Virtus Segafredo Bologna delivered many exciting moments last season in its long-awaited return to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. Its 14-20 record was ultimately only enough to place 14th in the standings. One of the issues the club, led by head coach Sergio Scariolo, had to deal with was injuries; only one player took part in all 34 EuroLeague contests last season. To help remedy that, Virtus enters the 2023-24 season with an even deeper roster, chock full of experienced players, as it aims to take another step forward and battle for a playoff berth.
BACKCOURT
There is no shortage of ball handlers on the Virtus roster, though many of them are combo guards. The lone natural playmakers are Alessandro Pajola and Bruno Mascolo. Pajola, who was 15 when he joined the club’s youth system, came off the bench last season and was effective on both ends of the floor; he led the league in steals on a per-minute basis (3.0 over 40 minutes) and was fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.0 to 1). Mascolo, 27, signed from fellow Italian side Brindisi and is due to make his EuroLeague debut with Virtus.
Daniel Hackett, Iffe Lundberg and Jaleen Smith can all play both guard positions. Hackett and Lundberg were the starting backcourt for most of the team's games last season. A EuroLeague champion in 2019, Hackett is the most experienced of the bunch and the toughest defender. Lundberg set personal bests in nearly every statistical category last season in his third in the EuroLeague and first with Virtus. Smith, who will enter his third EuroLeague campaign after two seasons with ALBA Berlin, is the most prolific shooter of the group. When it comes to great shooters, Marco Belinelli is in a category of his own, but at age 37 his playing time may continue to decrease.