FC Barcelona has made it to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in each of the last three seasons, but the Blaugrana have been able to get their hands on the championship title in that time. With star player Nikola Mirotic and head coach Saras Jasikevicius having left the club this summer, a new-look Barca led by first-year boss Roger Grimau hopes to once again be in European basketball's showpiece event.
Four new signings
In addition to the arrival of Coach Grimau, Barca has tweaked its roster by bringing in Spain star Willy Hernangomez, who last played in the NBA with the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as fellow Spaniards Joel Parra and Dario Brizuela. Jabari Parker, the second overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, joined the Blaugrana in the offseason, too.
Despite losing the likes of Mirotic, Cory Higgins, Kyle Kuric and Sertac Sanli, Barca is still able to call upon Tomas Satoransky, Rokas Jokubaitis, Nikola Kalinic and Jan Vesely, among others. A new head coach brings new ideas, so it will be fascinating to see how Barca gets on in the coming season.
A tough start to the season
On Thursday night, Barca opens its EuroLeague season at home to Anadolu Efes Istanbul in a mouth-watering contest. Both teams have undergone big changes over the summer, and this fixture has provided some compelling contests in the last few years. From there, the Blaugrana have two tricky road games at Olympiacos Piraeus and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade in Rounds 2 and 3, respectively.
Round 4 will see the return of Pablo Laso, a two-time EuroLeague champion with Real Madrid, to Palau Blaugrana and his FC Bayern Munich side takes on Barca. Then, in Round 5, there is the first clásico of the season against Real Madrid, which takes place at WiZink Center. It is not the easiest of starts for Coach Grimau's group, but if it comes through those games with flying colors, it should be a good sign of what is to come later in the campaign.