EuroLeague season preview – Part 1

With the EuroLeague season tipping off on Thursday and Friday, here is Part 1 of our season preview.

This time, Hedgeout Team has split the teams to three groups, based on the offseason moves they made and how likely it is to make it to the postseason and the Final Four.

Alexandros Tsakos

Top Tier (1-6)

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The EuroLeague season is about to start, and the usual teams should be in the top of the rankings entering the new campaign. FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are expected to be in the top-3 of the regular season standings.

Barcelona has been quite successful the last two years during the regular season campaign and they had the depth and quality to remain atop this season. Real is coming immediately after a EuroLeague Final appearance.

Title holders Anadolu Efes are used to slow starts at the beginning of the year. However, when everything is said and done, they will be among the best teams of the season. Having achieved a Final-4 appearance last season, Olympiacos has improved as a team with the additions of Isaiah Canaan, Joel Bolomboy, Alec Peters and Tarik Black.

AS Monaco has revamped and upgraded its roster this offseason and they are bound to make a suprising run that can lead them to their first Final-4 appearance, in my opinion. Only a few teams have the depth, length and scoring talent of the Roca Team.

Olimpia Milano is also expected to be part of the Top-6 if the team remains healthy for the majority of the season. The addition of veterans like Brandon Davies, DeShaun Thomas and Kevin Pangos will likely be a catalyst for Etorre Messina.

Top Tier (1-6)

1. FC Barcelona

2. Real Madrid

3. Anadolu Efes

4. Olympiacos

5. AS Monaco

6. Olimpia Milan

Mid-Tier (7-12)

Six teams will fight for two playoff spots in the mid-tier group. Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Fenerbahce are striving to ascend to the elite this season. However, they will have to find their groove and their chemistry during the season with many new players in their rosters.

Scottie Wilbekin will be the leader of Fener, while Lorenzo Brown will have to lead Maccabi after being a part of the gold medal-winning Spain NT team in the EuroBasket.

Having achieved consecutive postseason appearances, Bayern Munich has looked to add athleticism and depth to their team. They will be an interesting project, with many ‘rookie’ players in the EuroLeague like Cassius Winston, Freddie Gillespie and Isaac Bonga.

If Toko Shengelia and Milos Teodosic stay healthy, Virtus Bologna could be a favorite to make the playoffs this season. Partizan Belgrade will be led by Zeljiko Obradovic, one of the best coaches we’ve seen in Europe.

Panathinaikos is likely to be one of the teams that will improve their record from last season. As a result, they are going to be in mid-tier this year. Marius Grigonis and former Monaco guard Paris Lee are an upgrade in the guard position, while Giorgos Papagiannis will continue to dominate as one of the best bigs in the competition.

Mid Tier (7-12)

7. Fenerbahce

8. Virtus Bologna

9. Bayern Munich

10. Maccabi Tel Aviv

11. Partizan Belgrade

12. Panathinaikos

Bottom Tier (13-18)

Zalgiris Kaunas will remain one of the worst teams in the league after finishing dead-last the past season. ALBA Berlin will probably see itself dropping from the mid-tier after finishing 11th in the standings last year.

With the team losing key pieces (Elie Okobo) from last season, I expect ASVEL Villeurbanne to drop even further down the standings. Crvena Zvezda has a good combination of veteran and young players. However, losing their leader Nikola Kalinic will hurt the chances to make a push for a playoff spot this year.

Baskonia is a young team with many newcomers, so I expect them to be in the lowest tier The Spaniards, though, are bound to be a fun team to watch with their shot-making and athleticism. Valencia Basket will likely have some impressive wins, but I don’t see how the Spanish team can slip into the EuroLeague mid-tier teams.

Bottom Tier (13-18)

13. Crvena Zvezda

14. Baskonia

15. ALBA Berlin

16. Valencia Basket

17. Zalgiris Kaunas

18. LDLC ASVEL

Panagiotis Georgakopoulos

Top Tier (1-6)

1) FC Barcelona

After last year’s failure to capture both the Euroleague and Liga Endesa, Barca strengthened its already expensive squad even more by bringing quality players like Nikola Kalinic, Jan Vesely and Tomas Satoransky between others.

The Catalans will have to wait for Nikola Mirotic for a while but given that Sarunas Jasikevicius will manage to solve potential chemistry problems and present a similar defensive work like last year, Barcelona begins at the pole position for the 2022/23 Euroleague campaign.

Furthermore, Cory Higgins’ presence from the start of the season will be very important, as his slashing abilities and his clutch decisions were missing from Barca last year.

2) Real Madrid

In a way, last year was Real Madrid’s year as Los Merengues managed to improve throughout the season and win the ACB title, while losing the Euroleague title by just one point. Real’s roster has been improved, mostly offensively, with the addition of Mario Hezonja and Dzanan Musa while retaining its key and much experienced and mentally tough players.

The only question marks are the replacement of the architect of Real Madrid’s accomplishments the last ten years, Pablo Laso, by his assistant Chus Mateo and the durability of the aged backcourt players like Sergio Rodriguez and Sergio Llull through the season, otherwise Real Madrid seems destined for success.

3) EA7 Emporio Armani Milan

Milan made great moves at the summer transfer period by bringing important Euroleague players like Brandon Davis, Kevin Pangos, Johannes Voigtmann and Billy Baron. Le Scarpette Rosse seem like a team full of Euroleague experience that can have a great offensive production while possessing some good defenders.

Armani Milan definitely seems capable of getting a playoff advantage spot; however, the roster seems to lack a second source of creation on the perimeter besides Pangos and a great perimeter defender.

4) Anadolu Efes

The team that compiles my top 4 predictions are the last year’s champions, Anadolu Efes. Efes added some high-profile players like Will Clyburn and Achille Polonara while retaining almost all its important players from last season besides Chris Singleton. The latter, in my opinion, is a huge departure that has not been replaced, as both Polonara and Amath M’Baye cannot bring Singleton’s defensive characteristics on the court (Singleton may be the best 3&D player on the continent).

Moreover, Shane Larkin seems to be declining and an addition on the guards would be much needed if Anadolu Efes wants to make the top European competition’s first three-peat after 31 years.

5) Fenerbahce Beko

Fener seems the club that made the most drastic changes between top clubs compared to last season. The Turkish champions brought two-time Euroleague champion coach Dimitris Itoudis and some important first team players like Nick Calathes, Scottie Wilbekin and Nemanja Bjelica.

In my mind, the success of Fenerbahçe depends on how well role players and newcomers like Carsen Edwards and Jonathan Motley will adjust and from the team’s perimeter defense, as the roster, at first glance, seems great at rebounding, creating and shooting.

If Fener excels at these, it’s not farfetched to say that they will be a contender for a spot at the Final-Four.

6) AS Monaco Basket

After last year’s successful Euroleague season, Monaco will try to aim even further. This is clear by the club’s summer additions of players with the caliber of John Brown, Jordan Loyd and Elie Okobo.

Considering Mike James, the La Roca Team possesses a lot of firepower from the perimeter, while the presence of Donta Hall, Jaron Blossomgame, Alpha Diallo and most importantly John Brown guarantees athleticism and defensive hustling.

Monaco can prove a trouble for most teams in the competition and can be a contender for a spot at the playoffs and, if lucky, at the Final-Four.

Mid Tier (7-13)

7) Olympiacos Piraeus

The Red-Whites begin this season with a very important advantage compared to other teams due to the already established chemistry between the players, as few additions were made during the offseason.

Olympiacos seems to have been improved roster-wise compared to last year, as Alec Peters, Tarik Black and Joel Bolomboy compose with Mustapha Fall and Sasha Vezenkov a better frontline compared to the now-retired legend Georgios Printezis, Hassan Martin and Livio Jean-Charles.

My only objection is the replacement of Tyler Dorsey by Isaiah Canaan as one of the weapons of Olympiacos last year was the capability of alternating backcourt pairs between the Greek-American guard, Kostas Sloukas and Thomas Walkup.

Considering the characteristics of Canaan, it is difficult to see a backcourt with Sloukas and him at the same time, meaning that Thomas Walkup will have increased load offensively and Sloukas may not always be capable of being the sixth player of the Piraeus team, a role that suited him perfectly last year.

However, I see Olympiacos as one of the competition’s contenders for a Final-Four spot.

8) Maccabi Tel-Aviv

The Yellows seem to be stronger compared to last year, as they seem to have replaced all their departures with quality players with significant playing time at their previous teams.

An important gamble seems how Wade Baldwin IV can play alongside EuroBasket 2022 champion Lorenzo Brown and produce for the rest of the team that is consisted of athletic players that can produce on the transition offense that coach Oded Kattash seems to favor.

9) Cazoo Baskonia

After a mediocre season last year (9th in the Euroleague, 4th at ACB), Baskonia does not seem to have made the right moves in order to recover as important players like Wade Baldwin IV and Simone Fontecchio have been departed but not equally replaced considering the lack of experience of Daulton Hommes, Markus Howard and Darius Thompson.

Furthermore, Vanja Marinković does not seem to possess yet the qualities to lead such a European powerhouse. However, Joan Peñarroya has a great opportunity to create a team that fits his style of basketball and ultimately compete for a playoff spot.

10) Panathinaikos OPAP Athens

Panathinaikos’ goal this year should be to return to playoff contention after two disastrous seasons. The team seems much more balanced compared to previous years, targeting players with Euroleague experience and reducing the gambles from lower-level leagues.

Nate Wolters will be extremely important for the team productivity on offense, while the pair of Mateusz Ponitka and Marius Grigonis can bring much needed quality and high IQ shoot selection and decision making. However, it is obvious that the team lacks a 3&D power forward, something that can limits its chances for success.

11) Partizan Belgrade

After 9 years, the Serbian giants are ready to return to the Euroleague. The Serbians retained almost the same core of players as last year adding former Panathinaikos’ captain Ioannis Papapetrou, James Nunally and Dante Exum among others.

Especially the latter one can be vastly improved by legendary coach Željko Obradović which has a young a talented squad on his hands.

Partizan will be a very dangerous team, especially on home court and can reach as far in the competition as its level of improvement inside the season. Maybe a little more depth on the bench would be necessary for a higher place in the competition.

12) Virtus Segafredo Bologna

Alongside Partizan, another European giant will return to the Euroleague. Virtus invested the previous years on a lot of high caliber players with this purpose, something which definitely paid off.

Compared to last year, the addition of Iffe Lundberg and Jordan Mickey can help the Vu Nere, however their backcourt, apart from Daniel Hackett, seems very weak defensively. Additionally, Tornike Shengelia’s injury proneness will be an important factor.

13) FC Bayern MĂ¼nchen

Bayern’s roster doesn’t seem bad, especially athletically wise. However, some problems arise by examining it. First and foremost, the point guard position seems not fully covered as Euroleague rookie Cassius Winston will surely be a gamble and Corey Walden is not a pass-first PG.

Furthermore, besides Lucic, the team seems to lack player quality compared to the top teams. However, Andrea Trinkieri has proven to be capable of creating teams that produce great basketball when having players that suit his playing style, as he does now.

Bottom Tier (14-18)

14) ALBA Berlin

ALBA Berlin made minimal changes to its roster, only replacing Oscar Da Silva that moved to Barcelona. Israel Gonzalez did a good job last year, as he will probably do this year also, but I don’t think this roster will be a threat to playoff contention, even if it possesses some quality players like Luke Sikma and Maodo Lo.

15) Valencia Basket

Compared to traditional rosters that we were used to by Valencia, this year the Taronges will try to bring a more athletic roster to the Euroleague. However, plenty of Valencia’s players have no Euroleague experience, something that is also true for its rookie, at this level, coach.

16) ASVEL-Lyon Villeurbanne

Roster-wise, with the exception of adding Nando De Colo to the team, ASVEL seems at the same level as last year. It will be interesting to see how a seasoned veteran like De Colo will lead the team, however I think ASVEL’s capabilities and aspirations are limited.

17) Crvena Zvezda

Crvena Zvezda tried to add scoring capabilities to its squad this summer by bringing Nemanja Nedovic, Filip Petrusev and reigning NBL MVP Jaylen Adams. Some other additions like veteran John Holland and Hassan Martin seem good, however the team’s roster seems to lack quality and bench depth at almost all positions.

18) Zalgiris Kaunas

Despite some promising moves like Keenan Evans and Roland Smits, I think Zalgiris will be at the same level as last year, and a candidate for the last position in the Euroleague.

It will be interesting how much Ignas Brazdeikis will improve in his first Euroleague season and if rookie Euroleague coach Kazys Maksvytis can overachieve, especially after Lithuania’s EuroBasket 2022 failure.

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