The 2017–18 Lega Basket Serie A, was the 96th season of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA), known for sponsorship reasons as the Serie A PosteMobile, which is highest-tier level professional basketball league in Italy. The regular season started on October 1, 2017, and ended on May 9, 2018, with the playoffs started on May 12 (due to some Italian clubs, Reggio Emilia, Avellino and Venezia, are qualifying for the 2018 EuroCup Playoffs and the 2018 Champions League Playoffs) and finished on June 15, 2018.
As in previous years, Molten Corporation provided the official ball for all matches.
Umana Reyer Venezia were the defending champions. Venezia finished the regular season as top seeded team for the first time in its history.
EA7 Emporio Armani Milano won their 28th title by beating Dolomiti Energia Trento in game 6 of the finals.
Teams
Promotion and relegation (pre-season)
A total of 16 teams contested the league, including 15 sides from the 2016–17 season and one promoted from the 2016–17 Serie A2.
Segafredo Virtus Bologna was the promoted club from the Serie A2 Citroën after beating Alma Trieste at game 3 of league's playoffs, and returned in the highest-tier of the Italian basketball league system after just one season of absence.
Virtus Bologna replaced Vanoli Cremona who were relegated during the previous season.
In July 2017, Juvecaserta Basket was excluded by CONI from the 2017–18 LBA season, due to financial issues. Vanoli Cremona was reprieved and took the place of Juvecaserta.
Number of teams by region Number of teams Region Team(s)5EA7 Emporio Armani MilanoGermani Basket BresciaOpenjobmetis VareseRed October CantùVanoli Cremona2Grissin Bon Reggio EmiliaSegafredo Virtus Bologna 1New Basket BrindisiSidigas AvellinoVL PesaroFiat TorinoBanco di Sardegna SassariBetaland Capo d'OrlandoDolomiti Energia TrentoThe Flexx PistoiaUmana Reyer Venezia Notes 2016–17 LBA champion. 2016–17 Serie A2 champion.
Vanoli Cremona took the place of Pasta Reggia Caserta which was excluded from the 2017-18 LBA season.
Venues and locations
TeamHome cityArenaCapacity2016–17 seasonBanco di Sardegna SassariSassariPalaSerradimigniBanco di Sardegna Sassari .Quarterfinals 2017 playoffsBetaland Capo d'OrlandoPalaSikeliArchiviBetaland Capo d'Orlando .Quarterfinals 2017 playoffsDolomiti Energia TrentoTrentoPalaTrentoLa struttura, Trentino Volley .Runners-up 2016 playoffsMilanSemifinals 2017 playoffsFiat TorinoTurinPalaRuffini11th in Serie AGermani Basket BresciaBresciaPalaGeorge10th in Serie AGrissin Bon Reggio EmiliaReggio EmiliaLand Rover Arena(Bologna)Quarterfinals 2017 playoffsPalaBigiGrissin Bon Reggio Emilia .New Basket BrindisiBrindisiPalaPentassugliaEnel Brindisi .9th in Serie AOpenjobmetis VareseVaresePalA2AOpenjobmetis Varese .12th in Serie ARed October CantùCantùPalaBancoDesio (Desio)Red October Cantù .14th in Serie ASegafredo Virtus BolognaBolognaUnipol ArenaUnipol Arena.Serie A2 playoffs winnerSidigas AvellinoAvellinoPalaDelMauroSidigas Avellino .Semifinals 2017 playoffsThe Flexx PistoiaPistoiaPalaCarraraThe Flexx Pistoia .Quarterfinals 2017 playoffsUmana Reyer VeneziaVeniceTaliercioUmana Reyer Venezia .LBA ChampionsVanoli CremonaCremonaPalaRadi Vanoli Cremona .16th in Serie AVL PesaroPesaroAdriatic ArenaConsultinvest Pesaro .15th in Serie A
Personnel and sponsorship Team Chairman Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsorBanco di Sardegna Sassari Stefano Sardara Zare Markovski Giacomo Devecchi Eyesportwear Banco di SardegnaBetaland Capo d'Orlando Roberto Enzo Sindoni Andrea Mazzon Mario Delaš Legea BetalandDolomiti Energia Trento Luigi Longhi Maurizio Buscaglia Andrés Pablo Forray Spalding Dolomiti EnergiaEA7 Emporio Armani Milano Livio Proli Simone Pianigiani Andrea Cinciarini Armani Fiat Torino Antonio Forni Paolo Galbiati Giuseppe Poeta Spalding Fiat AutomobilesGermani Basket Brescia Graziella Bragaglio Andrea Diana David Moss Erreà Germani TrasportiGrissin Bon Reggio Emilia Maria Licia Ferrarini Massimiliano Menetti Riccardo Cervi Sportika Grissin BonNew Basket Brindisi Fernando Marino Francesco Vitucci Marco Cardillo Bitre Sport EnelOpenjobmetis Varese Marco Vittorelli Attilio Caja Giancarlo Ferrero Spalding OpenjobmetisRed October Cantù Dmitry Gerasimenko Marco Sodini Jeremy Chappell Macron Red October Steel Works Segafredo Virtus Bologna Alberto Bucci Alessandro Ramagli Klaudio Ndoja Macron Segafredo ZanettiSidigas Avellino Giuseppe Sampietro Stefano Sacripanti Maarty Leunen Joma SidigasThe Flexx Pistoia Roberto Maltinti Vincenzo Esposito Michele Antonutti Erreà The FlexxUmana Reyer Venezia Luigi Brugnaro Walter De Raffaele Tomas Ress Erreà UmanaVanoli Cremona Aldo Vanoli Romeo Sacchetti Giulio Gazzotti Erreà Ferramenta VanoliVL Pesaro Ario Costa Massimo Galli Marco Ceron Erreà Consultinvest
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointment Fiat Torino Francesco Vitucci Sacked 22 May 2017 Pre-season Luca Banchi 25 May 2017 Jasmin Repeša Mutual consent 3 June 2017 Simone Pianigiani 29 June 2017 Vanoli Cremona Paolo Lepore Sacked 9 June 2017 Romeo Sacchetti 15 June 2017 New Basket Brindisi Romeo Sacchetti 15 June 2017 1 July 2017 Red October Cantù Carlo Recalcati Resigned 1 August 2017 Kyrylo Bol'shakov 22 August 2017 Red October Cantù Kyrylo Bol'shakov 6 October 2017 13th (0–1) Marco Sodini 6 October 2017 New Basket Brindisi Sacked 16th (2–8) Fiat Torino Luca Banchi Resigned 15 January 2018 5th (10–5) Carlo Recalcati 16 January 2018 Fiat Torino Carlo Recalcati 5 February 2018 6th (10–8) Paolo Galbiati 5 February 2018 VL Pesaro Spiro Leka Sacked 27 March 2018 16th (5–18) Massimo Galli 27 March 2018 Betaland Capo d'Orlando Gennaro Di Carlo 2 April 2018 15th (5–19) Andrea Mazzon 3 April 2018 Banco di Sardegna Sassari Federico Pasquini Resigned 3 April 2018 9th (12–12) Zare Markovski 4 April 2018
Changes from 2016–17 As in previous seasons, LBA clubs must play in arenas that seat at least 3,500 people.Lega Società di Pallacanestro Serie A, REGOLAMENTO ESECUTIVO#Chapter 3.2 (G), Page 4 From 2017–18 season, all clubs must host their home playoffs matches in arenas with a seating capacity of at least 5,000 people.
In summer 2016, four Italian teams (Reggio Emilia, Trento, Sassari and Cantù) were forced to withdraw from EuroCup because of the FIBA and Euroleague Basketball controversy. From this season, Italian Basketball Federation will allow LBA clubs to rejoin EuroCup. There will be at least six teams in Europe. One in EuroLeague (Olimpia Milano directly enter the EuroLeague as licensed club), two in EuroCup (but they are negotiating with ECA for a third spot) and three in Basketball Champions League. Lega Basket decided Italian Clubs will be free to choose in which European Cup they want to play, based on final ranking and sports merit.
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 EU, 4 foreigners from EU 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 EU and four foreigners from EU countries or "Cotonou Countries".
At the end of the season there will be a prize of €500.000,00 for the top three ranked teams, that had chosen the 5+5 formula, considering the playing time of Italian players, and €200.000,00 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 advanced to the Playoffs, the last seven qualified teams were eliminated, while the last one qualified team was relegated and replaced by the winner of the playoffs of the second-level Serie A2 Basket. The matchdays were from October 1, 2017 to May 9, 2018.
League table
Results
Positions by round The table lists the positions of teams after completion of each round. Team \ Round 1 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 Umana Reyer Venezia 1 3 3 3 2 4 4 2 4 5 6 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 EA7 Emporio Armani Milano 3 4 2 1 4 3 3 4 3 4 3 3 2 2 3 2 4 4 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2Germani Basket Brescia 8 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 2 1 1 1 4 3 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 Sidigas Avellino 6 9 4 4 3 5 5 3 2 2 2 2 3 1 1 3 2 2 1 4 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 Dolomiti Energia Trento 7 7 12 12 11 12 13 9 12 11 9 8 6 8 10 10 10 10 8 9 9 8 8 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 Openjobmetis Varese 16 14 9 10 8 7 7 8 11 8 12 13 13 13 16 13 13 12 12 12 12 12 12 11 11 7 6 6 6 6Red October Cantù 13 11 10 9 9 10 10 7 8 7 7 7 9 7 6 6 8 8 10 7 7 9 6 8 6 9 7 7 7 7Vanoli Cremona 14 15 13 13 10 8 8 11 10 10 13 10 10 10 8 8 7 7 11 8 10 10 11 7 8 10 10 10 10 8Segafredo Virtus Bologna 10 10 6 5 6 6 6 10 7 9 10 9 7 9 7 7 5 5 5 6 8 5 5 5 7 6 8 8 8 9Banco di Sardegna Sassari 4 6 8 7 7 9 11 6 6 6 5 6 8 6 9 9 9 9 7 10 6 6 7 9 10 8 9 9 9 10Fiat Torino 5 5 5 6 5 2 2 5 5 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 5 5 7 9 10 9 11 11 11 11 11Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia 11 12 15 15 16 16 15 14 15 15 11 12 12 12 12 11 11 11 9 11 11 11 10 12 12 12 12 12 12 12The Flexx Pistoia 2 2 7 8 12 11 14 15 14 12 14 14 14 15 13 12 14 14 14 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 14 13New Basket Brindisi 12 13 14 16 15 14 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 14 15 14 12 13 13 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 13 14VL Pesaro 9 8 11 11 13 15 12 13 13 14 15 15 15 16 14 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 15 16 16 15 15 15Betaland Capo d'Orlando 15 16 16 14 14 13 9 12 9 13 8 11 11 11 11 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 16 15 15 16 16 16 Updated to games played on 9 May 2018 Source: LBA
Leader of the Regular Season Qualification to Playoffs Relegation to Serie A2
Final standings
Individual statistics As of 9 May 2018.
Points RankNameTeam1. Jason Rich Sidigas Avellino 19.32. Dallas Moore VL Pesaro 18.73. Darius Johnson-Odom Vanoli Cremona 18.74. Randy Culpepper Red October Cantù 17.05. Alessandro Gentile Segafredo Virtus Bologna 16.8
Assists RankNameTeam1. Luca Vitali Germani Basket Brescia 6.22. Ronald Moore The Flexx Pistoia 5.83. Diante Garrett Fiat Torino 5.44. Rok Stipčević Banco di Sardegna Sassari 4.55. Jaime Smith Red October Cantù 4.4
Steals RankNameTeam1. Randy Culpepper Red October Cantù 2.12. Emmanuel Omogbo VL Pesaro 1.73. Dominique Sutton Dolomiti Energia Trento 1.74. Kelvin Martin Vanoli Cremona 1.75. Jeremy Chappell Red October Cantù 1.7
Rebounds RankNameTeam1. Christian Burns Red October Cantù 10.22. Cady Lalanne New Basket Brindisi 9.93. Emmanuel Omogbo VL Pesaro 8.94. Tyler Cain Openjobmetis Varese 8.95. Dominique Sutton Dolomiti Energia Trento 7.8
Blocks RankNameTeam1. Hamady N'Diaye Sidigas Avellino 2.32. Cady Lalanne New Basket Brindisi 1.33. Artūras Gudaitis EA7 Emporio Armani Milano 1.24. Norvel Pelle Fiat Torino 1.15. Andrea Crosariol Red October Cantù 1.0
Valuation RankNameTeam1. Christian Burns Red October Cantù 20.02. Cady Lalanne New Basket Brindisi 19.13. Darius Johnson-Odom Vanoli Cremona 18.34. Trevor Mbakwe Fiat Torino 18.25. Randy Culpepper Red October Cantù 18.0
Awards
Finals MVP Andrew Goudelock (EA7 Emporio Armani Milano)
Most Valuable Player Jason Rich (Sidigas Avellino)
Best Player Under 22 Diego Flaccadori (Dolomiti Energia Trento)
Best Coach Attilio Caja (Openjobmetis Varese)
Best Executive Federico Casarin (Umana Reyer Venezia)
Round MVP