A new edition of the Euroleague started Monday night in Kaunas (Lithuania) with the game between Zalgiris and CSKA Moscow. No Eurohopes players there, but many experienced pieces. We will also miss Raptors draftee Jonas Valanciunas ('92) in the top level after Lietuvos Rytas was eliminated and sent to the Eurocup. From our point of view what will be our interest around the competition? This is the list with some of the best names:
-Donatas Motiejunas ('90, Prokom): Has been loaned to the polish team from Benetton Treviso. Interesting what the lithuanian will do. Last season he averaged 10.2 points and 5.3 rebounds with italian squad in the Eurocup. Drafted some months ago by Wolves and sent to Houston.
-Tornike Shengelia ('91, Charleroi): Last season the georgian was loaned to Pepinster (6.5pt+4.1rb), but Charleroi recovered him. He was named the MVP of last Division "B" U20 European Championship (29.9pt+12.0rb), sending his team to Division "A".
-Philipp Neumann ('92, Brose): We expect some sparks from him. This season he will also play at ProA with Breitenguessbach. In Bundesliga opener he had 13 points and 6 rebounds in 17 minutes against Goettingen.
-Nicolo Melli ('91, Milano): Second season in a row for him playing Euroleague. Last edition he ended with 3.3 points and 2.4 boards before being sent to Scavolini. Tough for him to grab minutes.
-Leon Radosevic ('90, Milano): Arrived to Italy this summer after shining at his home country with Cibona Zagreb (12.9 points & 6.3 rebounds in Euroleague). He will automaticlly eligible for next NBA draft.
-Furkan Aldemir ('91, Galatasaray): After many years in Karsiyaka he has landed in Galatasaray to show his power inside the paint. He ended as the best rebounder of the U20 EC of this summer in Bilbao (15.9 boards), adding 14.8 points and 1.7 blocks.
-Dario Saric ('94, Zagreb): If he plays often he will be the main attraction of the game for a lot of people. Eurohopes #1 of '94 ranking is one of the prospects with brighter future. Last season he had already chances in Adriatic League. In his league, amazing stats last year: 17.2pt+10rb.
-Kostas Papanikolaou ('90, Olympiakos): One of the most talented greek players. He made great performances last season in Euroleague (17 points vs Unicaja). One of the pieces of 1990 golden generation in that country.
-Kostas Sloukas ('90, Olympiakos): He comes back after being loaned to Aris, where he had 6.1 points and 3.1 assists in the Eurocup. Even he is already 21 years old won't be easy for him play many minutes.
-Evangelos Mantzaris ('90, Olympiakos): Greek powerhouse signed him this summer from Peristeri (spanish Bilbao also showed interest on him). Last season he averaged 8.6 points and 3.3 rebounds in domestic competition.
-Branislav Djekic ('91, Partizan): After spending last months of 2010-2011 loaned to Mega Vizura he comes back to try to convince he deserves minutes in the rotations. In Adriatic League he is playing 16 minutes, but Macvan will arrive now.
-Nikola Mirotic ('91, Real Madrid) -at the pic-: Already drafted in the NBA he will show again his skills at the top level. Even he is surrounded of stars in Madrid he will appear in clutch time for sure. Last season in Euroleague he had 6.6 points and 3.3 rebounds.
-Abdel Kader Sylla ('90, Nancy): Seychellois prospect shined last season in the Espoirs league in France, with only a few minutes in ProA. He is recovering from an injury, so won't be easy for him to take minutes.
-Alex Abrines ('93, Unicaja): Will the last U18 European Championship MVP play Euroleague? Some days ago he was named best player of the week-end at LEB Gold with the farm team. We expect some sparks.
-Sasu Salin ('91, Olimpija): The finnish sharpshooter started great this season scoring 23 points (6/7 threes) to Red Star in Adriatic League. He already showed his skills last summer in the Eurobasket with his country.
-Davis Bertans ('92, Olimpija): One of the best european players of 1992 generation. He was drafted some months ago being only 18 years old. He landed last November to Slovenia from Riga. Great expectations over him.
Photo: Real Madrid
