The ‘renewed’ Barça starts the defense of the ACB title

The Barça team begins a new Endesa League still with the memory of the great victory won in the last final against Real Madrid

The whites start out as the great rival to beat this season, after what happened in the last Super Cup

The Endesa League 23/24 raises the curtain on a new season, and it does so with the FC Barcelona defending the title, and with a series of contenders who will fight to snatch the crown from the Barça team.

After the brilliant victory against real Madrid In the last final by an unappealable 3-0, the Barça project presents a multitude of new faces, both in the squad and on the bench. Already without Sarunas Jasikevicius, Nikola Mirotic or Cory Higgins, Roger Grimau, Willy Hernangómez or Jabari Parker They are some of the new faces of a team that will fight again for one more season for the ACB, without the automatisms of past years, and with a quite different style in which it seems that defense will not be so important, and the attack will be much more dynamic and accelerated, looking for a more attractive and attractive proposal. Nico Laprovittola aims to be the team’s offensive reference this season, and players like Álex Abrines or Tomas Satoransky They must take a step forward in terms of scoring. The arrivals of Joel Parra and Darío Brizuela They must serve, beyond the contribution of both on the track, to give even more character to the group.

Campazzo, a luxury return for Madrid

The great rival of the Catalans, once again, is a Real Madrid that ‘only’ has been reinforced with the arrival of Facundo Campazzo, to reinforce the direction of the game and provide the team with that piece that will provide quality and, above all, regularity, something that was lacking in the Chus Mateo last year. Anthony Randolph, Nigel Williams-Goss, Adam Hanga or Petr Cornelie They are already history, and it is expected that young people like Eli N’Diaye or Hugo González They start to be more and more important in the rotation. To the old guard made up of Sergios (Llull and Rodríguez) and Rudy Fernández, They will be joined by an Edy Tavares who will continue to be decisive, and whose contract renewal seems like one of the big issues to be resolved during the season, a Dzanan Musa who must continue to grow and gain regularity in his game, or a Gabriel Deck who will try to leave behind the serious injury that made him miss the end of last year.

Joventut, called to do great things at ACB

After reaching the ACB semifinals for the second consecutive season, the Joventut It has already established itself as one of the teams called to do great things in the competition. Carles Durán returns to lead a project with new faces after the departures of Joel Parra or Kyle Guy, but that has incorporated players of the stature of DeShaun Thomas or Chinanu Onuaku, that should serve to give consistency to a team that will once again have the green and black talent generated at home, with names like those of Yannick Kraag or Jordi Rodríguez.

Unicaja, a ‘serious’ candidate

Despite having lost Darío Brizuela, Unicaja, current Cup champion, maintains practically the entire squad from last season, and is also running as one of the serious contenders to stand up and fight, in a real way, for the title. The arrival of Kam Taylor from Girona will serve to reinforce the group of Ibon Navarro What a good feeling it left last season.

Valencia and Baskonia, the Euroleague, demanded

As for the other two Euroleague teams, both Valencia Basket as Baskonia They have been reinforced with big names, like the former Barcelona player Brandon Davies who will defend the ‘taronja’ shirt, and Chima Moneke, who after marveling in Manresa two seasons ago, lands in Buesa after a stint in the Sacramento Kings and Monaco. Even so, the ‘disappointing’ ends of the course by both teams mean that both Joan Penarroya as Alex Mumbrú have added pressure.

Manresa and Girona, with the same initial objective

Manresa and Bàsquet Girona They will once again complete the ‘poker’ of Catalan teams in ACB. The initial objective of the teams Pedro Martinez and Save Camps It is the same: fight for permanence. Those from Bages left good feelings in the Catalan League, while the Girona team will start the season without Marc Gasol, who is still contemplating withdrawal.

Andorra and the debutant Palencia, the new faces in ACB

Fuenlabrada and Real Betis They lost the category last year, and in their place, Morabanc Andorra has returned to the league a year after consummating its relegation to LEB Oro, and also achieved promotion Palencia, that will debut in the highest state competition and that will feature the Blaugrana Agus Ubal as if on loan to their ranks.

European ‘fever’

Finally, a detail that is, to say the least, curious. Of the 18 teams that will compete in this edition of the ACB, 13 of them will compete in European competition, an unprecedented situation that speaks of the great state of national basketball, which will also try to conquer Europe. So that, Euroleague (Barça, R. Madrid, Baskonia, Valencia), Euro Cup (Joventut, Gran Canaria), FIBA Champions League (Tenerife, Unicaja, UCAM, Breogán, Obradoiro) and FIBA Europe cup (Bilbao Basket, Zaragoza) will have Spanish representation. Manresa, Girona, Palencia, Andorra and Granada will be the only teams that focus exclusively on the ACB.