A preview of the upcoming EuroLeague season will be staged at the Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas during the weekend (a second “We’Re Back” tournament is scheduled in Valencia). Olimpia will play on Saturday 12 September at 3.00 pm Italian time against Alba Berlin. In the second semifinal, Zalgiris Kaunas will face Panathinaikos Athens. For Milan, it is a sort of warm-up event before the Supercup Final Four scheduled in Bologna the following weekend. It is played according to the EuroLeague rules, so all the nine foreigners will be available at the same time. Olimpia comes to Kaunas for this tournament after winning six games out of six in the Supercup qualifying round.
COACH ETTORE MESSINA – “It’s a very important time because this tournament allows us to recreate some kind of enthusiasm and self confidence after a long and hard period, for the World, the sport, and in this case for the EuroLeague basketball,. For that reason we are very proud to be part of this competition, and hopefully i twill be only the start of another exciting EuroLeague season”.
KYLE HINES – “It’s good to be back and to have the opportunity to go to Kaunas and compete so the fans can appreciate the EuroLeague basketball return. After a long time and the COVID-19 situation, this is a goo way to return to what we do best and hopefully we’ll give to the people a good show that they can appreciate.”
GIGI DATOME – “We are very happy to be back on the court, it gives us some sense of return to a normal life. From a basketball perspective, it’s positive and good to get a taste of what the EuroLeague season is going to be”.
ALBA BERLIN – Berlin team won the German championship for the first time since 2008 and last year was 9-19 in the EuroLeague before the season was stopped. Olimpia had beaten Alba in Berlin, but in turn Alba had won in Milan in the second game. During the summer, Alba changed several players: Rokas Giedraitis, who moved to Vitoria, Martin Hermansson (Valencia) and Larry Nnoko (Red Star) are among the most relevant players who left. However, two point-guards arrived, the experienced Jayson Granger and Maodo Lo (who will play for the third German EuroLeague team, after Bamberg and Bayern), and also center Louis Olinde and the shot-blocking ace Ben Lammers, who came from Bilbao. The latest signing was Simone Fontecchio, who played for two seasons in Milan and was in Reggio Emilia last year. A seven-footer Shevon Thompson, a center, who had been in Ostend lately, will tryout for the team.
THE OTHER OPPONENTS – The most relevant piece of news in Kaunas is sitting on the bench, where Sarunas Jasikevicius handed the baton to Martin Schiller, a 38-year-old Austrian who emigrated to the United States in 2017 to coach the G-League’s Salt Lake City Stars. He was named coach of the year for the 2019/20 season. Among the players, Jock Landale, Zach LeDay, who is in Milan, and Edgaras Ulanovas, who moved to Fenerbahce, all left. The newcomers are mostly among the “big men”: Joffrey Lauvergne comes from Fenerbahce and Augustine Rubit comes from Olympiacos. From Vitoria, the Argentine Patricio Garino was taken to cover the small forward position. Out on the perimeter, Steve Vasturia will help Lukas Lekavicius and Thomas Walkup. He comes from the German league.
Panathinaikos has changed a lot, too, including its coach: Rick Pitino has given way to his former assistant Georgios Vovoras. Nick Calathes, DeShaun Thomas, Nikos Pappas, Jimmer Fredette, among the others, have left. Many newcomers came, including Pierre Jackson at the point, Howard Sant-Roos, a defensive forward who finished last season at CSKA Moscow, the scorer Marcus Foster (20.2 points per game for Holon, in Israel), center Zach Auguste, who returned to Panathinaikos after a one-year leave, and finally two former Olimpia players, Aaron White – who had finished last season in Tenerife – and shooting-guard Nemanja Nedovic.
