“The level of the first teams has decreased slightly, but the level of second-tier clubs has improved” – Tarakanov about the first round of the United League

Olympic champion Sergei Tarakanov shared his opinion on the results of the first round of the current season of the VTB United League.

— Overall, the championship is one of the most interesting in recent times. I would say that the level of the first teams has decreased slightly, but the level of the second-tier clubs has improved. There is more competition, there is now much more unpredictability in the results, which means it should be more interesting for viewers. There are surprise teams like the Krasnoyarsk Yenisei. For once they got it right with the legionnaires. Second time it works. The first was when they signed Casper Ware, who then went to CSKA. In addition, there are teams that emphasize their stable level and development, such as Lokomotiv-Kuban. They recently won back 22 points in a match with the current champion UNICS, and beat CSKA. It’s also nice that the Russians play a big role among the Krasnodar players.

— To summarize, what is the level of the United League championship when compared with Europe, the same Euroleague?

— I comment on the Euroleague, I see the games and I can say that it is very far from us, a different basketball world. Despite the fact that two or three Russian teams could definitely look very decent there. But today this is not for us. If we return to the United League, our championship now looks very decent; there is no clear one or two leaders. It’s like in the best championships, where there are five or six teams that can easily beat each other. I repeat, there are many tense games, tense endings, and unpredictable results. This is what drives progress, interest, and so on.

Our championship looks very decent. There are no one or two clear leaders. Lots of intense games, intense endings

— The two or three teams you just mentioned are CSKA, UNICS and Zenit?

— “Lokomotiv-Kuban” would also be added here. But the question is how strong they would be, given today’s logistical difficulties. It is clear that if our clubs were playing in the Euroleague now, they would have a slightly different transfer policy. But this is out of the ordinary,” Rossiyskaya Gazeta quotes Tarakanov as saying.

Watch live broadcasts of VTB United League matches on the television channels of the Match holding company, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.