Olimpia Milan: injuries remain constant in a disappointing season / News - Basketnews.com

Italian side Olimpia Milan is almost out of the EuroLeague playoffs. There have been many issues this season, but injuries have been the biggest.

Credit: ZUMAPRESS.com - Scanpix Credit ZUMAPRESS.com - Scanpix

With six games left to play in the EuroLeague regular season, Italian powerhouse EA7 Emporio Armani Milan are almost certainly out of playoff contention.

Despite the recent improvement in the results, with 6 wins and only one loss in the last 7 games, Milan would need a miracle to secure a spot in the EuroLeague post-season.

Even winning all the remaining games couldn't be enough. Even during the recent positive moment, head coach Ettore Messina always stated that reaching a playoff spot would have been extremely difficult for his team.

The poor results in the first half of the season had a huge impact and coming back from that situation was always considered an almost impossible mission for the Italian side.

Before the beginning of the season, the expectations were way different. Not only inside the club but also around the EuroLeague environment, many people considered Milan one of the main candidates for a spot in the Final Four.

A lack of offensive firepower and some newcomers' struggles were among the main issues Milan faced this season. However, another problem played a massive role in the difficulties experienced by coach Messina's side: injuries and physical issues.

Over the season, Messina stressed many times he never had the chance to work with the team he had in mind before the beginning of the season because of all the injuries his team has experienced this season.

Some of those injuries have affected key players on the team, taking them out of the rotation for several months and forcing Messina to run for cover with emergency solutions.

Credit ZUMAPRESS.com - Scanpix

For an extended period of time, Milan played without a real point guard, mainly using Devon Hall as the de-facto playmaker of the team. That's just one of the emergency situations the Italian team faced this season.

To understand how much of an impact the injuries had on Milan's ambitions, we tried to analyze every single one of them, starting from the pre-season till now. So let's jump in and be aware it's not a short list.

On September 10, 2022, the first injury of the season belongs to Shavon Shields. During a pre-season tournament in Sardinia, the American/Danish forward suffered what, at first, looked like a sprained ankle.

In reality, the injury was more severe, and Shields remained out for almost a month, even though the initial prognosis was only a few days without action.

One of the newcomers of the group, combo guard Naz Mitrou-Long, went down with an injury during the semifinal of the Italian SuperCup against Virtus Bologna on September 28.

The Canadian guard suffered a muscle injury to the quadriceps of the right thigh and remained out for more than a month, returning to action only at the beginning of November.

His injury, at that time, left Milan with only two options at the point guard position: Kevin Pangos and Italian backup Tommaso Baldasso.

The issues in the point guard position continued shortly after. Baldasso, during the first game of the Italian league Brescia, suffered a severely sprained ankle and was sidelined for a month.

Meanwhile, Gigi Datome, one of the veterans of the group, struggled to find his best condition after EuroBasket. The former Fenerbahce forward was able to play his first game of the season with Milan only on October 23.

But more bad news was on the way. In Round 4 of the EuroLeague regular season, against Bayern Munich, Shields suffered a tendon injury in the left foot.

It was October 20, the date that, in a way, represented the beginning of the end for Olimpia Milan.

Shields, a key player for coach Messina's system, was forced to sit for more than four months and returned to EuroLeague action only in the first week of March when the chances of getting a playoff spot for his team were already slim.

On November 3, in the Round 6 game against Real Madrid, it was time for another injury in the backcourt. Billy Baron, who had joined the team in the offseason from Zenit, was forced to leave the game early.

After the match, it was revealed that Baron had suffered a left thigh hamstring injury. The American player would be out for nearly a month, only recovering in late November, when the team was at the beginning of its worst slump all season.

A few days after Baron, Stefano Tonut, another of the newcomers, suffered an injury in the EuroLeague game against Virtus Bologna. Once again, it was a muscular injury, and Tonut remained out for almost a month, returning to action at the beginning of December.

On November 24, during the game against Fenerbahce, another terrible news hit Olimpia Milan. Kevin Pangos, one of the main additions made by the Italian side in the summer, suffered a partial tear of the cruciate ligament of the right knee.

Credit Dainius Lukšta

The Canadian point guard avoided surgery but remained out for more than three months. Although initially, the idea was that he could've been able to return by the end of January, the point guard was forced to miss another month of action after his re-evaluation didn't give positive news.

Despite the lack of players in the backcourt, Milan decided not to sign another point guard to cover for the absence of Pangos.

Only after the negative tests in January did the club decide to look for another point guard and sign Shabazz Napier.

Injuries in the backcourt continued into early 2023. On January 8, during an Italian championship game against Napoli, Tommaso Baldasso fractured the third metacarpal of his right hand. The player will be out for two months, returning in early March.

Devon Hall, another key player for Messina, also went down with an injury in February during the Italian Cup. The former Bamberg guard had an issue with his right knee, and the hope is that he might be able to return by mid-April.

Gigi Datome, after the issues faced at the beginning of the season, is currently out, and he has been since February 24 with an ankle injury.

Initially, the club had announced that the player would be evaluated day after day, but no recent updates have been provided on his condition, and the player remains out for the foreseeable future.

During the last FIBA window, Paul Biligha, a backup center, suffered an injury with the Italian national team. Olimpia Milan announced that it was a right knee, but a timetable for his return has never been provided, and Biligha has been out since the end of February.

After recovering both Shields and Pangos, Milan hoped to have a little bit more stability, and they did, at least for a while. However, it didn't last long.

On March 12, Shields suffered a new injury during an Italian league game against Brindisi. The forward landed on his opponent's foot and sprained his left ankle.

The injury shouldn't be particularly serious, but Shields has already missed the last couple of games in the EuroLeague and the Italian league.

The last injury of this never-ending list belongs, once again, to Kevin Pangos. After returning from his knee injury, Pangos had a couple of nice performances in which he looked in sync with the rest of the team.

But after the last defeat in EuroLeague against Real Madrid, Olimpia Milan announced that the Canadian point guard had suffered a new injury, an abdominal muscle issue.

The former Zenit point guard is expected to stay out for at least a couple of weeks, and then he'll be re-evaluated. Another major blow to Milan's hopes to save their European season.

In the difficulties experienced by Olimpia Milan this season, there are other factors to consider as well, and Messina is not without blame for how he has handled at least part of this season.

But it is equally evident that this impressive series of injuries has heavily affected the performance of the Italian team, which has often found itself having to deal with a roster reduced to the bare minimum, especially in the backcourt.

Just as last season, Messina's team had come to play a key moment, such as the EuroLeague playoffs with Anadolu Efes with several key players out due to injuries. This year, the team initially assembled during the off-season almost never played together due to physical problems.

To go deep in EuroLeague, you also need a bit of luck on your side, which Milan clearly missed in these last two seasons.

In such a long season, so many injuries cannot be surprising. Still, for the Italian club, physical problems are becoming a worrying constant that, perhaps, should lead to some considerations being made about the team's physical preparation for the future as well.

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