Euroleague Basketball 2017/2018

[André Dominguez]

Which is 3.3m per year right? Around 10 times less than a very top NBA player, and I guess well below the average of a non-rookie player.

Of course, money isn't all. But if some player really thinks that he is great, then he needs to go to NBA. Any NBA team would beat with ease an all star Euroleague team. The quality is so much higher there.

The real problem though, is that superstars from Euroleague in most cases can become only bit-part players in mediocre NBA teams. We have seen a shitload of European greats miserably failing in NBA (Jackevickus or Navarro for example), and it is probably a bad feeling going from one of the best, to a player that isn't a top 100 player in the league.

As I said in the first post:

I really enjoy this competiton, more than I do NBA. Don't get me wrong: I'm perfectly aware that the technical level in NBA is miles above the Euroleague, for cultural reasons and mainly for budget reasons.

The basketball culture in USA is much higher than in any european country, so I don't find it surprising for am european player to fail at NBA. Even if Euroleague teams improve their budgets massively, the available talent is significantly smaller when compared to USA, because usually the best pepople at sports will choose football (soccer), than futsal, handball, Rink Hockey, etc, and then there is a smaller percentage that will choose basketball. In ex-Jugoslavia countries, ex-USSR countries and Russia the basketball is quite popular though.

Adding that to the heavy investment made by all NBA clubs, it's easy to realize how good those clubs are. NBA is the equivalent of UEFA Champions League in football, and Euroleague would be the equivalent of an Europa League.

 

[Revan]

As I said in the first post:



The basketball culture in USA is much higher than in any european country, so I don't find it surprising for am european player to fail at NBA. Even if Euroleague teams improve their budgets massively, the available talent is significantly smaller when compared to USA, because usually the best pepople at sports will choose football (soccer), than futsal, handball, Rink Hockey, etc, and then there is a smaller percentage that will choose basketball. In ex-Jugoslavia countries, ex-USSR countries and Russia the basketball is quite popular though.

Adding that to the heavy investment made by all NBA clubs, it's easy to realize how good those clubs are. NBA is the equivalent of UEFA Champions League in football, and Euroleague would be the equivalent of an Europa League.

Don't agree. NCAA has a higher quality (and is far more entertaining) than Euroleague IMO.

Euroleague is to NBA what Asian Champions League is to UEFA Champions League. The difference in quality is enormous.

 

[André Dominguez]

Don't agree. NCAA has a higher quality (and is far more entertaining) than Euroleague IMO.

Euroleague is to NBA what Asian Champions League is to UEFA Champions League. The difference in quality is enormous.

Asian? Not even Libertadores level?

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Don't agree. NCAA has a higher quality (and is far more entertaining) than Euroleague IMO.

Euroleague is to NBA what Asian Champions League is to UEFA Champions League. The difference in quality is enormous.

Not true at all. There is some NCAA All Americans who have flamed out in Euroleague.

 

[André Dominguez]

Sorry about the lack of updates. Been very busy on work trying to finish a project until the end of this year.

So, this is the currenttable:

The usual suspects are all inside the top 8. CSKA, Olympiakos, Fenerbahce, Panathinaikos and Real Madrid seem to be doing business as usual.

There is a surprise in the top8, though. Despite having the second smaller budget of the whole Euroleague, they are doing very well.

Another good surprise is Khimki, but bare in mind that VTB teams usually have some very decent budgets. Maccabi Tel Aviv seems to be back to the usual results, but still far away from the glory days.
Same can be said about Barcelona. They started decently but they seem to be back to disapointing results.

Anadolu, Baskonia and Crvena Zvezda seem to be the disapointments of this season so far, but in case of Crvena they are the lowest budget of this competition, so can't really blame them for undeperform.

Round 10 Pre-Match analysis:

Khimki - Bamberg
Khimki register at hime has been quite solid at the momemnt, but they are going to face an unpredictable team. Bamberg can make the opponent's life miserable if their 3 pointers start to get sharp in the match.
But Khimki has Shved on their team, and a player like him can win the match by himslef.

Anadolu - Milano
A match between two teams trying to step up their level. Milano has been playing quite well, and they surely deserved a couple of more wins, but I don't know if they can make the cut.
Anadolu has been extremely poor this season. They were a top 8 team last year.

Maccabi Tel Aviv - Zalgiris Kaunas
If we were taking budgets in consideration, Maccabi would win it. But in this case, Zalgiris is on a great form, and even though they are playing away, they can get a result here.
Maccabi is still trying to find his way.

Baskonia - Fenerbahce
Last seasojn this would be a very even match. This season, it's unpredictable, but with a major balance for Fenerbahce. They are the holding champions, they are playing well.
Baskonia is recovering form a shocking season start, but will they cope?

Valencia - Olympiakos
Valencia made a promising start, but their form dropped. They are having injury problems in some key players, so there's some justification.
Olympiakos is Olympiakos, they always play for the victory, so Valencia will have to step up if they want to battle for the result.

CSKA Moscow - Barcelona
It should be a one way game. A predictable victory for CSKA against a very incosistent Barcelona (just like last season). No mather what, CSKA will always be in the title decisions.

Panathinaikos - Unicaja
Unicaja qualified to this competition by wining the Eurocup, but they are clearly out of their confort zone. They are a defensive team that can frustrate their oponents, but there are no miracles on doing that against such a quality opposition as Panathinaikos.

Real Madrid - Crvena Zvezda
Another "easy" game here. Crvena will do their best to avoid a heavy defeat, but it wont be easy for them.

 

[Rajma]

@André Dominguez you still keeping an eye on it? Today Kauno Zalgiris (my supported team), who have reached play-off stage in the emphatic manner after finishing 6th, gonna start off the series with Olympiakos hoping for a good game . It's a huge achievement for Zalgiris no matter what happens from here.

 

[André Dominguez]

@André Dominguez you still keeping an eye on it? Today Kauno Zalgiris (my supported team), who have reached play-off stage in the emphatic manner after finishing 6th, gonna start off the series with Olympiakos hoping for a good game . It's a huge achievement for Zalgiris no matter what happens from here.

I still follow Euroleague. Funny thing, I also root for Kaunas since I started to follow Euroleague. I am also quite happy for a team with such a small budget can make it between the "giants" and playing good basketball.

Now all Kaunas has to do is enjoy the games. Olympiakos is a much stronger team and they usually step up in the playoff games. I think if Kaunas plays without the pressure to win the game they can create a lot of troubles to the greeks.

 

[Rajma]

I still follow Euroleague. Funny thing, I also root for Kaunas since I started to follow Euroleague. I am also quite happy for a team with such a small budget can make it between the "giants" and playing good basketball.

Now all Kaunas has to do is enjoy the games. Olympiakos is a much stronger team and they usually step up in the playoff games. I think if Kaunas plays without the pressure to win the game they can create a lot of troubles to the greeks.

Last time we were this close to making top four was during infamous macabi game back in 2003, format was different mind. Ironically, Jasikevicius (current coach) back then was on the other side as a player.

Also, we beat Oly twice in regular season but that doesn’t mean much in play-offs were they have so much experience.

 

[Rajma]

@André Dominguez feck me what a victory, cojones on this team!

 

[André Dominguez]

@André Dominguez feck me what a victory, cojones on this team!

Great game. We defended very well, we didn't let Olympiakos to have clear passing lines for the space under the basket, which is a move they usually do very well.

Also, playing without the pressure to win but having the desire to win the game can make wonders to a lot of teams.

The chances are good now to go through, if you bare in mind Olympiakos performance at away games this season (which was horrible).

 

[Rajma]

Great game. We defended very well, we didn't let Olympiakos to have clear passing lines for the space under the basket, which is a move they usually do very well.

Also, playing without the pressure to win but having the desire to win the game can make wonders to a lot of teams.

The chances are good now to go through, if you bare in mind Olympiakos performance at away games this season (which was horrible).

Jasikevicius comments around refereeing before the game worked like a charm as well, Oly and Spanoulis in particular aren't used to 50/50 standards while at home, it was notecible.

 

[André Dominguez]

Jasikevicius comments around refereeing before the game worked like a charm as well, Oly and Spanoulis in particular aren't used to 50/50 standards while at home, it was notecible.

There's always a lot of pressure on refs on games at Greece and Turkey: the players and crowd is extremely hostile, not to mention the surreal investment those clubs do. If they don't reach the final four they will have serious finantial troubles. Russian clubs are a bit safer because they have oligarchs splashing their money on those teams. Khimki has the second biggest budget of this Euroleague, behind CSKA!!!

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

There's always a lot of pressure on refs on games at Greece and Turkey: the players and crowd is extremely hostile, not to mention the surreal investment those clubs do. If they don't reach the final four they will have serious finantial troubles. Russian clubs are a bit safer because they have oligarchs splashing their money on those teams. Khimki has the second biggest budget of this Euroleague, behind CSKA!!!

That's not true in the slightest. The biggest spenders are CSKA, whose budget was 45 million Euros last season, but Fener and Real Madrid also had big budgets at around 35 and 30 million Euros respectively. The Turkish and the Russian teams are Euroleague's biggest spenders. Due to the economic crisis, both Greek clubs work under budgets of 10 million each, give or take.

Now, every win in the regular season is worth 37.000 Euros. Every win in the playoffs is worth 70.000 and the prizes for those who reach the final-four are: 4th place=150.000, 3rd place=300.000, runners-up= 500.000, champions=1.000.000. In the hypothetical scenario where a team wins all 30 matches in the regular season, gets the three wins in the playoffs that send you to the F4 and then goes all the way to win the Cup, this team will win a grand total of 2.320.000 million Euros. I can also tell you with certainty that each Greek club earns another 2.000.000 Euros from TV money. It's peanuts when compared to the money the teams invest. That's the reason why Bertomeu should have listened to Giannakopoulos' (whose family has been investing in basketball for 25 years) complaints about refereeing with more respect instead of treating him like the village's lunatic. Although it's entirely true that the owner of Panathinaikos acted (and still acts) like a complete dickhead after his complaints were dismissed.

I've watched my fair share of Euroleague throughout the years although i support neither Panathinaikos or Olympiacos. I just like Basketball. This season there have been four teams who have enjoyed more than favourable refereeing at home during the regular season: CSKA, Fener, Real Madrid and Olympiacos. Fener, led by the greatest coach in the history of European basketball, will be in the F4 with good chances of winning it. Real Madrid will also book their tickets next week. And how could they not? They face a Pascual team and the man has managed to win both opening games of his home advantage twice in ten fecking seasons. Both these teams have good refereeing when they need it. CSKA will also be there but Khimki tried their very best for the break in the first game. The men - and especially the woman - in black & orange had other ideas though. I also share your enthusiasm regarding Zalgiris. IMHO, Jasikevicious was one of the most intelligent players i've watched and i wish he does well as a coach because he's a great capital for European basketball. But the other day, that wasn't 50/50. If it had been, Olympiacos would have won the game. As i mentioned, they're among the last who can complain about the refs this season, especially at home, but Sarunas could not have wished for better refereeing in this particular game.

 

[André Dominguez]

That's not true in the slightest. The biggest spenders are CSKA, whose budget was 45 million Euros last season, but Fener and Real Madrid also had big budgets at around 35 and 30 million Euros respectively. The Turkish and the Russian teams are Euroleague's biggest spenders. Due to the economic crisis, both Greek clubs work under budgets of 10 million each, give or take.

Now, every win in the regular season is worth 37.000 Euros. Every win in the playoffs is worth 70.000 and the prizes for those who reach the final-four are: 4th place=150.000, 3rd place=300.000, runners-up= 500.000, champions=1.000.000. In the hypothetical scenario where a team wins all 30 matches in the regular season, gets the three wins in the playoffs that send you to the F4 and then goes all the way to win the Cup, this team will win a grand total of 2.320.000 million Euros. I can also tell you with certainty that each Greek club earns another 2.000.000 Euros from TV money. It's peanuts when compared to the money the teams invest. That's the reason why Bertomeu should have listened to Giannakopoulos' (whose family has been investing in basketball for 25 years) complaints about refereeing with more respect instead of treating him like the village's lunatic. Although it's entirely true that the owner of Panathinaikos acted (and still acts) like a complete dickhead after his complaints were dismissed.

I've watched my fair share of Euroleague throughout the years although i support neither Panathinaikos or Olympiacos. I just like Basketball. This season there have been four teams who have enjoyed more than favourable refereeing at home during the regular season: CSKA, Fener, Real Madrid and Olympiacos. Fener, led by the greatest coach in the history of European basketball, will be in the F4 with good chances of winning it. Real Madrid will also book their tickets next week. And how could they not? They face a Pascual team and the man has managed to win both opening games of his home advantage twice in ten fecking seasons. Both these teams have good refereeing when they need it. CSKA will also be there but Khimki tried their very best for the break in the first game. The men - and especially the woman - in black & orange had other ideas though. I also share your enthusiasm regarding Zalgiris. IMHO, Jasikevicious was one of the most intelligent players i've watched and i wish he does well as a coach because he's a great capital for European basketball. But the other day, that wasn't 50/50. If it had been, Olympiacos would have won the game. As i mentioned, they're among the last who can complain about the refs this season, especially at home, but Sarunas could not have wished for better refereeing in this particular game.

I didn't refer to Real Madrid because they have millions due to their high marketing profile. But I thought that turkish teams were in the same boat as the Greek teams, and reaching the final four would be = to more TV money.

I agree that the winning prizes are still quite low and that could be improved. Now the Euroleague will expand to accomodate the french champion, which is a big market who can't be ignored. Canal+ money will rise if french teams are inside this competition.

It's difficult not to empathyze with teams like Zalgiris or Crvena Zvezda. They are the "Davids" of this competition. They do a lot with little budget at their disposal (when compared to almost any other team).

Let's see if the expansion of the Euroleague will be accepted by the clubs involved.

 

[André Dominguez]

Meanwhile, in the Eurocup, Krasnodar failed again. So much money spent and no results.

 

[Rajma]

@André Dominguez @TheRedDevil'sAdvocate I’m sorry but referring was fecking scandalous this game, really heartbreaking to see things like that in any sport.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

@André Dominguez @TheRedDevil'sAdvocate I’m sorry but referring was fecking scandalous this game, really heartbreaking to see things like that in any sport.

Refereeing has always been a chronic problem of this competition, a big one too. Tonight they allowed Olympiacos to do the same thing they allowed Zalgiris to do in the first game: play aggressive defence on the edge of fouling. Especially at the start of the 4th quarter. They also "rewarded" Spanoulis, who is constantly looking to initiate contact, with a fair amount of free throws which wasn't the case in the first game.

Nevertheless, this one's the only playoff pairing which is really interesting. I still believe that if Olympiacos had all its players fit (even Printezis and Papanikolaou play with injections and don't train between matches), it wouldn't be a contest but that's not Zalgiris' problem. It helps in the sense that Zalgiris is a team with small rotation of 7-8 players and Olympiacos' injuries kind of make up for it.

But if you thought this was heartbreaking, wait to watch CSKA and Fener in important games. You won't know if you should cry or laugh...

 

[André Dominguez]

@André Dominguez @TheRedDevil'sAdvocate I’m sorry but referring was fecking scandalous this game, really heartbreaking to see things like that in any sport.

And the funny part is that I think Zalgiris played better than the previous game. This just looks like UCL on soccer, when Barcelona/Real Madrid are doing a bad game and suddenly the refs starting making absurd decisions. So many bad calls. When will VAR become part of Euroleague?

It's easier to implement on basketball since the game stops at every foul.

 

[André Dominguez]

Refereeing has always been a chronic problem of this competition, a big one too. Tonight they allowed Olympiacos to do the same thing they allowed Zalgiris to do in the first game: play aggressive defence on the edge of fouling. Especially at the start of the 4th quarter. They also "rewarded" Spanoulis, who is constantly looking to initiate contact, with a fair amount of free throws which wasn't the case in the first game.

Nevertheless, this one's the only playoff pairing which is really interesting. I still believe that if Olympiacos had all its players fit (even Printezis and Papanikolaou play with injections and don't train between matches), it wouldn't be a contest but that's not Zalgiris' problem. It helps in the sense that Zalgiris is a team with small rotation of 7-8 players and Olympiacos' injuries kind of make up for it.

But if you thought this was heartbreaking, wait to watch CSKA and Fener in important games. You won't know if you should cry or laugh...

True that. I saw Olimpia Milano being robbed against Fenerbahce. Come on, it was Olimpia Milano, how bad can you be to need the refs help?

 

[Rajma]

@TheRedDevil'sAdvocate @André Dominguez what a game this is, Oly do look ordinary without helping hand from refs.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

@Rajma

This was rather convincing. One more win to go to the F4! And very easy: 23 assists and 24/33 2PT (plus 20 points from FT), you can't lose a game of basketball with stats like these.

 

[Rajma]

@Rajma

This was rather convincing. One more win to go to the F4! And very easy: 23 assists and 24/33 2PT (plus 20 points from FT), you can't lose a game of basketball with stats like these.

@André Dominguez yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Someone wake me up! Thanks Saras!!

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Easy again. I hope Zalgiris will be able to carry their good form to Belgrade and give Fener a good game. As for Olympiacos, when your biggest strength is your defense and you concede 101 points in a must-win game, there's not really much left to discuss.

 

[Rajma]

Easy again. I hope Zalgiris will be able to carry their good form to Belgrade and give Fener a good game. As for Olympiacos, when your biggest strength is your defense and you concede 101 points in a must-win game, there's not really much left to discuss.

May sound ridiculous but I think Fener actually more convenient opponent to Zalgiris than someone like Basconia, who destroyed us two times this season while Fener lost their home game to Zalgiris and won away from home having had to overturn 15 points deficit in the second half of the match. Anyway it’s time to celebrate!

 

[André Dominguez]

@André Dominguez yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Someone wake me up! Thanks Saras!!

Sorry for late reply, but was on a small vacations, but still watched the game on my smartphone on streaming (100% legal, off course! cough cough).

We did an amazing game

 

[André Dominguez]

May sound ridiculous but I think Fener actually more convenient opponent to Zalgiris than someone like Basconia, who destroyed us two times this season while Fener lost their home game to Zalgiris and won away from home having had to overturn 15 points deficit in the second half of the match. Anyway it’s time to celebrate!

Fenerbahce was also far from being impressive this season, but they are the former champions.

Baskonia usually beat us due to their game style: they play some fluid basketball which makes it harder to define the defensive zones.

 

[André Dominguez]

Easy again. I hope Zalgiris will be able to carry their good form to Belgrade and give Fener a good game. As for Olympiacos, when your biggest strength is your defense and you concede 101 points in a must-win game, there's not really much left to discuss.

Oly form at away games this season was quite poor. They suffered some really ugly defeats this season during regular season.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Oly form at away games this season was quite poor. They suffered some really ugly defeats this season during regular season.

True that but, on the other hand, they looked in the pole-position to go to the playoff with the home advantage for the most part of the regular season. They looked like they could manage but they stumbled upon the team that had won them twice in the regular season (one of those heavy away defeats you mentioned). And the Euroleague isn't like the NBA where we have divisions and the 2nd vs 7th match-up in the East or the West isn't always about the second best team in the entire league playing against the seventh. In Europe, the margins between the teams that qualify for the playoffs is much smaller, at least before the semis.

Anyway, Olympiacos were plagued with injuries this season and this forced them to resort to the Old Guard more than they wanted too. And they didn't get much help from the Americans they signed. They have a good core of Greek players (Mantzaris, Papanikolaou, Papapetrou etc.) but none of them are leaders like Spanoulis and Printezis. But the latter players can't carry the team on their shoulders throughout the RS and into the F4 at their age. The club must act more clever in the market. Believe it or not, among journalists what happened against Zalgiris was expected to a degree. There were complaints when all was rosy, that this team's cycle is coming to its end. I would add that the player who could help them in this transition, Sloukas, is winning Euroleague titles with Fener. A gift from Obradovic to his former club (Panathinaikos) just after he left.

I hope that Zalgiris will be able to produce a miracle in Belgrade. There's an aura around them like back in 1999 when they surprised the whole world of European basketball. But my mind says that Fener will win back to back titles.

 

[André Dominguez]

True that but, on the other hand, they looked in the pole-position to go to the playoff with the home advantage for the most part of the regular season. They looked like they could manage but they stumbled upon the team that had won them twice in the regular season (one of those heavy away defeats you mentioned). And the Euroleague isn't like the NBA where we have divisions and the 2nd vs 7th match-up in the East or the West isn't always about the second best team in the entire league playing against the seventh. In Europe, the margins between the teams that qualify for the playoffs is much smaller, at least before the semis.

Anyway, Olympiacos were plagued with injuries this season and this forced them to resort to the Old Guard more than they wanted too. And they didn't get much help from the Americans they signed. They have a good core of Greek players (Mantzaris, Papanikolaou, Papapetrou etc.) but none of them are leaders like Spanoulis and Printezis. But the latter players can't carry the team on their shoulders throughout the RS and into the F4 at their age. The club must act more clever in the market. Believe it or not, among journalists what happened against Zalgiris was expected to a degree. There were complaints when all was rosy, that this team's cycle is coming to its end. I would add that the player who could help them in this transition, Sloukas, is winning Euroleague titles with Fener. A gift from Obradovic to his former club (Panathinaikos) just after he left.

I hope that Zalgiris will be able to produce a miracle in Belgrade. There's an aura around them like back in 1999 when they surprised the whole world of European basketball. But my mind says that Fener will win back to back titles.

Greek teams are usually always in top 8, even if their budgets are cut. Valencia had the same problems, with several key players suffering long term injuries and the results were disapointing if you bare in mind that Valencia squad is quite good on the paper.

It's almost impossible to find an immediate replacement for a player with Spanoulis quality.

I always find hard to accept how easy many clubs hire dubious american players, because being from Portugal I saw a similar thing happening in our football league with brazilian players in the 90's.
In the 90's, just having brazilian nationality would mean you would probably be a good hiring for the club, but what really happened was most of those brazilian players who were picked from bottom to secondary division teams were just marginally better than the portuguese young players who came through the ranks.

Same happens all over european basketball: they get caught in the easy way trap trying to hire "second line" american players, but most of those players won't make an impact in the team, despite usually being decent.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Greek teams are usually always in top 8, even if their budgets are cut. Valencia had the same problems, with several key players suffering long term injuries and the results were disapointing if you bare in mind that Valencia squad is quite good on the paper.

It's almost impossible to find an immediate replacement for a player with Spanoulis quality.

I always find hard to accept how easy many clubs hire dubious american players, because being from Portugal I saw a similar thing happening in our football league with brazilian players in the 90's.
In the 90's, just having brazilian nationality would mean you would probably be a good hiring for the club, but what really happened was most of those brazilian players who were picked from bottom to secondary division teams were just marginally better than the portuguese young players who came through the ranks.

Same happens all over european basketball: they get caught in the easy way trap trying to hire "second line" american players, but most of those players won't make an impact in the team, despite usually being decent.

Yup, this sums it up. The American market is tough because every US player dreams of a contract in the NBA. So you have to find the ones who will be willing to work hard and use the European experience as a step-ladder for a place in the NBA and you can never be sure how well they'll adjust to the particularities of European basketball. The thing is that, if we take Spain plus the former Yugoslavian and Soviet republics out of the eaquation, prolific scorers are very rare to find in Europe. Most teams look to American players for scorers. But, as you mentioned, in the process many domestic talents lose their chance in favour of Americans who don't offer much. On the other hand, proper defending seems to be a lost concept in the US until very late in the playoffs. You can't play in Europe if you don't defend.

Greece doesn't produce natural scorers like Doncic. Spanoulis was the exception and because he had the whole package (native=knows how the club works, a leader and a scorer), it will be very difficult to replace him. Olympiacos eventually will have to look abroad for his replacement. Panathinaikos face a similar problem. They gave the hegemonic contract to Kalathis (who's a play-maker) and their attacking prowess depends on the whims of James.

As for the Brazilians you mentioned, i've always believed it was rather bizarre in football. Here you are considered to be among the most important football nations of the planet, after all.

 

[André Dominguez]

Yup, this sums it up. The American market is tough because every US player dreams of a contract in the NBA. So you have to find the ones who will be willing to work hard and use the European experience as a step-ladder for a place in the NBA and you can never be sure how well they'll adjust to the particularities of European basketball. The thing is that, if we take Spain plus the former Yugoslavian and Soviet republics out of the eaquation, prolific scorers are very rare to find in Europe. Most teams look to American players for scorers. But, as you mentioned, in the process many domestic talents lose their chance in favour of Americans who don't offer much. On the other hand, proper defending seems to be a lost concept in the US until very late in the playoffs. You can't play in Europe if you don't defend.

Greece doesn't produce natural scorers like Doncic. Spanoulis was the exception and because he had the whole package (native=knows how the club works, a leader and a scorer), it will be very difficult to replace him. Olympiacos eventually will have to look abroad for his replacement. Panathinaikos face a similar problem. They gave the hegemonic contract to Kalathis (who's a play-maker) and their attacking prowess depends on the whims of James.

As for the Brazilians you mentioned, i've always believed it was rather bizarre in football. Here you are considered to be among the most important football nations of the planet, after all.

Unfortunatelly by cultural reasons, basketball is not very popular here in Europe, with the exception of the ex-Yougoslavian countries, ex-USSR, Greece, Turkey and Spain, so it's very hard to get good players overall. Spain should be a case study, because they excel in so many sports, you can see their sport culture is quite good and probably the same can be said about France, who is raising their basketabll level in recent years.

But usually, the best athletes will pick football or futsal. A bit like it happens in the USA where the best athletes usually go to American Football, Basketball or Baseball.

Here in Portugal basketball is behind many sports, like futsal, handball, rink hockey, rugby, atheltic sports, Judo, etc. The only decent basketball team we had in european games was Benfica in the early 90's, where they sometimes beat top teams like Real Madrid, Panathinkaikos, Virtus Bologna, etc, but that was an exception.

 

[André Dominguez]

It was a very emotive final four. Zalgiris did very well against Fenerbahce, much better than expected. With a bit of luck we could had reached the final. Real Madrid was unstopable. They never really looked in trouble in this playoff series. Fair title for them.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Interesting games overall with the title going to the best team although i have to admit that expected more from Obradovic in yesterday's final. Fun fact: For the second year in a row the club that finishes 5th in the regular season and beats Panathinaikos in the QF wins the Euroleague (last season it was Fener) while the team with the best record in the regular season ends up 4th in the F4 (last season it was Real Madrid).

Second fun fact: Llull became the first player (and probably the last one too for obvious reasons) who wins the Euroleague without losing a game as he participated in only 4 games this season and he won them all.

Third fun fact, but this time not very promising for United fans, is that in the history of both sports the same club has never won the European Cup in football & in basketball in the same year.

I feel congrats are in order for Real Madrid and Pablo Laso because they've been through Hell and back over the course of the season. They had to deal with long-term injuries of important players like Llull, Kuzmic, Randolph, Taylor and Campazzo and there was a time, from early November till early December when they lost 6/7 games and it seemed that they were in a downward spiral from which they would not recover. In their darkest hour of the season, Laso kept his cool. He asked only for one player (Tavares) and he trusted Doncic to become the team leader. Tavares' role was pivotal in the F4. In the SF he spent only 8 minutes on the floor but these were enough for him to score 5 points and hide the racket with three blocks. In the final, he made Vesely look like a rookie, he scored 8 points with perfect stats and he added 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 1 steal in 21 minutes.

Causeur deserves a special mention too because he was the one player Laso demanded to get in the pre-season. He was RM's top scorer in the final and he played fantastic defence on Sloukas who couldn't set a proper pick n' roll in the entirety of the second half.

And we come to Doncic... He left Belgrade as a European Champion, as the MVP of both the SF & the Final, as a member of the best-five and as the best defender of the F4. The only other player who has achieved that is Diamantides and the noticeable difference between them is that Diamantides was 31 when he did all that in the F4 in Barcelona while Doncic is still 19 yo!!! As a player who was targeted by Real Madrid's scouting system at a very young age and went through their development program, both Luca and the club should feel very proud.

Back to Laso because RM were not only about flair in this F4. They were set to outscore the best offence of the regular season (CSKA) and in the final, they managed to keep Fener's frontline at a total of 11 points. And if you know Obradovic, you understand that this is a colossal defensive achievement.

Hats off to Jasikevicious who i believe announced his arrival as an elite head coach in Euroleague and to Zalgiris (and all Lithuanians) who live and breathe for the sport and they deserve to have representation among the other big boys. No tears for Fener, their hunger for success, the man they have at the helm and their budget will surely make sure that they'll start next season as favourites again. And three finals in row is no small feat by any means.

 

[Rajma]

It was a very emotive final four. Zalgiris did very well against Fenerbahce, much better than expected. With a bit of luck we could had reached the final. Real Madrid was unstopable. They never really looked in trouble in this playoff series. Fair title for them.

Yep, played a very poor game but still remained within a striking distance all night (shows the immense character of this team) and if not for Ali's mini show in the 4Q it might have been a different ending altogether but oh well it was a fun season and everyone should really be proud of how they conducted themselves in the final 4.

 

[André Dominguez]

Interesting games overall with the title going to the best team although i have to admit that expected more from Obradovic in yesterday's final. Fun fact: For the second year in a row the club that finishes 5th in the regular season and beats Panathinaikos in the QF wins the Euroleague (last season it was Fener) while the team with the best record in the regular season ends up 4th in the F4 (last season it was Real Madrid).

Second fun fact: Llull became the first player (and probably the last one too for obvious reasons) who wins the Euroleague without losing a game as he participated in only 4 games this season and he won them all.

Third fun fact, but this time not very promising for United fans, is that in the history of both sports the same club has never won the European Cup in football & in basketball in the same year.

I feel congrats are in order for Real Madrid and Pablo Laso because they've been through Hell and back over the course of the season. They had to deal with long-term injuries of important players like Llull, Kuzmic, Randolph, Taylor and Campazzo and there was a time, from early November till early December when they lost 6/7 games and it seemed that they were in a downward spiral from which they would not recover. In their darkest hour of the season, Laso kept his cool. He asked only for one player (Tavares) and he trusted Doncic to become the team leader. Tavares' role was pivotal in the F4. In the SF he spent only 8 minutes on the floor but these were enough for him to score 5 points and hide the racket with three blocks. In the final, he made Vesely look like a rookie, he scored 8 points with perfect stats and he added 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block and 1 steal in 21 minutes.

Causeur deserves a special mention too because he was the one player Laso demanded to get in the pre-season. He was RM's top scorer in the final and he played fantastic defence on Sloukas who couldn't set a proper pick n' roll in the entirety of the second half.

And we come to Doncic... He left Belgrade as a European Champion, as the MVP of both the SF & the Final, as a member of the best-five and as the best defender of the F4. The only other player who has achieved that is Diamantides and the noticeable difference between them is that Diamantides was 31 when he did all that in the F4 in Barcelona while Doncic is still 19 yo!!! As a player who was targeted by Real Madrid's scouting system at a very young age and went through their development program, both Luca and the club should feel very proud.

Back to Laso because RM were not only about flair in this F4. They were set to outscore the best offence of the regular season (CSKA) and in the final, they managed to keep Fener's frontline at a total of 11 points. And if you know Obradovic, you understand that this is a colossal defensive achievement.

Hats off to Jasikevicious who i believe announced his arrival as an elite head coach in Euroleague and to Zalgiris (and all Lithuanians) who live and breathe for the sport and they deserve to have representation among the other big boys. No tears for Fener, their hunger for success, the man they have at the helm and their budget will surely make sure that they'll start next season as favourites again. And three finals in row is no small feat by any means.

Fenerbahce had a good chance after a good first half of the game, but they let Lull and Doncic dictacte the game in too many plays (off course is easier said than done).

Lull is a regular costumer to the medical departemente, unfortunatelly. He really gets injured often, despite being an excellent player.

Campazzo was the season's revelation, imho. I know he had a good career, but I wasnt ecpecting him to become a vital part of this Madrid team, but rather a back-up utility player.

The game against CSKA was a major moral boost for them. They really performed well and gained morale to the final, while Fener shaked a bit against Zalgiris.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

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Obviously he had a decorated career in Europe but, his really short run with the Memphis Grizzlies was not bad at all.

 

[JuriM]

Insane games this seasons Final Four semis.

 

[carvajal]

Mbappe and defeat in Euroleague.what a day. In any case, looking at the season they had, I think they exceeded expectations.

 

[André Dominguez]

Mbappe and defeat in Euroleague.what a day. In any case, looking at the season they had, I think they exceeded expectations.

Real already made a great job by defeating Barça on the semis, but Anadolu has a very well drilled and talented squad. They were the favourites again this season.
But a very poor game at the final IMHO