EL Power Ranking before the season 2024/25

[Edgar3]

This was a great read that provided more than a few chuckles.

My highlights:
"I wouldn't trust Walkup at all. Vildoza is the weirdest transfer of the whole summer."

"they kept Satoransky.."

"Brazdeikis like every Lithuanian player should play like he is on the steroids when he returns to Zalgiris."

"Zvezda. Same as Oly, too crowded with not star players. I can't wait to see how Sfairopoulos will manage to play Yago, Teodosic and Codi at PG with Nedovic and Canaan at SG. I mean Good Lord.."

Your whole Virtus review was hilarious really but especially this - "Clyburn-Shengelia duo at wings with Hackett who can't create empty bed for himself looks like a disaster in the making."

"Asvel. TRASH!!!! I mean they signed Tarik Black in 2024!!!!"

And best of all "Messina's fetish for PF continues" plus "And then for some reason he decided why wouldn't he bring 70 year old Causeur to boost that incredible guard rotation."

Edgaras, you provide super analysis and have a great way with words!

Hahaha thank you very much.

 

[janketa2]

I am staying with my Top10 rankings, Oly was my no1 pick anyway

Just, I would swap Real and Pao after Yabusele left

I must change again positions and swap Partizan and Pao(after Cedi move)

1. Olympiacos
2. Panathinaikos
3. Partizan
4. Real
5. Fenerbahce
6. Efes
7. Barca
8. Zvezda
9. Monaco
10.Milano​

 

[Edgar3]

I must change again positions and swap Partizan and Pao(after Cedi move)

1. Olympiacos
2. Panathinaikos
3. Partizan
4. Real
5. Fenerbahce
6. Efes
7. Barca
8. Zvezda
9. Monaco
10.Milano​

If Partizan ends at 3rd place I will become Fener's fan. I do think they might be surprise of the season if Washington and Jones will be good duo but even if that happens a lot of other things has to happen for them to be top 6. This season has the most teams with great rosters ever.

 

[EverGreen2]

1. PAO :Stacked and already have chemistry. Lorenzo for Vildoza is a massive upgrade. We were weak at SF we sign Osman, we were weak at C, we sign Yurseven,
2. Oly. Stacked but need to find chemistry. Too much happening at 1-2 and this will be an issue for Barjokas,
3. RM. Lost some old players but still top-top team
4. Monaco. Furkan is a great signing. Calathes is a good 6th man.
5. Fener. Good balance but weak at C.
6. Barca. Decent al round team will always be a threat. Alot depends if Punter will be good.
7.Partizan. Good signings but will be a challenge to make them all gel.
8. Baskonia. Kept key players and have better coach. Usually find good players most weren't expecting to be special.
9. Efes. If Shane can have a good season, they will make the play ins.
10. Zalgiris because of Trinkieri who manages to get more out of his players and plays nice bball+ a strong faithful home court.

The rest are more of less the same level. Asvel and Paris are complete dogshit for this level. RS is weird and one of the worst made rosters. Only Lazic and CMM and guard effectively. average forwards and almost non existent C's. It's a shame CMM will be wasted in such a team. Armani are very weak at guard positions. Virtus meh....German teams with no ambition and Maccabi severely weakened before of war situation.

 

[Serbian_Layup2]

If Partizan ends at 3rd place I will become Fener's fan. I do think they might be surprise of the season if Washington and Jones will be good duo but even if that happens a lot of other things has to happen for them to be top 6. This season has the most teams with great rosters ever.

No, it doesn't. Few teams that were already good last year got stronger, the rest is pretty much a cripple fight.

Late 80's, 90's, early 00's are by far the best eras of Euro ball when it comes to club competition. Take the best Euroleague player from this season and compare him to top 10-15 players from those periods. He ain't better than any single one of them.

​​​​​​​Just because Pao and Oly and their patrons are engaging in some stupid personal wars, or better say dick measuring contest, it doesn't mean this season is historic in terms of talent by any means.

 

[Edgar3]

No, it doesn't. Few teams that were already good last year got stronger, the rest is pretty much a cripple fight.

Late 80's, 90's, early 00's are by far the best eras of Euro ball when it comes to club competition. Take the best Euroleague player from this season and compare him to top 10-15 players from those periods. He ain't better than any single one of them.

​​​​​​​Just because Pao and Oly and their patrons are engaging in some stupid personal wars, or better say dick measuring contest, it doesn't mean this season is historic in terms of talent by any means.

Didn't watch basketball in the 80s or 90s. So no point to discuss about that. Since I started to watch basketball (2003, 04) this is the season with the most teams with the chances for the PO. Even Bayern for me has chances for the play-in at least. Paris, Alba and Asvel no. Everyone else yes.

And I assume you were also saying the same about budgets when Partizan had by far the biggest budget in the history of the EC and then lost against Bursa Tuttifrutti in the full Belgrade Arena? Partizan had bigger budget than Khimki had with Rice and the co. Then it was okay... Since the start of the modern Euroleague, Panathinaikos is the biggest club. And still we had period since 2012 until the last season when we didn't have top 5 budget at all. 11 years! Even when Pascual was the coach we were not even close to Real, Barca, Fener, CSKA, Efes, Armani...not to mention when Pedoulakis, Pitino, Priftis were coaches...and now when we do it's a problem. But it's not a problem when Partizan has money to bring Leday and Punter in the EC straight from the EL F4? When you change completely new team while Nunnally says you are not paying on the time...not to mention cases of Parkhouski, Trinchieri, Milutinov, Muric...they have all sued Partizan. You shouldn't even be allowed to play Europe with the history like that and with the goverment giving you the money...And Oly always had modest, not big budget year by year since 2011/12 until this year.

 

[Serbian_Layup2]

Didn't watch basketball in the 80s or 90s. So no point to discuss about that. Since I started to watch basketball (2003, 04) this is the season with the most teams with the chances for the PO. Even Bayern for me has chances for the play-in at least. Paris, Alba and Asvel no. Everyone else yes.

And I assume you were also saying the same about budgets when Partizan had by far the biggest budget in the history of the EC and then lost against Bursa Tuttifrutti in the full Belgrade Arena? Partizan had bigger budget than Khimki had with Rice and the co. Then it was okay... Since the start of the modern Euroleague, Panathinaikos is the biggest club. And still we had period since 2012 until the last season when we didn't have top 5 budget at all. 11 years! Even when Pascual was the coach we were not even close to Real, Barca, Fener, CSKA, Efes, Armani...not to mention when Pedoulakis, Pitino, Priftis were coaches...and now when we do it's a problem. But it's not a problem when Partizan has money to bring Leday and Punter in the EC straight from the EL F4? When you change completely new team while Nunnally says you are not paying on the time...not to mention cases of Parkhouski, Trinchieri, Milutinov, Muric...they have all sued Partizan. You shouldn't even be allowed to play Europe with the history like that and with the goverment giving you the money...And Oly always had modest, not big budget year by year since 2011/12 until this year.

Can you stay with the point of discussion? You wrote that this is the best Euroleague season ever in terms of talent depth, then I replied very clearly that it's just not true. And I can write as many arguments as you want to back it up. It's not my fault if you think basketball started 20 years ago. Then, you bring Partizan...Bursa...budgets...modern Pao...and bunch of completely irrelevant stuff in this discussion. If you can throw some counter arguments I will be glad to hear them out, if you can't – don't spin.

I said that not much changed in Euroleague since last season aside from the fact that Pao and Oly's owners are measuring their dicks with new shiny toys. What is not true there? Euroleague didn't get better because of that. I don't care how much money they throw for new players, but I certainly know that in the context of Euro club basketball it doesn't change anything, because everything else remains the same. The rich got richer and it doesn't say anything about all other clubs except making the gap talent even bigger. That doesn't mean this is the best season ever, it's exactly the opposite. Can you understand that?

Real, Barca, Pao, Oly, Fener and maybe Monaco and that's it. All other teams are not close to their level (surprises are certainly possible and I hope so). Off course they all have chances to fight for the 7-10th place.

Partizan shouldn't be allowed to play in Europe with the „history“ like that, that's a good one. This club made the history of European basketball when some other „modern“ clubs were nowhere to be found on basketball map. But you don't know that since you started to watch basketball 20 years ago. Without Partizan's history there wouldn't be most of Pao's history. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.​

By the way, you can find Partizan's financial report and see how much money came from Government. Then come back and preach some more.

If a team is competitive, why do you care where the money is coming from? If you go that way, then what do you say about Monaco and their owner and his money? So, it's OK to be funded by criminal owner but it's not OK to be funded by Government. LOL

 

[EverGreen2]

Without Partizan's history there wouldn't be most of Pao's history. .[/SIZE]

Truer words have never been spoken.

 

[Edgar3]

Can you stay with the point of discussion? You wrote that this is the best Euroleague season ever in terms of talent depth, then I replied very clearly that it's just not true. And I can write as many arguments as you want to back it up. It's not my fault if you think basketball started 20 years ago. Then, you bring Partizan...Bursa...budgets...modern Pao...and bunch of completely irrelevant stuff in this discussion. If you can throw some counter arguments I will be glad to hear them out, if you can't – don't spin.

I said that not much changed in Euroleague since last season aside from the fact that Pao and Oly's owners are measuring their dicks with new shiny toys. What is not true there? Euroleague didn't get better because of that. I don't care how much money they throw for new players, but I certainly know that in the context of Euro club basketball it doesn't change anything, because everything else remains the same. The rich got richer and it doesn't say anything about all other clubs except making the gap talent even bigger. That doesn't mean this is the best season ever, it's exactly the opposite. Can you understand that?

Real, Barca, Pao, Oly, Fener and maybe Monaco and that's it. All other teams are not close to their level (surprises are certainly possible and I hope so). Off course they all have chances to fight for the 7-10th place.

Partizan shouldn't be allowed to play in Europe with the „history“ like that, that's a good one. This club made the history of European basketball when some other „modern“ clubs were nowhere to be found on basketball map. But you don't know that since you started to watch basketball 20 years ago. Without Partizan's history there wouldn't be most of Pao's history. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.​

By the way, you can find Partizan's financial report and see how much money came from Government. Then come back and preach some more.

If a team is competitive, why do you care where the money is coming from? If you go that way, then what do you say about Monaco and their owner and his money? So, it's OK to be funded by criminal owner but it's not OK to be funded by Government. LOL

Well now you can't stay on the point of discussion. Okay, find me the season where you had let say 3 teams that are favourites for top4 and about 5 to 7 teams that are playoff, not play-in but playoff material with at least 3 to 4 teams that are material for the play-in. I am waiting.

And I don't understand why did you mention Partizan and Pao in the same sentence. I have never ever said Partizan is the small club or something like that. But you seem salty because other teams have money to invest and Partizan doesn't. But when they did have money to bring Punter and Leday from the EL F4 into EC then it was okay. Oh my bad, that's not point of discussion! And all these BAT cases against Partizan are reality. Don't talk about someone's finance when you are allowed to play in the EL and couple of years before you had lawsuit by lawsuit on your neck while Nunnally says Partizan doesn't pay on the time.

 

[Serbian_Layup2]

Well now you can't stay on the point of discussion. Okay, find me the season where you had let say 3 teams that are favourites for top4 and about 5 to 7 teams that are playoff, not play-in but playoff material with at least 3 to 4 teams that are material for the play-in. I am waiting.

And I don't understand why did you mention Partizan and Pao in the same sentence. I have never ever said Partizan is the small club or something like that. But you seem salty because other teams have money to invest and Partizan doesn't. But when they did have money to bring Punter and Leday from the EL F4 into EC then it was okay. Oh my bad, that's not point of discussion! And all these BAT cases against Partizan are reality. Don't talk about someone's finance when you are allowed to play in the EL and couple of years before you had lawsuit by lawsuit on your neck while Nunnally says Partizan doesn't pay on the time.

Every freaking season you have favourites for top 4. And bunch of teams that compete for playoff spots. The point of discussion is that this is the best Euroleague season ever, so I'm waiting for you to prove it, instead of spinning around it.

I mentionned Partizan and Pao first? LOL. Do some reading comrehension or at least understand what you want to write about.

The only reason I'm salty is because both Partiazn and Zvezda don't develop enough young domestic talents. That's it. I'm jelaous at Pao because of Giannakopoulos' money...LOL. Money was never Partizan's thing, and that's exactly what made them unique - one of the most influential traditional clubs in Euro basketball without spending big money throughout its history. They are who they are on their own respurces - players, coaches, basketball schooI. Tough to understand for Giannakopoulos' disciple. LOL

Not that I'm too much invested in budgets, but this is the most Partizan has been stable in years and years. Nunnally is ridiculous story, he is salty for being left out of the team, there is nothing there.

What are the actual BAT cases against Partizan right now?

 

[Straight forward2]

Will be super interesting to see how such pieces as Korkmaz, Osman will look in EL. We seen with Herna bros that they were either slightly or highly disappointed. In EL there's less space for creation, spot up shooting and so in. It's harder to shoot in EL, even though some Athletic players get the better of it, three point range in closer.

 

[Toruko2]

Will be super interesting to see how such pieces as Korkmaz, Osman will look in EL. We seen with Herna bros that they were either slightly or highly disappointed. In EL there's less space for creation, spot up shooting and so in. It's harder to shoot in EL, even though some Athletic players get the better of it, three point range in closer.

Korkmaz is a natural scorer but hell need time. Nevertheless, a 13-15 points range is possible. His defense does not look promising though at the moment at least. Osman on the other hand is an all rounder but hell be a difference maker on the defensive end as well as attacking close outs or in fast break situations. He was never a great shooter but Sloukas and Brown should be able to create him open shots.

 

[Straight forward2]

Korkmaz is a natural scorer but hell need time. Nevertheless, a 13-15 points range is possible. His defense does not look promising though at the moment at least. Osman on the other hand is an all rounder but hell be a difference maker on the defensive end as well as attacking close outs or in fast break situations. He was never a great shooter but Sloukas and Brown should be able to create him open shots.

Monaco will play pretty open basketball and James should create some for Korkmaz surely. So the team fits kinda well. But it will be interesting how much he can create for himself and stuff. If it's 13ppg with so so efficiency than it's meh. It will only show that the gap between NBA and EL getting smaller and smaller.

Osman will play in stacked PAO so no-one will ask hero ball from him, just bring a little bit of everything and be glue guy.

 

[saras2]

Will be super interesting to see how such pieces as Korkmaz, Osman will look in EL. We seen with Herna bros that they were either slightly or highly disappointed. In EL there's less space for creation, spot up shooting and so in. It's harder to shoot in EL, even though some Athletic players get the better of it, three point range in closer.

the difference is we have seen korkmaz and especially osman already in the euroleague. on the hand willy had a few games without a role before leaving for the nba and juancho had none, he spent his entire career in the nba.

korkmaz role will be much more crucial for monaco than osman. he adds size to an oversized team and also will help with offensive and defensive transition where PANATHINAIKOS was awful last season and defending against big SF like colson or hezonja.

i would not like to be part of a team trying to attack against this lineup. great defenders (apart from lessort who is ok if he tries to defend, he usually doesnt care though) and offensively unlimited upside
grant
nunn
osman
juancho
lessort

 

[Toruko2]

Monaco will play pretty open basketball and James should create some for Korkmaz surely. So the team fits kinda well. But it will be interesting how much he can create for himself and stuff. If it's 13ppg with so so efficiency than it's meh. It will only show that the gap between NBA and EL getting smaller and smaller.

Osman will play in stacked PAO so no-one will ask hero ball from him, just bring a little bit of everything and be glue guy.

There will be no problem but as I wrote, hell need time.

 

[coinho2]

Not that I'm too much invested in budgets, but this is the most Partizan has been stable in years and years. Nunnally is ridiculous story, he is salty for being left out of the team, there is nothing there.

What are the actual BAT cases against Partizan right now?

I am not defending that idiot Nunnaly but Ostoja Partizan president published that they did disciplinary measures against Nunnaly because of Lazarevic and his case. So why would they do that, wasn't that "self defense"?? I mean at ABA finas time Partizan published statment about "self defence" case. Something's wrong

 

[janketa2]

Everybody had doubt about Partizan chemistry regarding it's new roster, but seems to me they are already better oiled then some so called favorites. I won't change again my prediction but Obradovic has big power in his hands at last.

 

[Nemanja952]

1 Olympiacos
2 Panathinaikos
3 Real Madrid
4 Fenerbahce
5 Monaco
6 Barcelona
7 Partizan
8 Efes
9 Baskonia
10 Zalgiris
11 Milano
12 Bayern
13 Crvena Zvezda
14 Virtus
15 Maccabi
16 Paris
17 Asvel
18 Alba

 

[Edgar3]

I had time and was a little bit bored and since most of the teams have almost completed teams why shouldn't we compare rosters before the pre-season starts...

EDIT - 18/9/24


1. Panathinaikos. The crucial part was to keep everyone. Lorenzo should be incredible signing. Vildoza/Balcerowski out. Lorenzo/Yurtseven/Osman in. So PAO upgraded team a lot on 2 positions and kept whole team from the last year. Full OAKA every game, chemistry is there...and Osman as a starting SF is crazy good.

2. Olympiacos. I had doubts about Olympiacos or Real for the 2nd position. Maybe I am an idiot but I think they are just too crowded. So many players, I don't know how that will look. Also their guards are not good for me. Keenan is out for the huge part of the season. I wouldn't trust Walkup at all. Vildoza is the weirdest transfer of the whole summer. Because of all of that I think Vezenkov will struggle a little bit and I have hard time to believe he can repeat his MVP numbers. Fournier will be very good but I see him as 11-12ppg max with all these other players. I don't know. I find him as a weird fit for Bartzokas and with him playing Papanikolau and especially McKissic will see their minutes being reduced a lot and defense will suffer.

3. Real. I think they will suffer a lot without Rodriguez and Poirier. I don't trust in Feliz. Llull is year older. Campazzo can't carry them alone. Rathan Mayes is huge question. It depends how much Mateo will trust him. Still, they are great roster and top 4 should be locked for Real. Losing Yabusele hurts a lot. Bertans would be horrific choice. Osman much better.

4. Fenerbahce. Except C position they look great on the paper. Fener has great scoring options, shooters, guys that will do dirty job, length...they have great fans, Saras will have enough time before the season to sync all the new players and I expect them to be top 4 at least next season. Reason why I put them at 4th is because of centers. That's borderline EC material.

5. Monaco. Monaco looks good on the paper but I still think because of non fans factor they will be out of top 4. Vito Brown is for me great transfer but we will see him in the EL. Calathes with James is something I don't like. I remember them playing together in the PAO and it didn't look good. Especially now when Calathes is really old and without ball in his hands is useless in the offense. If Korkmaz plays good then they can be top 4 teams. Also they signed Papagiannis so they don't deserve top 4 position!!!

6. Efes. They did the best job in the summer. I like every move. Poirier is great player for the p&r with Larkin. Smith perfect addition for PF. Stanley Johnson will bring length at SF and Nwora might be the same case like Nunn. Great scorer for the Europe. They have depth, scoring...everything. Darius is big question though. I think they will need a little bit time to click and that's why I put them at 6th position.

7. Barca. Egh, good team but again weird moves. They finally got rid of Jokubaitis and then they decided to bring Nunez...they kept Satoransky...I don't even want to comment Justin Anderson signing...I see them fighting to avoid play-in.

8. Partizan. It looked bad at the beggining but now it looks good. They have nice depth. With the fans they have they should fight for the playoffs. Ofc, a lot of new players can mean one huge disaster but I think Obradovic will solve everything. The same case as Efes, I think they will need time to put all the pieces on the court but I expect them after the New Year to be very good.

9. Zalgiris. If I need to put money on one dark horse for the playoffs it would be Zalgiris. I expect Francisco to win MIP award. Wallace should be also very good. Not big fan of Mitchell but we will see. Smailagic will be definitely better than he was in Partizan. Dunston will bring them muscles for 10 minutes per game and also Brazdeikis like every Lithuanian player should play like he is on the steroids when he returns to Zalgiris. And I believe in Trinchieri!

10. Baskonia. With Laso I think they will have incredible offense. Howard and Moneke stayed. Hall is perfect for their game at C. Luwawu nice option at wing. Even Trent Forrest and Kamar Baldwin is pretty good to put with Howard at guard positions. I have no idea why they signed Jaramaz but I believe in Laso.

11. Milano. Messina's fetish for PF continues. Why did he sign McCormack is beyond me. Again he has a lot of big guys. And then for some reason he decided why wouldn't he bring 70 year old Causeur to boost that incredible guard rotation. Armoni Brooks...we will see. Dimitrijevic poor choice 100%. Bolmaro will be the same story as Maodo Lo. Flaccadori and Tonut no comment. Just lovely to see...

12. Maccabi. If they play in Israel I would have them in top 10. This way no. But they don't look bad. Who knows how Loyd and Macon will play. Kattash should give them freedom and if they start to knocking shots it will be great. Jokubaitis should also be much better than in Barca... I really like Hoard - Gabriel duo. If Levi Randolph plays good they might be playoff team.

13. Zvezda. Same as Oly, too crowded with not star players. I can't wait to see how Sfairopoulos will manage to play Yago, Teodosic and Codi at PG with Nedovic and Canaan at SG. I mean Good Lord...also Kalinic, Giedraitis, Dobric at SF. Petrusev would be the best option for them at PF because Daum is trash anyway but they still have Davidovac. And they are very thin at C.

14. Virtus. I don't trust this team at all. They are a little bit younger than last season but they are still old. Clyburn-Shengelia duo at wings with Hackett who can't create empty bed for himself looks like a disaster in the making. Rayyon Tucker is also ISO player, Pajola can't even be backup option if you want to be in the playoffs and then Zizic-Cacok duo at C is just cherry at the top lol

15. Bayern. Only because of coach they will be better than French teams and Alba. Also you know Napier and Edwards will destroy one great team when they are not suppose to

16. Paris. Hifi and Shorts only nice players to keep an eye on.

17. Alba. Trevion Williams will have great season. I also want to see how McDowell White will be in the EL since I watched him a lot in the NBL.

18. Asvel. TRASH!!!! I mean they signed Tarik Black in 2024!!!!

Ok, so I got wrong with Bayern and Paris and maybe Asvel. And it seems I expected way too much from Baskonia. Everyone else was there in a few positions difference max.

 

[markkanen2]

Ok, so I got wrong with Bayern and Paris and maybe Asvel. And it seems I expected way too much from Baskonia. Everyone else was there in a few positions difference max.

You also put Partizan and Zalgiris way too high. Red Star have much better players than those two teams.