Italian league finals and the upcoming summer market: what lies ahead for Virtus? / News - Basketnews.com

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On Wednesday, Virtus Bologna will play Game 1 of the Italian league finals in an already classic matchup against the rivals of AX Armani Exchange Milan. The team coached by Sergio Scariolo will try to retain the league title that they won last season when they swept Milan 4-0.

The excitement in Bologna right now is at an all-time high. So far, the season has been a huge success. Virtus won the EuroCup and secured a spot in the upcoming EuroLeague season, which was the main target for this season.

The team has also been cruising through the playoffs of the Italian league without losing a single game in the first two rounds against Pesaro and Tortona.

For a team that wanted to win every single trophy this season, the only disappointment was the elimination in the semifinal of the Italian Cup against Tortona, but since then, Virtus changed quite a bit, adding two major players like Daniel Hackett and Toko Shengelia.

Regardless of what will happen in the finals against Milan, Virtus are already studying the market for the upcoming season. As you probably have already noted, the Italian club will not be your typical newcomer at the EuroLeague level.

They have already built a roster that could have competed at the EuroLeague level this year, so the bar for the next season will be set even higher.

Massimo Zanetti, the owner of the club, has already made it clear that the ambition for next season is to be among the top four teams of the EuroLeague.

"We play to win, always," Zanetti said in a recent interview. "Reaching the top four in EuroLeague next season will be difficult, but we will do everything we can to reach that level."

In order to become immediately one of the top teams in the EuroLeague, some changes to the roster will be needed.

So this looks like a good moment to start analyzing some of the moves that the Bologna team could make this summer to reshape their roster.

Two important dossiers: Toko Shengelia and Nico Mannion

Of course, to start planning for next season, Virtus Bologna must also watch inside their home. Two of the most delicate situations are the ones related to Toko Shengelia and Nico Mannion.

The Georgian forward was the statement move made by Virtus Bologna right before the deadline for the EuroCup transfers. The player freed himself from the deal with CSKA Moscow and decided to join Virtus Bologna and his former teammate Daniel Hackett, who had joined the Italian club just a few days earlier.

Shengelia signed a deal until the end of the season, so he will be a free agent when the season ends. In his first few months in Bologna, he adapted pretty quickly to the city, and his family settled in really well.

Inside the club, there's a certain optimism that Shengelia will decide to stay and sign a new contract, a source told BasketNews. Italian newspaper 'Tuttosport' had reported a few weeks ago that Virtus Bologna was ready to offer a Shengelia a two-year contract extension, worth around €1.8 million per season.

But it has to be noted that Shengelia is also drawing interest from the NBA. Multiple teams have reached out to the player's camp to understand his situation and availability for next season.

The player is intrigued by the possibility of returning to the NBA since his first experience with the Brooklyn Nets wasn't particularly satisfying. But Shengelia wants to fully focus on the final part of the season before committing to any new deal.

FC Barcelona followed the traces of the Georgian forward for a while after his decision to join Virtus Bologna, but in the end, they decided to focus on other targets for the frontcourt, finalizing the moves of Jan Vesely and Oscar Da Silva.

Then, there's the case of Nico Mannion. The 21-year-old guard was one of the marquee signings made by Virtus Bologna last summer. After helping the Italian NT reach the Olympic Games, he decided to take his chances in Italy with an ambitious project instead of getting another two-way contract in the NBA.

His arrival in Bologna was surrounded by a lot of excitement and anticipation, but a share of injuries and physical issues limited his impact on the team.

A severe intestinal infection, which led him to lose more than 10 kilograms, back issues, Covid, and ankle issues, Mannion had a lot of bad luck with injuries this season, and he was forced to play catch up from the very beginning of the season.

After the arrival of Daniel Hackett, his minutes went down, and he basically became the third point guard in the rotations behind Hackett and Pajola.

Mannion is under contract for next season, but there's an NBA out in his deal. For the Italian point guard, there's interest from the United States, with at least a couple of teams willing to test him during the Summer League, a source told BasketNews.

Also, teams in Europe are keeping an eye on his situation in case Virtus would decide not to count on him for the next season.

Mannion's case is a delicate one. Virtus Bologna recruited him hard last summer, giving him a substantial contract for a player in his rookie season in Europe, but with the arrival of Hackett and with Scariolo often sending him implicit messages, it wouldn't be impossible to imagine a future away from Bologna for the young guard.

The two sides will discuss every possibility after the end of the season, but another year in which Mannion is behind in the rotations and plays mostly in the domestic league while sitting on the bench in Europe is probably not in the player's best interests.

How the frontcourt can change

With the majority of the backcourt under contract through next season, we'll probably see most of the changes in the roster in the frontcourt heading into next season. The first two situations to monitor will be the ones of JaKarr Sampson and Ekpe Udoh.

Both players are under contract for next season, too, but their position in the roster is far from being safe, sources have told BasketNews.

Sampson arrived during the season and had a good impact on the team at first, but in the following months, the level of his performance became much more inconsistent, with Scariolo often being unhappy with his mistakes.

Sampson was signed to a considerably high deal, around $800k, sources told BasketNews, but there's also an option to get out of the deal this summer, which Virtus Bologna might trigger if they'll find better options on the market.

The case of Udoh is a bit different. The Nigerian/American big man was signed last summer to be one of the main elements of the rotations and to provide the experience needed to achieve all the goals that the club had targeted.

Unfortunately, Udoh suffered a serious patellar tendon injury before the beginning of the season while playing in the Italian Supercup.

The injury forced Udoh to miss the entire season and Virtus to get back on the market to replace him. The veteran big man recently turned 35, and it remains unclear how he'll recover after such a serious injury.

Despite being under contract for next season, Virtus might decide to move away from him to find an alternative with fewer injury concerns.

His veteran presence around the team could still be useful, but the EuroLeague schedule will force Virtus Bologna to play more games next season, and every help on the court will be crucial.

Kevin Hervey's situation is another one to look at it. The Texan power forward started the season really well, but he rarely looked like the player who had shined after the knee injury.

His status for the next season remains uncertain, a source told BasketNews. If Virtus Bologna find better solutions on the market, Hervey could leave, despite having another year left on his contract.

The Italian club is scouting the market in the power forward role, and they're already targeting a couple of players. Jordan Mickey, who's expected to leave Zenit at the end of the VTB League season, is one of them, sources have told BasketNews.

The forward is also drawing interest from other EuroLeague teams, including Fenerbahce, sources have told BasketNews.

Another profile that Virtus Bologna is following with interest is Achille Polonara, currently under contract with Fenerbahce. Virtus is always interested in having a strong core of Italian players, and Polonara is one of the best Italian players in Europe.

The former Baskonia power forward is under contract with Fenerbahce for another season, but Virtus Bologna's interest in him is serious, a source told BasketNews. Polonara's future in Turkey will depend on the decision of the new head coach Dimitris Itoudis.

National team member Amedeo Tessitori, one of the backup bigs of the team, is expected to remain with the team and sign a new two-year contract, a source told BasketNews.

The Italian side has also shown interest in Serbian big man Nikola Milutinov, sources have told BasketNews.

But with Dimitris Itoudis ready to become the new head coach of Fenerbahce, there's a strong chance that Milutinov will end up in Turkey to continue working with the Greek coach, a source told BasketNews.

The EuroLeague schedule will force Virtus Bologna to have a deeper roster than this season. In order to face the new challenge in the best way possible and to have the possibility to rotate players adequately between the European competition and the domestic one, some additions look like a must.

With the never-ending ambition of the Italian side, we're sure that Virtus will be at the starting blocks of next season with improved enthusiasm and the hunger to prove that the jump to EuroLeague is not too scary for them.

Virtus Bologna

Position Player Status PG Milos Teodosic Signed until 2022+1 PG Alessandro Pajola Signed until 2025 PG Nico Mannion Signed until 2023 PG Michele Ruzzier Signed until 2023 PG/SG Daniel Hackett Signed until 2024 SG Marco Belinelli Signed until 2023 SG Isaia Cordinier Signed until 2023 SF Kyle Weems Signed until 2023 SF Awudu Abass Signed until 2024 PF Kevin Hervey Signed until 2023 PF Amar Alibegovic Multi-year deal C Mouhammadou Jaiteh Signed until 2023 C JaKarr Sampson Signed until 2023 Coach Sergio Scariolo Expired contract Tornike Shengelia, Amedeo Tessitori Rumored to leave Kevin Harvey, Nico Mannion, Ekpe Udoh, Jakar Sampson Interested Achille Polonara (story), Jordan Mickey (story) Nikola Milutinov (story), Tornike Shengelia, Milos Teodosic, Marco Spissu, Amedeo Tessitori (story)

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