Let's start with the negative. The main
loss of the offseason was the St. Petersburg Dynamo. The sharp deterioration in the financial situation associated with changes in the personnel and moods of the city leadership deprived the super league of not just the 2006 bronze medalist, the winner of the FIBA Europa League 2005, but the original team that opened David Blatt for Russia and introduced Fotis Katsikaris to Russia. Naturally, the rating of foreigners' confidence in the national championship, where the well-being of even one of the leaders is not guaranteed, fell sharply.
In this category, we will also mention another sad event - the death of striker “Khimki” and the Russian team Alexander Petrenko. By a terrible irony of fate, car lover Sasha, along with his wife and her parents, crashed on the Hammer, a huge car, almost an armored car, donated by the club. The departure of this talented man, about which all people who knew him spoke exclusively in excellent tones, was a real shock for Russian basketball.
We will also begin the transition to an optimistic channel with Khimki. The idea to mark the off-season acquisition in the light of recent events has grown into the allocation of
off-season purchases . The Moscow Region club, which pulled giant Pavel Podkolzin out of Dallas and leased Vladimir Dyachok from CSKA, was the first in line for the St. Petersburg sale. Kelly McCarthy has already officially put on the yellow uniform. Next in line are contracts with Maciej Lampe and Vladimir Veremeenko. Here are just an attempt by the silver medalists to take the next step due to personnel reinforcement facing a serious problem. Together with McCarthy, Lampe and Veremeenko (the question of recognizing the latter’s Russian citizenship on the basis of the terms of the agreement with Dynamo St. Petersburg has yet to be decided), the list of Khimki legionnaires will contain nine (!) People.
Although at the cost of the efforts of foreigners, the Russians also
won the offseason victory - the defeat of the overseas “Clippers” by the ambitious CSKA. 19 in the fight against the NBA club provided a record for intercontinental battles and called into question the hegemony of the most hyped league in the world. Today, the army team will meet with “Philadelphia” and have a chance to complete the exhibition super series with an unprecedented result - two successes in two matches.
Another victory of Russia over the NBA is achieved in the financial market. Dynamo Moscow made the
return of the offseason by buying the defender of the national team Sergei Monya from Sacramento and providing him with a salary increase compared to California standards - up to $ 1.2 million per year.
The well-deserved authority of the best club in Europe - not only in sports, but also in the organizational sense, allowed CSKA to boast of
off-season stability . CSKA allowed themselves only point purchases, replenishing the ranks with a couple of young players, and the symbol of the direction set by the club was the extension of the agreement for two years with the best basketball player of the continent Theodoras Papaloukas.
The increase in the representation of Russian clubs in the Euroleague is called the
extension of the offseason . It's nice that it was achieved on a sporting basis - due to the victory of the Moscow Dynamo in the ULEB Cup. Moreover, the capital received not just the second club in the top tournament, but also rejoiced in the
offseason housewarming - moving the “blue and white” to the modern arena in Krylatskoye (capacity of 5000 spectators, cost - 1.6 billion rubles). The only pity is that the trouble of St. Petersburg teammates is likely to deprive Russia of one place in the second most prestigious European competition.
Given the enormous charisma and great achievements of Stanislav Eremin in the coaching field, it is still difficult to put up with his transfer to a managerial position in UNICS.
The off-season rearrangement in Kazan turned out to be loud: the head coach of the Lithuanian national team Antanas Sireika moved to the place of Eremin who took up personnel work. By the way, it is possible that things in Tatarstan will force Sireika to abandon the national team.
The previous nomination is directly related to the
offseason diaspora - an increase in the number of Lithuanians in the Super League. A couple of transitions could not have been noticed if it had not featured sonorous names. Following Syreika, UNICS turned out to be the second of the Lavrinovich brothers - Dariusz (Krzysztof spent the full season in Kazan). And at the head of the Ural Great was no less than the Olympic champion Rimas Kurtinaitis, who had previously worked unsuccessfully with the progressive national team of Azerbaijan. It’s nice that sensible teachers are going to Russia: after all, the national team of small Lithuania is achieving results that far exceed the achievements of its large eastern neighbor.
Nikolai TSYNKEVICH