Here's what some of the team representatives said after the draw in Barcelona
Group A reactions after the EuroCup Draw
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Ofer Yannay, Hapoel Shlomo Tel Aviv owner
“In sports, you always want to be a bit better than last year. In the first year, we ended in the quarterfinals against Joventut Badalona – they scored 26 out of 26 from the line. Last season, it was a sporting tragedy. Our point guard, J’Covan Brown, got injured while we were leading by 18 points against Besiktas and we lost the game. This year, we signed senior imports – Johnathan Motley, Joe Ragland, Ben Bentil and Marcus Foster, and we will sign a few more. We also brought back Noam Yaacov, a brilliant, young Israeli point guard who played for ASVEL. We have a very good roster. For the fans, for the community, it is extremely important for Hapoel to win some titles this year and I hope this year we will do it. As an ownership group, we are doing everything because we are very competitive and we want to make the fans happy.”
Juan Ramon Marrero, Dreamland Gran Canaria general manager
“We have a lot of hope and desire for the competition to get underway. Fortunately we are veterans in this competition and therefore we have a lot of enthusiasm [to play in the EuroCup] every season. We hope to go far. September will come around quickly, so we need to prepare ourselves for the competition and aim to advance from the group phase, with the goal of going as far as possible.”
Juan Antonio Morales, Joventut Badalona president
“In this part of the season, what we are more concerned about are the trips. Most of the teams are not closed [roster-wise] yet, so there can be changes in the potential of the teams. What we have to do is be prepared as much as possible for the last week of September and be ready to compete with anyone. I would love to say that we learn every season, but probably there will be new lessons to learn. We are confident in the team we are going to have, we are really confident in the work that [head coach] Dani Miret can do for us.
"I am sure that our fans will support us because our expectation is to have a really nice-to-see game. Now there are two really important months – one to rest, one to be prepared. In professional sports, dynamics are very important. If you start playing good and winning games, everything is easy that season. If you start with problems, then you have to make changes and things become more difficult. Let’s see, there’s a lot of time yet.”
Nedim Yucel, Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul general manager
“Our goal is to be at the same level [as last year], but this year it seems that the EuroCup is much more competitive. Now we have Valencia, the two Israeli teams are investing, also Bahcesehir is putting together a good roster. That’s why it will be more competitive. As a club, we are more or less keeping our basic chemistry and we believe that we have made good additions. Our goal is to be in the EuroLeague soon, that’s why we want to do our best to win the trophy.”
Nemanja Bjelica, Bahcesehir College Istanbul head of basketball operations
“It’s good to be back in this competition. Of course, like every team here, we have big ambition. I don’t know how many people around Europe are familiar with Bahcesehir, but Bahcesehir is more than basketball. We have great stability, are very organized, we have communities and universities of 200,000 students, so our philosophy is to spread the word that we are more than a basketball team, a basketball organization. This is a great opportunity for Turkish basketball. You never know what is going to happen.
"Sport is a relative thing; we are super excited. Me personally, I am proud to be here in a new role. This is our first year back in the EuroCup, we want to promote our team. But like I said, Bahcesehir is more than basketball. We want to keep growing as an organization and as a team. We want to compete and we want to win, but sometimes winning is not just winning a trophy. We want to be consistent to develop the players, especially Turkish players, and to win. I think it’s going to be a great year for every team in our group. Also, this is a really big day for Bahcesehir as an entire club and community and organization, so let’s just stay humble and see what we’re going to do.”
Rimantas Kaukenas, Wolves Twinsbet Vilnius president
“The EuroCup is a very good competition, very strong. The format where six teams make it from each group to the playoffs makes it very demanding for the teams, so it’s extremely important that the teams remain healthy, that they do well because every win during the regular season matters. That does reflect on the outcome.
"This format makes you play every game like it is almost a playoff game, so you cannot afford to lose any games that you should be winning per se. But if you see the teams in the EuroCup, there’s a lot of very good teams. The budgets have increased by 15%, 16%, so that shows that the teams are really striving to play better, have better results and do much better.”
Andrea Nardelli, Dolomiti Energia Trento general manager
“We’re going to try to [take a step forward], but it won’t be easy. The groups are always tough. We are trying to build a different team again; to compete, we need to be more athletic. But then you have to play. The season is going to be hard for all of us. It is going to be long, starting one week before. We hope that we are going to have the players in good shape, not many injuries like last season, which took away our possibility to go to the playoffs again after a few years. So we’ll try to work hard and have a bit more luck.”