By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
It’s not common for Turkish Airlines EuroLeague clubs to make changes to their rosters halfway through a season. It’s often only due to an urgent necessity that managements are prompted to make such decisions and potentially sacrifice team chemistry to add a big body, some firepower or extra defensive muscle.
Mid-season acquisitions don’t always pay off, but there have been cases where they ultimately played a part in teams not only going all the way to the Final Four, but also winning the title. Let’s have a look at some of the most successful transfers that EuroLeague clubs have made when the season was already up and running.
(Players listed in alphabetical order)
Joey Dorsey (Olympiacos)
The 2011-12 offseason was an unusual one for Olympiacos. The club’s front office decided to make a major overhaul and create a core of mostly young guys around star Vassilis Spanoulis. The roster was far from glamorous, especially in comparison to previous seasons, at least on paper.
No one predicted that this team would return to the Final Four, let alone finish the campaign as the EuroLeague champion.
A turning point that steered the team in that direction occurred in mid-season. With starting center Lazaros Papadopoulos getting injured and being forced to stay out for months, Olympiacos decided to sign a big guy, former NBAer Joey Dorsey, in January.
Dorsey had just been released from eliminated Baskonia. As it turned out, he clicked immediately with the young, athletic and quite hungry Olympiacos squad. He soon became an ideal pick-and-roll partner for Spanoulis and a dominant presence on defense, both as a rim protector and someone who could contain opposing guards when he switched on them.
He showed the latter skill to great effect in the team’s Game 1 road win in the playoff series vs. Montepaschi Siena as a pivotal figure in stopping Bo McCalebb, one of the hottest EuroLeague players at the time. Dorsey was perhaps his team’s most valuable defensive player in that game, pulling off some impressive stops, especially down the stretch. Thanks to that victory, plus two more at home, the Reds got a ticket to the Final Four.
When underdog Olympiacos faced grand favorite Barcelona in the semifinal, Dorsey had a key contribution with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. He also made a bucket that handed his team a two-possession lead in the final seconds. Two days later, he would celebrate his first EuroLeague title.
Dorsey’s career with the Reds ended abruptly at the beginning of the 2012-13 season, following an incident with then-coach Georgios Bartzokas and some criticism he made of the club.
James Gist (Panathinaikos)
The December 2012 trade between Panathinaikos and Unicaja Malaga that sent forward Andy Panko to the Spanish side in exchange for James Gist would grant the Greens their starting “four” for many, many years. Gist has been with Panathinaikos ever since and is now the team’s longest-serving player, with seven straight seasons as an OAKA resident.
Gist, 33, had been playing in the EuroLeague for almost three seasons until then, but it was with Panathinaikos that he emerged as one of the top two-way forwards in the competition. His high-flying pick-and-roll actions, first with Dimitris Diamantidis and then with Nick Calathes, became a staple in the Panathinaikos offense and led to the nickname “Gist Airlines”, while his ability to guard multiple positions make him a valuable defender, too.
Mike James (Panathinaikos 2018)
Mike James returned to familiar ground when he re-joined Panathinaikos in February 2018 following an NBA stint with the Phoenix Suns and the New Orleans Pelicans. And the Greens also knew what kind of player they were getting.
After getting readjusted to the team and getting back into rhythm, his first big-time performance would come soon. In a key road game vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv, he scored 27 points (including the game-winning jumper), dished out 4 assists and made 4 steals to grant Panathinaikos the victory.
James’s impact was crucial in helping the Greens finish fourth in the standings and thus gain home-court advantage in the playoffs vs. Real Madrid. He proceeded to be one of the top players in the series with an average of 19.0 points, 4.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds, yet the champions-to-be proved too much for the Greens and won the quarterfinals 3-1.
Acie Law (Olympiacos)
Like Joey Dorsey, Acie Law arrived at Olympiacos during the 2011-12 mid-season, just before the Top 16. The former 11th overall NBA draft pick had already attracted lots of attention in the regular season with Partizan Belgrade, but it was with Olympiacos that he would put his name on some golden pages of European basketball history.
What Olympiacos wanted when they decided to replace Kalin Lucas with Law was to find a guard that would efficiently pair up with Vassilis Spanoulis. It took some time for Law to get accustomed to his new surroundings, but his first standout performance came in a do-or-die game. In the last Top 16 match vs. Galatasaray, Law posted 10 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds to help Olympiacos win and get a playoffs ticket.
Law proceeded to put his piece in Olympiacos making the 2012 Final Four by averaging 9.3 points, 4.5 assists and 2.8 rebounds in the playoff series vs. Siena, but spent most of the Istanbul tournament on the bench due to an injury. Still, Dusan Ivkovic called him a “hero” for his self-sacrificing decision to enter the court in the championship game.
His crowning moment with Olympiacos arrived in the 2013 championship game. Law finished that title game with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, plus some excellent playmaking for 33 minutes en route to a game-high 31 PIR. Still to this day, his name and standards have been a comparison for every American guard that has arrived on the team since 2014.