Rishon targeting progress following CL regular season draw

BSL champion Maccabi Rishon Lezion discovered on Thursday whom it will face in the inaugural season of the FIBA Champions League.

Rishon, which stunned Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Tel Aviv on its way to an historic Israeli championship last season, was drawn into Group B with Pinar Karsiyaka of Turkey, Umana Reyer Venezia of Italy, Avtodor Saratov of Russia, Khimik of Ukraine, Le Mans of France and two qualifiers.

The Champions League will involve 48 teams from 31 countries, but none of Europe’s top sides, which will be playing in the Euroleague and Eurocup next season, including Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem.

The regular season, which gets underway on October 18, consists of four groups of eight teams each, with games played home and away in a round robin system. The four best ranked teams from each group will advance to the playoffs. The last 16 and quarterfinals will be played over two legs to be decided on points difference, with the title to be determined in a Final Four tournament at the end of April.

Ironi Nahariya is hoping to join Rishon in the group stage, but to do so will need to overcome the winner of the first qualifying round tie between Rilski Sportist of Bulgaria and Tsmoki-Minsk of Belarus.

Elsewhere, Hapoel Jerusalem will face Montakit Fuenlabrada of Spain instead of Trento of Italy in Eurocup Group D following the withdrawal of the Italian clubs due to the ongoing dispute between FIBA and the Euroleague. Jerusalem will also face Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar of Russia, Valencia of Spain, Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia and Ulm of Germany, with the best four teams in each group to progress to the Top 16.

Meanwhile, Maccabi Tel Aviv aims to get its rebuilding process back on track after losing Quincy Miller for between 6-9 months before he even played a single game for the team. Miller injured his knee during an off-season scrimmage at UCLA, with an MRI revealing that he tore his PCL. Miller is one of four Maccabi additions this summer, with the yellow-and-blue also bringing in American guard D.J. Seeley, German center Maik Zirbes and Sonny Weems. Joe Alexander, who played for Maccabi in 2014/15, is also on the verge of signing. They will join the returning Gal Mekel, Yogev Ohayon, Sylven Landesberg, Guy Pnini and Itay Segev, with Devin Smith also likely to be back for another campaign.

Maccabi was looking to further strengthen its roster even prior to Miller’s injury, but the unexpected blow has affected its plans.

Among those being mentioned in connection with Maccabi are former Jerusalem forward Donta Smith, Samardo Samuels, who played for Barcelona last season, and former NBA player Jordan Crawford, who tweeted on Wednesday: “Maccabi or Barcelona .... ”