The new VTB United League season starts on Saturday.
UNICS (Kazan, Russia) vs Lokomotiv Kuban (Krasnodar, Russia)
Time: 14:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Kazan, Basket Hall
Broadcast: Match TV, Start Triumph, League website
UNICS: The reigning champion came to the SuperCup with the goal of competing for the top places, but started with two losses and won only in the 7th place game against MBA. The renewed team is still just looking for its game and getting in shape, although head coach Velimir Perasovic promised that his guys will be in a completely different state by the start of the season (at the same time he admitted that right now Loko looks more favourable). The start of the new season at home as champions is a new experience and an important event. The Kazan team fans have every reason to hope that they’ll see a completely different UNICS at Basket Hall on Saturday.
Lokomotiv Kuban: Loko did not make any major changes, and at the SuperCup surprised the off-season fans with a decent level. This could be an important advantage for the Krasnodar team, who has certainly retained their energy and spirit after the main tournament of the offseason – a young and ambitious team hungry for revenge for their loss to UNICS in the Finals (after winning the opening game, Loko lost four in a row). At the same time, Aleksander Sekulic admitted that his team are not without losses. The opening game promises a lot of interesting moments – can it be otherwise?
CSKA (Moscow, Russia) vs MBA (Moscow, Russia)
Time: 15:00 (Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Moscow, Megasport
Broadcast: TV Start, League website
CSKA: Either the Army team decided to take their time and not show all their jokers yet, or the rebuilding process after Alexey Shved and Nikola Milutinov departure is so painful, but CSKA finished only 6th at the SuperCup with two losses in three games. According to Ivan Ukhov, the team is now showing only half of its maximum. But the only win was in the Moscow derby versus MBA, and the Army team updated the tournament’s scoring record (105 points). They won even with an incredible 19 long-range shots made from recent newcomer (Emil Rajkovic promises to pay special attention to MBA sharpshooters). CSKA fans should also be pleased with Casper Ware shape, who averaged 35.3 points per game in three games in the recent tournament (twice made 40+ points) and was added to the all-SuperCup team. Melo Trimble, Anton Astapkovic and Livio Jean-Charles avaliability to play will be decided on game day.
MBA: The Moscow team, which was the main discovery of last season, will face a different attitude from its opponents in its second VTB United League season. In the SuperCup, MBA gained valuable experience playing against top opponents, including foreign countries teams, but still lost three games. Veterans Evgeniy Valiev and Evgeniy Voronov, as well as Makar Konovalov, Gleb Goldyrev and Maksim Lichutin, who are important to the Moscow team, are questionable for the game. It won’t be easy for the team in their first game, but it’s at a big mistake to underestimate Vasily Karasev team.
Samara (Samara, Russia) vs Enisey (Krasnoyarsk, Russia)
Time: 18:00 (17:00 Moscow time)
Place: Russia, Samara, Samara Sports Palace
Broadcast: Start Triumph, League website
Samara: The Volga team was going to make some noise in their debut season, but expectations were not fulfilled. The team finished that season with a game in Krasnoyarsk, and now they’ll face Enisey in the first game of the new regular season with a completely different mindset. In the off-season they again assembled a strong team – 12 new players plus head coach Drazen Anzulovic. The recent preseason Primatov Memorial Cup showed that Samara did not escape the problems associated with such a large-scale change. In games against Astana and PARMA, the team had problems at the start, but lost the advantage along the way. As Ilya Platonov said, “we don’t have all the combinations yet, somewhere we don’t read each other in defence, somewhere we lack communication”. But Anzulovic knew what needed to be worked on – the Croatian coach promised that in the last week before the start of the season he would try to eliminate the weaknesses. The coach spent the previous four years in Krasnoyarsk and does not hide the fact that the game will be special for him.
Enisey: The Krasnoyarsk team in the summer carried out comparable to Samara on the scale of the rebuilding – the team has a lot of new players and head coach Jovica Arsic. In the last two friendly games against Irkut, the Serb coach stated that his charges rushed their decisions and committed a lot of bad-desicion fouls. The Siberian team hope is in Xavier Rathan-Mays good shape, as he has had a productive and versatile game during the preseason. Against Superleague opponents, he got 21+7+7 and 24+5+5.
