

Buducnost VOLI Podgorica's move to improve its offense for the 7DAYS EuroCup Regular Season stretch run paid off already as recent signings Erick Green and J.J. O'Brien made solid contributions to a sweeping 59-87 road win over Veolia Hamburg Towers on Wednesday.
Despite sitting in the middle of the Group B standings, Buducnost had been ranked 17th among all EuroCup teams with 78.3 points per game in the first half of the regular season. A next-to-last ranking of 50.1% efficiency on two-point shooting was the main culprit. It's 14th and 15th ranking, respectively, in three-point and free-throw percentage weren't much better.
Enter veterans Green and O'Brien.
Shooting guard Green brought four seasons' worth of Turkish Airlines EuroLeague experience in which he averaged double digits and 15 previous EuroCup appearances in which he scored 17.3 points per game. Coming off the bench against Hamburg, his sweet mid-range shooting worked right away and he finished with a team-high 22 points on 6-for-8 two-point and 3-for-5 three-point shooting.
Small forward O'Brien was nothing less than a EuroCup champion in 2020-21, when he played a huge role for AS Monaco. His solid all-around game was evident again on Wednesday as he had 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals as a starter.
The upshot was Buducnost's best scoring total since early November and some extra reason to be optimistic heading into the regular season's stretch run.