Geoff Gillingham explains why he can envisage Jaka Lakovic’s side going all this way this season
Why Gran Canaria can win the EuroCup
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3 Mins read
Been there, done that, got the postcard. That’s certainly the message Jaka Lakovic will be stressing to his Dreamland Gran Canaria players ahead of the BKT EuroCup Semifinals.
Just two years ago (yes, time does fly when you’re having fun), Gran Canaria lifted its first major trophy by winning the EuroCup. That team, led by Coach Lakovic, really was the crème de la crème of the EuroCup in 2022-23, and five players on the current roster were part of that triumph: Andrew Albicy, Nico Brussino, Miquel Salvo, John Shurna and Jovan Kljajic.
Immediately, that is something that should play in Gran Canaria’s favor at this stage of the campaign. Experience and know-how are what teams lean on during the playoffs and, in that sense, the Canary Island side have it in abundance. Mike Tobey, one of the new recruits last summer, is another who knows what it takes after winning the 2019 EuroCup title with Valencia Basket, a team Gran Canaria may meet in the finals.
But first, Bahcesehir College Istanbul. The Turkish club has lofty ambitions, yet this is its first year back in the EuroCup. To date, Bahcesehir has played 29 games in the competition. Gran Canaria? 267, the most all-time. The 2023 champion knows the EuroCup inside out, and that’ll become clear during its series with Bahcesehir.
These two teams did already meet in the regular season, splitting the series, but the playoffs are a different beast altogether. This is when the real Gran Canaria comes to play.
On top of the experience that Gran Canaria can offer, it has such a deep roster that any player could step up on any given night. So far in this postseason, we’ve already seen big games by Mehdy Ngouama, a EuroCup champion with Paris Basketball last season, Tobey, Brussino and Joe Thomasson in the last 16, then Caleb Homesley and the trio of Tobey, Thomasson and Brussino once again in the quarterfinals.
The impressive thing about Gran Canaria is that, in any of the semifinal games, it wouldn’t come as a shock if Salvo, Shurna, Albicy, Pierre Pelos or George Conditt had a telling impact on the contest. That variety makes Coach Lakovic’s group a scary proposition for any team.
For now, Gran Canaria will be wanting to take it one game at a time. That said, if we end up getting an all-Spanish finals against Valencia Basket, the Canary Island outfit is 1-0 against Pedro Martinez’s men in the Spanish League this season. As they say in Spain, ojo.
Ever since winning the EuroCup title in 2023, Gran Canaria has been sponsored by Dreamland, which feels fitting given that’s exactly where their fans will be if – as I suspect – they witness another championship run.