3x3 EuroLeague: Hopes of unity and NBA involvement after Bertomeu’s dismissal / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: Tolga Adanali/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images Credit Tolga Adanali/Euroleague Basketball via Getty Images

The 2021-22 EuroLeague season came to an end but BasketNews’ 3x3 edition is still here.

Three staff writers – Orazio Cauchi, Uygar Karaca, and Giorgos Kyriakidis discuss such post-season topics as the most wanted free agent, a team that needs the biggest overhaul, and the EuroLeague's future after Jordi Bertomeu's dismissal.

Most wanted free agent in the summer?

Orazio:Although we already saw some very interesting moves, including Brandon Davies heading to Milan and Jan Vesely going to Barcelona, I still believe that Shane Larkin will be the most coveted free agent in Europe.

After winning two consecutive EuroLeague titles with Anadolu Efes, trying a different experience with another team would make sense. Still, at the same time, Efes will try to do everything in their power to keep Larkin around for at least another season to attempt the EuroLeague three-peat.

Larkin is hands down one of the top players in the EuroLeague, and whoever will be able to lure him away from Efes would complete a great move and hurt Efes a lot, taking away from them one of their stars.

So despite all the other big names available on the market this summer, Shane Larkin remains above all the others.

If Efes can re-sign him, another EuroLeague title would be more than possible. However, if another club takes him away from coach Ataman, it'll be fun to watch.

Uygar: I think many people would like to say Will Clyburn, but according to the latest reports, the American forward has a deal with Efes.

Therefore, I think De Colo's situation will be monitored closely because he did not have a great season at Fenerbahce due to frequent injuries, and the team was distracted by the off-court issue regarding the adjusted standings after removing Russian teams.

I believe he still would be a big game-changer for the team he joins. He will not be the most wanted probably, but his decision could change the fate of the EuroLeague's standings in the next season.

Giorgos: I can't answer on the player who will attract the most offers, but on who raised their stock the most.

With this thought in mind, I would say that my vote would be split between John Brown and Dwayne Bacon. Given Monaco's interest in signing the former UNICS Kazan player and the Monegasques' budget increase, it's very likely that these two ended up playing together.

Regardless of where they're going to play next year, they both managed to star in their teams, as Brown became the ultimate defensive tool and Bacon an unstoppable one-on-one weapon at the hands of coach Sasa Obradovic.

Brown became a EuroLeague rookie at 29 and was widely regarded as the frontrunner for the Defensive Player of the Year award until Russia invaded Ukraine. His numbers (10.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 12.5 PIR) are bested by his hustle plays (manifest in a EuroLeague-high 2.8 steals per outing), understanding of the game, and the overall impression that he can be an invaluable piece on any squad because of his willingness to get his hands dirty.

His lack of outside shot might work against him, but still, Brown has displayed a decent mid-range jumper that can easily make up for any offensive deficiencies.

On the other hand, Bacon joined Monaco in November 2021, but it didn't take him too long to show what kind of a player he is. I will be surprised if he doesn't get an NBA call-up in the summer. He's only 26, and if he stays in Europe, he can be the continent's best swingman.

For those who weren't impressed by his regular-season accomplishments, the former Charlotte Hornets guard-forward provided another offensive clinic in the playoff series against Olympiacos. With an average of 14.0 points, 3.1 rebounds, and clutch abilities when the ball gets heavy, Bacon's offensive arsenal cannot go unnoticed.

A team that needs to make the most changes?

Orazio: When we look at the bottom of this season's standings, it's easy to say that clubs like Zalgiris Kaunas and Panathinaikos are the teams to change the most over the summer. Their recruiting has been pretty bad recently, and their results are even worse.

The Greek side has already reached an agreement with Paris Lee, which is a good move, and they're also looking at Naz Mitrou-Long, who just finished a fantastic season with Germani Brescia in Italy. Zalgiris needs to bounce back from their worst season ever, and most of the roster needs some serious retooling.

But another club that it's probably going through some major changes this summer will be Fenerbahce. Dimitris Itoudis will most likely take over Sasha Djordjevic and will need to put a lot of work in to bring the Turkish side back into the competition's elite.

With Jan Vesely already heading to Barcelona and doubts on the future of Nando De Colo, reinforcements will be needed. Especially on the offensive end, the team will need to be much more balanced than this season.

Uygar: I think Fenerbahce needs a big chance. Vesely is aged, and lately, there hasn't been one season in which he wouldn't be out for a certain part of the season. Knowing his name, quality, and certain history with the team, it is a hard decision to make, but releasing him to Barcelona would liberate Fenerbahce to rejuvenate the frontcourt again with some potential wise decisions.

Fenerbahce is not a big spender like it used to be 3-4 seasons ago and, therefore, needs to find more unproven talent rather than established big names who come up with high demands in monetary terms.

This club has great potential to turn back to the Final Four with a magnificent fan base, but obviously, the season with Djordjevic was not convincing.

I don't know about the situation with Marko Guduric, but he did not have a great season at all. If Fenerbahce keep good role players like Sehmus Hazer, Ismet Akpinar, and sub-star players like Pierria Henry and Deshawn Pierre and complete some signings next to this core, getting back on track is not impossible. Big changes are needed, though.

Giorgos: Excluding all the teams that can't afford to make any changes for whatever reason, I think that AX Armani Exchange Milan will need to undergo an extensive makeover.

A lot of key players (Kyle Hines, Gigi Datome, Sergio Rodriguez) are way past their prime, and some, like Rodriguez, might actually move to other teams. Malcolm Delaney will probably quit basketball for some months.

Others, like Jerian Grant, Trey Kell, and Troy Daniels, didn't respond to the task. Ettore Messina has had zero success in recruiting NBA point guards since both Shelvin Mack (in 2019-20) and now Daniels didn't live up to the expectations.

In the paint, Dinos Mitoglou is still waiting to learn how many months he'll have to sit out due to his doping case, and it is therefore unlikely that he'll re-join the team.

Ben Bentil has had ups and downs, and Kaleb Tarzewski's time as a veteran and reserve center seems to be over. All in all, I expect Milan to make at least 5-6 signings in the transfer period, with Brandon Davies being the first one.

What changes do you expect or want after Bertomeu's dismissal?

Orazio: Despite some internal division between the EuroLeague clubs, the decision not to continue with Bertomeu as the CEO of the competition is good news.

Bertomeu's management severely deteriorated. EuroLeague, as things stand, is not very profitable for the clubs and has to take a step forward, mostly on the marketing and commercial side, if it wants to keep considered the top competition in Europe.

If Dejan Bodiroga becomes the new CEO, that would also mean that new talks with FIBA on a potential agreement on the schedule and on future collaborations would be likely, since Bodiroga has been working in FIBA for several years.

The relationship between Bertomeu and FIBA was already compromised. If the rumors about the potential involvement of the NBA in the upcoming future are true, European basketball needs to speak and negotiate with only one voice. So the conflict between EuroLeague and FIBA must come to an end.

I'd love to see much more focus on the marketing side, and I like having a real front office inside the EuroLeague board with different figures handling specific departments, not only a CEO with absolute powers. There's a lot to fix, and to do that, one person is not enough; a team job is necessary.

Uygar: It was a fitting end because it is not a secret that EuroLeague failed to generate a convincing amount of revenue to label Bertomeu as a successful CEO. Besides, the failure to finish the COVID-19 season, the passive stance regarding in-season Covid situations, and the failure to manage the Russian teams' situations are just the cases where EuroLeague lacked leadership.

I think EuroLeague also needs to show that it is an organization for each and every one of its shareholders with an equal distance. Often, the idea that EuroLeague is actually leaning to be closer to the Spanish teams and Barcelona, in particular, is vocalized, and that imagined identity does not help the organization.

It needs to give the correct message that Euroleague is more of an inclusive organization instead of coming up with numbers and suggesting that the UK, Germany, and France are strategic markets, so they are going to be the ones the company is going to focus. It might be discouraging for the rest of the clubs in Europe to hear such comments.

Whoever comes next to the chair, the most important thing should be to create a better revenue generation mechanism, other than just TV deals and extending the reach. The attitude against the FIBA and Basketball Champions League should be more reconciliatory as the division at the top of European basketball hurts more than ever in times of the pandemic.

Some middle ground needs to be found. Regarding media relations, EuroLeague needs to follow a more instructional path to the clubs, and it should not leave them with their own discretion on the topic. Good stories often are not being surfaced because the clubs think that they are good in a closed circle and have nothing to gain from being more exposed to the media. It should be just the opposite.

Giorgos: Throughout his 22-year tenure, Jordi Bertomeu proved to be a rather intransigent and non-flexible EuroLeague CEO. The Catalan executive was assigned the power to make decisions on the shareholders' behalf. However, for years, the so-called unity of European basketball had been more the product of wishful thinking rather than a real objective.

The EuroLeague is a stagnant competition that hasn't shown the progress the fans and clubs would expect, nor has it brought more income to the clubs, despite the agreement with ING (expiring in 2026).

It still lacks the ideas that will bring it even higher, and, above all, it is cut off from everyone - FIBA, the NBA, and sponsors that could have brought more value to the product. It's clear that most teams would like to cooperate with FIBA to have a unified schedule across all -domestic and international- competitions and also increase their income.

This could not have been achieved as long as Bertomeu was in charge. Apart from being a historical development, Bertomeu's departure shows that basketball can now proceed without restrictions, exclusions, and of course, in a spirit of cooperation.

However, regardless of who Bertomeu's successor will be, the EuroLeague is still being tarnished by big financial disparities between its clubs. The gap between the rich and the poor cannot be erased, but there are some measures that have already been discussed to alleviate the most striking inequalities.

As Olympiacos presidents [Panagiotis and Giorgos Angelopoulos] admitted, one of them is related to the salary cap that can be imposed. Of course, no one expects that any team could win the EuroLeague in a few years. But it would be the first step in increasing the level of competitiveness within the frame of the competition.

The most important change that the EuroLeague should consider is related to its accessibility. Right now, only a handful of countries and national champions are allowed to play, while there's absolutely no team from other markets (like the Netherlands or the UK) that could potentially join in.

It goes without saying that while the current league format is in place, any thoughts of a big expansion that will include more than 20 clubs are a longshot. In that case, number of games would increase dramatically, and everyone (players, FIBA, national leagues) would be extremely dissatisfied.

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