Basketball

Why does Prometheus fail at the beginning of the season?

Published

2 years ago

November 5, 2023

Ralph

Why does Prometheus fail at the beginning of the season?

Six months ago on the pages of our website we praised the “giants” for their excellent 2022/2023 campaign. Even in the conditions of a large-scale war, “Prometheus” did a very large and high-quality job and showed one of the best results in the European arena in the history of Ukrainian basketball. But last season ended, the off-season passed and a new playing year began, but little remained of the same “Prometheus”, who brought victories on the assembly line and delighted fans with his magnificent game.

Although Ronen Ginzburg remains in the coaching role and half of last season’s players remain on the roster, the team appears to have been replaced. And the recruits of the Ukrainian club were positioned by him as very talented players. Despite this, “Prometheus” is more disappointing, both in terms of the team’s results and the quality of basketball shown. What is the reason for such negative metamorphoses? Let’s figure it out.

Players are not performing at the expected level

After last year’s semi-final result in the first season of the European Cup, the team management quite logically planned to at least repeat it. For this purpose, expensive foreign players and many well-known Ukrainian basketball players were invited, but at the moment only a few of the Slobozhan squad demonstrate quality basketball.

Particularly disappointing is playmaker Marcus Keane. The American looks like a foreign object in the team right now, dragging his team down rather than helping himself on both ends of the floor. Yes, he plays a good game (for example, the first quarter with the Riga club VEF), but Keane’s confusion and excessive game egoism are much greater.

The performance of another American, Rashard Kelly, also matched Marcus. However, in his justification, we can say that he signed the contract during the off-season, when the club was urgently looking for a player to replace the injured Arnoldas Kulbock. Accordingly, Kelly has not gone through pre-season training at the club and has not yet fully examined the new team, but Rashard does not show anything that could explain his invitation to the team at the moment.

Ronald March, another American who transferred from the French Championship to Prometheus, also receives many questions. However, March is slowly adapting and has looked noticeably better in recent matches, but it gets worse when a professional sniper fails to score three consecutive free throws with his club three points behind (match against London Lions). I wonder about the accuracy of this signature.

The only legionnaire that Prometheus gets right is the center Tai Odiase, who immediately starts showing a good level. It is difficult to evaluate the performance of another US representative, Davon Reed, as he was quickly hospitalized, we will talk about this below.

However, even if we don’t get too personal, it is worth saying that “Prometheus” does not display good team play. Serious competitors in the European Cup are reading and solving Ronen Ginzburg’s players. Moreover, the Slobozhansky club loses not only in slow and long-playing basketball (Beşiktaş in Istanbul), which is unusual for them, but also in the fast and transit game (London Lions in Riga), which is the favorite of the “giants”. ).

In each of the three matches lost in the European Cup, Prometheus started well but then faltered under the pressure of their opponents. The team no longer has a leader or leaders who can lead in difficult times like they had two DJs last season. Yes, Balvin and Odiase are trying, but due to their positions and playing styles, it is very difficult for them to organize significant breakthroughs. It seems that many Prometheus players do not have a twinkle in their eye and a desire to gnaw away victories, and this is exactly what distinguishes last year’s beloved team.

Managerial mistakes in team building

However, players cannot join the team themselves. Administrators fetch/save them. I would like to mention a name in this context. Bronislaw Wawrzynczyk. In the summer, a Pole with a really good CV came to Prometheus as sports director and started building a new team. However, he had somehow assembled the puzzle incorrectly.

Here we involuntarily recall a story from the archives of Ukrainian basketball from almost twenty years ago. After a very successful 2004/2005 season, when BC Kiev reached the finals of the FIBA Champions League, the capital club strengthened its administrative staff with the appointment of high-status Israeli Rani Kahana, who was appointed as the sports director of the Kiev team. Despite last season’s team being well-rounded and almost completely balanced, the new top manager has released many proven players and replaced them with controversial candidates, to say the least. Yes, the team had the season but had huge problems and the final results shown were worse than last season.

Something similar is happening now. The two defenders from the French championship, March and Keane, are unimpressive, to say the least. Marcus is short, Ronald looks physically weaker, which creates a huge space for defensive mismatches to please the opponent when used simultaneously on the field. Does the attack compensate? It doesn’t seem particularly from Keene yet. It’s still a long way from the level of TJ Shorts in Paris.

It would be interesting to see if Prometheus’ recent experience signing Davon Reed would be explored if they were invited. Like Keane and March, the American defender came to the club as the top scorer in the French championship. However, he did not perform as well in Prometheus and was sent home soon after. Perhaps the players in the French Pro A League should be examined in more detail; They are talented, individually strong, but often have excessive play and personal egoism, which hinders their integration into the team.

It is already clear that Prometheus wants to build a more challenging team than last season. But then instead of signing a contract with representatives of the French middle peasants or a player who has no experience of playing in Europe, even from the NBA, why not invite experienced players with a lot of matches in European cups to the team? It’s always a lottery.

Of course, it is stupid and wrong to put all the blame on the Polish coach. He is not alone in management. There is a selection department, and the signing of this or that basketball player is tightly coordinated with the coaching staff and top management of Prometheus. But Bronislaw Wawrzynczyk’s first pancake turned out to be lumpy.

Constant injuries in the team

It is difficult to find a team in European elite basketball that suffers so much and regularly due to injuries to its players. Basketball fans correct me in the comments if I’m wrong, but the team where injuries often destroy athletes is neither in the Euroleague, nor in the European Cup, nor in the FIBA Champions League.

Prometheus’ infirmary has not been empty since the middle of last season. Never. At least one player is always there. Yes, injury is unpredictable and anything can happen. But how can we not remember the ordinary: once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern. And in “Prometheus” there were already four, five and six. At the end of last season, the “Titans” often played with seven players. If we consider in general the players who spent the last playing year in Prometheus, there will be almost no one left who will complete this year without various injuries. Now the situation has taken a new turn. Issouf Sanon has already managed to return to the field from injury, and Davon Reed continues his sick leave after several games this season, and it is still unclear what the current NBA champion is like.

Moreover, in Prometheus, players suffer very serious injuries that knock them out for a long time. DJ Kennedy and Denis Lukashov suffered this way last season, and now the situation has repeated itself with Lithuanian Arnoldas Kulboka. One of the key players on the new team (as planned) will most likely not play in Prometheus this season. Without being inside the team, it is difficult to evaluate what the medical service does and what the criteria for work are, but there are many questions for this, since the number of injuries in the Slobozhansky club is abnormally high.

***

After the weak-willed defeat of the French “Paris”, club president Vladimir Dubinsky announced changes in the team. Yesterday, “Prometheus” lost in sensational fashion to the Latvian “Ogre” at LEBL – 76:85, and it looks like the time for these changes has definitely come. We still have enough time to fix the situation, but we need to start changing something (or someone) now. Otherwise it will be too late and the team will risk failing for the entire season. Of course, a lot of critical arrows are flying at the Slobozhan team (which includes this text) at the moment, but I wish the team and the organization as a whole to successfully overcome this difficult moment. The overwhelming number of fans of the orange ball in Ukraine, as well as the author of these lines himself, are eagerly awaiting the return of that “Prometheus”, who returned to our high European Cup expectations in basketball and the joy of victory in the international arena. .

Source: Sport UA

Ralph

Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.

NBA

NBA: Utah with Mikhailyuk sensationally beat Detroit and other results of the night

Published

41 minutes ago

December 27, 2025

Paula

NBA: Utah with Mikhailyuk sensationally beat Detroit and other results of the night

Nine regular season games took place in the NBA on the night of December 26-27.

Utah hosted the Eastern Conference leader and won a sensational victory.

The first half of the match was spent with a small lead for the Pistons, who kept their opponent one or two shots away most of the time and entered the long break with a 1-point lead at 68:67. The decisive factor in the match was the third quarter; In this quarter, Jazz made a 16:3 move and took the lead by 12 points, 90:78. The home team had the advantage in the score, but Detroit gradually reduced the gap and 19 seconds before the siren, after two free throws by Cunningham, they equalized the score – 129:129. However, the match did not go to overtime – Utah took advantage of the remaining time with the efforts of George, who scored a two-pointer 3 seconds before the siren – 131:129.

Svyatoslav Mikhayyuk He stayed on the field for 21 minutes and recorded 9 points (3/4 two-pointers, 1/2 three-pointers), as well as 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.

The most productive player was George, who scored 31 points for Utah, while Nurkic had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

NBA. Regular season, December 27

Utah-Detroit-131:129 (33:36, 34:32, 44:35, 20:26)

Utah: George (31 + 7 rebounds + 8 assists), Markkanen (30), Nurkic (16 + 11 rebounds), Mikhailyuk (9), Bailey (0) – start; Sensabaugh (20), Love (14), Collier (9 + 9 assists + 5 turnovers), Filipovski (2), Hendricks (0), Clayton (0).

Detroit: Cunningham (29 + 17 assists), Harris (16 + 7 rebounds), D. Robinson (14), Düren (11), Thompson (8) – start; Ivey (11), LeVert (11), Holland (11), Green (8), Jenkins (6), Stewart (4), Reed (0).

Atlanta-Miami-111:126 (32:32, 19:31, 33:27, 27:36)

of Atlanta: Young (30 + 6 assists), Johnson (24 + 9 rebounds + 10 assists), Okongwu (12 + 7 rebounds), Daniels (8), Risache (5) – start; Alexander-Walker (15), Krejci (11), Gueye (4), Newell (2), Wallace (0).

Miami: Powell (25 + 7 rebounds), Larsson (21), Wiggins (18 + 8 rebounds), Ware (16 + 13 rebounds), Mitchell (6 + 7 assists) – start; Jaques (16), Jovic (10 + 7 rebounds), Yakucionis (8), Smith (6).

Washington – Toronto – 138:117 (35:32, 38:30, 29:38, 36:17)

washington: George (23), McCollum (21), Coulibaly (21 + 8 rebounds), Sarr (15), Middleton (6) – start; Carrington (15), Johnson (12), Shempeny (8+7 rebounds), Riley (8), Bagley (6), Brenham (3), Watkins (0), Vukcevic (0), Johnson (0).

toronto: Ingram (29), Quickley (25), Barnes (14 + 7 assists), Mamukelashvili (13 + 11 rebounds), Agbadji (8) – start; Walter (15), Shed (6), Dick (5), Lawson (2), Temple (0), Bettle (0), Mobo (0).

Indiana-Boston-122:140 (39:28, 22:47, 30:36, 31:29)

indiana: Nembhard (18 + 8 assists + 5 losses), Maturin (13), Siakam (11), Huff (9), Jackson (6) – starts; McConnell (13), Walker (12), Thompson (11 + 6 assists), Furphy (9), Potter (9), Jones (4), Bradley (4), Peter (3).

Boston: Brown (30), Pritchard (29 + 9 rebounds), White (21 + 6 assists), Keta (8 + 7 rebounds), Walsh (3) – start; Houser (23), Garza (15), Simons (8), Scheierman (3), Gonzalez (0).

Orlando-Charlotte-105:120 (28:38, 20:19, 29:39, 28:24)

orlando: Black (24), Carter (16 + 8 rebounds), Bane (15 + 10 rebounds), Banchero (13), Jones (8) – start; Richardson (14) and Silva (8), Kane (5), Isaac (2), Howard (0), Penda (0), O. Robinson (0).

Charlotte: Ball (22 + 7 rebounds + 6 for loss), Knippel (16), Bridges (16 + 11 rebounds), Miller (15), Diabate (10 + 13 rebounds) – start; Hall (14 + 8 rebounds), Sexton (13), Hall (7), Green (6), Connaughton (1), James (0), Mann (0).

Chicago – Philadelphia – 109:102 (30:28, 19:24, 32:33, 28:17)

Chicago: White (13 + 7 rebounds + 6 assists), Giddy (12 + 11 assists + 5 turnovers), Buzelis (10 + 8 rebounds), Okoro (8), Vucevic (7 + 7 rebounds) – start; Collins (15), Jones (15), Smith (12 + 8 rebounds), Herter (9), Dosunmu (8).

Philadelphia: Embiid (31), Maxey (27 + 8 assists), George (15 + 12 rebounds), Edgecombe (10 + 7 rebounds), Barlow (7) – start; McCain (6), Drummond (2), Grimes (2), Bona (1), Walker (1), Edwards (0).

Memphis – Milwaukee – 125:104 (25:35, 35:15, 32:33, 33:21)

Memphis: Jaren Jackson (24 + 9 rebounds + 5 blocks), Morant (17 + 10 assists), Coward (15), Wells (14), Aldama (12 + 7 rebounds) – starter; Spencer (19), Caldwell-Pope (13), Jackson (7), Koloko (4), Small (0).

Milwaukee: Green (20), Porter (16 + 8 rebounds + 7 turnovers), Portis (15 + 12 rebounds), Kuzma (15 + 8 rebounds), Turner (8) – starts; Rollins (15), G. Harris (8), Jackson (3), Coffey (2), Sims (2), Anthony (0), Nance (0), T. Antetokounmpo (0).

New Orleans – Phoenix – 108:115 (23:26, 25:27, 32:28, 28:34)

new orleans: Murphy (19), Fiers (9), Bay (9), Quinn (7 + 7 rebounds), McGowens (4) – start; Williamson (20 + 8 rebounds + 6 assists), Poole (19 + 6 assists), Alvarado (11), Missy (7), Matkovic (3), Peavy (0).

Phoenix: Booker (30 + 9 rebounds), Williams (24 + 13 rebounds), Gillespie (16 + 9 assists), Brooks (14), O’Neal (3) – start; Dunn (9 + 8 rebounds), Ighodaro (6), Fleming (6), Goodwin (4), Buey (3).

Portland – Clippers – 103:119 (35:25, 27:31, 16:29, 25:34)

Portland: Avdija (29 + 9 rebounds + 9 assists + 6 turnovers), Kamara (20), Sharpe (16), Clingan (10 + 8 rebounds), Murray (4 + 7 rebounds) – start; Love (14), Ruper (5), R. Williams (4 + 12 rebounds), Sissoko (1), Rith (0).

cutting machines: Harden (34 + 6 assists), B. Lopez (31), Lenard (28 + 8 rebounds + 6 assists), Collins (8), Dunn (7) – start; Sanders (5), Miller (3), Batum (3), Bogdanovich (0), Christie (0), Niederhäuser (0).

tournament tables

Western Conference

Eastern Conference

Source: Sport UA

Paula

I am a sports journalist who has written for various websites and magazines. I currently work as an author at Sportish, a news website that covers sports news. My main focus is writing about soccer, rugby and other sports in the world.

Basketball

Euroleague: Len’s failure, Maccabi’s defeat, Olympiacos’ hard-fought victory

Published

9 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Ralph

Euroleague: Len’s failure, Maccabi’s defeat, Olympiacos’ hard-fought victory

Three matches were played as part of the 18th round of the Euroleague on December 26.

Partizan hosted Maccabi Tel Aviv and suffered a heavy defeat.

The home team, which started the match better, was separated from the opponent by 11 points (28:17) in the first quarter, and at the end of the first 10 minutes, they missed the 3:13 attack and reduced the difference with the opponent team to 1 point (31:30). In the second quarter, Maccabi seized the initiative and after a 14:0 move, they fell behind by 15 points, 56:41. This part of the game was decisive, since then the away team increased their advantage and achieved +33 points – 92:58 at the end of the third quarter, after which they relaxed a little and allowed the opponent to reduce the gap to the last 25 points – 87:112.

This was Maccabi’s fifth consecutive win in the Euroleague, which moved them up to 14th in the standings.

While the most productive player of the match was Walker, who scored 20 points, overall five of Maccabi’s players scored 10+ points.

Monaco had a tough home win against Real Madrid.

The Monegasques were ahead almost the entire game against Los Blancos, but they could not gain a comfortable distance. At the beginning of the third quarter, the home team had a 14-point lead, but then they missed a move at 4:14 and allowed their opponent to return to the game, and at the end of 10 minutes, Real equalized the score: 70:70. The decisive factor in the fourth quarter was Monaco’s 12:0 breakthrough towards the middle of the 10-minute period, which gave them a 12-point advantage: 87:75. After this, although the guest team reduced the gap, they did not fully return to the game. As a result, Monaco won with a score of 100:95.

Real Madrid’s Ukrainian headquarters Alexey Len He spent 6 minutes on the field and made 1 incorrect two-point shot and 1 foul during this time.

The two visiting players immediately recorded double-doubles. Tavares had 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Campazzo had 28 points and 10 assists. Okobo scored 22 points for the winners, but Monaco showed more team play; 6 home players scored 10+ points.

Virtus Bologna hosted Olympiacos and almost staged a surprising comeback in the fourth quarter.

The home team won the first quarter with a score of 25:23, but then the game went sideways and at the big break the Greeks had a 9-point advantage – 50:41, and before the last minute of the third quarter the away team was ahead +20 – 77:57. The fate of the match seemed certain, but then Virtus got back into the game with a move at 18:3. There was an even game further down the field, where the home team tried to equalize the score, but Fournier’s three-pointer with a score of 92:93 and successful free throws helped the Greeks preserve the victory, but Virtus made a three-point shot for equal score at the last second through Alston’s efforts.

Dorsey scored 23 points and Fournier scored 21 points for Olympiacos.

Europa League. Regular season. 18th round, 26 December

Partizan – Maccabi Tel Aviv – 87:112 (31:30, 12:28, 16:34, 28:20)

Partisan: Payne (15 points + 3 rebounds + 6 assists), Brown (12+2+4), Bonga (10+4+1), Jones (10+6+2), Marinkovich (9+2+1), Washington (8+1 assists), Osetkovski (8+1+3), Fernando (6+4+1), Lakic (6+1+1), Calathes (3+2+2).

maccabi: Walker (20+2+5), Sorkin (17+6+3), Leaf (14+6+1), Brissett (11+3 rebounds), Santos (10+2+2), Gord (9+4+2), Ryman (8+4 rebounds), Clark (7+3+6), Blatt (6+4+7), DiBartolomeo (5+3+1), Lundberg (3+2+2), Levy (2+1 selection).

Monaco – Reality – 100:95 (21:20, 26:23, 23:27, 30:25)

Monaco: Okobo (22+2+2), James (15+4+5), Nedovich (12+3 rebounds), Strazel (12+4 rebounds), Diallo (11+7+2), Mirotic (10+1+2), Theis (8+7+1), Blossomgame (6+4 rebounds), Hayes (4+7+1).

Real: Campazzo (28+5+10), Tavares (21+11 rebounds), Okeke (12+2 rebounds), Dec (9+4+2), Abalde (7+2 assists), Hezonja (6+5+2), Maledon (5+1+2), Procida (3), Garuba (2+2 rebounds), Kramer (2+1 rebounds).

Virtus Bologna – Olympiacos – 94:97 (25:23, 16:27, 19:27, 34:20)

virtus: Wildosa (17+2+4), Morgan (15+5 assists), Edwards (14+1+2), Diouf (12+4+1), Smailagic (9), Alston (8+2 rebounds), Niang (7+4+1), Hackett (6+3+4), Payola (4+1+4), Akele (2+1 rebounds).

OlympiacosDorsey (23+4+3), Fournier (21+1 rebounds), Vezenkov (16+5 rebounds), Milutinov (13+9+5), Peters (13+6+1), Papanikolaou (5+4+2), Walkup (2+2 assists), Ntilikina (2+1+2), Hall (2+2 assists), Morris (3 rebounds + 2 assists).

tournament table

Source: Sport UA

Ralph

Basketball

OFFICIALLY. Ukraine national team player will play for the Adriatic League club

Published

16 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Ralph

OFFICIALLY. Ukraine national team player will play for the Adriatic League club

Croatian “Zadar” reported on its official website the transfer of a basketball player from the Ukrainian national team Ivan Tkachenko.

After a short trial period during which the Ukrainian player met the requirements of the coaching staff, a contract was signed with him at the end of the season.

The club has already announced that Tkachenko will participate in the Adriatic League and the Croatian Championship, so the Ukrainian can make his debut for the new team in the local championship match against Kvarner on December 27.

Tkachenko did not sign a contract with any club at the beginning of the 2025/26 season and played in only two official matches after the start of the season – as part of the Ukrainian national team, against Georgia and Denmark in November as part of the 2027 World Cup qualifiers.

Last season Ivan played for Mitteldeutscher, where he won the German Cup. The forward, who played in 32 matches in the 2024/25 Bundesliga, averaged 4.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in 17.3 minutes.

During his club career, Tkachenko played for Ukrainians Cherkasy Mavpy and Prometheus, as well as Finland’s Helsinki Seagals.

Zadar is in sixth place in the Adriatic League Group B with 4 wins in 10 matches, and is in second place in the Croatian Championship with a score of 10-1.