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Five Holders: The burning questions for the opening of the 2020/21 Euroleague season

Will Sharas' winemaking conquer Barcelona?

Milan will stop the sequence of failures?

Anadolu Zero will complete the historic journey?

How will Fenerbahce deal with Oberdovic's departure?

And will there be a revolution, and Greece will be a red state (and not because of the corona)?

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• Euroleague

• Maccabi Tel Aviv in basketball

• Barcelona in basketball

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Thursday, 01 October 2020, 14:00

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Maccabi Tel Aviv's season opener (Photo: Maccabi Tel Aviv official website, edited by Itai Amram)

1. Will Sharas' winemaking conquer Barcelona?

Six years have passed since Maccabi Tel Aviv was last seen in the Final Four and even won the Euroleague, and this was exactly the last time that Barcelona was also included in the top of European basketball.

Since the 2013/14 season, the Catalans have failed three times in the playoffs, and twice more have plunged to the back of the table.

No such drought has been recorded at the club since the late 1980s.

Last season was supposed to be the one that would change everything for Barcelona.

The signing of Nikola Mirotic and other stars has positioned her as a legitimate candidate to win all the titles.

She faltered a bit, was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey and looked less good than Anadolu Zero and Real Madrid, but before the outbreak of the Corona was in an excellent starting position: first place in the Spanish league and third in the Euroleague.

After the epidemic it failed in the final of the season-ending tournament in Spain, and Svetislav Psic paid the price despite his closeness to President Joseph Maria Bartomeu.

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His winemaking will also stand the test.

Nick Klatis (Photo: GettyImages)

This summer, Barcelona achieved what it had dreamed of even before the Pashich era - the return of Sharonas Jasikevicius to the city.

After the success at Zalgiris Kaunas, the Lithuanian coach will have to prove himself in the team with a much higher pressure gauge, and if Barcelona's record is not enough - he also added the brilliant acquisition Nick Klatis to the cauldron.

Now the expectations are no less than the Final Four, and even more than that, and in light of last season's results this is definitely a realistic goal.

The only weak point that can be marked in Sharas' squad is the face game.

Veteran Ante Tomic left, and the team was left with Pierre Auriola and Brandon Davis, who flourished under Jasikevicius in Kaunas.

Barcelona also understood this, and reports show that Marc Gasol came to fill the hole.

If there is not a big fall, the drought will end in Cologne.

Winning the title?

The wineries of Sharas and Clathis will stand the test again.

2. Will Milan finally be able to meet the goals?

Just like Barcelona, ​​Olympia Milan also comes this season with a drought of six years.

But the drought is much harder for her: since 2014 she was not even in the playoffs, and to find her last appearance in the Final Four you have to go far until 1992. The senior team in Italy invests big almost every year since the trauma of the series against Maccabi Tel Aviv, but usually finished at the bottom and lost pretty quickly. The chance the chance to reach the playoffs.

Even Ettore Messina the magician did not save her, and even with him she got stuck in 12th place (although she had another realistic chance of slipping into the top eight).

This summer, promising names like the experienced Kyle Haynes and Gigi Datoma were laid out in the fashion city, alongside Malcolm Delaney, Zack Lydie, Shabon Shields and Kevin Panther.

According to the preseason games and the Italian Super Cup tournament, this season's Milan is finally going to justify the big investment and be part of the top of the Euroleague.

In such an experienced team, with a successful coach on the lines, less than a playoff would be a scandal.

On the other hand, entering the Final Four will not be unfounded.

Less than a playoff would be a scandal.

Sergio Rodriguez (Photo: AP)

3. Will Anadolu Zero achieve the title that the Corona robbed of?

Anadolu Zero was the best team in the Euroleague last season, and it's not just the first place it held almost from the start of the season until its break.

Argin Atman's team, which at the end of the 2017/18 season stood in last place with seven wins from 30 games, was at the end of a process that made it a real monster.

Zero's success was mainly due to the fact that it maintained its skeleton between the 2018/19 season, when it reached the final, and last season.

She kept this skeleton completely.

"When we decided to stay, and most of us did it as a team and not as individuals, we all had in mind that the title was stolen from us and we should take it this season," said Douche Balbai.

On the face of it, the expectation is that the upcoming season will be a direct sequel to its predecessor.

The only question marks that arise around the squad concern the age of most of the players, with the exception of Vasily Mitchic and Shane Larkin, all the others have crossed the age of 30.

He has not coached in the Euroleague, but he is not really a rookie.

Kokushkov wins Eurobasket (Photo: AP)

4. How do you recover from Jeliko's departure?

In the summer of 2013, something fell apart in European basketball.

After a year off the lines Zeljko Oberdovic signed with Fenerbahce, who became a cemetery for coaches, and after one unsuccessful year brought it to the historic Final Four.

Since then she has not been absent from the final event, and the Serbian coach left at the end of seven years at the club with one historic trophy.

The professional failure last season, and especially the debts the club got into, led to the departure of the greatest coaches in Europe.

Panathinaikos, as well as its predecessors (Real Madrid, Benton Treviso, Badalona and Partizan Belgrade), know full well how difficult it is to recover the day after the Serbian fox.

Fener managed to land the Slovenian Igor Kokoskov in his place, in his first big role as head coach of a European team, but this is not really a rookie, and it seems that it will not be a weak team this season.

The revolution did not end on the lines.

Datoma, Costas Slokas, Nikola Kalinic, Derrick Williams, and Joffrey Lubren left.

Jan Wesley, Nando de Colo, Leo Westerman and Malih Mahmutoglou will continue, and in the procurement segment three leading players from the Euroleague have landed - Lorenzo Brown from the Red Star Belgrade, Edgras Olnovas from Zalgiris and Danilo Bartel from Bayern Munich.

Apart from them came a few players who hoped to make the leap - chin Jonathan Hamilton and forwards Dyson Pierre and Jarl Eddie.

For the past two years, Fenerbahce has become accustomed to seeing its rival Anadolu Zero far above it, which is expected to happen this season as well.

The Asian side of Istanbul need to do a version update, and their goal will be to get into the playoffs, and preferably from a good place.

Play once a week?

At his age, not sure it's bad.

Vasilis Spanoulis (Photo: GettyImages)

5. Will Greece be painted red?

Olympiacos has won two Euroleague trophies in the last decade and reached two more finals, but in the last two years has collapsed into itself with the decision to relegate to the second division in Greece, while Panathinaikos has maintained stability at the bottom of the table.

This summer the picture has been turned upside down again: Pau's owner has announced his departure, budget has been cut by more than half, Nick Clatis and foreigners have left, Pierre Jackson has been signed by default (and Tel Aviv knows full well what he has done in the past with expectations from him), while Olympiacos retains champion Former European Yorgos Bratzokas returns the glittering Slokas.

So what could still prevent the upheaval?

The fact that Panathinaikos players will be able to gain confidence in the weak Greek league, which does not seem to happen after they stuttered in preparation for the season, while Olympiacos will only play once a week.

The truth?

Given the advanced age of the red players, led by Vasilis Spanoulis and Yorgos Printzis, it is not certain that this is a bad thing.

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