NextGen EuroLeague Istanbul rosters breakdown
Who will win the first ANGE event of the season? 2022 continental champs Mega or 2012 finalists Fenerbahce? What about Gran Canaria from Spain? All eight teams want to win the event.
It is that time of the year again - the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague - yep, there has been a rebranding from the ANGT - starts up with the ANGE Istanbul. The tournament will be played from November 29 to December 1. This is the earliest this competition has ever started. The ANGE Rome event used to be played between Christmas and New Year’s Eve. The ANGE Istanbul is the first of the four qualifiers with ANGE Munich planned for January 17-19, followed by ANGE Ulm from February 7-9 and ANGE Belgrade on March 7-9. The four winners of the qualifying events book their tickets to the ANGE Finals at the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague in May 2025.
The eight team field in Istanbul includes 2022 champions Mega MIS Belgrade as well as 2012 finalists Fenerbahce BEKO Istanbul and will be hosted by first-timers Bahcesehir College Istanbul. The other teams in the event are Anadolu Efes Istanbul, Gran Canaria, Umana Reyer Venice, Panathinaikos Athens and the NextGen Team Istanbul.
Group A
Bahcesehir College Istanbul
The debutants Bahcesehir will be missing their top player as Cengiz Coskun will be unable to go. Still, the host team has some talent to watch. Coskun was a leader for Türkiye at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024, where they finished third.
One of his national team fellow leaders who will be needed to pick up the slack is Yavuz Kara, who also was at the U17 World Cup as well as the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023. The small forward is averaging 11.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.3 blocks in the Turkish U19 league.
Also on both of those national teams was Ahmet Aydin while Cemil Catakli is contributing 5.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.7 steals in the U19 league. Another name of note is Muslum Leba, who came to Bahcesehir from Besiktas in February 2024. And Pamir Suvari is from the 2008 generation.
Mega MIS Belgrade
The 2022 champions - and 2017 and 2019 runners-up - are once again loaded with talent. The team is no longer coached by Dragoljub Avramovic, who has moved to the youth teams at Crvena Zvezda Belgrade. Milan Vidosavljevic has taken over as head coach for Mega’s youth team after serving many years as a women’s coach including guiding Serbia to third place at the FIBA U18 Women’s EuroBasket 2023 and 2024.
The leader will be ANGE third-timer Ognjen Srzentic, who is regularly playing in the Serbian first division for OKK Beograd. The versatile, athletic tall point guard helped Serbia take second place at the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2024 - shooting a white-hot 72.1% from long range.
Nikola Karalic is a Swiss Army knife who can do it all as a 2008-born swingman who helped Serbia take third at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024 - averaging 8.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals.
Vuk Danilovic, the son of Sasha Danilovic, has shown he can light it up, dropping 30 points on Cacak in the U19 JLS league on November 10. The 2008-born shooting guard was one of the main leaders of Serbia’s team that took third place at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024.
Mega’s roster also includes the intriguing Slovenian 2009-born Lun Jarc, who collected 5.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024. He has picked up a 14-point game in the JLS agianst Sloga.
Another interesting figure is Andrej Pavlovic, a 2008-born 6-11 center who played last season in Finland for Vantaa, tallying 18.5 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in the U16 EYBL. Pavlovic last summer averaged 4.8 points and 1.8 rebounds at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024.
Pavle Backo is a monster of a man at 6-11 and uses his size very well, nearly averaging a double-double in the Serbian JLS. It’s hard to imagine any team able to match up with Pavlovic, Backo and Petar Ostojic, a 7-1 center who came to Mega from SC Derby in 2023 and played for Serbia at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023.
Vid Krunic meanwhile is a point guard who has been playing this season with Zemun.
Panathinaikos
Panathinaikos are back again and have a couple of decent prospects but will probably struggle in Türkiye.
Georgios Tsakiris is playing in the ANGE for a second time after he tallied 6.5 points and 3.0 rebounds at the Paris event last season. Christos Georgas picked up 7.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 2.0 steals in Paris.
Iason Binis, who picked up 3.0 points and 4.0 rebounds last year at the ANGE, is a 6-11 center and Estonian international who averaged 7.3 points and 4.9 rebounds at the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2024, Division B. He played at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023, Division B as well.
Maximos Karamouzis played many years in Sweden for Stockholm and Lulea and even won the Sweden U16 league championship in 2023.
Also back from the ANGE last season are Evangelos Bousmpouras (5.8 ppg 1.2 rpg 1.8 apg) and Lampros Taskos (1.2 ppg) while Iason Karras, Pavlos Vasileiadis, Theodoros Papanikolaou and Giannis Can Kizil are all 2008-born players.
Umana Reyer Venice
Reyer are back for their third straight appearance and have a solid group of players back from last season when they took their best-ever finish of fifth place at ANGE Podgorica.
Forward Francesco Eramo will be playing his third ANGE after he averaged 4.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals last season.
Francesco Corato is at his second ANGE (2.0 ppg 2.0 ppg last seaason) and the 2.02 meter forward is collecting 14.2 points and 6.1 rebounds in Italian U19 league.
Andrea Macri had 4.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.0 assists last season and Davide Marini (1.8ppg 1.8 apg) and Edoardo Bonivento (1.7 rpg) are also back.
Francesco Carnevale is on loan for the tournament from Bassano as the point guard helped Italy finish second at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023 as well as sensationally at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024.
The team has a number of 2008-born players. The top one of those is Amir Charfi, a big man who played for Italy at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024 and averaged 2.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists. The others are Ettore Checchetto, Federico Vecchiuzzo, Filippo Pantano and Francesco Natale.
Group B
Anadolu Efes Istanbul
The tournament will be missing maybe the best player altogether as Efes point guard Kaan Onat broke a bone in his foot. Onat was named to the All-Star 5 of the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024, where he averaged 18.9 points (5th), 5.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists (5th) and 1.3 steals. But let’s focus on who Efes will have.
Mert Kocagozoglu is averaging 12.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in the Turkish U19 league as well as 2.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in the TBL second division. Kocagozoglu, who joined Efes from Manisa in 2023, played at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 (8.7ppg 3.7rpg 2.3apg 1.3spg) and helped hosts Türkiye finish third.
Atahan Akbas was also a part of the U17 World Cup team (4.7 ppg 2.0 rpg 2.4 apg) and is contributing 5.6 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 18 minutes in the TBL second division. And big man Aldin Turkoglu had 4.3 points and 3.4 rebound at the U17 World Cup.
The 2008-born Ruzgar Fenemen had 4.6 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024 and is a role player in the TBL second division.
The 2009-born Demir Ozturk tallied 5.5 points and 1.2 rebounds at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024 as a bottom level player.
The preliminary roster also includes the 2008-born trio of Berk Ustundag Resit Tanriver and Berk Catalay. The team also has two more 2009 players in Doruk Oztas and Darius Karutasu.
Fenerbahce BEKO Istanbul
Fenerbahce reached the 2012 ANGE Championship Game - losing to Rytas Vilnius despite having players like Berk Ugurlu and Metecan Birsen. The club is back in the competition for the first time since 2020-21 and has an extremely young team.
The leader will be the excellent 2008-born point guard Omer Ziyaettinl, who dominated at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024 with scoring 17.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.0 steals.
Deniz Urunlu played at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023 while Yagiz Karabilen is the younger brother of Ismail Karabilen.
The team is loaded with other 2008-born players - Yigit Sonmez, Yagiz Aggez, Asil Sezer, Doruk Yanci, Emre Adiguzel, Abdurrahim Sahiner, Doran Turhanoglu and Omer Cek - most of whom have contributed to the U19 team in some aspect.
But the group of 2009 born players are real gems.
Point guard Omer Sik is a fearless point guard who excels in the open court and has high level athleticism and can slash and really defend.
Ruzgar Opcun is a 2.11cm center who can handle the ball, rebound and block shots while also having a good shooting form. If he can build some strength and keep his skill set, Opcun could be a dynamic player long term.
And Kaan Belgutay is an athletic wing with good footwork and a high basketball IQ.
Gran Canaria
Gran Canaria are playing in the ANGE for the ninth season after they took third place at the ANGE Paris last season. The Spanish side would love to match their performance from ANGE Valencia 2019-2020, when they won the qualifier. But they could not play at the ANGE Finals as they were canceled due to the Covid pandemic. This Gran Canaria team is loaded with talent and could challenge for the crown.
One of the top players players back is Russian 2008-born guard Aleksandr Panasiuk, who averaged 6.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists. The 2008-born Mervedi Miteo is also returning after the Congo center tallied 12.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 2.0 blocks for a PIR of 18.8. This season he is averaging 5.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in the Spanish third division.
Two other returnees are Jaime Llabres (3.5 ppg 1.0 rpg 1.0 apg) and Jorge Arteaga (1.0 ppg 2.0 rpg 1.5 apg).
This Gran Canaria team has some great storylines.
Joaquin Taboada is an Uruguayan from the Pablo Laso Academy in his first season in Spain. He averaged 15.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists at the FIBA U16 AmeriCup 2023. His father Emilio Taboada was a former Uruguanyan international who is still playing at age 42.
Gavin Baez is the son of long-time Dominican Republic national team player Eulis Baez, who played seven years with Gran Canaria.
Code Mbengue starred at the FIBA U18 AfroBasket 2024 with 9.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for Senegal.
Arthur Wilfried Tsafack is a Cameroon big man while Moussa Coulibaly is a 2009-born big from Mali and Juan Yanez is part of the club’s 2009 generation. And Dayron Falcon is a guard who last summer played two 3x3 tournaments.
NextGen Team Istanbul
The NextGen Team will be coached this season by former Turkish international Dogus Balbay, who becomes the third former great to coach the select team following Vassilis Spanoulis and Petteri Koponen.
UPDATE: Maxence Lemoine has not been released from SIG Strasbourg as the point guard will be needed to fill in for the injured Illan Pietrus. The team will feature dynamic point guard Maxence Lemoine, who made the All-Tournament Team at the NextGen Team Dubai and starred for SIG Strasbourg. Lemoine also played for France at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024.
Jahel Trefle also hails from France and played last season at the ANGE Paris. He left Pau-Lacq-Orthez this off-season and plays together with Lemoine at Strasbourg. The big man was also on the France team at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024.
French guard Christopher Ebunangombe played for INSEP Paris last season at the ANGE Paris and the ANGE Finals but has since moved to FIBA Europe Cup side Le Portel. He also was part of the disappointing France team at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024.
Another French player is 2008-born Louka Letailleur, who helped Gravelines win the French U18 title in 2023 and also averaged 10.0 points and 6.3 rebounds as France won the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024.
Spaniards Gerard Fernandez and Lucas Sanchez helped Spain take second place at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024 with 9.0 points and 4.7 rebounds and 9.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game respectively. The 2008-born guards are both playing for Manresa.
One of the most intriguing players is Russian Daniil Stolbetskiy who also plays in Spain for Fuenlabrada after leaving Real Madrid. The big man played twice in the Spanish third division, picking up 19 points against Quintanar.
The final player in Spain is Dominique Fisher, who is listed as Spanish-USA national though he was born in Madrid and has always lived in Spain. The point guard plays for Estudiantes.
Stratos Papastavrou played at the ANGE last season for Olympiacos Piraeus and left the club to join Panionis. He starred for Greece at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023 with 11.6 points, 3.6 rebound and 2.3 assists.
Another player with a Greece connection is Montenegrin 2008-born Djordje Djukanovic, who joined Proteas Voulas this season. This past summer, he collected 12.0 points, a tournament high 14.0 rebounds as well as 1.8 assists and 1.9 steals at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024, Division B.
Roman Avdejev will be representing Estonia for the select team as he plays for Rainar Halliku. The 2008-born big man guided the Estonians to the title at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2024, Division B with 12.7 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.1 blocks.
Another big man on the team is Kosovo-Turkish Rrezon Elezay who plays for Besiktas. He played twice for Türkiye over the summer, taking third at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 and also at the FIBA U18 EuroBasket 2024.
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