Euroleague 2007-2008 - Axa FC Barcelona - The Preview
October 21, 2007 by Julien
Author : Jaime Martínez Lafargue from Solobasket
Overall Record Prediction : 9-5
Year 1 a. N. (after Navarro) for Barça: Without a doubt, it will be another heartbreaking season for Axa Barcelona. All that without their best pacemaker. In the previous two years with Dusko Ivanovic as the head coach, its play has been as inconsistent as to win the Spanish Cup or reach the ACB Finals. Yes, this is a contradiction but this is exactly what Axa Barcelona offers right now.
With a handful of great players of the likes of Lakovic, Kasun, Pepe Sánchez and Ersan Ilyasova, Barcelona has the potential to be a contender for the Final Four, but it is still impossible to know what level of play the team will reach. In the two first games of this season they have shown their two faces by losing to Iurbentia Bilbao in the Supercopa, but displaying a great performance against Grupo Capitol Valladolid in their ACB opener.
After a great Eurobasket it is time for Jaka Lakovic to improve his basketball relationship with his coach in order to offer more 25+ nights to his fans, like he did against Valladolid. Pepe Sánchez must be, at least, the pure point guard that Dusko needed to make his team work and Jordi Trias, after a Cup MVP, is reaching his full maturity at the age of 26 to be a power force inside.
Axa Barcelona should comfortably reach the TOP 16, being among the top 4 teams of Group C, having in Panathinaikos and local rival Real Madrid its hardest opponents. After that, it’s hard to say but with the possible reinforcement of the injured Alex Acker, the Quarter Final Round is a must for this team. Reaching the Final Four, a prize.
Final Four Predictions : Tau Cerámica, Panathinaikos Athens, CSKA Moscow and Real Madrid.
Winner: Panathinaikos Athens
Today they were playing with Pepe Sanchez as playmaker and Jaka Lakovic as shooting guard for a few minutes and it seemed to work quite well (Barça needs to bench Bassile desperately).
I think Barça has two serious problems: psichological fragility and Kasun, they need him if they want to balance the game, because Jordi Trias is not a scorer.
On the other hand, who will be the leader of this team? Always hard to say when Dusko is the coach.
I totally agree with all your predictions!
Lakovic is an eternal loser.
This season’s Barca is overrated. Navarro’s loss is HUGE. Barca will have 6+ defeats.