By Alex Molina / info@eurohoops.net
Valencia Basket is making a statement. After weeks of uncertainty at the end of last season, when nobody knew if Valencia would play in the Turkish Airlines Euroleague or the BKT Eurocup, the Spanish team swiftly accepted a wild card to the continent’s most elite competition. Now, Valencia is making the most of the opportunity.
After a somewhat disappointing 2022-23 season, which also started with a special invitation but ended with a 15-19 record, the team decided to take a different direction, letting go of long-time pillars like Bojan Dubljevic, Sam Van Rossom, and Klemen Prepelic, who had a collective 24 seasons with the club.
For the last few years, the whole Valencia club had adopted the motto of “Effort Culture” – Cultura del Esfuerzo, in Spanish – that was paying off everywhere but with the men’s team. L’Alqueria, the largest basketball training facility in Europe, is the home of Valencia youth teams that have become relevant competing against the signature youth teams of Joventut Badalona, Real Madrid, and FC Barcelona. The Valencia women’s team is also having success both in Spain and in Europe. But it was the men’s squad that wasn’t quite living up to the expectations. Until now.
In the Turkish Airlines Euroleague, Valencia is tied for second place with a 4-1 record, while after beating Barcelona over the weekend, it is 6-1 in the Spanish League. In both competitions, only defending EuroLeague champion Real has a better record.
Something had to change in order for Valencia to improve, and it looks like the team banked on more physicality – even more effort, so to speak.
Despite being newcomers to the club, Brandon Davies (10.2 points, 2.4 rebounds) and Semi Ojeleye (12 points, 5.7 rebounds) have quickly emerged as cornerstones of the roster, and once again, Chris Jones is in charge of the offense (11.6 points, 4.6 assists),. But it’s the extra physicality of players like Damien Inglis (9.4 points, 3.4 rebounds), Boubacar Toure (5.6 points, 3.4 rebounds) and, of course, Victor Claver (4.4 points, 4.2 rebounds), that stands out this season.
Everyone knows their role under second-year head coach Alex Mumbru, himself a physical presence during his playing career, and everyone is playing for the team.
The ultimate giant-slayer
They say that in order to become the best you need to defeat the best, and this is exactly what Valencia has been doing so far.
All four of its wins in the EuroLeague have come against playoff teams from last season, powerhouses like AS Monaco (70-65), Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (77-74), Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv (75-66) and Zalgiris Kaunas (72-87). The only only defeat was to recent back-to-back Euroleague champion Anadolu Efes Istanbul in a tight game (77-73) on the road.
Three of these four wins were registered at home, but a 15-point win at Zalgirio Arena is likely something that few teams will come close to this season. As Zalgiris coach Kazys Maksvytis said right after being defeated by the Spanish side, Valencia turned that game into “a little nightmare for us.” Valencia was able to achieve some club milestones while doing so: most points scored in the first half (52) and its biggest lead at halftime of a Euroleague game, 30-52 after 20 minutes of high-quality basketball.
History in the making
But those are just one-game milestones. The team is ready to take it to the next level season-wise. Valencia has only found European glory in the BKT Eurocup. With four trophies – 2002-03, 2009-10, 2013-14, and 2018-19 – it is by far the most decorated team in that competition, which in turn makes Valencia no stranger to the EuroLeague, where it has played the season after each of those EuroCup titles.
This season marks Valencia’s eighth venture into the top tier of European club basketball. Everything started in the 2004 season after Valencia won its first European title and introduced itself to the EuroLeague like a wrecking ball: coached by Paco Olmos, that Valencia squad started the competition with an outstanding 5-1 record.
That start of that season may have been the best in Valencia’s EuroLeague history, but Coach Mumbru’s team is ready to equal it. With a win against ALBA Berlin at home on Thursday, Valencia would jump to 5-1, the same record it achieved 20 years ago after six rounds. Valencia has only made it to the EuroLeague Playoffs once, in 2010-11, when it took Real to five games before missing out on the Final Four. But this season this team has set the tone to knock on the playoffs door once again – and maybe not even through the EuroLeague’s new Play-In Showdown.
Things will only get bigger and better
Valencia Basket’s project is as big as it gets, on and off the court. If everything goes according to plan, Roig Arena will be ready by 2024. This cutting-edge stadium, made possible by 280 million euro private investment, will have a 15,600-seat capacity and take Valencia from a top-tier basketball city in Spain to a continental bastion of the sport.
This new home of Valencia Basket will replace La Fonteta, leaving behind a lot of fond memories and happy moments, but it may prove to be the crowning piece of Effort Culture that convinces everyone that the “Taronjas” – the oranges, in Valencian – are here to stay.