Italian Serie A 2013-2014

[CAREY33]

Which teams from last year will not be competing again this year? Which new teams will be participating this year?

[boyd20]

Which teams from last year will not be competing again this year? Which new teams will be participating this year?

Biella got relegated while Pistoia won the LegaDue and will be competing in Serie A this season.

In the next few days, as soon as I have time, I will try to analyze the rosters and hopefully write down my predictions for each team.

[analyzed]

Biella got relegated while Pistoia won the LegaDue and will be competing in Serie A this season.

In the next few days, as soon as I have time, I will try to analyze the rosters and hopefully write down my predictions for each team.

Can I ask why Biella got relegated? Are they no longer in the 1st division? Can you provide a brief description of their roster and how weak or strong they are. The reason for my inquiry is I'm contemplating on having a friendly with them and I need to get an understanding of their competitiveness. Additionally can you tell me a little about their crowd, do fans from Milan or outside Biella watch games in Biella? what is their average crowd size

[boyd20]

Can I ask why Biella got relegated? Are they no longer in the 1st division? Can you provide a brief description of their roster and how weak or strong they are. The reason for my inquiry is I'm contemplating on having a friendly with them and I need to get an understanding of their competitiveness. Additionally can you tell me a little about their crowd, do fans from Milan or outside Biella watch games in Biella? what is their average crowd size

Biella got relegated in the 2nd division (LegaDue) having finished the past season at the bottom of the table.

From this season LegaDue is no more a professional league, this was done in order to decrease the costs and give Italian players more playing opportunities.
For this reason and for the fact that teams are now allowed to sign only 2 foreign players, the league level went a bit down and I'm not sure LegaDue could still be considered the top league among all the European 2nd divisions. However there are quite wealthy and ambitious teams, counting on talented US players like Barcellona, Verona, Napoli, Torino...

As for Biella, they've been able to establish themselves as a quite successful mid-table club for a decade, collecting good results (they even reached the league's semifinals with Thabo Sefolosha as their star) and an appearance in Eurocup too. But they also had to deal with some financial issues over the past two years and the recent relegation did not help them at all in finding new sponsorships or partners to support the club which was even rumored to call it quits early in the summer, but fortunately that didn't happen.

Still, the team is not that wealthy and on paper shouldn't aim at the promotion, although the overall potential is nice. They will mostly rely on talented youngsters like U20 Internationals Marco Laganà and Eric Lombardi and two experienced imports as sharpshooter Alan Voskuil and PF Damian Hollis.

They have nice fans, quite noisy, the arena gets not really packed lately but you won't see it empty as well.
Anyway, don't expect a lot of people from other cities, especially for a friendly game.

[analyzed]

Biella got relegated in the 2nd division (LegaDue) having finished the past season at the bottom of the table.

From this season LegaDue is no more a professional league, this was done in order to They have nice fans, quite noisy, the arena gets not really packed lately but you won't see it empty as well.
Anyway, don't expect a lot of people from other cities, especially for a friendly game.

Thanks Boyd20 for your response, can you tell me which club team in Northern Italy would likely have their roster available for a friendly for the period of August 15- 25, 2014 ? I’m looking for a club team that would be both competitive (division I) and would be a crowd drawer if they played in Biella vs World cup qualified national teams.

[boyd20]

Thanks Boyd20 for your response, can you tell me which club team in Northern Italy would likely have their roster available for a friendly for the period of August 15- 25, 2014 ? I’m looking for a club team that would be both competitive (division I) and would be a crowd drawer if they played in Biella vs World cup qualified national teams.

Well, I can't tell you for sure as the info you look for are about something you plan to do next summer, but I'd try with Venezia, Varese or Cantù.

[analyzed]

Well, I can't tell you for sure as the info you look for are about something you plan to do next summer, but I'd try with Venezia, Varese or Cantù.

Can you tell me when the 1st pre season games were played this year, were any games played before Aug 21 ? I'm trying to figure out if any of the Italian Serie A teams would be available for friendlies vs qualified Word cup national teams prior to the World cup starting on Aug 30, 2014

[boyd20]

Can you tell me when the 1st pre season games were played this year, were any games played before Aug 21 ? I'm trying to figure out if any of the Italian Serie A teams would be available for friendlies vs qualified Word cup national teams prior to the World cup starting on Aug 30, 2014

First friendly games are usually played between the end of August and the start of September here, I don't really think teams are already available for matches in the third week of August since they still need to fill the roster and most of their foreign players have to come.

[boyd20]

Rosters & Depth charts

SIENA
Daniel Hackett - Taylor Rochestie (USA/Montenegro) - David Cournooh
Erick Green (USA) - Jeff Viggiano (USA/Italy)
Kim English (USA) - Josh Carter (USA)
Spencer Nelson (USA/Azerbaijan) - Tomas Ress - Mattia Udom
Othello Hunter (USA/Liberia) - Benjamin Ortner (Austria)

MILANO
Curtis Jerrells (USA) - Marquez Haynes (USA/Georgia) - Mohamed Tourè
Keith Langford (USA) - Alessandro Gentile
David Moss (USA) - Bruno Cerella (Argentina/Italy)
Kristjan Kangur (Estonia) - Nicolò Melli - Angelo Gigli
Samardo Samuels (Jamaica) - CJ Wallace (USA/Congo) - David Chiotti (USA/Italy)

VARESE
Keydren Clark (USA/Bulgaria) - Andrea De Nicolao - Nicola Mei
Aubrey Coleman (USA)
Ebi Ere (USA/Nigeria) - Erik Rush (USA/Sweden) - Jacopo Balanzoni
Dusan Sakota (Serbia/Greece) - Achille Polonara
Frank Hassell (USA) - Marko Scekic (Serbia)

ROMA
Jordan Taylor (USA) - Lorenzo D'Ercole
Phil Goss (USA) - Jimmy Baron (USA)
Quinton Hosley (USA/Georgia) - Riccardo Moraschini - Alex Righetti
Bobby Jones (USA/Dominican Rep.) - Alessandro Tonolli - Michal Ignerski (Poland)
Trevor Mbakwe (USA/Nigeria) - Callistus Eziukwu (USA/Nigeria)

CANTU'
Joe Ragland (USA/Liberia) - Stefano Gentile
Michael Jenkins (USA) - Roberto Rullo
Pietro Aradori - Awudu Abass
Maarty Leunen (USA) - Marcel Jones (USA/New Zealand)
Adrian Uter (Jamaica) - Marco Cusin


SASSARI
Travis Diener (USA/Italy) - Marques Green (USA/Fyrom) - Juan Fernandez (Argentina/Italy)
Drake Diener (USA) - Brian Sacchetti - Esben Reinholt (Denmark)
Omar Thomas (USA) - Giacomo Devecchi
Caleb Green (USA) - Manuel Vanuzzo
Linton Johnson (USA) - Amedeo Tessitori


REGGIO EMILIA
Andrea Cinciarini - Ariel Filloy (Argentina/Italy)
Coby Karl (USA) - Troy Bell (USA)
James White (USA) - Matteo Frassineti
Michele Antonutti - Ojars Silins (Latvia)
Greg Brunner (USA/Switzerland) - Riccardo Cervi - Giovanni Pini


AVELLINO
Jaka Lakovic (Slovenia) - Valerio Spinelli
Taquan Dean (USA) - Daniele Cavaliero
Jarvis Hayes (USA/Qatar) - Jeremy Richardson (USA/Georgia)
Kaloyan Ivanov (Bulgaria) - Nikola Dragovic (Montenegro)
Will Thomas (USA/Georgia) - Paul Biligha


VENEZIA
Luca Vitali - Jacopo Giachetti
Donell Taylor (USA) - Nicola Akele
Nate Linhart (USA) - Guido Rosselli
Andre Smith (USA) - Hrvoje Peric (Croatia)
Tony Easley (USA) - Daniele Magro


BRINDISI
Jerome Dyson (USA) - Massimo Bulleri
Michael Snaer (USA) - Folarin Campbell (USA/Nigeria)
Ron Lewis (USA) - Matteo Formenti
Delroy James (USA/Guyana) - Andrea Zerini
Alade Aminu (USA/Nigeria) - Miroslav Todic (Bosnia)


VIRTUS BOLOGNA
Casper Ware (USA) - Matteo Imbrò
Dwight Hardy (USA/Congo) - Simone Fontecchio
Matt Walsh (USA) - Viktor Gaddefors (Sweden)
Brock Motum (Australia) - Aristide Landi
Shawn King (USA/Saint Vincent) - Jerome Jordan (Jamaica)


CASERTA
Stefhon Hannah (USA) - Marco Mordente - Domenico Marzaioli
Chris Roberts (USA) - Claudio Tommasini
Jeff Brooks (USA) - Michele Vitali
Carleton Scott (USA)
Cameron Moore (USA) - Andrea Michelori


CREMONA
Ben Woodside (USA/Georgia) - Brian Chase (USA) - Gianluca Marchetti
Jarrius Jackson (USA/Italy)
Jason Rich (USA) - Andrea Conti
Ernests Kalve (Latvia) - Klaudio Ndoja (Albania/Italy)
Curtis Kelly (USA) - Sime Spralja (Croatia)


MONTEGRANARO
Josh Mayo (USA) - Dimitri Lauwers (Belgium/Italy)
Daniele Cinciarini - Gennaro Tessitore
Mardy Collins (USA) - Nemanja Mitrovic (Bosnia) - Jason Detrick (USA/Austria)
Zeljko Sakic (Croatia) - Luca Campani
Jamie Skeen (USA) - Valerio Mazzola - Francesco Quaglia


PESARO
Andrea Traini* - Andrea Pecile
Alvin Young (USA) - Bernardo Musso (Argentina/Italy)
Elston Turner (USA) - Alessandro Amici
Marc Trasolini (Canada) - Ashley Hamilton (Great Britain)
O.D. Anosike (USA) - Andrea Bartolucci

* Has had another season-ending injury.
The team will probably sign an American PG and cut Hamilton.

PISTOIA
Brad Wanamaker (USA) - Guido Meini
Kyle Gibson (USA) - Francesco Evotti
Deron Washington (USA) - Riccardo Cortese
JaJuan Johnson (USA) - Giacomo Galanda
Ed Daniel (USA) - Davide Bozzetto

[Jazz]

Thanks for these boyd.

Why have Milano basically made Hairston an outcast? (left off roster and training with the youth players) Seems quite drastic.

Also, any thoughts on Mancinelli dropping down to Lega Due?

I read that Basile is in Lega Due too but how much do you think he has left? Was he just stuck on the wrong team last year?

[boyd20]

Thanks for these boyd.

Why have Milano basically made Hairston an outcast? (left off roster and training with the youth players) Seems quite drastic.

Also, any thoughts on Mancinelli dropping down to Lega Due?

I read that Basile is in Lega Due too but how much do you think he has left? Was he just stuck on the wrong team last year?

They opted to keep Langford and give a major role to Gentile. There were no room for another scorer like Hairston, who additionally had a quite disappointing season and he's often been injury-plagued (back). The problem is Hairston is under contract (1 million Euro) and drew no concrete interest from Euroleague teams, there were smaller clubs interested but couldn't afford his wage. On the other hand, Milano doesn't want to break the contract and let him go elsewhere since too much money would be wasted, so for now he remains there removed from the roster, but who knows, some Euroleague team may decide to make an offer later on the season, or maybe Milano might need him in case of other players' injuries or just to strengthen the roster, should they advance to the Top 16...

Mancio did the right thing in my opinion. Coming off a tragic campaign, it was much like as if the first half of his career was over and he just needed to find the right place and situation to reset. Torino is a perfect fit for him: a large (and beautiful) city, a wealthy club which aims to bring Torino back to Serie A after twenty years and a lucrative multi-year deal (3-yr contract for over 500.000 Euro)...

Basile should have just quit imho. Not that he can't have an impact in LegaDue, since I think he still can shoot the lights out there if healthy, but he turned 38 and battling with injuries which are slowing him down way too much. LegaDue is ok, since the level of that league has dropped this season, but that's it, it's a little sad for me to watch such a great player choosing to close his career this way, in smaller places and competitions.

[analyzed]

I know Marcel Jones from NZ who will be playing for Cantu,, I'm just curious what would be the salary range for a player like Marcel? for a Serie A and a lega due team?

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Which are the supposed favourites this year? Milano, Roma, Cantu?
Sassari surely looks ambitious as well...

[boyd20]

I know Marcel Jones from NZ who will be playing for Cantu,, I'm just curious what would be the salary range for a player like Marcel? for a Serie A and a lega due team?

Don't know about his exact salary, but I can tell you for sure he's among the cheapest players in the league, as he joined Cantù as their final addition and the team really had a very few money left to spend. My guess is he earns around 60 k (more or less) dollars for the season.

Which are the supposed favourites this year? Milano, Roma, Cantu?
Sassari surely looks ambitious as well...

On paper Milano looks once again the main candidates for the title. On paper... (they already lost in the season opener)
Siena's still the better team in my opinion, but there's plenty of candidates this season (Cantù and Roma for instance and others), there were already several upsets this week.

[boyd20]

SERIE A - 1st round

Avellino-Pesaro 77-80 J.Hayes 18 pts + 5 rebs + 2 stls + 1 ast (3/4 2p, 4/7 3p), W.Thomas 15 pts + 7 rebs + 1 blk + 3 stls + 1 ast (5/8 2p, 1/1 3p, 2/2 ft), J.Richardson 12 pts + 1 reb + 1 ast (3/8 2p, 2/3 3p), J.Lakovic 12 pts + 2 stls + 8 asts (2/3 2p, 2/8 3p, 2/2 ft), D.Cavaliero 12 pts + 1 reb + 3 asts (3/4 2p, 2/5 3p) ; M.Trasolini 18 pts + 3 rebs (8/10 2p, 2/2 ft), E.Turner 16 pts + 4 rebs + 2 stls + 1 ast (7/13 2p, 0/2 3p, 2/6 ft), B.Musso 16 pts + 2 rebs + 1 blk + 2 stls + 3 asts (1/2 2p, 4/7 3p, 2/2 ft), A.Young 10 pts + 2 rebs + 4 asts (2/5 2p, 1/2 3p, 3/3 ft)

Caserta-Venezia 84-65 C.Moore 17 pts + 7 rebs (7/9 2p, 0/1 3p, 3/6 ft), C.Roberts 15 pts + 1 reb + 1 stl + 1 ast (3/5 2p, 3/4 3p), C.Scott 13 pts + 5 rebs + 2 blks + 5 stls + 1 ast (1/2 2p, 2/6 3p, 5/5 ft), M.Vitali 11 pts + 3 rebs + 4 stls (4/7 2p, 1/3 3p), J.Brooks 10 pts + 5 rebs + 1 blk + 3 stls + 1 ast (3/3 2p, 4/4 ft) ; H.Peric 12 pts + 4 rebs + 1 stl (6/11 2p), A.Smith 11 pts + 10 rebs + 1 blk + 3 stls + 2 asts (3/7 2p, 0/3 3p, 5/7 ft), J.Giachetti 10 pts + 1 reb + 1 stl + 3 asts (1/4 2p, 2/4 3p, 2/2 ft)

Cantù-Pistoia 87-77 J.Ragland 25 pts + 6 rebs + 1 stl + 7 asts (3/5 2p, 6/8 3p, 1/2 ft), M.Jenkins 19 pts + 1 reb + 1 ast (6/7 2p, 2/5 3p, 1/1 ft), P.Aradori 15 pts + 5 rebs + 3 asts (2/5 2p, 3/7 3p, 2/2 ft) ; B.Wanamaker 20 pts + 2 rebs + 2 stls + 4 asts (6/11 2p, 1/2 3p, 5/7 ft), K.Gibson 19 pts + 2 rebs + 5 asts (3/8 2p, 2/2 3p, 7/7 ft), E.Daniel 14 pts + 3 rebs + 1 ast (7/10 2p), J.Johnson 12 pts + 10 rebs (6/11 2p, 0/1 3p)

Montegranaro-Roma 75-78 J.Mayo 21 pts + 4 rebs + 2 asts (2/7 2p, 5/8 3p, 2/2 ft), Z.Sakic 18 pts + 7 rebs + 1 blk + 2 stls + 2 asts (5/11 2p, 1/3 3p, 5/8 ft), D.Cinciarini 14 pts + 4 rebs + 3 stls + 3 asts (5/9 2p, 0/2 3p, 4/7 ft), J.Skeen 11 pts + 5 rebs + 2 stls + 1 ast (4/6 2p, 1/3 3p) ; Q.Hosley 19 pts + 7 rebs + 1 blk + 2 stls + 6 asts (5/5 2p, 2/7 3p, 3/4 ft), P.Goss 17 pts + 3 rebs + 2 asts (5/8 2p, 1/2 3p, 4/4 ft), T.Mbakwe 11 pts + 5 rebs + 1 blk (3/6 2p, 5/6 ft)

Siena-Cremona 97-82 K.English 22 pts + 3 rebs + 3 asts = 22 rkg in 25 mins (5/7 2p, 4/8 3p, 0/1 ft), J.Carter 18 pts + 4 rebs + 3 asts (2/2 2p, 4/6 3p, 2/2 ft), S.Nelson 12 pts + 15 rebs + 5 asts = 28 rkg in 27 mins (2/7 2p, 2/5 3p, 2/2 ft), E.Green 12 pts + 1 reb + 2 asts (2/2 2p, 2/2 3p, 2/2 ft), O.Hunter 12 pts + 3 rebs + 1 blk + 1 stl + 1 ast (6/10 2p) ; J.Rich 25 pts + 6 rebs + 4 asts (6/14 2p, 3/6 3p, 4/4 ft), S.Spralja 17 pts + 8 rebs in 21 mins (4/7 2p, 3/5 3p), B.Woodside 14 pts + 3 rebs + 3 asts (3/4 2p, 8/8 ft)

Brindisi-Milano 88-80 J.Dyson 18 pts + 1 reb + 2 stls + 2 asts (6/9 2p, 0/2 3p, 6/7 ft), D.James 17 pts + 5 rebs + 2 stls (7/11 2p, 0/3 3p, 3/5 ft), M.Todic 14 pts + 7 rebs + 3 stls + 1 ast in 18 mins (5/9 2p, 1/3 3p, 1/1 ft), R.Lewis 13 pts + 8 rebs (3/5 2p, 1/3 3p, 4/4 ft) ; K.Langford 29 pts + 7 rebs + 1 ast (7/10 2p, 3/6 3p, 6/6 ft), D.Moss 19 pts + 7 rebs + 2 stls + 1 ast (3/3 2p, 3/7 3p, 4/4 ft), S.Samuels 11 pts + 5 rebs + 1 stl (3/8 2p, 5/8 ft)

Varese-Reggio Emilia 83-64 E.Ere 25 pts + 4 rebs + 1 blk + 3 stls + 1 ast (3/6 2p, 6/7 3p, 1/2 ft), A.Polonara 13 pts + 8 rebs + 4 asts (1/2 2p, 3/5 3p, 2/2 ft), F.Hassell 11 pts + 7 rebs (4/7 2pl 3/3 ft), A.Coleman 11 pts + 6 rebs + 2 stls + 2 asts (3/9 2p, 0/4 3p, 5/6 ft) ; A.Cinciarini 10 pts + 6 rebs + 1 blk + 3 stls + 3 asts (5/14 2p), T.Bell 10 pts + 2 rebs + 1 ast (2/5 2p, 2/4 3p), J.White 10 pts + 12 rebs + 1 stl + 3 asts (5/10 2p, 0/1 3p, 0/2 ft)

Virtus Bologna-Sassari 98-88 D.Hardy 24 pts + 2 rebs + 2 asts (7/8 2p, 3/3 3p, 1/2 ft), M.Walsh 19 pts + 4 rebs + 2 stls + 4 asts (5/8 2p, 2/7 3p, 3/6 ft), V.Gaddefors 14 pts + 4 rebs + 1 blk + 3 stls + 2 asts (5/6 2p, 0/2 3p, 4/4 ft), B.Motum 13 pts + 2 rebs + 1 stl + 1 ast (2/3 2p, 3/4 3p), S.King 12 pts + 3 rebs + 1 blk (6/6 2p) ; D.Diener 20 pts + 4 rebs + 1 stl (6/7 2p, 2/4 3p, 2/2 ft), B.Sacchetti 16 pts + 3 rebs + 1 stl + 1 ast (1/2 2p, 4/6 3p, 2/2 ft), O.Thomas 16 pts + 7 rebs + 1 stl (6/12 2p, 1/3 3p, 1/2 ft), T.Diener 15 pts + 1 reb (7/10 2p, 0/3 3p, 1/2 ft)

An interesting opening round, no doubt, with several upsets.
The biggest one, of course, is Milano losing at Brindisi, mainly because once again Milano is the main candidate for the title, but right now they are far from fulfilling their potential due to players' injuries (Kangur, Gigli, Chiotti) and poor team chemistry as many key players joined the others very late. Besides, Brindisi looks good and may be a nice sleeper, I'd keep an eye on them as a possible surprise.

Sassari, which is predicted as one of the favourites as well, fell on the road vs Virtus Bologna, showing some problems to deal with (I don't think Marques Green and Travis Diener will work in the same team, also, they'd need one more big man inside), I think they'd need to make some adjustments in order to aim at the title. Virtus finally looks intriguing, perhaps not that deep, but they got a nice mixture of youth and scoring threats (Hardy, Walsh), their frontcourt duo (King-Jordan) may be worth of a look too.

Venezia and Avellino were huge disappointments as they both are considered among the top teams in the league. Still, they lost to small teams that will likely hit the lower parts of the standings this season as Caserta and Pesaro.
Venezia is not well balanced imo, Smith and Taylor might want to to have the ball too much and I think they didn't make the right choices in the center and point guard spots; Avellino lacks athleticism inside and I expect them to make some changes, especially if Kaloyan Ivanov would need to stay out more, still there's no excuse to justify a home loss to Pesaro, which is the team with the lowest budget in the league and came there lacking both of their point guards (Traini and Pecile).

I wouln't underestimate Roma's tight win on the road, as Montegranaro could be a tough team to beat on its own court, but I also have to say that they need to recover Mardy Collins - their key player by far - asap, or they will have a very difficult start.

Joe Ragland (Cantù) is this round's mvp.

Ragland-Hardy-English-Nelson-Moore is this week's ideal team to me.