EuroLeague powerhouses of the upcoming season
The new EuroLeague season starts this week and as always several teams have very high hopes and built rosters that they can compete with for the trophy.
There is no clear favourite to win the trophy, but the two Greek teams are the most powerful now. I would choose Panathinaikos as the number one favourite as after all they are the defending champions and they even strengthened their roster this summer. PAO managed to keep almost all the pieces from the championship team and Lorenzo Brown, Cedi Osman and Omer Yurtseven are three big additions to Ergin Ataman’s team.
Olympiacos fans were certainly not pleased to see their crosstown rivals lift the EuroLeague trophy in May and the management of the team made sure that they will not stay behind Panathinaikos this season. 2023 EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov was convinced to return to Piraeus after just one year spent in the NBA. Evan Fournier is another big name that the Reds signed from overseas. The French guard spent 12 years in the NBA and he will make his EuroLeague debut this season at the age of 31. Keenan Evans, Luca Vildoza and Tyler Dorsey already have EuroLeague experience: while Dorsey already played for Olympiacos before, Vildoza arrives from rivals Panathinaikos and will try to win back-to-back titles with both Greek clubs.
Real Madrid lost some very important players this summer like Guerschon Yabusele, Vincent Poirier or veterans Sergio Rodriguez and Rudy Fernandez. They did sign Serge Ibaka, Usman Garuba, Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Andres Feliz, however, they do not seem stronger than last season. Still, we are talking about Real Madrid, a club that has a championship DNA and they still have experienced players like Tavares, Llull, Hezonja, Campazzo or Musa, so when the Final Four comes they can step up in important moments.
Fenerbahce is another team that aims high. Coach Jasikevicius already had a good roster at his disposal last season when they reached the Final Four and now they added some interesting pieces like Wade Baldwin, Devon Hall, Bonzie Colson, Nicolo Melli and the giant Boban Marjanovic, who returns to the EuroLeague after nine years spent in the NBA.
Monaco (with a backcourt of Mike James, Nick Calathes, Elie Okobo, and Matthew Strazel) or Barcelona (with the addition of superstar scorer Kevin Punter) are also great candidates for the Final Four and there are at least another five good teams too that have the potential to go far if they peak at the right moment.
Imre Halasz
Image credit: Olympiacos BC