Selective selection: why Zenit and CSKA are leading in the VTB League
VTB League teams are approaching the equator of the regular season, which this year consists of 44 games. CSKA and Zenit, who managed to sign top performers in the summer, are the main favorites for the season. So it's not surprising that Alex Avramovic of Army won the MVP award in October and Xavier Moon, one of the Blue and White's leaders, took it in November. "Lokomotiv-Kuban is also living up to its status as one of the title contenders. The Krasnodarians put up a fight against CSKA Moscow, exchanged wins with Zenit, and beat UNICS twice. Kazan, on the other hand, clearly can't find their rhythm after the departure of Nenad Dimitrijevic. I'm glad to see that Russian players are coming to the forefront for several teams this season. These are Alexander Khomenko at Nizhny Novgorod, Timofey Gerasimov at Yenisei, Anton Kardanakhishvili at Samara and Andrei Zubkov, who managed to reboot his career in the MBA.
A sensation in a month
The new VTB United League regular season is not as unpredictable as the last one. The main upsets were CSKA's loss to Nizhny Novgorod in early October and Lokomotiv-Kuban's loss to Samara last week. And Samara played that game with only one international player, Haydon Dalton. That is one sensational result per month.
That's why the grands' showdowns come to the forefront. CSKA has won three out of four games against direct rivals, Zenit and Lokomotiv-Kuban have won three out of five, and UNICS has five losses in five games. Last season's finalists still look like the weakest link among the top clubs. This can be explained by the epidemic of injuries to their leaders and the departure of last season's MVP Nenad Dimitrijevic. Tony Taylor, who was chosen as an alternative to the Macedonian, is doing a good job so far, with good defense and a steady three-point shot. However, Taylor is hardly capable of producing performances like Dimitrijevic. And other leaders, including Devon Akun-Purcell, who replaced Eric Green, have yet to show their level in big games.
But the summer selection work to strengthen the roster is working well for Zenit (the team is currently on a 10-game winning streak). Dwayne Bacon is establishing himself as the top star of the championship, Xavier Moon has added speed to the team, Omari Spellman and Alex Poythress have added power. Plus, Andrei Vorontsevich brings important championship experience, and Georgy Zhbanov, who joined the team before the start of last season, has become arguably the best defensive player in the tournament.
- This team reminds me of the Zenit squad that won the VTB United League in the 2021/22 season," said Alex Poythress, who left St. Petersburg for two years. - All the guys are fighting for each other and have one specific goal - to take the Cup. Every day our understanding is getting better and better. I hope we can avoid injuries and approach the playoff games in optimal conditions.
CSKA also made some good signings this summer. Especially Alex Avramovic. The Serbian national team defender has already played several super matches, has become a locker room leader and a favorite of CSKA fans. However, in the match against Zenit, which took place on December 7, Aleksa was able to stop Zbanov, who acted personally against Avramovic the entire game.
- I can say that the break [for national teams] didn't do us any good, we lost our rhythm and, in fact, we haven't played a single good match since then," Andreas Pistiolis, the coach of the capital club, said at a press conference after the defeat in the Northern Capital. - In the game with Zenit, we lacked aggressiveness, we thought too much on offense, missed open shots, panicked and made a few unnecessary losses, while allowing the hosts a lot of comfortable attacks. Now we need to regroup, draw conclusions from our mistakes and play better the rest of the season.
Before the end of the year, the Army team will have some tough trips to Saratov and especially Krasnodar. "Loko" is having a great first part of the season under coach-president Andrei Vedischev. And the new coach entrusts a lot of playing time to 19-year-old Vsevolod Ishchenko, who has the potential to become one of the leading Russian players. Other young players from Loko's system are also performing well: Vladislav Emchenko, Kirill Temirov, Andrei Martyuk and especially Kirill Yelatontsev. The latter is one of the main contenders for the prize of the best young player of the season (under 23).
Zubkov's performance and Khomenko's record
In addition to Yelatontsev, a number of Russian players are also having a bright season. Anton Kardanakhishvili switched from CSKA to Samara in the summer and became a key player for the Volga club. The fact is that due to financial problems, Samara let all their foreigners go, so Russians are coming to the forefront. In addition to Kardanakhashvili (39 points in the last two games), Ilya Popov, Alexander Gudumak and Ivan Pynko are having a great season.
Gleb Goldyrev, Andrei Sopin and Nikita Zverev are still able to bring a lot of value. Ilya Platonov and Mikhail Kulagin should recover soon. In other words, Samara still has a roster capable of fighting for a playoff spot.
They now have seven wins in 18 games. Avtodor and Parma have the same number. Saratov, who have the lowest budget in the league, made good on all their foreign players, especially Caleb Agada and Kerem Kanter. Although the Permians beat Loko, they clearly haven't gotten the number of wins yet. This may be due to an injury to Samson Rujentsev, who played for the first time only last week, and the introduction of some very young guys into the roster. For example, 18-year-old Lev Svinin.
- Svinin's story reminds me of the beginning of Andrei Kirilenko's career," Parma coach Evgeny Pashutin told Izvestia. - When Andrei was 17-18 years old, Stanislav Eremin gave him 30 minutes at the number three position. He had top partners around him, and that's largely why he progressed so quickly. Of course, I think Kirilenko had more talent, but Löva also has a lot of potential. He has a high basketball IQ, he played point guard as a kid. There's nothing wrong with his shot. It's not for nothing that he's called up to the national team. But he still needs to work on his physicality.
Uralmash has one more win (8). Before the start of the season, it was expected that the club from Ekaterinburg would be able to compete on equal terms with all the grands and claim a spot in the top-4, but Rostislav Vergun's injury to Octavius Ellis threw all the cards away.
- Ellis is not only 20 points and 10 rebounds, he was a player who took away the opponent's attention and allowed others to play on the perimeter," Rostislav Vergun emphasized to Izvestia.
The center should return to action in January. Until then, the Uralians' goal is to keep their place in the top-6 and try to catch up with Nizhny. The team, led by young Russian coach Sergey Kozin, has a positive balance of wins and losses (10 and 8) and enjoys very disciplined basketball. Zach Natale, Nemanja Djurisic and Alexander Khomenko are among the team's leaders. In a recent game against Samara, the CSKA pupil pulled down 12 rebounds, a league record for freshmen.
Khomenko's former club, MBA, has five fewer wins than the team from Nizhny. So far, only Andrei Zubkov is pleasing the Muscovites, who is the best player in the tournament in terms of efficiency (21) and is in the top-5 in terms of efficiency (16.3).
The main disappointment of the season is Astana. The Kazakh club is on a streak of 18 consecutive defeats.
