The 2016–17 LBA season, was the 95th season of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), known for sponsorship reasons as the Serie A PosteMobile, the highest-tier level professional basketball league in Italy. The regular season started on 2 October 2016 and finished on 7 May 2017, with the playoffs started on 12 May (dependent on an Italian club qualifying for the 2017 EuroLeague Final Four or for the 2017 Champions League Playoffs) and finished between 16 and 22 June depending on results.
As in previous years, Molten Corporation provided the official ball for all matches.
EA7 Emporio Armani Milano were the defending champions.
Umana Reyer Venezia won their 3rd title by beating Dolomiti Energia Trento in game 6 of the finals.
Teams
Promotion and relegation (pre-season)
A total of 16 teams will contest the league, including 15 sides from the 2015–16 season and one promoted from the 2015–16 Serie A2.
Germani Basket Brescia is the promoted club from the Serie A2 Citroën after beating Fortitudo Bologna at game 5 of league's playoffs, and returns in the highest-tier of the Italian basketball league system after 28 years of absence from Serie A.
Brescia replaced Virtus Bologna who was relegated during the previous season.
Number of teams by region Number of teams Region Team(s)5EA7 Emporio Armani Milano Germani Basket Brescia Openjobmetis VareseRed October CantùVanoli Cremona2Juvecaserta Sidigas Avellino1Enel BrindisiGrissin Bon Reggio EmiliaConsultinvest PesaroFiat TorinoBanco di Sardegna SassariBetaland Capo d'OrlandoDolomiti Energia TrentoThe Flexx PistoiaUmana Reyer Venezia Notes 2015–16 LBA champion. 2015–16 Serie A2 champion.
Venues and locations
TeamHome cityArenaCapacity2015–16 seasonBanco di Sardegna SassariSassariPalaSerradimigniBanco di Sardegna Sassari .Betaland Capo d'OrlandoPalaFantozziBetaland Capo d'Orlando .13th in Serie AConsultinvest PesaroPesaroAdriatic ArenaConsultinvest Pesaro .12th in Serie ADolomiti Energia TrentoTrentoPalaTrentoLa struttura, Trentino Volley .Quarterfinals 2016 playoffsMilanSerie A ChampionsEnel BrindisiBrindisiPalaPentassugliaEnel Brindisi .10th in Serie AFiat TorinoTurinPalaRuffini15th in Serie AGermani Basket BresciaBresciaPalaGeorgeSerie A2 winnerGrissin Bon Reggio EmiliaReggio EmiliaLand Rover Arena(Bologna)Runners-up 2016 playoffsPalaBigiGrissin Bon Reggio Emilia .Juvecaserta CasertaPalaMaggiòPasta Reggia Caserta .14th in Serie AOpenjobmetis VareseVaresePalA2AOpenjobmetis Varese .9th in Serie ARed October CantùCantùPalaBancoDesio (Desio)Red October Cantù .11th in Serie ASidigas AvellinoAvellinoPalaDelMauroSidigas Avellino .Semifinals 2016 playoffsThe Flexx PistoiaPistoiaPalaCarraraThe Flexx Pistoia .Quarterfinals 2016 playoffsUmana Reyer VeneziaVeniceTaliercioUmana Reyer Venezia .Semifinals 2016 playoffsVanoli CremonaCremonaPalaRadi Vanoli Cremona .Quarterfinals 2016 playoffs
Personnel and sponsorship Team Chairman Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsorBanco di Sardegna Sassari Stefano Sardara Federico Pasquini Giacomo Devecchi Eyesportwear Betaland Capo d'Orlando Roberto Enzo Sindoni Gennaro Di Carlo Sandro Nicević Legea BetalandConsultinvest Pesaro Ario Costa Spiro Leka Giulio Gazzotti Erreà Consultinvest, ButanGasDolomiti Energia Trento Luigi Longhi Maurizio Buscaglia Andrés Pablo Forray Spalding Dolomiti EnergiaEA7 Emporio Armani Milano Livio Proli Jasmin Repeša Andrea Cinciarini Armani Enel Brindisi Fernando Marino Romeo Sacchetti Marco Cardillo Bitre Sport EnelFiat Torino Antonio Forni Francesco Vitucci Giuseppe Poeta Spalding Fiat AutomobilesGermani Basket Brescia Graziella Bragaglio Andrea Diana David Moss Erreà Germani Trasporti, A2AGrissin Bon Reggio Emilia Maria Licia Ferrarini Massimiliano Menetti Pietro Aradori Sportika Grissin Bon, MapeiJuvecaserta Raffaele Iavazzi Sandro Dell'Agnello Marco Giuri Givova Pasta Reggia, Fortune Investment & Co.Openjobmetis Varese Stefano Coppa Attilio Caja Daniele Cavaliero Spalding Openjobmetis, TevaRed October Cantù Dmitry Gerasimenko Carlo Recalcati Craig Callahan Macron Red October, Intesa SanpaoloSidigas Avellino Giuseppe Sampietro Stefano Sacripanti Marques Green Joma SidigasThe Flexx Pistoia Roberto Maltinti Vincenzo Esposito Michele Antonutti Erreà The Flexx, Conad, Hitachi Umana Reyer Venezia Luigi Brugnaro Walter De Raffaele Tomas Ress Erreà UmanaVanoli Cremona Aldo Vanoli Paolo Lepore Fabio Mian Erreà Vanoli Ferramenta 1. On the back of shirt. 2. On the shorts.
Managerial Changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced with Date of appointment Enel Brindisi Piero Bucchi Signed with Consultinvest Pesaro 24 April 2016 Pre-season Romeo Sacchetti 5 May 2016 Consultinvest Pesaro Riccardo Paolini End of contract 30 May 2016 Piero Bucchi 1 June 2016 Red October Cantù Sergei Bazarevich 30 June 2016 Rimas Kurtinaitis 2 August 2016 Red October Cantù Rimas Kurtinaitis Resigned 30 November 2016 14th (2–7) Kyrylo Bol'shakov (interim) 1 November 2016 Vanoli Cremona Cesare Pancotto Sacked 13 December 2016 16th (2–9) Paolo Lepore 13 December 2016 Openjobmetis Varese Paolo Moretti Sacked 22 December 2016 14th (4–8) Attilio Caja 23 December 2016 Red October Cantù Kyrylo Bol'shakov End of interim spell 27 February 2017 13th (7–13) Carlo Recalcati 27 February 2017 Consultinvest Pesaro Piero Bucchi Resigned 7 March 2017 15th (7–14) Spiro Leka 9 March 2017
Changes from 2015–16
New League's Title Sponsor From the end of the 2015–16 season, Lega Basket Serie A has a new sponsor. The Turkish brand Beko left Serie A after four years of sponsorship. Beko decided to focus just on their sponsorship of the Spanish football team Barcelona.
In December 2016, took place in Rome the assembly of Lega Basket during which the president Egidio Bianchi has communicated to all the clubs to have reached the multi-year agreement with PosteMobile, an Italy-based mobile virtual network operator owned by Poste italiane Group, that will become the Title Sponsor of the LBA.
Rules Each team is allowed either five or seven foreign players under two formulas: 5 foreigners from countries outside the European Union 3 foreigners from countries outside the E.U., 4 foreigners from E.U. countries (also including those from countries signatory of the Cotonou Agreement)
Each club can choose the 5+5 formula, that consists of five Italian players and five foreign players, and the 3+4+5 formula, with five Italian players, three foreigners from countries outside the E.U. and four foreigners from E.U. countries or "Cotonou Countries".
At the end of the season there will be a prize of €500,000 for the top three ranked teams, that had chosen the 5+5 formula, considering the playing time of Italian players, and €200,000 for those teams that will obtain the best results with their youth sector.
Regular season In the regular season, teams play against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format. The eight first qualified teams will advance to the Playoffs, the last seven qualified teams will be eliminated, while the last one qualified team will be relegated and replaced by the winner of the playoffs of the second-level Serie A2 Basket. The matchdays are from 2 October 2016 to 7 May 2017.
League table
Results
Positions by round The table lists the positions of teams after completion of each round. Team \ Round1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 EA7 Emporio Armani Milano 4 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Umana Reyer Venezia 6 1 7 6 7 8 5 5 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Sidigas Avellino 8 3 5 4 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3Dolomiti Energia Trento 14 7 2 3 4 6 11 12 11 12 13 11 11 13 13 11 12 11 6 4 4 6 5 4 4 6 6 5 6 4Banco di Sardegna Sassari 5 10 6 8 5 4 6 7 8 8 8 9 8 7 6 5 4 6 4 6 5 5 6 6 7 4 4 4 4 5Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia 10 8 4 5 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 7 4 5 5 7 8 7 7 5 5 5 6 5 6The Flexx Pistoia 16 12 13 13 9 10 15 9 12 9 11 10 9 9 9 9 11 9 7 9 9 11 11 10 8 8 8 7 7 7Betaland Capo d'Orlando 13 15 9 14 8 9 7 6 6 7 6 6 7 5 5 7 5 5 8 7 6 4 4 5 6 7 7 8 9 8Enel Brindisi 3 11 16 15 11 7 8 8 7 6 7 7 5 6 8 12 9 12 10 11 10 9 8 8 9 10 9 9 8 9Germani Basket Brescia 15 14 11 16 16 16 12 11 10 11 10 12 12 10 7 8 10 8 9 8 8 10 10 12 12 9 10 10 11 10Fiat Torino 9 9 10 9 13 11 10 10 9 10 9 8 10 11 11 10 6 10 11 10 11 7 9 9 10 11 11 11 12 11Openjobmetis Varese 12 4 14 10 10 13 9 13 13 14 14 14 14 14 16 16 14 15 16 16 14 14 13 13 11 12 12 12 10 12 Juvecaserta 7 13 3 2 6 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 8 10 6 8 7 12 12 12 13 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 13Red October Cantù 11 16 12 7 12 12 14 14 14 13 12 13 13 12 12 13 13 13 13 13 13 12 12 11 13 13 13 13 13 14Consultinvest Pesaro 2 5 15 11 14 14 13 15 16 15 15 15 15 15 14 14 15 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 16 15 15 15 15 15Vanoli Cremona 1 6 8 12 15 15 16 16 15 16 16 16 16 16 15 15 16 16 15 15 16 16 16 16 15 16 16 16 16 16 Updated to games played on 7 May 2017 Source: LBA
Leader of the Regular Season Qualification to Playoffs Relegation to Serie A2
Playoffs
The LBA playoffs quarterfinals are best-of-five, while the semifinals and finals series are best-of-seven. The playoffs will start on 12 May 2017 to finish between 16 and 22 June depending on result.
Final standings
Individual statistics As of 7 May 2017.
Points RankNameTeam1. Marcus Landry Germani Basket Brescia 19.62. Édgar Sosa Juvecaserta 19.33. Jarrod Jones Consultinvest Pesaro 19.24. JaJuan Johnson Red October Cantù 19.05. Joe Ragland Enel Brindisi 17.8
Assists RankNameTeam1. Luca Vitali Germani Basket Brescia 7.12. Édgar Sosa Juvecaserta 5.93. Chris Wright Fiat Torino 5.54. Eric Maynor Openjobmetis Varese 5.55. Zabian Dowdell Red October Cantù 5.4
Steals RankNameTeam1. Aaron Craft Dolomiti Energia Trento 2.02. Marques Green Sidigas Avellino 1.83. David Moss Germani Basket Brescia 1.74. Joe Ragland Sidigas Avellino 1.65. Jarrod Jones Consultinvest Pesaro 1.5
Rebounds RankNameTeam1. O. D. Anosike Openjobmetis Varese 11.12. Jarrod Jones Consultinvest Pesaro 10.13. Mitchell Watt Juvecaserta 9.04. Deron Washington Fiat Torino 8.65. D. J. White Fiat Torino 8.0
Blocks RankNameTeam1. Norvel Pelle Openjobmetis Varese 2.12. Riccardo Cervi Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia 2.03. Mitchell Watt Juvecaserta 1.84. JaJuan Johnson Red October Cantù 1.45. Gani Lawal Banco di Sardegna Sassari 1.3
Valuation RankNameTeam1. Jarrod Jones Consultinvest Pesaro 22.62. JaJuan Johnson Red October Cantù 21.33. Mitchell Watt Juvecaserta 19.94. D. J. White Fiat Torino 19.65. Joe Ragland Sidigas Avellino 18.4
Individual game highs Category Player Team Statistic PIR JaJuan Johnson Red October Cantù 46 Terran Petteway The Flexx Pistoia Points Terran Petteway The Flexx Pistoia Rebounds O. D. Anosike Openjobmetis Varese Assists Luca Vitali Germani Basket Brescia Blocks Norvel Pelle Openjobmetis Varese Three pointers Terran Petteway The Flexx Pistoia Updated: 16 May 2017. Source: LBA
Awards
Finals MVP Melvin Ejim (Umana Reyer Venezia)
Most Valuable Player Marcus Landry (Germani Basket Brescia)
Best Player Under 22 Diego Flaccadori (Dolomiti Energia Trento)
Best Coach Vincenzo Esposito (The Flexx Pistoia)
Best Executive Giuseppe Sindoni (Betaland Capo d'Orlando)
Round MVP