We are still more than 2 months away from the start of the new season, but VTB League clubs have already made some noisy transfers. The Steal telegram channel has pointed out the key transfers of this offseason excusively to the VTB United League.
This summer is far from over (CSKA seems to be just starting its transfer campaign), but we can already say that the United League will not be without interesting names – some of them will be stars for next season, and some of them just have a chance to have a very good year.
Bojan Dubljevic, Zenit, 31 years old
The Montenegrin Hulk, as he is known, came to Spain in 2012 and has since played 11 years for Valencia. During that time he won everything with the club except the Euroleague: twice took the EuroCup, won the Spanish League, the Spanish Super Cup, was twice recognized as EuroCup rising star, was the Spanish Super Cup MVP, twice made the top five of the ACB League and the EuroCup….
At 31 years old, Dubljevic can still help a team to win. Last season, the bigman played in 32 games, averaging 10.2 points and 6.8 rebounds. He has great court vision and loves to shoot thees – 124 long-range attempts last year in the ACB League with 33.9 percent shooting.
Seems to be exactly what Zenit lacked the last season, when Xavi Pascual tried Richard Solomon and then Royce Hamm Jr. at the center position. But actually, with Vince Hunter on the roster, it’s possible to experiment with a double center, and with moving Dubljevic to the forward position, where he can also play.
Amath M’Baye, CSKA, 33 years old
The Moscow team is not making any unnecessary moves on the transfer market yet. CSKA president Andrey Vatutin said that the club is saving money and even asking current players to go along financially, but even with that in mind, the Army team has been suspiciously quiet so far. However, the team did make 2 transfers, and one of them was forward Amath M’Baye.
The French forward throughout his career fit into any lineup and almost every year wins a trophy: 2017 took the Italian Super Cup with modest Brindisi, a year later won the Italian championship with Milan, a season later captured the Champions League with Bologna…
The clubs changed, but there were always trophies – except for a three-year period at Karsiyaka, where M’Baye was the key player, but still not enough to break into the dispute between Fener and Efes. Although his Karsiyaka reached the Champions League final, and M’Bayehimself scored almost a third of the team’s points against Burgos.
When M’Baye went to Efes, he won 2 trophies again – the Turkish championship and Cup. He definitely could have been used by several Euroleague clubs, but he decided to come to Russia and help CSKA regain the title.
Nenad Dimitrijevic, UNICS, 25 years old
The Macedonian guard can’t technically be considered as the League newcomer, but he’s still on this list. Dimitrijevic spent last season on loan in the Kazan team from Valencia, but in June he bought out his contract from the Spanish club and became a free agent. He signed with UNICS as a free agent, and this is his first full-fledged contract in the VTB League (that’s why he is here, while, for example, Thomas Heurtel, who re-signed with Zenit, is not).
Neno is Velimir Perasovic’s lifeline. Last year, Daryl Macon broke down before the official start of the season, at the SuperCup, and Dimitrijevic handled it and then stepped back into the shadows for a while, only to sweep everyone in the Playoffs. By that point, Macon, one of the MVP contenders, had just faded, but Dimitrijevic suddenly started playing in such a way that there was no doubt in anyone’s mind who would get the Playoffs MVP award.
Along with Perasovic’s extension, this is the Kazan team’s most important signing this summer.
C.J. Bryce, PARMA, 26 years old
Among the grandees signings, it seems like Bryce is just another fly-in streetballer. It’s really hard to call him a star, as well as all the other players on this list. But even in the past, the VTB League hasn’t exactly had stars lining up for the League – and star status could be owned upon some very unexpected players.
Bryce spent this year in the German league, even if not the most elite, but rather strict, and was very noticeable there – 16.4 points, 3.2 rebounds. There is, however, a red flag – injuries.
In the last 2 pro-years, he has shown that he can score points in games against anyone. Such backcourt players usually feel great in Evgeniy Pashutin’s system – if, of course, they can withstand with physically demanding workouts.
Josh Perkins, Uralmash, 27 years old
The Ekaterinburg team originally wanted to sign 3-4 foreigners, but it seems that something didn’t go according to plan, and Uralmash already has five. One of them is Josh Perkins, who recently played for Partizan.
The guard spent his entire college career in Gonzaga and even became the leader in college history in assists. A career in Europe is still more of a long shot: Perkins will begin his fourth season with his ninth club. However, if he does end up in Ekaterinburg, Uralmash will get a really interesting playmaker and the VTB League will get some bright highlights.
Hayden Dalton, Samara, 27 years old
Samara seems to have abandoned of signing old and big-name foreigners and switched to slightly younger, but also very interesting players. And while Zagorac and Thompson can’t be called newcomers to the League, Hayden Dalton is.
The American had a great season in Hapoel Holon and is ready to take on a new challenge. So far it seems that his main flaw is a lack of stability; if he can take the leading role in Samara, he’ll be the top star even in the serious surroundings of Anzulovic’s other players.
Ertugrul Erdogan, Runa
Runa brought to Russia a coach who was seriously considered for the position of head coach at Fenerbahce and Zalgiris a few years ago.
From 2000 to 2013, he worked at Fenerbahce alongside Ors and Tanjevic, and even won the Turkish championship in 2010 as an acting coach – Tanjevic was hospitalized with health problems at the time, and Erdogan beat Efes in the final.
By the time he left Fener in 2013, Erdogan had already worked as an assistant on the Turkish national team staff (silver medal at the World Cup 2010) and coached the Turkish U20 national team. In Fenerbahce, the specialist added to his collection two more championships as an assistant, as well as 2 Turkish Cups.
After that there were Turk Telekom, Istanbul, Galatasaray and Schlensk as head coach. Erdogan arrived in Poland by the time the season was buried; but the years in Galatasaray were very notable: here the coach proved as a master of improving his players’ contracts – in particular, from Galatasaray Nigel Hayes, Aaron Harrison, Alex Poythress and Zach Auguste went to the Euroleague.
Erdogan left Galatasaray with a scandal and was unemployed for a year. Then there was just Schlensk, but we agreed not to include it. It will be very interesting to see him in Runa. The League debutant worths attention!
Sindarius Thornwell, Avtodor, 28 years old
Thornwell missed almost the whole last season due to injury. But before that, he looked pretty good in Ulm, and even before that he wasn’t the worst role player in several NBA and G-League teams.
Avtodor is not the first (not the second, third or even fifth) year to bring Americans to Russia, many of whom then go on to notable promotions. Vladimir Rodionov has a great sense for such players, and it seems that Thornwell transfer fits perfectly into that strategy. Plus, the Saratov team likes fast guards who have something to prove.
Kyle Kuric, Zenit, 33 years old
Kuric is not technically the VTB League newcomer, as he is already played here. But it is been 5 years since he left Zenit, so of course Kyle is also on the list of high-profile additions to the League.
One of the European’s top snipers isn’t getting any younger, and he was very important to Barcelona, but that’s not the main indicator – Barcelona don’t need a lot of players. Kuric can still single-handedly decide the outcome of almost any game purely through his shot, and Xavi Pascual loves such players and knows how to use them. Zenit fans are probably thinking of Billy Baron right now… Kuric is Baron substitute, and not at the minimum.
Along with Heurtel and Frazier, Kuric is even more dangerous, especially as he knows the French guard well from his time in Barca. This Zenit transfer campaign looks much more thorough than the last one….
Although there are still a lot of people who have not said their word. Very likely, this text will have a continuation closer to mid-August.
