By: Nick Gibson / @euro_adventures
Nenad Krstic, CSKA Moscow via Boston Celtics
Props to the guy who ripped off my song, turned it into a video then misspelled my name.
Dusko Savanovic, Anadolu Efes via Caja Laboral
Dusko makes shots. Dusko makes All-Euroleague teams. Dusko makes awkward sexy. Now, he’ll make a hellacious Barac-Batista battery that much scarier. A proven leader and consistent shotmaker, he’ll spread things out for those two beast down low and be a nice distraction on the pick and roll with Vujacic, Tunceri, or whoever has the rock.
I sure hope Felipe Reyes’ ankles have recovered since his Duskofication at :10 in the video below:
Bojan Bogdanovic, Fenerbahçe Ülker via Cibona
This could go one of two ways…
Scenario 1: Bojan arrives in Istanbul confidently and with a stiff plan to be the man from day one. He’ll lead the team in scoring and take his place among the league’s great scorers, challenging for an All-EL nod.
Scenario 2: He goes all Marko Tomas on us, sliding from a role as Cibona’s Mr. Everything to an existence much more reserved and much less exciting with Ülker. Both great players, both Croatian, both fled writhing Cibona clubs. Pattern? Give it a year, then ask again.
The same do-it-all mentality that was required of Bojan in Zagreb will be voluntary with an Ülker team that has multiple options up top and on the wings. He’s still a special asset as a camp out, catch, shoot guy, but that would be a colossal waste of talent.
Ermal Kuqo, Efes Pilsen via Galatasaray
By mail ordering the Caja Laboral frontcourt and piling on an All-Euroleaguer like Savanovic, Efes won’t be asking too much of old Ermal. The hefty 31-year-old has worn Efes blue two times before, his last in 2010, so he should get comfortable in that paint pretty quickly with a simple task in front of him: be large.
Rank #colspan# | Player #colspan# | Team #colspan# | He's here because... #colspan# | Last DLU #colspan# |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ioannis Bourousis | Olimpia Milano | Can't wait to see him play extended, consistent minutes. The most efficient big in Europe is about to get a big test. | 1 |
2 | Jaycee Carroll | Real Madrid | The two-time ACB scoring champ is ready for his EL debut. He won't be able to sneak up on the Spanish teams anymore, but everyone else: hide your kids, hide your wife. | 2 |
3 | Milos Teodosic | CSKA Moscow | The EL's most clean cut franchise adds the Shooting Stoner to a backcourt that just lost a pair of legends in Trajan Langdon and JR Holden. Good thing Milos' brain doesn't process pressure. | 3 |
4 | Maciej Lampe | Caja Laboral | Ever since he vanished from Maccabi's roster two seasons ago, I've been itching to see him in the EL again. He's primed to explode. | 4 |
5 | Bojan Bogdanovic | Fenerbahçe Ülker | You won't find many 26-year-olds as mature as Bojan (still just 22); now it's time to be assertive and create a role for yourself, big guy. As the star. | - |
6 | Nenad Krstic | CSKA Moscow | Boston's trash is CSKA's treasure, as Krstic will add to Moscow's already stellar defensive front of Khryapa, Kaun and now Darjus Lavrinovic. | - |
7 | Stanko Barac | Anadolu Efes | A 24-year-old center who rarely makes mistakes and still has room to grow. Yeah, OK. We'll take him. | 5 |
8 | Esteban Batista | Anadolu Efes | Indifferent to pace or pairings, Stevey Bats gets boards as well or better than the rest. If he and Barac can figure each other out, it's lights out for the rest of Turkey. | 6 |
9 | Sasha Vujacic | Anadolu Efes | "Stop telling me and show me, Sasha." -Everyone | 8 |
10 | James Gist | Fenebahçe Ülker | His enthusiasm is neither a front nor compensation for a lack of skill. Ülker's no Partizan, fan-wise, but they're getting there. A couple oops from Gist should accelerate that process. | 7 |
11 | Dusko Savanovic | Anadolu Efes | Don't expect another All-EL season from Dusko, but be ready for some big shots in some big moments. And sweat. There will be plenty of sweat. | - |
12 | Luka Zoric | Unicaja | This Nesterovic clone was built for the index rating. Spain should be kind to him. | 9 |
13 | Drew Nicholas | Olimpia Milano | Former EL scoring champ came to personify Panathinaikos' consistently unspectacular dominance. Italy's a different story, and we'll see if he still has some 20-point games left in the tank. | 10 |
14 | Ben Woodside | Union Olimpija | Put Davis Bertans on the floor with Woodside and watch the shots fly up. Neither one's what I would call bashful. | 11 |
15 | Leon Radosevic | Olimpia Milano | A bright star in a dimly lit organization last year, now he'll be a key piece in the Italian Renaissance. | 13 |
16 | Henry Domercant | Unics Kazan | The hefty hoister seems to be right at home in Russia. Now, after five Final Four-less EL seasons and in a starring role, he'll be hungrier than ever. | 12 |
17 | Sonny Weems | Zalgiris | Props to Sonny for making the leap, and props to Romanov for welcoming the Raptor with open arms. Think Weems has any idea what he's gotten himself into? Not a chance in Hell. | 14 |
18 | Nathan Jawai | Unics Kazan | I hope restaurants stay open late in Kazan. Nathan strikes me as a fourth meal fiend. | 15 |
19 | Jon Scheyer | Maccabi Electra | With his vision fully restored, the cultural adjustment is all that stands between him and an instant impact. | 16 |
20 | David Lighty | NGC Cantú | The new kids on the block get proactive and pluck one of college's most well-rounded, pro ready swingmen. Me like. | 17 |
21 | Robertas Javtokas | Zalgiris | He should sell his house and just move into an ice tub to be safe. | 18 |
22 | Shawn James | Maccabi Electra | Who needs Serge Ibaka when you've got Shawn James? If you think that's a stretch, check the stats. (OK, so maybe it's still a stretch.) | 19 |
23 | Milovan Rakovic | Zalgiris | Tatted up, shaved down and ready to beat your ass. | 20 |
24 | Marcus Slaughter | Brose Baskets | If you watch this man play, his last name starts to makes sense. | 21 |
25 | Raul Lopez | Bilbao Basket | The ACB finalists finally have a new face on the bench, and it's one of experience. It's also one, however, of considerable age and injury. | 22 |
26 | Thomas Huertel | Caja Laboral | With the Marcelinho Huerta sweepstakes ongoing, the Huertel signing might carry more weight than we initially thought. | 23 |
27 | Ermal Kuqo | Anadolu Efes | You might not notice him when he's out there, but his opponents will feel him the next day. (Does that sound weird? Yeah, I think it sounds weird.) | - |
28 | Marko Cakarevic | Partizan | After extending super vets Bozic and Kecman (again), Partizan better hope Cakarevic can provide some bounce on the wing. | 24 |