Some pre-season thoughts regarding Maccabi and Barcelona

The “Diamonds are Forever” tournament is over. Besides a touching retirement ceremony for Dimitrios Diamantidis, the tournament was also an opportunity to take a glimpse at the new Euroleague team squads. Maccabi Tel Aviv and Barcelona both have new coaches: Erez Edelstein and Georgios Bartzokas who made but a few adjustments to their teams and their teams' gameplay.

Edelstein and Maccabi

Next season will be Edelstein's first Euroleague season as a coach. With his former teams and the Israeli national team he was playing high 2-3 formation: two guards are standing outside, two forwards on the wings and a tall center in the high post. When one player has the ball, the center sets a screen for other players. This game consists of constant movement to the rim and a lot of backdoor passes. This gameplay has its very own beauty but its efficiency is yet to be proven. While it seems that Maccabi's athletic forwards fit Edelstein´s system (Rudd had a great tournament), the guards Mekel and Ohayon will probably have difficulties. Both of them tend to keep the ball for a long time. That might slow down Edelstein's fast-paced offensive game.

Edelstein appreciates to make decisions on his own, to have control over his team and any gameplay on the field. This mindset is from the past. A few years ago, it was said that coaches who don't control their team – and their stars - are due to fail, that it is better to take a safe 2-pt shot rather than a wild 3-pt shot and that only untrained teams shoot many three pointers. Modern basketball in Europe as well as in the US, however, is no longer like that. It's not all in the coach's hands anymore. Edelstein will have to let go and hand over some responsibility to his players. His stars Goudelock (who missed the tournament due to injury), Weems, Rudd and even Alexander and Landesberg have great individual talent. In certain situations Edelstein just has to let them play and rely on their instincts, even if they take wild 3-point shots. Steve Kerr and Tyronn Lue are also doing that. This is the modern way of the game.

Bartzokas and Barcelona

Bartzokas is a coach who gives his stars the license to shoot. He's a new type of baketball coach. His players have ultimate freedom when it comes to making decisions in their offense game. But in defence, he is extremely demanding and takes matters in his own hands. His former team Kuban had the best defence during the top 16 last year. Their pack line defence is based on two elements: tough one-on-one defence and sagging. This defensive play definitely worked fine for Kuban, but it might not be the right thing for Barcelona. Juan Carlos Navarro is not the best one-on-one defender. He is already 36 years old and he's not the fastest player anymore.

Another problem might be Ante Tomic. He, as well, is too slow for Bartzoka's defensive play, not to mention his lack of athleticism. The pack line defence forces opponents to shoot more 3-pointers than intended. For this kind of defensive game players need to be quick on their heels. When necessary, they need to rush back from the inside to defend 3-point-shooters, just like Randolph and Singelton did for Kuban. It will definitely be a challenge for Bartzokas to adjust his defensive play to Ante Tomic. Or maybe he will give Shane Lawal and Joey Dorsey more minutes because they have the necessary means for this game: athleticism and quickness. Especially Dorsey knows how far you can come by playing good defense. He, just like coach Bartzokas, already won a Euroleague title by sticking to the defense play book.