2015/16 Season. The Title Favorites.

This is the third and final edition of our web-site’s VTB United League Preseason Preview.

Nizhny Novgorod (Russia)

Last season: Reached the semi-finals (22W-16L)

The Expectations.
Their roster had seen a major personnel turnover. The team parted ways with its leaders Taylor Rochestie (left for Maccabi Tel-Aviv), Tray Tompkins (Real Madrid) and Artsiom Parakhouski (UNICS Kazan). Nizhny once again did a lot of work on the transfer market and tried to come up with formidable players to take places of those who had left. The team’s management claims there are no specific goals being set for the upcoming season, so we can only assume that they will continue to develop their young players and will play all of their games with their famous hungry and energetic style.

The Leader.
Semen Antonov. Seasons change, so do the coaches, team’s goals and ambitions, yet one thing remains the same in Nizhny, it’s their leader on and off the court – Semen Antonov. 2015/16 promises that it’s not going to be any different. Semen is literally the first thing that comes to mind whenever you think of Nizhny Novgorod, enough said.

The Addition.
Maksim Grigoriev. A talented scorer who spent his entire career with Lokomotiv is looking to re-energize his career in Nizhny Novgorod and this team could be a perfect option for him. Maksim is looking to repeat a trail set earlier by Dmitry Khvostov, who after getting very little playing time in Khimki, developed into a floor general in Nizhny and on the Russian National team. Coach Bagatskis believes Grigoriev has all the necessary tools to take his game to the next level. Whether he develops into the next solid addition to the National team is one of this season’s most intriguing sub plots.

The Quote.
Sergey Panov, Nizhny Novgorod’s chairman of the board.
We continue to improve our results. Last year we became one of Europe’s Top-16 clubs and became semi-finalists in VTB United League. The key for our team is the stability and growth.

UNICS (Russia)

Last season: Reached the quarterfinals, (19W-14L).

The Expectations.
Last season’s failure lead to a major roster overhaul in the offseason, UNICS has parted ways with eight of its players from last year. To replace them new players were brought in, among them the most notable are Artsiom Parakhouski, Joakim Kolom and Arturas Milaknis, all of whom besides being highly qualified at their positions on the floor are considered to be good locker room guys and unselfish team players who are ready to buy into the team’s system. Yevgeny Pashutin will be at the helm, so UNICS should once again be among the teams who are in the title hunt.

The Leader.
Keith Langford. UNICS parted ways with all of their American additions from the 2014 offseason except Keith, so he’s likely to once again lead the team this year. A scorer of his caliber would be able to fit into a star role with any team in Europe.

The Addition.
Artsiom Parakhouski. A center from Belarus can be a perfect fit and exactly what the doctor ordered for the team that was thin last year at the number five spot. Besides his skills and versatility Artsiom is a tremendous asset for the Green and White because of his ability to stay healthy. Like a true ironman he is, Artsiom only missed one game in the entire 2014 season.

The Quote.
Yevgeny Pashitin, UNICS’ head coach
We’ve done every necessary thing in the offseason to put us in the position to contend for the Title. The season won’t be a catwalk, but we’ll come prepared for the fight.

Lokomotiv-Kuban (Russia)

Last season: Reached the semifinals, (28W-10L).

The Expectations.
2014/15 season left the management of Lokomotiv wanting to reach out for more. Southern team ended their relationships with team leaders Derrick Brown and Krunoslav Simon and replaced them with a number of young studs capable of competing at any level. Head coaching position also underwent changes as Bazarevich will be replaced at the helm by Bartzokas, one on Europe’s premier specialists, who won the Euroleague Title in 2013 with Olympiakos and was also named Europe’s Top Head Coach. Year after Loko is putting together great teams on paper, perhaps the arrival of the accomplished Greek head coach will instill the winning culture they have been looking for and 2015 will become their breakout year.

The Leader.
Malcolm Delany. While Loko added a talented group of newcomers, many of whom could lead the team, they made sure to keep their ties to Delany, who was on the roster last year. If an American can produce more consistently, he could become a new Vassilis Spanoulis for his head coach.

The Addition.
Kyrylo Fesenko. The Ukrainian center debuted in the League very well for Avtodor last season. He was dominant around the rim and week after week was among the players who were considered for the Player of the Month award. We can expect similar production from Ukrainian in Lokomotiv’s uniform, which Fes proved right away in the first friendly by posting 18+7. The best is yet to come.

The Quote.
Giorgos Barzokas. Lokomotiv-Kuban’s head coach.
Few of our key performers left the team, namely Kurbanov, Simon, Brown and Hendricks. We appreciate what these men did for our team over the years, we thank them for that. It’s time for us to start over and build a new team that will compete for the Title. The players we have brought in are strong both physically and mentally, the most important thing is that they are highly motivated to compete.

Khimki (Russia)

Last season: Lost in the finals, (31W-10L).

The Expectations.
This off-season scenario was a familiar one for Khimki. As they have done over the past few years, they kept their core in place and made adjustments by bringing in the players that they felt they needed to finally dethrone CSKA and win the Trophy they so highly desire. On paper this might be the best Khimki’s roster we’ve ever seen. The chances are as high as they’ve ever been, and so are the expectations.

The Leader.
Tyrese Rice. This American-born Montenegro National team point guard rolled into Khimki training camp fresh off his win in the EuroBasket and the Finals MVP honors of that prestigious tourney. Rimas Kurtinaitis had stated how comfortable he is working with Rice on numerous occasions, therefore it was a no-brainer for Khimki to try and lock Tyrese up with a contract extension, which is exactly what they did, by signing Rice until 2018. At the peak of his career right now, Rice will make everyone around him better and will take over games in the 4th quarter when it will be needed.

The Addition.
Aleksei Shved. His transfer was perhaps the most noticeable one not just for Khimki, but of the entire League’s offseason. Russian National team guard spent the last three years playing in the NBA. Although he’s had his share of ups and downs, Aleksei’s last stop in the NBA, the New York Knicks was a relative success, as the young combo guard demonstrated plenty of leadership, the ability to get his teammates involved and made a number of good individual plays. Rumor has it that he will become the highest-paid basketball player in Europe next season, so needless to say there is a lot of hope pinned to his arrival to the Moscow region by the fans and of course the team’s executives. Hopes of breaking a spell that CSKA had casted over the League for multiple years, if not the decades.

The Quote.
Rimas Kurtinaitis. Khimki’s head coach.
This year our roster is fully capable of competing for and accomplishing the highest goals possible. The main thing that we have to bring about right now is to create a great team chemistry. Without it even the most star studded teams won’t be able to reach the accolades, just look at Real Madrid in football. Without the proper team chemistry year after year they were coming up short in the Champion’s League. Our goals are getting to the Euroleague Play-offs and challenging CSKA for the top spot in VTB United League.

CSKA (Russia)

Last season: Won the Championship (35W-4L).

The Expectations.
The feeling in the offseason year after year is that the next season will be that year when someone will finally dethrone the Red Army club. Their main counterparts seem to continuously improve their rosters, hire accomplished head coaches and implore multiple strategies only to once again, just as in the years past, fall victim to the steel championship grip CSKA has over the League. All the challengers had disappeared like snow in the Spring, but will it be so in 2015/2016? After all, it has to happen someday, and this might just be the year. This summer CSKA lost Aleksandr Kaun and Sonny Weems without bringing in a prominent replacement. Still, the new names they did sign, their promoted young players and a more comfortable Dimitris Itoudis might do the old trick once again and add to the CSKA mystique.

The Leader.
Nando de Colo. League’s last season MVP used Eurobasket to prove once again that he is the best guard in Europe right now. It took him no time to become one of CSKA’s leaders, this trend will only increase with the departure of Weems from the team. A veteran Serb Milos Teodosic has got his claim to be called the leader of the pack, although a healthy completion between alphas should benefit CSKA as a team and both players individually.

The Addition.
Joel Freeland. Aleksandr Kaun left for the NBA and CSKA called upon Joel’s services to try to cushion the loss on the frontline. Joel played for the National team of Great Britain at the London Olympics and had spent three years in Portland, before he came to Euroleague and played for Unicaja. Freeland proved himself a force in the paint at every level and is still getting a lot of interest and consideration around the strongest League on the planet.

The Quote.
Dimitris Itoudis. CSKA’s head coach.
-Topics of discussion within the team? It has to be basketball. We talk about life as well. Basketball players are humans with their own problems, families, girlfriends. They know I’m there for them and I’m available to talk about anything 24/7. They can always come to me and we can have a conversation be it about basketball or something else.