EuroLeague Power Rankings: Who's on Top for the 26-27 Season Opener?

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Get ready for our first-ever EuroLeague power ranking on the channel! I break down all 20 teams, share hot takes, and spotlight the Israeli squads aiming for glory. Who tops my list? Who's a dark horse? Dive in for the full scoop and let the debates begin! If you enjoy, hit subscribe and drop a comment telling us your favorite moment or the team you think I underrated! #EuroLeague #Basketball #Sports #PowerRankings #Teams  👉 This channel was created in collaboration with https://www.youtube.com/@pinibarel  0:00 - Introduction and Power Ranking Overview 0:36 - Bottom Teams: Places 20–16 Analysis 2:21 - Mid-Lower Teams: Places 15–12 4:12 - Milano and Valencia: Surprises and Declines 5:59 - Red Star and Anadolu Efes: Play-in Contenders 8:10 - Barcelona, Maccabi, and Dubai: Top 10–7 10:03 - Žalgiris, Real Madrid, and the Top Six 12:42 - Top Four and Final Thoughts  We're now available on Spotify! Listen now https://open.spotify.com/show/033HmOTGXdiIuqLgsDJijd

Transcript

00:00For the first time on the channel, I'm trying the power ranking format in the EuroLeague as well.

00:03We have two Israeli teams representing us this year, and this year both teams are expected to

00:06make a strong statement, even though we don't have home games in Israel, and the games most

00:09likely won't be held in Israel, at least for now. Maybe later in the season, I'll be pleasantly

00:12surprised. I'm going to rank all 20 teams here. And I'll say again about this power ranking,

00:18like every power ranking I do here, this is my personal opinion. There's no right or wrong here,

00:23and a lot of things are going to change during this season, especially in basketball. Throughout

00:26the season, you have so many transfers, injuries, things that happen. So at least this is my power

00:29ranking ahead of this season, and how I see the EuroLeague as of today, on the eve of the

00:33competition's opening. Let's start from the bottom places. In 20th place, I'll rank Baskonia. I don't

00:37think I need to explain too much. A team with a lot of question marks, some NBA castoffs and players

00:41who played last year, like Kenneth Farid, Riz Duarte, AJ Lawson. It's nice, but nothing that can

00:44really hold up at the EuroLeague level. Certainly not in the first year for most of them. Close to them,

00:48in 19th and 18th places, I'll put Virtus Bologna here, and I'll go with Villa Urban in 18th place.

00:56And really, when I look at the rosters here, they're not broken teams like maybe Alba

00:59Berlin, who were here two years ago, but teams with a lot of question marks, and players like

01:02Daniel Hackett, who are still playing, it's just crazy to me. So yeah, Villa Urban, especially with

01:07the big story they had there this summer. In the end, they brought in Crowder and Patti Mills,

01:10who is definitely a player who will contribute, especially in European basketball, and Washington,

01:14who is an interesting player. But again, a lot of question marks here. Players, who some of them

01:18will have to step into the shoes of the leading players on these teams, but these aren't teams I

01:22think can really compete for the playing in any way. So these are the weakest teams in the

01:27competition, in my opinion. And right next to them, but maybe, maybe just a bit above them,

01:30I would put Besiktas, and after that, Palace basketball. Besiktas also features some former

01:35Makavi Tel Aviv players, like Wilbekin, Wenyan Gabriel, Ante Zizic, and even David Dejulius,

01:39who had an excellent season last year. The question is, how will this all come together

01:43at the EuroLeague level? They have Korkmaz here, Eugenio Moroi, someone else who played with

01:47Danny Avdia for a bit back in the day. In short, there is experience here, from players who have

01:50played in the EuroLeague. I just don't think they're necessarily that good at the EuroLeague level

01:53to pull a team up to the top 10. In 15th place, I put Paris Basketball, who have Nadir Riffi,

01:59who I think is an electrifying player. They also have other players who have played at the EuroLeague

02:03level. Jeremy Morgan played for Hapo at Jerusalem, for those who remember, not too long ago. Players

02:08who, in my opinion, have a higher upside, or let me put it differently, a higher floor, a floor where

02:12you more or less know what you're going to get from them. Players I would keep an eye on, who

02:15I think

02:15would be an interesting fit for the EuroLeague, and in my opinion, their basketball might translate better

02:19to the EuroLeague than players who are NBA castoffs. The others I saw here are, first, TJ Warren. It's

02:23not for nothing that I picked him for my fantasy teams on all my fantasy teams. He's a player I'm

02:27putting my chips on. I have a feeling he's going to be a EuroLeague star. He's already proven himself,

02:32and he's a player who knows how to put the ball in the basket with high efficiency. In addition,

02:35there's also Johnson and Tyson Etienne. For those who remember, he played last year in Brooklyn,

02:39together with Ben Saraf and Danny Wolfe. He's mainly a shooter, so let's see how his game translates to the

02:43EuroLeague level. I feel like he could fit specifically in Ex-Nadir Riffi. In 15th place, I'll put

02:47Partizan Belgrade. And in 14th place, I'll put Bayern Munich, but I'm putting an asterisk next to

02:52Bayern Munich. On one hand, I'm putting Partizan in 15th place, because in my opinion, this is a team

02:58with a very clear ceiling. They have some good names here, like Karlik Jones and Quarius Case,

03:02Luka Vidoza, of course, Kiri, Lamar Stevens. Yeah, good players. But I feel like the team itself has a

03:07very clear ceiling. I don't see them as a playing team, although again, there can always be players

03:11who grow there, developing within their Serbian system, who rise up and improve. But right now,

03:15this isn't a team I look at as a playing team, or even close to that potential. On the other

03:19hand,

03:19Bayern Munich is a more interesting team in my eyes, especially with Jezop, Zopp, who had his EuroLeague

03:23debut season last year, after playing well for two years, for those who remember, with Ben Saraf at Ulm.

03:28Opsta is amazing, and together with Rushington, they create a good shooting team, a very explosive team,

03:32especially when it comes to shooting. Oskar, Da Silva, Lucic, Ic, there are good players here, if this team

03:37connects. But in my eyes, the players who can take this team to the next level are first, Jokubaitis. We

03:41all know

03:41what he can produce at the EuroLeague level. He's coming back after a tough injury, after not playing

03:45last season. The question is how he'll fit in, and how he'll come back from this injury this year. If

03:49he comes back as good as we remember, he's an amazing player. Madron Bochamp, who is coming from

03:53the NBA, is also joining Bayern. His first time in the EuroLeague, and he's significant. Wiley, if you

03:58remember, even when he came to Hapoel, Jerusalem, I said that in my eyes, he's a player who would

04:02eventually make it to the EuroLeague, and here he is. Now, in my opinion, it's enough if one or two

04:06of

04:06these players fit in well here. And together with the existing team, this is definitely a team that can come

04:09together and reach the play-in in the EuroLeague. In places. 13. And 12. I'll put Olympia, Milano, and

04:18Valencia in 12th place. Last year's big surprise. Let's start with Milano, because Milano has

04:23strengthened a lot, and they've added proven players, whether it's Devon Hall, who came from

04:26Fenerbahce, Darius Thompson, the excellent player who came from Valencia, Moses Wright, who's a beast, came

04:31from Jalgiris, Alec Peters. Players who on paper are very, very good, but in recent years, Milano has often

04:35brought in big names, but didn't know how to connect them. That's the only reason, I think,

04:39that I'm putting them in these spots. Around 12th place. I wouldn't be surprised at all, if this is

04:44a team that ends up directly competing for the EuroLeague playoffs. That's the ceiling for this

04:48team, if things come together well here. But in the end, that's something we say about almost every

04:52team. They're really a team with a lot of upside, and they went for players who are already proven at

04:57the EuroLeague level, and even those who aren't, like Garrison Mathieu.

05:01Bornell and RJ Cole, who came from the Italian league. They played against them,

05:04they know what they can bring. It's similar, if I have to compare it, to what Maccabi or

05:09Hapoel do. Signe players who played and were good in the Israeli league. From here, we move on to

05:13Valencia. Last year's big surprise, who lost a lot of assets, and significant ones, and if you could

05:17ask me up until two weeks ago, I probably would have ranked them lower, and I was also a guest

05:21on the

05:21EuroLeague podcast, and ranked them much lower. But then I look at the roster again, and I say,

05:26Brooks, and who else came? TJ Shorts is a player we know what he can introduce for teams. He's the

05:30center of the offense. So yes, this is a team that always rotates, and they have an excellent coach

05:35and a good system. I don't think they'll be a playoff team, and definitely won't pull off last

05:40year's surprise, but this is a team he can't underestimate, and maybe I'm even overestimating

05:44them a bit, because they surprised me so much last year. They lost a lot. It's not the same team,

05:48but it's not a team to underestimate. They know what they're doing. Now, even after reconsidering,

05:51I'll put Valencia in 13th place here, and in 12th place, I'll put Milano. And from here,

06:00we'll move on to 11th place. And this is basically the spot that closes out the teams that I'm

06:05currently not putting in the play-in, and here I'm putting Red Star. And I'm doing it like,

06:09I don't know if wholeheartedly, if you know what I mean, because I look at Red Star's roster,

06:13and I say, honestly, they just have a really great team. Moniki and Nuara,

06:17Weiler Bab, Chris Jones, who comes from Hapoel, Jared Butler, who played in the NBA two years ago,

06:22Ibuka, Ojeleje, Motley, who came from Hapoel. I mean, they have a good Euroleague team here.

06:28Can I say that this is a team that won't make the play-in? Of course not. They could even

06:31be one

06:32of the surprises of the season. And I'm not. I see them, let's say, at the low end, somewhere between

06:367th and 11th or 12th place. So here I put them more towards the bottom area, because I couldn't make

06:42decisions about the top 10. But really a great team, and also a player to watch who comes from

06:46the NBA, Patrick Baldwin Jr., who also played with Danny back in the day. A player who plays the

06:50stretch four, spaces the floor, a good shooter. The question is, whether he'll be able to bring

06:54something beyond shooting at the Euroleague level. Because in the Euroleague, you need more than

06:57just shooting. You need defense, you need rebounding, and from what I remember, she can bring that.

07:01And we'll continue from here to the 10th place, and here I'm still not ranking Makabi Tel Aviv, and I'll

07:06go

07:06with Anadolu Efes. This might be one of the biggest surprises of my ranking, because Anadolu, for anyone who

07:11doesn't know, sportsbooks have them around 5th, 6th, or at worst, 7th. I'm not sure this team will go

07:17further than the playing this year. They do have a lot of proven names in the Euroleague year, and big

07:22names, good names. They also brought in Dario Saric, which is a really big name in European basketball,

07:29and mainly, you know, they basically transferred that Monaco team from back then into this team with

07:33their entire guard lineup, which is Mike James, Straszel, and Jordan Lloyd, of course, a few years later.

07:38They also have Cordinier, PJ Dozier, Bruno Fernando, Colin McCollum, our acquaintance. On the face of it,

07:44everything seems fine. My feeling is, I don't know why, but I have this sense that the team surrounding

07:49this group of guards, which was also the case back in Monaco, is less suitable. I'm talking about the

07:54supporting players, the big men, except maybe Kai Jones, and even that, you know, to a certain extent.

07:59If I have to bet on a team that's going to crash, continuing from last season, I'm betting on

08:03Anadolu. Not to crash like David last year, but not to be as good as people expect. Right now,

08:07I'm ranking them in 10th place. And from here, we move on to 9th place, and here I'm going with

08:13Barcelona, which I might even be ranking too high. Because if you look at it from a purely

08:17objective perspective, you could say that Barcelona should definitely be ranked below Anadolu. Maybe

08:21I'm ranking them high just because of their name, putting them in 9th place. And they brought in a lot

08:25of players here who simply haven't played in the Euroleague until now. Balcerowski. Tyrese Martin,

08:30who also came from Brooklyn after playing last year with Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf. Toussaint,

08:34with that tongue-twisting last name. In short, there are a lot of NBA cast-offs here. And honestly,

08:39I look at this team and I say... In a similar situation, it's not far from what Maccabi Tel Aviv

08:44has done in recent years. Bringing in a lot of NBA cast-offs and building around a few players who

08:48stay. That's what happened in Barcelona. It could come together, or it might not. Right now,

08:52I don't see it. Definitely not as the powerhouse team they've been in recent years. I might still give

08:57them a bit of credit for the years when they really were that good, and that puts them in

09:009th place for me. And now we've reached 8th place, and here I'll also rank Maccabi Tel Aviv,

09:04which in my opinion is exactly in that playing team area right now. We've talked a lot about

09:08Maccabi Tel Aviv's roster. They really have a forward group that's top level in the Euroleague.

09:13The question marks are of course the depth at the center position, the quality at the guard position,

09:18whether Yam Madar will really be able to reach the level he thinks he can under Odette Katash and so

09:22on,

09:22and whether Kito Wallace will come in and flourish. But when it comes to the forwards,

09:26in my opinion there are no question marks, and this team is simply a good team. I saw them play,

09:30they're just a good team, and a team that's going to be very hard to beat, and also with a

09:33lot of size.

09:34The big hit in my opinion is, first, bringing in Daniel Tice, who is a top Euroleague center.

09:39I talked about this in a separate video, and Bonzi Colson, who I think can go back to being the

09:43Bonzi Colson we saw at Maccabi Tel Aviv before he moved to Fenerbahce, and he's a player who,

09:47alongside Brist, alongside DJ Leaf, alongside all these players, alongside Howard, in the forward positions

09:52they're excellent rebounders, they can also cover for players like Sorkin, who is a less effective

09:56rebounder at the forward position. In short, there's a good team here, and it's a team I might even look

10:00at as potentially finishing in 6th place. If the games were also played in Israel, which

10:05unfortunately, though still not, but a place that did have Wokers fired at it recently and is still

10:09hosting games, is Dubai, and I would currently rank them in 7th place. And when you look at the teams,

10:14even at this stage, you can already see teams that are just packed with talent, packed with size,

10:18packed with everything, they really have it all, and Dubai has it all. The question is whether they'll

10:23have it. If they're really a team, that's the main question here. They brought in Wokap, and Elia

10:28Cobo could be an incredible addition if he continues to lead them as their main guard, which looks like

10:32what's going to happen. Schengelia, of course, Dwayne Bacon, Justin Anderson, really an endless roster,

10:38they have all the options here. The question is, sometimes with rosters like this, you know, people

10:43often ask, how do you manage the rotations, how do the players themselves feel, how many minutes does each

10:47player get, but honestly, those are good problems to have. In terms of talent, they have the talent

10:51to be one of the best teams in the EuroLeague, and from here, we get to the top 6. And

10:55here,

10:55no matter how I tried to do the ranking, I felt like I was missing something. And I'll explain to

10:59you exactly what I mean. You'll see my ranking, and I'll also explain for each team why I think

11:03about them the way I do. In 6th place, I'm currently ranking Zalgiris, even though I think Zalgiris

11:07may have made the most significant signing this summer. Last year, they were also an amazing team,

11:12with Tubelis, who was one of the EuroLeague's revelations. Sterling Brown joined, Carson Edwards,

11:16and especially, especially the main signing, and that's Jonas Valanciunas, who's coming from the

11:21NBA after years in the NBA, a player who, in my opinion, is a crazy game changer at the EuroLeague

11:26level. He's also a game changer per minute at the NBA level. Don't get me wrong. I think he's an

11:32incredible player for European basketball, and it's not unreasonable to think that he could also

11:36carry Zalgiris, if he really is as good as I think, to a Final Four season, and have an amazing

11:40season by any standard, continuing what they did last year. Now, personally, I really think Zalgiris

11:46can make the Final Four. And for the fifth spot, I had a big dilemma here, and in the end,

11:50I went with Real Madrid. The reason I'm going with Real Madrid, even though Real Madrid is still a

11:56great team, is that they lost two players who were their main scorers, who most of the offense

12:00relied on, which are Mario Hezonia and Trey Lyles, who moved to the NBA. And these are such key players

12:04that it's hard not to drop them in the rankings.

12:08I still believe they'll be a top team. I still believe they're potentially a Final Four team.

12:12They're still Real Madrid.

12:15And more than that, you can see they also blocked in Damian Jones and Olivier Sal,

12:19the brother of Alex Sal from the NBA. Players who are supposed to maybe back up Tavares,

12:22who's getting older.

12:24Into the main scoring guard position comes Luau Cabarro, who's a great scorer and did some nice

12:29things last year at Baskonia. But where did Baskonia finish last season?

12:32They finished at the very bottom of the EuroLeague, and that's different from just scoring points or

12:36making your team win. Still, the team will be a winning one. I don't know if they'll be in the

12:40top four in the regular season. And the team I do put in that top four is our second representative

12:45from Tel Aviv, Apoel Tel Aviv, who I put in fourth place in the power rankings. And when I look

12:50at

12:50this team, I see endless depth. I see Satoranski, who is an excellent rebounder at the point guard

12:55position and a player who isn't supposed to handle the ball too much, but is a good passer and usually

12:59does it without playing too many minutes. Last year, of course, he played an average of 25 minutes

13:03per game. But in my opinion, at Apoel, he'll play even a little less. And I think, as crazy as

13:08it may

13:08sound, and maybe people won't like to hear it, but the fact that they're playing in Sofia and in

13:13Bulgaria actually takes them a bit out of the bubble and away from what's happening with the crowd here in

13:17Israel. And maybe it'll actually do them some good in a way, because it really becomes a kind

13:21of home court for them. Unlike maybe Maccabi Tel Aviv, which loses a lot from not playing at the

13:25arena, I think Apoel Tel Aviv loses less. Of course they don't want to come to Israel,

13:30but right now, at this stage, I think they have a very, very deep team, a very high quality team.

13:35And I think more than anything, they need to set their goal for this season with the roster they

13:38have and the amount of money that's been invested here to reach the final four. That should be their goal.

13:44I don't think that if they don't reach the final four it's a failure, but I do think that should

13:48be the goal. They need to finish in the top six, and in a playoff series, everyone knows it depends

13:53a lot on matchups and how things develop. If they get to a game five against Real,

13:57against Fenerbahce, against Olympiacos, against Panathinaikos, it's clear it won't be a failure

14:02if they lose there and don't make it to the final four in the end. But they need to compete

14:05until the

14:06end. The final four should be the goal for this team, and that's what they should be aiming for.

14:09They have Oturo, Bryant, Lede, Satoranski, Blakeney, Mitzi. Really names that, when you hear them,

14:14you think of a top Euroleague team. In third place, I would rank Fenerbahce. Now, ranking Fenerbahce in

14:19third place is pretty easy, but something about Fenerbahce bothers me a little. And I'm not talking

14:24about the fact that they're Turkish, that they hate us and all that. I'm talking about the fact that in

14:27my

14:27eyes, they're a top quality team at their best, but not a very deep team. Especially when I look at

14:32the

14:32other teams we're ranking here, let's say in the top six, it's probably the least deep team of the group,

14:36but very high quality, and let's say the hierarchy here is very clear. Wade Baldwin,

14:40together with Shane Larkin, will be the ones to execute. Mostly Clyburn, Forest, Shields, Horton

14:46Tucker. They brought in our old friend Marcus Binkham and Johnny Juzang, who came from the NBA,

14:52from Utah. But in my opinion, the way they built here is such that even if during the season you

14:56need more players in positions that aren't the guards, you can bring them in easily. And even if,

15:00God forbid, one of the players gets injured, whether it's Baldwin, Larkin, Horton Tucker,

15:04it doesn't matter who. You have a replacement, you have the depth in the team.

15:08You know what, I take it back. It might not be very deep, but I wholeheartedly rank it in third

15:12place.

15:13And not surprisingly, in the top two spots, I'm going to rank the Greek teams. In second place,

15:17I rank Panathinaikos, and in first place, still, last year's EuroLeague champion Olympiakos. The team

15:21that in my eyes is still the best and deepest in the EuroLeague, and just by looking at the rosters

15:24of these teams, you can understand how much depth and quality they have.

15:28Panathinaikos started the season without Nyxerheis Davis, who will be out for about five or six weeks.

15:32Kendrick Nunn is also out for two or three weeks, and still, they have so much depth here, so much

15:37quality. They also bring Yabusele back from the NBA. Francisco, who was amazing last year in

15:42Zargiris, led them to a historic season. These are really teams that I don't think there's much

15:46more to elaborate on, simply because when I look at them, also at Olympiakos, these are teams with

15:51almost no weaknesses. They have so many potential lineups they can go with, players who are alphas,

15:56the scorers, you see dominant and excellent defenders, especially in Panathinaikos, and Vesenkov,

16:00who is arguably the best player in the EuroLeague, you could say, as a consensus.

16:04Along with him, they also added Montero, who came from Valencia. So, the reach get richer,

16:09and they kept adding more and more players, more and more depth.

16:12These teams are really almost perfect. In my opinion, if they don't make it to the final four,

16:16it would be a huge surprise. Even if they finish outside the top four in the regular season,

16:20that's less critical. So that's my ranking. That's my personal opinion, of course. Today,

16:24the EuroLeague season begins, and we wish our Israeli teams good luck. That's the most important thing.

16:28Maybe I rank them a bit too high, because I'm a bit of a wishful thinker like that,

16:31but that's how it is. Whether you like it or not, it doesn't matter, this is an opinion column.

16:35Let me know what you think in the comments, and don't forget to hit the like button,

16:37subscribe to the channel, and give YouTube some indication that you...

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