“Prometey” Slobozhanske is the hottest team in the 7DAYS EuroCup. Ukrainian club won 10 matches in a row despite the fact that they play 1500 kilometres away from their home due to the war in Ukraine,” – Aris Barkas writes in his article for eurohoops.net.
In 1992, a rookie-coach named Zeljko Obradovic brought “Partizan” Belgrade to the title of the Euroleague champion in a season that turned out to be a historical one for some reasons. It was an impressive start for a coaching icon, and the final was decided on a half-court shot by Sasa Djodjevic. But there is something that stands out even more.
Due to the war in the former Yugoslavia, “Partizan” held all their home games not at home in the Serbian capital, but in Spanish city of Fuenlabrada.
Now, go forward to today. After thirty years, there is a war in Europe again and “Prometey” is taking the 7DAYS EuroCup by storm. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the club decided to continue its basketball activity and hold all home games in another country – in Latvia.
The results are impressive so far. “Prometey” is undefeated since early December. At the moment, the team is leading in Group A with a figure of 13-4, which is one win more than pre-season favourite “Joventut Badalona” has. In the last home game of the regular season in Riga against “Umana Reyer” from Venice, “Prometey” can secure its first spot in the tournament standings.
Unlike “Partian” 1992 version, this team is full of veterans. The head coach, Israeli Ronen Ginzburg is not a rookie. He coached the Czech National team at Eurobasket 2015 and 2017, and also, at the Summer Olympic games 2020, taking a maximum from a generation with the stars of BC “Barcelona” Tomas Satoransky and Jan Vesely.
“Of course, we did not expect such a streak of 10 wins”, Ginzburg admitted. “We have a completely new team, not all players are of the EuroCup level, but we built great chemistry. Our goal was just to make the playoffs”.
But still, the roster of “Prometey” includes battle-tested in Europe players like 2019 Italian champion DJ Kennedy, who unfortunately got injured; DJ Stephens – a basketball player who is flyong high; former “Promitheas” (Patras) guard Gian Clavell; center Ondrej Balvin who spends his sixth EuroCup season; and top Ukrainian players such as Oleksandr Lypovyy, who also played in Greece for “Promitheas”; Issuf Sanon, who tried his luck back in 2019/2020 season in “Cedevita Olimpija”. Add to this Caleb Agada. During the pre-season, “Prometey” managed to defeat “Fenerbahce” in the preparation tournament in Turkey and Agada was the most productive one with 18 points and 4 steals. It’s worth to note that there was a lack of players in “Fenerbahce”. However, Agada turned out to be the best shooter of the hottest EuroCup team.
Not bad for a new team at all, explained the coach Ginzburg:
“We created the team from zero and we knew we could not play at home, so we moved to Riga, which is 1500 kilometres away from Dnipro. We have seven Ukrainian players who brought their wives and kids with them, and the team rented apartments for everyone. Let’s face it: we live in a good city, everyone has a place to live, the surrounding conditions are great. We have a high-level training facility and a great arena”.
So how to prepare the team when the war is going on and affecting each one involved with the club?
The coach Ginzburg fully understood the situation and had one rule, which worked up to date:
“It is very complex. In the first practice before the new season, I gathered the players and presented them with the rule: if someone feels not focused for training, it’s okay not to practice or even not to play. However, no one of the guys asked this although, undeniably, there is a pressure on them. So it is true that their spouses and children are with them, but many of them left parent, relatives, friends back in Ukraine and when we hear about another Russian attack on Ukraine, everyone is worried.”
Meanwhile, there were some practical issues connected to the war that “Prometey” had to deal wth.
“There was another element that affected us: the obligation to enlist in the Ukrainian army and the prohibition to leave the country”, Ginzburg explained. “As most of the players play for the national team, they were exempted, but the staff members - my assistant, physiotherapist – had to travel every month to the border crossing, enter Ukraine and renew their confirmation. Since there are no flights, they travelled 48 hours each way each time. Two months ago this procedure was stopped. Usually, about 1000 people come to see our games in Riga: both local people and Ukrainian refugees. We play at a 10000-seat arena, so we cannot really enjoy a full-fledged basketball atmosphere. Twice the arena was busy on the days of our matches, so we had to play in Kaunas, where arena even bigger”.
Sometimes, the war simply comes to you, then hits you and motivate. It happened after the first couple of home games of the season in the EuroCup, when Ginzburg and his players understood that they also have to fight in their own way.
“The most exciting moment for me happened last year: our president, Volodymyr Dubinsky arranged two buses for fans from Dnipro, who came to Latvia for our EuroCup match. He arranged accommodation for them and they had a couple days for respite. I looked around, looked at the faces of those people and I could see that they are going under a terrible trial. In the locker room, before the match I told: If these people invested and come all the way here to see you, during the war, who are you not to fight on the court? Of course, we won that match”
