Simon Jatsch, who wrote this excellent piece about the German league a few days ago, is probably the best expert we could get to describe the Euroleague situation in Berlin. He takes a look on the best German team of last season that is playing one of the most modern arenas in Europe – the O2 World arena, which will also host the NBA Europe LIVE on October 14th. Here is what Simon has to say about ALBA Berlin.
Overall record prediction: 3-7
Alba Berlin is far from being a Euroleague Final Four candidate, but with the city hosting the biggest event in European club basketball in spring 2009, many observers will keep an eye on the winners of eight BBL championships.
Taking under consideration past successes, financial power, attendance figures and both national and international reputation, Alba Berlin is without doubt Germany’s biggest basketball club. In fact, it has been ever since starting its championship run of seven consecutive titles back in 1997. However, being a big club doesn’t automatically guarantee success. As a club which is used to winning silverware, the four years from 2004 to 2007 without winning the BBL championship were hard to digest for both club and fans. Hendrik Rödl, a true Alba-legend as a player, had to go after crashing out of the 2007 quarter finals as top seed. Quite obviously, there was a desperate need of fresh air.
Enter Luka Pavicevic. One must understand that Hendrik Rödl was a long-time associate and – in some cases – good friend with several Alba Berlin officials. His predecessor, Emir Mutapcic, had assisted the legendary Svetislav Pesic before taking over as head coach. Pavicevic, coming off a good season with Panionios, was new to Alba Berlin. And with him came new ideas. Ideas that conflicted with the existing structures – quite inevitably – but also opened doors. One of those doors led to the long-awaited return to the top of German basketball in June 2008, when Alba edged Telekom Baskets Bonn in Finals Game 4 in Overtime, securing not only the league title, but also qualification for the 08/09 Euroleague season. With the new o2-Arena hosting Alba home games and the Final Four next year, needless to point out how important Euroleague participation is for the club.
In order to reach the club’s goal this season – qualification for the second group phase – Luka Pavicevic has managed to put together a versatile roster which is deep enough to survive the potentially long season, while staying with his two principal elements of – first – combining excellent ball handlers on the one, two and three positions, who all possess the ability to create off the pick and roll and off the curl around the screen, and – second – having four three-point threats on the floor simultaneously almost throughout the whole game.
Steffen Hamann, the former Bamberg leader, will share point guard duties with Rashad Wright, who played well in Oostende before being a bench player with Efes Pilsen last season. Shooting guard Julius Jenkins is the team’s first option on offense: Can score from every spot on the floor, yet his ability to slash down the lane and finish despite the contact is what makes him a particular handful to defend. Another key player is Immanuell McElroy, an excellent all rounder and the team’s best individual defender. Johannes Herber is coming off a horrible knee injury and is expected to struggle for playing time this season, as is Philip Zwiener, the hard-working small forward who was part of Germany’s twelve man Olympic basketball roster this summer. A late key addition is swingman Casey Jacobsen, a star in Germany already after being the main man in Bamberg’s title-winning 06/07 BBL campaign. A hard-working, intelligent and skilled offensive player, Jacobsen is expected to be one of the leaders. At the four, Ansu Sesay is trying to step out of Goran Nikolic’s shadow. While Nikolic is efficiency personified, Sesay is more athletic and has the ability to hit tough shots from both the outside and the low-post position. Aleksandar Nadjfeji, master of the extra pass and skilled finisher, will provide excellent play off the bench on both big man positions, while veteran Dragan Dojcin is a pure power forward backup. The acquisition of Adam Chubb has been Pavicevic’s most discussed off-season move by far. Chubb will start at center, but despite good showings in the Uleb-Cup knockout stages last season, many expect him to have difficulties in Euroleague play. Patrick Femerling brings huge experience and defensive presence, but the veteran’s health is a major issue. If he manages to stay on the floor, he will be a highly valuable piece for Pavicevic and crew. If not however, Alba might struggle inside.
A quality roster for BBL standard without doubt, but can they edge it in Euroleague play? Femerling is an established player on this level and Jacobsen had a relatively big role on the 05/06 Tau Vitoria team, starting 23 times and averaging more than 25 minutes per game. The rest? Some of them put up fairly decent statistics for considerably small teams in Uleb-Cup play, but when it comes to Europe’s top competition, they combine a record of only 27 wins in 104 games between them. Among them, the only player with a winning record, Rashad Wright, never played a large role in his only Euroleague season with Efes Pilsen. Pure Euroleague experience is not necessarily this roster’s primary weakness. The question rather is: do they have enough quality to win games on this level?
In a balanced group with Tau Vitoria, Joventut Badalona, Virtus Roma, Fenerbahce Ulker and Olimpija Ljubljana, Alba needs to win its home games in order to reach Top16. That will only be possible on a good day against a powerhouse like Tau, while chances are rather slim they are going to snatch a win on the road. Quite a task ahead of Luka Pavicevic and his men.
Final Four: CSKA, Panathinaikos, Montepaschi, Olympiacos
Winner: CSKA
written by Simon Jatsch
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