CSKA Moscow boss Ettore Messina received his contract extension shortly before his team knocked off Maccabi Tel Aviv to win the 2008 Euroleague crown in Madrid. And he knew even back then that defending his crown in 2009 in Berlin would be a very difficult endeavor.
Papaloukas Out, Planinic In
The biggest departure from Messina's ranks was playmaker Theo Papaloukas leaving to return to Greece and Olympiacos. David Andersen also left but Moscow re-loaded by bringing in Zoran Planinic, Terence Morris and Erazem Lorbek and retaining the long-time core of J.R. Holden, Trajan Langdon and Matjaz Smodis as well as Ramunas Siskauskas which has brought CSKA Moscow two Euroleague crowns and a record six straight Final Four appearances since 2002.
Panathinaikos Want Crown Back
The Greek side Panathinaikos knocked off CSKA in the 2007 final on its home court and failed to even make the Final Four last season. Head coach Zeljko Obradovic's team is ready to get back the hardware. The Athens club is still loaded with Dimitris Diamantidis, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Vassilis Spanoulis and Mike Batiste back while adding Nikola Pekovic, Drew Nichols and Antonis Fotsis.
Olympiacos Hope to Finally Break Through
Olympiacos ownership has been spending big money for years now but watched the team get bounced from the Euroleague in the quarterfinals in each of the past three seasons. The biggest addition is Josh Childress from the Atlanta Hawks but Panagiotis Yannakis's team is loaded. Theo Papaloukis arrives with all his winning experience from CSKA while Yotam Halperin and Nikola Vujcic both come from Maccabi Tel Aviv in joining Arvydas Macijauskas, Lynn Greer and Sofoklis Schortsanitis.
Maccabi Looks For Sixth Title
Five-time champion Maccabi Tel Aviv must always be included in talk of the favorites since the Israel powerhouse won back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005 and have reached the Final Four five times since 2002. Efraim Birenboim arrives as coach and totally re-did his team. Carlos Arroyo comes from the Orlando Magic of the NBA to join stalwarts Derrick Sharp and Tal Burnstein. Omri Casspi and Lior Eliyahu are two young Israelis with plenty of talent while four Americans will need to be integrated into the system.
Tau Represents Spain Well
And what would a Euroleague Final Four be without a Spanish team. At least one ACB team has reached the semifinals the past four seasons with two reaching the Final Four in 2006 and 2007. Tau Ceramica has played in the past four Final Fours including losing in the 2005 final to Maccabi. Dusko Ivanovic is the new boss on the sidelines and he was able to keep together nearly the entire team from last season other than losing Zoran Planinic to CSKA Moscow and Simas Jasaitis to DKV Joventut. South Americans Tiago Splitter and Pablo Prigioni will once again be key along with Pete Mickael and William McDonald.
Spaniards Abound
But do not count out any of the other four Spanish teams. Garcia Aito Reneses hopes to continue his coaching success from Joventut and the Spanish national team at 2007 semifinalist Unicaja Malaga, who returns most of the same team as least season as well. The 2003 Euroleague champion Barcelona is as strong as ever as is Real Madrid. And do not forget Joventut, which won the 2006 FIBA EuroCup title and the 2008 ULEB Cup crown and is ready to mix in with the Euroleague boys
Other Candidates
Other teams to consider as possible darkhorses include 2003, 2004 and 2008 semifinalist Montepaschi Siena of Italy and Turkish club Efes Pilsen, whose coach Ergin Ataman comes to the Istanbul side after leading Besiktas to the ULEB Cup quarterfinals last season after reaching the 2005 Euroleague quarters with Ulker and the 2003 Final Four with Siena.
