A perennial candidate to go all the way in the BKT EuroCup, Joventut Badalona faces a 2023-24 season with some big challenges as head coach Carles Duran will be charged with match the team's rhythm from last season despite having lost some key contributors. In the 2022-23 season, Joventut reached the EuroCup Semifinals, falling to eventual champion Dreamland Gran Canaria. True to its name and tradition, the Catalan team will surely give its all to go at least as far as last year, but will first have to survive a difficult Group A in the regular season under a new format that lets just six teams advance.
2023-24 Roster Rundown: Joventut Badalona
Άρθρο
6 Χρόνος Ανάγνωσης
BACKCOURT
Joventut's backcourt will start with a newly signed EuroCup favorite, Andrew Andrews, at point guard. Andrews had a tremendous EuroCup debut in 2020-21 with Bursaspor, averaging 14.0 points and 4.2 assists. Andrews will be aided by veteran guards raised in the Joventut youth system like Guillem Vives and Pau Ribas. Their experience will pair up with the energy and disposition of Andres Feliz, who starred for the Dominican Republic in the World Cup and will be playing his third season in Badalona. He has had a bigger role each season at Joventut, so expect even more from him in 2023-24. Young guard Yannick Kraag will be a backup in the guard rotation, but with four seasons' worth of EuroCup experience will be ready to play more minutes and increase his contribution.
On the wings, Pep Busquets will continue to be a mainstay at the "three" position. He's been playing more minutes with each passing season, and even started seven EuroCup games in the last one. He will be joined by Jordi Rodriguez, another young talent from the Joventut youth system who made his EuroCup debut last season. The main addition at forward will be seasoned scorer DeShaun Thomas, a EuroLeague veteran who returns to the EuroCup for the first time since 2014. Thomas's experience at the highest level -- eight EuroLeague seasons with seven different teams -- will be a key ingredient for a Joventut team that wants to adapt to every and any situation.
FRONTCOURT
Moving towards the paint, Chinanu Onuaku starred in his EuroCup debut, averaging 10.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.5 blocks for a PIR of 15.1 as he helped Hapoel Tel Aviv reach the quarterfinals last season before falling precisely to Joventut. Onuaku will play alongside a tried and true European basketball legend, Ante Tomic, who is back in Badalona for his fourth season with the club. What's more, he'll wear his favorite number, 44, after the departure of Joel Parra to FC Barcelona. Onuaku's physicality and Tomic's know-how and court vision could be a deadly combination. Power forward Vladimir Brodziansky returned to Badalona last season and is ready to show that, just liked during his first stint with the team, he fits well with Coach Duran's system. The frontcourt is completed by youngster Ruben Prey, a player who has shined in the last years at the adidas Next Generation Tournament and will now be ready to make his EuroCup debut.
PLAYER TO WATCH
When Chinanu Onuaku played his first EuroCup game last season with Hapoel Tel Aviv in Round 5, he scored 0 points and had a PIR of -2. He had been signed that same week and arrived with 2021-22 Israeli League MVP credentials. Head coach Danny Franco stated that signing a player at that stage of the season was dangerous because it meant the team had to re-adjust, but that that the chance to sign Onuaku was just too good to pass up. It was all definitely uphill from there. Onuaku exploded in the following game with 15 points and 5 rebounds and he quickly became a key piece in a Hapoel machine that took the league by storm when not many expected it. He quickly became one of the EuroCup's shot-blocking specialists and ended up averaging 1.5 per game, tied for first place with Ismael Kamagate.
Onuaku's physicality played a huge role in his personal success - as well as his team's -- last season, and now he will try to bring that energy with him to Badalona to take Joventut to new heights. In his quarterfinals game against his new team last season, Onuaku was limited to 7 points, but he was huge in the paint with 10 rebounds. He will now form a fearsome duo with Ante Tomic, and if he can make it all happen as quickly as he did last season, Onuaku is set for big things with Joventut.
OUTLOOK
Joventut Badalona's ambitions are always the highest in the EuroCup. After early elimination in 2021-22, the team performed as expected last season and made it to the semifinals, where it fell to a Gran Canaria that would go on to win the EuroCup title. Now, a new opportunity for EuroCup glory awaits. Coach Duran kept many players, but lost a couple of key pieces, Parra and shooter Kyle Guy, both of whom are EuroLeague-bound. Their absence is an obstacle that Joventut will have to overcome as soon as possible. The new additions bring plenty of points, rebounds and experience, which should be a big plus, especially early in the season when Joventut will have to fight its way through a difficult Group A. If Joventut makes its homework during the summer pay with early wins, there's no limit to what this team can achieve.