BallinEurope is previewing all 18 Euroleague Basketball teams over the next 18 days. This series began with a look at Crvena Zvezda. Up today it’s a team that looks to have a long season in store and not in a good way. What can TJ Parker do with this LDLC Asvel side?
There’s a very French roster assembled by LDLC Asvel for the upcoming season. That will certainly aid with national pride but not with a whole lot else.
Last season
Euroleague record: 8-26
Regular season position: 18th
Playoffs: N/A
LNB Pro A record: 23-11
Regular season position: 3rd
Playoffs: Lost semi-final (Mets 92) 3-1
Other: Won Leaders Cup, lost French Cup final (Monaco)
Who’s gone?
Amine Noua (Hapoel Holon), Yves Pons (Girona), Zaccharie Risacher (JL Bourg), Jonah Mathews (Besiktas), Retin Obasohan (Derthona), Antoine Diot (Roanne), Alex Tyus (Runa), Dee Bost (free agent).
Who is new?
Edwin Jackson (Menorca), Timothy Luwawa-Cabarrot (Olimpia Milano), Mike Scott (Sluc Nancy), Paris Lee (Panathinaikos), Frank Jackson (Salt Lake City Stars, G League), John Egbunu (Gaziantep), Boris Dallo (Cholet), Mbaye Ndiaye (ADA Blois), Noam Yaacov (Hapoel Jerusalem).
Who stayed?
TJ Parker (coach), Youssoupha Fall, Nando de Colo, Charles Kahudi, Joffrey Lauvergne, David Lighty.
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Need to know
TJ Parker is in the strangest spot of any coach in Euroleague. As long as his elder brother, Tony Parker, is the boss at Asvel he’s going to be judged as much in Tony’s light as his own. Right now, that’s not ideal as big brother Tony clearly doesn’t want to break the bank to field a competitive roster in Euroleague right now.
What the bookies think
Somehow the sportsbooks think Asvel won’t be as bad as last year and I can’t understand how. They aren’t expected to set basketball betting alight by any standard. At 200-1, they are deserved outsiders to win it all. Yet, somehow, this team is only considered the second worst in all of Euroleague Basketball.
What we think
There is one team below Asvel in the eyes of the bookies but we will address them later in this series. Right now, it’s all about looking at one of the worst assembled rosters ever conceived at this level. There is talent but not enough of it. Far worse, it really doesn’t look like a roster designed to fit together well. At a time when everyone seems to be loading up in Euroleague, even teams with far less in the way of resources than Asvel, this team is going backwards.
Fearless prediction
There are several players that I really enjoy watching that will be on this roster. I feel bad for them. This team is going to be awful. If they match their 8-26 record of last year, I’ll be impressed. By Euroleague Basketball standards, LDLC Asvel is objectively a bad team.
Pick: 18th place in the regular season
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