5 best EuroLeague off-season transfers

The EuroLeague season is just around the corner! With the new season starting next Thursday, OlyBet.TV looks at the moves in the transfer market and brings you the best additions.

Carlik Jones (Partizan Belgrade)

The Serbian powerhouse didn’t win anything last season, but the club’s leadership had no intention of blaming the head coach. Zeljko Obradovic is such a legendary figure in Belgrade that he decides when to vacate his throne.

Partizan has a brand-new team this season, and Jones was hired to lead it. To understand how good the point guard really is, one must look back to the previous two summers.

Jones was the standout of the South Sudan national team at last year’s World Cup and this year’s Olympics. He averaged 21 points and 10.4 assists at the former and 18 points and 7.7 assists at the latter.

Jones is a versatile guard who plays a team game and doesn’t slack on defense. The last time Partizan had a point guard with such qualities, they almost made it to the EuroLeague Final Four two seasons ago.

Evan Fournier (Olympiacos)

Just like their city rivals Panathinaikos, Olympiacos also seems to have endless resources. While Aleksandar Vezenkov is an upgrade to Alec Peters, the American wasn’t the reason why Olympiacos failed short of winning the EuroLeague last season.

Their Achilles’ heel was the lack of creativity and offensive firepower in the backcourt. Kostas Sloukas’s departure to Panathinaikos was a painful blow in every sense, as Thomas Walkup is not an offensive maestro, and while Isaiah Canaan did his best, the American was too inconsistent.

Fournier, who played 12 seasons in the NBA but eventually found himself on the bench due to his poor defense and shooting percentages, is a score-first player who can create his own shot and put pressure on the defense both beyond the perimeter and inside it. Moreover, the experienced Frenchman is not a selfish player, meaning he fits well into head coach Georgios Bartzokas’ team-oriented system.

Fournier becomes even more crucial, considering that Keenan Evans, initially signed to lead the backcourt, has been sidelined for several months due to a knee injury and won’t likely be at his best in the upcoming season.

Vincent Poirier (Anadolu Efes Istanbul)

After his NBA stint ended in 2021, Poirier landed at Real Madrid, where this season would have marked his fourth consecutive year playing second fiddle in the Spanish club’s frontcourt. Walter Tavares is simply so good that it’s impossible to nudge him out of the starting center spot.

At the same time, it was clear that Poirier could be the number-one center of virtually any other club. Despite playing limited minutes, the Frenchman was highly effective.

Efes is an ideal club for Poirier, at least in theory: he gets to enjoy the starting center role, he fits perfectly with guard Shane Larkin, and the Turkish club acquired a quality player for a position that gave them trouble last season.

Nenad Dimitrijevic (Olimpia Milano)

The Italian powerhouse’s head coach, Ettore Messina, has not hidden the fact that one of the most crucial components of his system is having the right point guard. Sergio Rodriguez and Malcolm Delaney fulfilled this role brilliantly, but Messina’s choices over the past two years have missed the mark.

Dimitrijevic’s mission is to prove that the third time’s the charm. The North Macedonian national team leader spent the first few years of his professional career in Spain and became a star during the last two seasons with UNICS Kazan in Russia.

Of course, after Russia invaded Ukraine, the level of the VTB League plummeted, but it’s still decent. Therefore, Dimitrijevic’s MVP season should be seen as a warning sign.

Just like the Italian Supercup played last weekend. In overtime, Milano defeated another EuroLeague team, Virtus Bologna, and Dimitrijevic, who scored 16 points, dished out six assists, and grabbed five rebounds, was named MVP.

Delaney and the recently retired Rodriguez were dynamic offensive orchestrators for Messina, who pushed the tempo. Kevin Pangos and others fell short in that role, but Dimitrijevic’s style should fit the coach’s wishes like a glove.

Will Clyburn (Virtus Bologna)

The man who declared himself the best small forward in the EuroLeague last season is still a quality player, but not quite at the level he was during his time with CSKA Moscow. Back then, Clyburn decided games and dominated almost every night.

His time at Efes was hampered by injuries and inconsistency, but this past spring, Clyburn proved that his class hasn’t gone anywhere. When healthy, he is still a formidable force.

At Virtus, which has significantly increased its budget this season, Clyburn is one of the team’s key players. He forms one of the EuroLeague’s best forward duos with Tornike Shengelia.

Playing alongside the Georgian should increase Clyburn’s efficiency since last season, almost no one could stop Shengelia, and he often required multiple defenders, which created space for his teammates. The American is skilled both with and without the ball, dangerous from close range and beyond the arc, and knows how to take advantage when given too much breathing space.

Thus, Clyburn has the perfect opportunity to prove that his time at Efes didn’t reflect his capabilities.