Too many mediocre players in Olimpia Milano´s roster
The dream of reaching the Final 4 of the Euroleague is over for Olimpia Armani Milano. They invested a lot of money and energy, bring in some great players, having a good coach in Ettore Messina but a lot of bad luck. Important players were missing in the playoff series against Anadolu Efes and this was the real explanation of the loss. Without Luigi Datome, Dinos Mitoglou and Trey Kell in the first game, them also without Niccolo Melli in the second game and so on.
Datome was back and he was great in the 4th game of the series but even so, he was not completely recovered. His presence was not enough to compensate the absence of Melli, Delaney, Mitoglou and Kell. I am sure that with a complete roster Armani Milano would have won against Efes. The reigning champions are not invincible. They had many moments of lack of inspiration in defense and offense, but the problem was that some Milano´s players are not fit for the Euroleague.
Kaleb Tarczewski, for example, is a big guy with a great body, that is not able to play strong, to stay in the court without making mistakes and too many fouls. He simply cannot process quickly what is happening on the court in order to take advantage of it.
Shavon Shields is far from being the true scorer that Milano is needing. He finished with a low percentage and he made 5 turnovers, some of them in crucial moments. Milano has played him as a superhero, giving him too many minutes, but he is not a kind of Jordan. He could be brilliant in Fiba Europe Cup, Champions League, Eurocup but not facing Larkin and Micic.
The Italian team has to make some changes and bring in true players in order to reach European glory.
Image credit: Facebook
Gratian Cormos is a Romanian life coach, journalist, book writer and mentor currently living in Barcelona, Spain. You can buy his book “How to bet on basketball” ordering by e-mail at: gratian_cormos@yahoo.com
If you are interested to collaborate with his website brainbasketball.net, in order to publish articles, interviews or other features related to basketball, contact now Gratian Cormos by Whatsapp or Telegram at this Spanish number: +34 612414486.
