Adriatic basketball league 2018/2019

[BiHBasket]

Budućnost

They won the title in the last season so they will play in the Euroleague in this season. And their team seems even better than in the last year.

Key players from the last season, guards Nemanja Gordic(MVP of the finals) and Nikola Ivanovic(he recently had 30 points, 6 assists game for the Montenegro national team in the win vs Ukraine) are still in the club. Half of the Montenegro national team is made of Budućnost players.

Justin Doellman, Kyle Gibson and Kyle Landry left the club, but they weren't that important anyway. New signings should make this team decent even for the Euroleague level:

Coty Taylor Clarke (Avtodor Saratov)
Edwin Jackson (Barcelona)
Earl Clark (Besiktas)
Aaron Craft (AS Monaco)


Crvena Zvezda

After disappointing defeat in the last season finals, they have a pretty much new team for this year.

Key players left the club: Taylor Rochestie, Mathias Lessort, James Feldeine etc., but there are some exciting names among their new signings:

- Maik Zirbes(return)
- Stratos Perperoglou
- Mouhammad Faye
- Joe Ragland
- Billy Baron
- Dusan Ristic


Cedevita

They really changed a lot. They have a new coach Sito Alonso, instead of Jure Zdovc.

Musa is now in the NBA, and also guys like Roko Leni Ukic, Marko Arapovic, Demetris Nichols, Will Cherry are not with the club anymore.

New players: Elgin Cook(MHP Riesen), Vitor Benite(Murcia), Josh Magette(Atlanta Hawks), Justin Cobbs(Le Mans), Augusto Lima(Murcia), James Bell(Darussafaka), Pablo Aguilar(Gran Canaria), Domagoj Bosnjak(Cibona), Andrija Coric(Cibona).


Partizan

They actually have interesting roster for this year.

Williams-Goss moved to Olympiacos, but they signed: Aleksej Nikolic(won the gold with the Slovenian national team), Marcus Paige(some NBA experience), Rade Zagorac(35th pick in 2016), Australian Jock Landale, Bosnian Amar Gegic. Young guards Vanja Marinkovic and Aleksandar Aranitovic are still with the club, as well as veteran power forward Novica Velickovic.


Olimpija

Devin Oliver and Jordan Morgan left the club and both signed for Banvit. Gregor Hrovat signed for Medi Bayreuth.

They signed well known Croatian prospect Luka Samanic and well known Montenegrin prospect Marko Simonovic. Blaz Mesicek returned to the club, and they have some more Slovenian national team players. Bosnian Aleksandar Lazic also returned to the club. Ukranian prospect Issuf Sanon should have more important role in this year.

A lot of talent in this team.


Mega

Ognjen Jaramaz is the most significant loss(signed for Burgos).

New signings: Branislav Ratkovica, Dejan Janic, French prospect Adam Mokoka and German prospect Filip Stanic.

Quality young players like Kostja Mushidi, Goga Bitadze, Nikola Miskovic are still in the team. Club policy is still the same(they want to develop and sell players more than just win games).


Cibona

New coach is Ivan Velic instead of Ante Nazor.

Veterans Marko Tomas and Luka Zoric left the club.

Young Nik Slavica and experienced Damir Markota returned to the club from Cedevita. Australian Dominic Gilbert will stay with the club for the another season, and they signed American Brandis Raley-Ross from the Mornar. Marko Ljubicic came from Igokea.


Igokea

Nenad Trajkovic is their new coach.

They signed a lot of experienced players like: Sava Lesic, Domen Lorbek, Filip Adamovic, Tomislav Zubcic. They also signed Trey Kell, Jimmy Gavin and well known name Orlando Johnson(but I don't think he will stay for a long, Igokea have good connections and habit to bring really big names in their team, but just for like couple of weeks before they get a bigger offer, in the past even players like Dorell Wright or Billy Preston played for Igokea for some time).

Veteran Vuk Radivojevic is still there, as well as captain of the Serbian U18 golden team Dalibor Ilic, center Robert Rikic too.


Mornar

Their main star Derek Needham(who plays for the Montenegro as naturalised player) left the club and signed for Monaco.

Uros Lukovic and Nemanja Vranjes who are really above average players for Adriatic league level are still with the club. They signed:

- Khadeen Carrington(Seton Hall)
- Winston Shepard(Canterbury Rams)
- Andre Spight(Northern Colorado)
- Bronson Koenig(Grand Rapids Drive)
- Djordje Drenovac(Mitteldeutscher BC)
- Marin Mornar(Boras)


Zadar

Ales Pipan is their new coach instead of Aramis Naglic.

They signed: Petar Maric(Zabok), Mario Little(Pesaro), Malcolm Grant(Astana).


Krka

Slovenian national team player Ziga Dimec left the club(now in the Medi Bayreuth).

They signed: Jure Lalic(MZT Skopje), Jure Balazic(Gaziantep), Luka Lapornik(Steaua).


FMP

There isn't much to say about this Crvena Zvezda affiliate team.

[BiHBasket]

Justin Cobbs (Cedevita) is described as "best player of the French champion Le Mans in the last season", I can't wait to see him play. Other new players, like Bell from Darussafaka, Brazilians Lima and Benite, Spain national team player Aguilar etc. are also intriguing.

[Obina]

FMP

There isn't much to say about this Crvena Zvezda affiliate team.

Actually FMP will be interesting to watch. After good experience with Jonah Bolden and Michael Ojo, FMP signs new international prospects Ammanuel Diressa (member of canadian NT) and Duop Reath. Also there is Gracin Bakumanya on some kind of tryout contract.

[Jon_Koncak]

Is it true that Zvezda is backed up by Serbian government?

[pohani komarac]

Is it true that Zvezda is backed up by Serbian government?

Yes. As well as Budučnost by Montenegrin, Mornar by mafia, Cibona is toy of Herzegovina klan in Zagreb and so on

Fun fact : Zvezda dropped off ABA league, they merged with FMP and Zvezda become FMP and FMP become Zvezda. FMP got name of Zvezda, trophies of Zvezda and place in ABA, while Zvezda got name of FMP, trophies and was out of ABA league. Now it is Zvezda development team.

And what happened to all millions they were in debt?

Zvezda fans attack in 3,2,1..

[Nemanja]

Aba league became very boring league with low level of basketball.Except maximally 5 correct clubs, others are weak without strategy and money .By my opinion Cedevita is first pretender for trophy,second is Crvena Zvezda,third Is Buducnost .About my Partizan,we living in almost fascistic state,with ostracistic regard state towards Partizan ,in that conditions of course we are not ready for winning of Aba league .Serbian Super league of course will win Crvena Zvezda ,who will play in final against his branch office Fmp .

[BiHBasket]

SG/SF Edin Atic(6'7'', 1997) signed for Mega. Once considered as one of the best European prospects of his generation, he didn't really do much in his professional career.

[BiHBasket]

Slovenian national team PG Matic Rebec signed for FMP.

[BiHBasket]

Americans Shepard and Spight were released from the Mornar even before the first game in the league. And they signed Antabia Waller, he already played for the Mornar couple of seasons ago and was really good back then.

[BiHBasket]

Round 1 of the "ABA League Second Division":

Lovćen - Rogaška 72 : 71
MZT - Helios 92 : 79
Split - Vršac 87 : 69
Borac - SPARS 80 : 84(overtime)
Zrinjski - Dynamic 50 : 73
Primorska - Sutjeska 93 : 66


I am not a expert, but I can say a word or two about those teams:


MZT Skopje(Macedonia)

Their American James Woodard(last season played in Lithuania for Nevėžis) was the MVP of the 1st round.

Three of their current players: Darko Sokolov, Damjan Stojanovski and Marko Simonovski were part of the Macedonia team for the Eurobasket 2011 whey they played in semis.


Sixt Primorska Koper(Slovenia)

Notable players in the team:

Lance Harris, played previously in the France, Belgium, Turkey, Russia...

Ivan Marinković, in the season 2016/2017 he averaged 17.7 ppg for the Zadar in the ABA "first" division.

Marko Jagodić Kuridža, in the season 2015/2016 he averaged 10.5 ppg and and 7 rpg for the Cibona in the ABA "first" division, after that he played for Oostende.

Žan Šiško, a talented 21 yo PG who should have been in the Slovenian national team for the last FIBA window but

https://ekipa.svet24.si/clanek/kosarka/slovenija-ostalo/5baa00e6e6547/kosarica-sloveniji-po-tej-izjavi-njegovega-trenerja-se-bolj-buri-duhove-niti-eno-sekundo-niti-z-eno

Split(Croatia)

One of their Americans Jamel Morris scored 21(3/3 for two, 5/7 for three) in the 1st round. Other American Michael Cobbins scored 10(5/5 from the field).

Croatia national team player Mate Kalajžić is a part of this team.

Tomislav Gabrić played important role for the various Croatian under national teams in the past.

Pavle Marčinković averaged 10.2 ppg in the last season of this league.


Sutjeska Nikšić(Montenegro)

Nikola Pavlićević is a part of the Montenegro national team.

They have some guy from Dakar called Sidy Djitte who scored 10 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in the 1st round.

Bosnian combo guard Draško Knežević in the previous season for the Bosna Sarajevo in this league averaged 14 ppg and 4.3 apg.

Radosav Spasojević played for MZT in the ABA "first" division in the last season and averaged 8.5 ppg.


Helios Suns(Slovenia)

1998 born Urban Oman and Aljaž Bratec were already called for the Slovenian national team in those FIBA "windows".

Club legend Jure Močnik who played more than 10 seasons for Helios is still there.

Serbian Miroslav Pašajlić played for Bosna Sarajevo and Vršac in the previous season of this league and averaged 14.1 ppg.

Former Partizan center Đoko Šalić will play for them in this season.

SG/SF Nikola Gajić also signed for them in this summer, in the past he played for the top Bosnian clubs like Igokea, SPARS and Sloboda Tuzla, also briefly for the Bosnian national team.

They have Luka Smodiš(2001. born son of Matjaž) in their team, but he wasn't in the 12 players for the first game.


SPARS Sarajevo(Bosnia and Herzegovina)

They have couple of former, current and future players of the Bosnia national team. Also talented Croatian Lovro Mazalin(97') is in the team, as well as Serbian Aleksa Stepanović(98') who played for the U20 Serbia in this summer, but I think he is injured and will not play for a while. It should be noted that they are one of those teams where a good result isn't a top priority, they are more about young players development.


Borac Čacak(Serbia)

They are known for their good home support(it's assumed there were around 1 500 - 1 800 fans in the hall for the 1st round game).

Ilija Đoković who plays for the Serbia in those FIBA "windows" is part of this team.


Dynamic VIP PAY Belgrade(Serbia)

Notable players:

Dušan Kutlešić, in this same league he last season played for Borac and averaged 14.1 ppg.

Miloš Glišić, 1998 born who is really familiar face from the Serbia under national teams.


Rogaška(Slovenia)

Their American Rashun Davis scored 23 in the 1st round.

Occasional Bosnia and Herzegovina national team center Obrad Tomić signed for this team.


Lovćen(Montenegro)

I have no clue, their team is made just by Montenegrin and few Serbian players.


Zrinjski Mostar(Bosnia and Herzegovina)

They have former Bosnia national team player Marko Šutalo(born 1983), and also at least in this region well known Croatian veteran Ljubo Šamadan(also born 1983). Marko Ramljak, former Cedevita player and brother of Ivan is also in this team, as well as some other decent players.

It's a good roster for the Bosnian league, but not good enough to play significant role in this league.


Vršac(Serbia)

All of their players except one are Serbians.



Champion of this league will earn a spot for the ABA "first" division for the next season!

In the regular part of the season, 12 teams are playing. Each team plays against every other team twice, once at home and once away. After 22 rounds, when all teams play against each other, the best placed 4 teams are qualified to the Playoffs.

In the Semi-finals of the Playoffs, the first team will face the forth and the second placed team will face the third. The Semi-finals will be played in the best of three format (1-1-1), while the finals will be best of five (2-2-1).

You can watch games on the Arena Sport channels, as well as games of the ABA "first" division.

[BiHBasket]

Partizan upset Cedevita in Zagreb in the 1st round

[serbianhoops]

SPARS Sarajevo(Bosnia and Herzegovina)

They have couple of former, current and future players of the Bosnia national team. Also talented Croatian Lovro Mazalin(97') is in the team, as well as Serbian Aleksa Stepanović(98') who played for the U20 Serbia in this summer, but I think he is injured and will not play for a while.

He left the team and signed for Dynamic Belgrade few days ago.

[Nemanja]

Tomorrow two derbies ,Cedevita guest to Zadar ,which play solid between Fmp,maybe should to win .Olimpija who looks good play against Partizan ,battle for 4th position .

[pohani komarac]

Glen "big baby " Davis signed with Zadar. About 30 fans welcomed him after midnight and took him for hamburger

[Nemanja]

He s fat like a bear without hamberg after midnight ,sympathic gesture supporters of Zadar .