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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!!!!
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!!!!
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