Olimpia Milan is building a strong roster to reach the Final 4 next season
It won’t be like every season for Olimpia Armani Milan. The next one is finally looking like a great one for the Italian team. The willingness to achieve something already started last summer when they brought in the reputed coach Ettore Messina. He was coming with a clear purpose: to build something in the years to come and to take Milan back into the European basketball elite. The so awaited Euroleague’s playoff at least! And maybe more!
The current season was not so good as expected for Olimpia Milan. They were eliminated from the Italian Cup, in the domestic league they played poor games, while in the Euroleague they were occupying the 12th place before the Coronavirus outbreak. The reality is that this ended season was only a “try-out” for Olimpia Milan. The squad had some quality and experienced players like Sergio Rodriguez and Luis Scola but the roster was not so tough to make the Italian club a title contender in Euroleague. 3-4 big names plus 10 average players won’t bring you titles in the strongest competition of Europe. Then a couple of injuries and the poor game of Shelvin Mack which came as a substitute for Mike James affected the team as well.
The next season will be very different. The Italian team in the second year of Messina is preparing something big. The names on the list already signed or just in talks with Olimpia Milan are important. We speak about Kyle Hines, Luigi Datome, Derrick Williams, Malcolm Delaney, Shavon Shields and the list will be completed with other great players, without a doubt. You cannot compare these huge names with the last years’ rosters so all the signs are indicating that Olimpia Milan is ready to make a big step out of mediocrity and reach some trophies in the near future. I see them already as a participant in the Final 4 of the Euroleague next season, especially now when many other clubs will suffer from the economic crisis. Olimpia Milano’s budget won’t be affected because the billionaire Armani is their sponsor and will continue to invest a lot.
Image: Euroleague
Gratian Cormos
