mediocre basketball and the many defeats at home, all serve as indications that there is a serious problem. Perhaps the main issue is that there is a shortage in the guard positions and not enough athleticism in the ‘1’ and ‘2’ positions. Heurtel, Ribas and Koponen are excellent creators and scorers, but in defense they have limitations.
The “black hole” of the 2017-18 season: The big problem Barcelona is facing is not that they are playing worse than last season, despite the much better and higher quality roster and the good fortune of no injuries. So far, the unsolved problem is that there is no improvement in the way Barca is playing and – above all – that there is no chemistry, despite the passage of several months. Of course, there is tremendous pressure, which becomes even greater with every negative result, but if things don’t improve very soon then Sito Alonso and certain players will be in trouble.
This season’s roster: Kevin Seraphin, Pau Ribas, Marc Garcia, Phil Pressey, Adam Hanga, Juan Carlos Navarro, Thomas Heurtel, Sasha Vezenkov, Rodions Kurucs, Pierre Oriola, Petteri Koponen, Rakim Sanders, Victor Claver, Adrien Moerman, Ante Tomic
Sito Alonso (coach)
Barcelona’s results in the first 13 games in the EuroLeague this season (4-10)
| Games | Scores |
| Panathinaikos (home) | 98-71 |
| Crvena Zvezda (away) | 90-82 |
| Zalgiris Kaunas (home) | 75-81 |
| Olimpia Milano (away) | 78-74 |
| Olympiacos (home) | 73-51 |
| Anadolu Efes (away) | 85-89 |
| Bamberg (aways) | 84-81 |
| Valencia (home) | 89-71 |
| Maccabi T.A. (home) | 89-67 |
| CSKA Moscow (away) | 92-78 |
| Fenerbahce (home) | 68-83 |
| Real Madrid (away) | 87-75 |
| Unicaja Malaga (home) | 83-90 |
| Baskonia (away) | 85-82 |
Every team makes mistakes in the selection of the roster in the summer. This happened to Barcelona to a great extent in the summer of 2016 and to a lesser extent a few months ago. The selections of the coaches, with Bartzokas and Alonso, were the right ones since both are considered – and rightly so – two of the best and most serious coaches in Europe. But for them as well, as for the entire club, it’s difficult to forget Xavi Pascual’s successful eight years, but also to finally stop relying on the unsurpassable Juan Carlos Navarro, who is approaching the end of his career.
Now, after putting last year’s absolutely catastrophic season behind them, the Catalans have to improve as much as they possibly can in order to save whatever can be saved and, more specifically, to get in the playoffs, even at the last minute.
Beyond that, the point is to draw up a long-term plan next summer in order to build a team that will be able to dominate in Spain and the EuroLeague, something Barcelona were used to doing, instead of being in a state of suspension.
The only thing that is certain is that, despite the many changes that have taken place in the team and the way European basketball is evolving, Barcelona look like they haven’t changed at all.