BallinEurope is previewing all 18 Euroleague Basketball teams ahead of the start of the season. Today it’s the turn of Baskonia, a playoff side last year with Pablo Laso on a mission to bring them back there.
Ah Baskonia. They’ve brought Pablo Laso home to Spain. That’s lovely. Now all he has to do is make them relevant in an awfully deep looking Euroleague Basketball campaign. That’s going to be tough.
Last season
Euroleague record: 18-16
Regular season position: 8th
Playoffs: Lost to Real Madrid (3-0)
ACB record: 18-16
Regular season position: 9th
Playoffs: NA
Other: Copa del Rey – Didn’t qualify
Who’s gone?
Codi Miller-McIntrye (Crvena Zvezda), Vanja Marinkovic (Partizan), Dusko Ivanovic (coach, free agent), Ondrej Hanzlik (Zamora), Matthew Costello (Valencia), Dani Diez (San Pablo Burgos), Maik Kotsar (Yokohama), Jordan Theodore (free agent), Chris Chiozza (free agent).
Who is new?
Ognjen Jaramaz (Partizan), Trent Forrest (Atlanta Hawks), Donta Hall (AS Monaco), Kamar Baldwin (Trento), Timothé Luwawu-Caborrot (LDLC Asvel), Pablo Laso (coach, FC Bayern).
Who stayed?
Markus Howard, Chima Moneke, Sander Raieste, Tadas Sedekerskis, Khalifa Diop, Pavel Savkov, Vit Hrabar, Nikos Rogkavopoulos, Ousmane N’Diaye.
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Need to know
Pablo Laso is back in Spain and with a Euroleague Basketball outfit no less. That’s great to see after his health issues late in his tenure with Real Madrid and the manner of his departure. That he bounced back with a solid campaign at FC Bayern before making this jump is also great to see. He’s got a really tough job on his hands. The loss of Miller-McIntyre in particular is going to be hard for Baskonia to overcome.
What the bookies think
The sportsbooks don’t expect an easy season for Pablo Laso and his men. The range is a little wild. Baskonia are available from between 35/1 and 100/1 on Euroleague Basketball betting. The broad consensus is 50/1 on most markets.
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What we think
This is going to be a tough season for Baskonia. While Pablo Laso has inherited a side that is only slightly weaker than a season ago, there’s more than that to consider. Plenty of Euroleague Basketball clubs, not just the top contenders, have loaded up this offseason. The competition is simply stronger at almost every level. The probability is that Baskonia will be looking up the table a bit more than usual this campaign.
Fearless prediction
Well there’s one prediction that requires no nerves at all. This is Baskonia. You could put me and four of my least fit mates in their jerseys and somehow they’ll get one implausibly dominant win over a contender. Likewise, put the greatest line-up in basketball history in their jerseys and they’ll still lose at least one game they should win comfortably. That’s Baskonia in Euroleague Basketball. The fearless part is a touch less fun. The play-ins, never mind the playoffs, look too big of an ask this season.
Pick: 14th in the regular season
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