2019–20 Olimpia Milano season


The 2019–20 season sees Olimpia Milano competing in both EuroLeague and Lega Basket Serie A. The first is the highest level of European basketball competitions, for which Milano has a license. While in the Italian Serie A, Milano needs a confirmation after having lost the previous year championship in the semifinal against Dinamo Sassari, despite being the favourite team.
For the second year in a row, Olimpia Milano is sponsored by Armani Exchange.

Overview

The 2019/2020 is a season of big changes and unfortunate epilogue due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After having lost in any competitions of the disappointing 2018-19 season, the team first replaces the president Livio Proli with Pantaleo Dell'Orco and then the head Coach Simone Pianigiani. Ettore Messina is called to manage the team for the 2019/2020 season
Messina stated during the press conference of his presentation that the season objectives are to win the Italian Serie A and to reach the EuroLeague playoffs.
The season had a great start in Euroleague with seven wins and only two losses, while in the Italian league Milano struggles to find continuity. Soon the team starts vacillating also in Euroleague where, after the successful run, they manage to lose nine games out of twelve.
Milano ends the first half of the season with a disappointing loss in the derby against Cantù, when Messina expressed his concern about the ongoing season. The management was compelled to some corrective actions by releasing Aaron White and Shelvin Mack, after their unsatisfying performances, and hire Keifer Sykes and Drew Crawford, the latter only for the Euroleague.
The 2020 was the year of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak that interested first Italy and then spread out all over Europe. The Lega Basket was the first organization that decided to suspend the competition to both comply to the government directives and avoid spreading the virus amongst the players. Meanwhile Real Madrid announced on 12 March that one player was positive to the virus, only six days after the match against Milan. Euroleague followed with the decision of interrupting the competition while Milan decided to voluntarily enter in quarantine.
During the pandemic period, Lombardy was the region in Italy which suffered the most from the coronavirus. The team and the players decided to devolve part of their salary to the region's health care.
On 7 April the FIP, Italian Basketball Federation, declares the end of the season without winners.
The same choice followed for the Euroleague season on 25th May and that concludes Milano's 2019–20 season.

Timeline

Supplier: Armani / Sponsor: Armani Exchange

Lega Basket Serie A

EuroLeague

Italian Cup

Due to the dramatic events connected to Kobe Bryant, Milano decided to honour him by using in the opening game of the Italian Cup a purple and yellow jersey. The second jersey with a predominant yellow colour and purple sides, was never used.

Team

Players


Depth chart

Squad changes

In

was hired in January, after the injuries in the small forward role of Moraschini and Brooks. His Euroleague escape was used for the transfer. Crawford could be used, though, only in the Euroleague because there was no room left for more foreign players in the roster for the Italian championship, the last spot was taken by Keifer Sykes.

Out

Confirmed

Coach

Youth team

The following players have been called from the youth team and have made their appearance in the championship.

Preseason players

The following players have joined the team for the preseason matches. Biligha, Brooks and Della Valle where playing in the Italian national team for the World Cup. In the same competition Roll was playing for the Tunisian team. Gudaitis and Nedović were out because of physical condition.
Aleksandr Šaškov is under contract with Milano and last year played on loan for V.L. Pesaro.

Staff and management

In the current season the team organization introduces a new element in the Italian Basketball where the head coach covers both the role of coach and president.

Pre-season and friendlies

;Friendly training
;Memorial Luciano Giani
;Trofeo Carlo Lovari
;Friendly match
;City of Cagliari international basketball tournament
;Derby of Milan
;Pavlos Giannakopoulos tournament

Competitions

Overview

Serie A

The 2019–20 LBA season is made of 17 teams, which means that a team will skip two rounds during the season. Milano will not play in round 15 and round 32.

League table

Results summary

Results by round

Round12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334
GroundAHHHAAHHAHHAAH-AHHAAAHHAAHAAHHA-HA
ResultWLWLLWWWLWWWWW-LLWLWWW
Position29781185576433234445544
First match will be played on 27 September 2019. Source: [|Competitive matches]
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; L = Loss

Matches

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy the Serie A games could not be scheduled regularly. An emergency government decree was issued in the night of 7 March, which put at risk the regular prosecution of the competition A following decree established that all the competitions and players gathering had to be suspended until 3 April.
After the Italian Basketball Federation meeting, the season came to an early end without winners, the following matches were cancelled.

EuroLeague

League table

Results summary

Results by round

Round12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334
GroundAHAHAHHAHHAHAAHAHHAAAHHAHAHAHAAHAH
ResultLWWWWWWLWLLLLLWLWWLLLWLLLLLW
Position1513755326347788887678889811121212
First match will be played on 3 October 2019. Source: Competitive matches
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; L = Loss

Matches

On 12 March Euroleague decided to suspend the championship after the COVID-19 pandemic all over Europe and some European teams were as well affected. Despite the various attempts to restore the season the executive board decided to definitely cancel the season and the following games were never played.

Zurich Connect Final Eight

Milano qualified to the 2020 Italian Basketball Cup having ended the first half of the season in 2nd place. They lost the semifinal against Reyer Venezia.

Matches

Statistics

Individual statistics Serie A

  • Y– Players that come from the youth team
  • L– Players who left the team before the end of the season

    Individual statistics Euroleague

  • Y– Players that come from the youth team
  • L– Players who left the team before the end of the season

    Individual statistics Italian Cup

  • Y– Players that come from the youth team
  • L– Players who left the team before the end of the season

    Season individual statistics

  • Y– Players that come from the youth team
  • L– Players who left the team before the end of the season

    Individual game highs

TotalPlayerOpponent
Points28Sergio Rodríguezvs Brindisi
Total Rebounds12Kaleb Tarczewskivs Reggio Emilia
Assists11Sergio Rodríguezvs Maccabi
Blocks4Jeff Brooksvs Efes
Blocks4Paul Biligha@ Maccabi
Blocks4Kaleb Tarczewski@ Fenerbahçe
Steals4Sergio Rodríguez@ Khimki
Steals4Keifer Sykes@ Trieste
Steals4Riccardo Moraschinivs Real Madrid
Efficiency31Artūras Gudaitisvs Treviso
2-point field goal percentage1100% Kaleb Tarczewski@ Roma
2-point field goal percentage1100% Michael Roll@ CSKA
3-point field goal percentage100% Michael Roll@ Venezia
Free throw percentage100% Keifer Sykesvs Treviso
Turnovers5Sergio Rodríguezvs Trieste
vs Fenerbahçe
@ Roma
@ Berlin
Turnovers5Keifer Sykesvs Zenit
Turnovers5Riccardo Moraschinivs Real Madrid
Minutes35.5Sergio Rodríguezvs Žalgiris OT

  • 1– at least 5 attempts
  • OT– match ended in overtime
TotalPlayerOpponent
2-point field goals made9Kaleb Tarczewski@ Fenerbahçe
2-point field goals attempted12Luis Scola@ Khimki
vs Cantù
2-point field goals attempted12Keifer Sykes@ Brescia
3-point field goals made7Sergio Rodríguezvs Brindisi
3-point field goals attempted11Sergio Rodríguezvs Brindisi
Free throws made9Vladimir Micov@ Cremona
Free throws made9Keifer Sykesvs Treviso
Free throws made9Nemanja Nedovićvs B.Munich
Free throws attempted12Nemanja Nedovićvs B.Munich
Offensive Rebounds6Jeff Brooksvs Reggio Emilia
Defensive Rebounds8Luis Scolavs Zenit
vs Venezia
Defensive Rebounds8Kaleb Tarczewski@ Barcelona

Team game highs

StatisticTotalOpponent
Points97vs Žalgiris OT
Total Rebounds50vs Reggio Emilia
Assists28vs Trieste
vs Berlin
Blocks8vs Efes
Steals10vs Trieste
@ Roma
vs Reggio Emilia
vs Trento
vs Cantù
@ Trieste
Efficiency137vs Treviso
2-point field goal percentage72.2%vs Varese
3-point field goal percentage53.8%@ Panathinaikos
Free throw percentage95.0%vs Baskonia
Turnovers19@ Berlin

  • OT– match ended in overtime
StatisticTotalOpponent
2-point field goals made26vs Valencia
@ Fenerbahçe
2-point field goals attempted49@ F. Bologna
@ Real Madrid
3-point field goals made14vs Brindisi
@ Panathinaikos
vs Barcelona
vs Panathinaikos
3-point field goals attempted33vs Berlin
Free throws made36vs Treviso
Free throws attempted45vs Treviso
Offensive Rebounds23vs Reggio Emilia
Defensive Rebounds34@ Pesaro