business of basketball

The 2008-09 Euroleague season started with the promise of being one of the best of all-time.

The defending champion CSKA Moscow had remained intact and ready to compete for its third crown in four seasons. But the Russian powerhouse would face plenty of competition as more teams than ever could lay serious claim to being legitimate title contenders.

The league’s teams also made a number of big acquisitions in the off-season while big names changed places and new faces emerged to replenish the faith of Europe’s millions of basketball fans.

Going into the season, among the favorites for the title were title-holder CSKA; re-loaded Greek powers Panathinaikos and Olympiacos; the quartet of Spanish clubs Regal FC Barcelona, Tau Ceramica, Unicaja and Real Madrid; as well as Montepaschi Siena and Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv.

Besides the departure of playmaker Theo Papaloukas, CSKA Moscow kept together its winning core of head coach Ettore Messina, guards J.R. Holden and Trajan Langdon and power forward Matjaz Smodis plus the duo of Ramunas Siskaukas and Nikos Zisis for a second season while adding the trio of Terrence Morris, Zoran Planicic and Erazem Lorbek to the mix.

Panathinaikos came into the season extra hungry after missing the 2008 Final Four and with it a chance to defend its 2007 championship. Head coach Zeljko Obradovic added to his already strong side the likes of Nikola Pekovic, Antonis Fotsis and Drew Nicholas.

The biggest team making news was Greek side Olympiacos, which opened up its pocketbooks and gave head coach Panagiotis Giannakis some top-notch experienced players looking for the club’s first Euroleague crown since 1997. Papaloukas brought the experience of two titles and six Final Fours with CSKA back to his former club while Nikola Vujcic came with two crowns and four total Final Four appearances with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Yotam Halperin also was part of two title-winning teams and a third semifinal showing with Maccabi. And Josh Childress had his share of big-game knowledge as well.

Other moves of note coming into the season included head coach Dusko Ivanovic leaving Barcelona after three seasons to return to Tau Ceramica. Replacing him at Barcelona on a full-time basis was Xavier Pascual, who took over for Ivanovic late last season.

Two big clubs switching coaches during the season were Lottomatica Roma hiring Fernando Gentile to replace Jasmin Repesa and Pini Gershon returning to Maccabi for the first time since 2006 when Tel Aviv was upset by CSKA in the Final trying to win its third straight title.

Among the prominent players to come to the Euroleague were Carlos Arroyo (Maccabi) and Brandon Jennings (Lottomatica Roma) while Juan Carlos Navarro returned to Barcelona after a year abroad and Primoz Brezec (Roma) marked his comeback to Europe after seven years away.

The season saw a number of players raise peoples’ eyebrows – either established veterans finally with a big chance or youngsters lifting their game to the next level.

One star to stay with his team but pick up his already-stellar game was Panathinaikos’ four-time reigning Euroleague Best Defender Dimitris Diamantidis, who took his offensive game to another level while remaining a dominating defensive force.

With the departure of Planicic from Tau, Igor Rakocevic stepped up his game for Ivanovic, leading the competition in scoring with more than 18 points.

Sani Becirovic was the second-leading scorer in the Regular Season for Roma (17.4 ppg) as the guard finally was given big minutes and added responsibility with his move from Panathinaikos.

Pat Burke was in a similar situation with his move to Asseco Prokom, with whom he averaged nearly 11 points and a third-best 6.9 rebounds a contest, including his tremendous Regular Season Week 8 showing of 18 points and 20 rebounds – just the eighth player to pull down at least 20 boards in a Euroleague game.

As every year, the Euroleague also features young players who emerge on the scene as the next stars on the continent. And the 2008-09 season was no different.

Nikola Pekovic had already turned heads after averaging more than 16 points and nearly 7 rebounds for Partizan last season. But the 23-year-old did not let up with his move to Euroleague giant Panathinaikos, scoring in double digits in 15 of 19 games.

Replacing Pekovic as the main man at Partizan was 23-year-old Novica Velickovic, who averaged 14 points a game in the Top 16 to lead the Belgrade club to the Quarterfinal Playoffs.

Maccabi meanwhile saw two younger players show superstar potential at times as Lior Eliyahu, 23, registered the highest performance index rating of the season of 42 in Week 6 with 24 points, 17 rebounds and 6 assists. And 20-year-old Omri Casspi hit double digits seven times including 19 points in Week 8.

Another youngster to emerge as a dominating force at times was Barcelona forward Ersan Ilyasova, 22, who had 30 points and 11 rebounds against Alba Berlin in the Top 16.

Spanish fans also got a close up look at one of the best young players in the entire game, DKV Joventut point guard Ricky Rubio. The 19-year-old, however, was unable to make his mark this season in the Euroleague as he missed the first half of the Regular Season with a wrist injury before Joventut failed to make the Top 16.

The fact that talent-laden teams like Joventut and Efes Pilsen failed to make the Top 16 shows just how strong the level of competition is in the league.

Four Spanish teams reached the Top 16, including Regular Season group winners Unicaja, Barcelona, and Tau. The Regular Season also saw CSKA Moscow lose twice at home as the reigning champ showed chinks in its armor.

Alba Berlin returned to the Euroleague for the first time since 2003 and joined Bamberg as the only other German club to reach the Top 16. But Alba was drawn into a Top 16 Group of Death with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

In the end, the usual powers reached the later stages of the event as Spain and Greece sent five of the eight teams to the Quarterfinal Playoffs along with CSKA Moscow, Montepaschi Siena and Partizan.

In the end we had an exciting Final Four in Berlin, which was won by Panathinaikos, after a close win over Greek rival Panathinaikos and a great performance in the FInal agains CSKA Moscow.

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