Napoli Basket

Napoli Basket, known for sponsorship reasons as GeVi Napoli, is an Italian professional basketball team of the city of Naples.^[1] It's the de facto successor of the Basket Napoli which was dissolved in 2009.

Napoli Basket
League	LBA
Founded	2016
History	Cuore Napoli Basket (2016–2018) Napoli Basket (2018–present)
Arena	PalaBarbuto
Capacity	5,500
Location	Naples, Italy
Team colors	White and Blue
President	Federico Grassi
Team manager	Pedro Llompart
Head coach	Igor Miličić
Championships	1 Italian A2 Cup (2021) 1 Italian B Cup (2017)
Website	napolibasket.eu
Home Away

The team has achieved the promotion to the Serie A after the end of the 2020–21 season of the Serie A2 Basket.^[2]

History

2016–2019: Beginnings

In August 2016, after a corporate failure of Napoli Basketball, Ciro Ruggiero founded a new team, known as Cuore Napoli Basket. The transfer of the sporting title from Cilento Basket Agropoli allowed the newborn Neapolitan team to play in the 2016–17 Serie B. In the same season, Cuore Napoli Basket managed to win promotion to Serie A2, after having arrived first in Group C of the regular season and beat Bergamo Basket in the playoff's final. During the same season Napoli also won his first Italian Cup in the National Basketball League.

At the end of the 2017–18 season, Cuore Napoli Basket relegated to Serie B, after losing in the playouts against Roseto Sharks. At the end of the season, the management passed to the Neapolitan entrepreneurs Federico Grassi and Francesco Tavassi and the club changed its name to Napoli Basket.^[3] Gianluca Lulli was signed as new head coach. In 2018–19 Serie B, Napoli Basket closed the regular season at the 6th place in group D with 36 points, but it lost in the semifinals against Pallacanestro Palestrina.

2019–present: Promotion to LBA and first seasons

In June 2019, the club announced that it had purchased the sports title from Legnano Basket Knights, obtaining the right to participate in the 2019–20 Serie A2 season. However, the season began with three consecutive defeats against NPC Rieti, Basket Latina and Junior Casale. Gianluca Lulli was sacked and the expert coach Stefano Sacripanti was signed.^[4] Napoli ended the regular season at the 8th place, achieving the second phase, which however was never played due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the next summer, important players like Josh Mayo and Jordan Parks were signed. In the 2020–21 season, the team won its second Italian LNP Cup (the first in Serie A2), beating APU Udine for 80–69 in the final.^[5] On 27 June 2021, following the victory in the playoff's finals against Udine, Napoli was promoted to Lega Basket Serie A (LBA).^[6]

Despite a good start of the season, on 15 March 2022, coach Sacripanti was sacked following several defeats and the club hired Maurizio Buscaglia as new head coach.^[7] Moreover, on 29 March, Napoli signed the Lithuanian center Artūras Gudaitis, who had left Zenit Saint Petersburg following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[8] On May 1, Napoli defeated Fortitudo Bologna at PalaDozza, achieving the salvation from relegation.

After not making the playoffs in the 2021-22 season, the club decided to take new players during the offseason. These include Jordan Howard,^[9] Robert Johnson,^[10] David Michineau,^[11] Elijah Stewart^[12] and JaCorey Williams.^[13] On January 3, 2023, Buscaglia was esonerated and Cesare Pancotto ended up becoming the head coach after being an assistant coach for the team.^[14][15] During the season, they engaged Devin Davis,^[16] Joe Young^[17] and Thomas Wimbush.^[18] Though Johnson, Davis, Williams, Agravanis and Zanotti would all leave the club before the end of the season.^[19]

Players

Current roster

GeVi Napoli Basket roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. Age PG 0     Pullen, Jacob 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 33 – (1989-11-10)10 November 1989 F/C 1   Zubčić, Tomislav 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 110 kg (243 lb) 33 – (1990-01-17)17 January 1990 PG 2   Ennis, Tyler 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 88 kg (194 lb) 29 – (1994-08-24)24 August 1994 SG 3   Jaworski, Justin 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 89 kg (196 lb) 24 – (1999-06-21)21 June 1999 PG 5   De Nicolao, Giovanni 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 79 kg (174 lb) 27 – (1996-06-10)10 June 1996 PF 11   Owens, Tariq 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 93 kg (205 lb) 28 – (1995-06-30)30 June 1995 SF 24   Sokołowski, Michał 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 89 kg (196 lb) 30 – (1992-12-11)11 December 1992 PF 25   Lever, Alessandro 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 104 kg (229 lb) 24 – (1998-12-04)4 December 1998 PF 73   Ebeling, Michele 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 24 – (1999-01-03)3 January 1999	Head coach   Igor Miličić Assistant coach(es)   Cesare Pancotto   Francesco Cavaliere Legend (C) Team captain   Injured Roster Updated: September 3, 2023

Notable players

• Elijah Stewart (born 1995)

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench
C
PF
SF
SG
PG

(colours: Italian or homegrown players; foreign players; young players)

References

1. "Basket Napli page in LNP" (in Italian). legapallacanestro.com.
2. "Napoli è la prima neopromossa. Il presidente Grassi: 'Ci abbiamo creduto sin dal primo giorno'" (in Italian). legabasket.it. 28 June 2021.
3. Cuore Napoli Basket: Patron Ruggiero lascia la compagine napoletana, La Rampa
4. Gevi Napoli basket – Pino Sacripanti è ufficialmente il nuovo head coach degli azzurri, Generazione Vincente
5. Napoli Basket, vinta la Coppa Italia di Serie A2, Informare
6. Estasi Napoli: torna in Serie A dopo 13 anni!, Gazzetta dello Sport
7. Napoli basket, esonerato l'allenatore Sacripanti dopo la sconfitta con Varese, Sky Sport
8. https://sportando.basketball/generazione-vincente-napoli-ufficiale-arturas-gudaitis/, Sportando
9. "Gevi Napoli Basket, ingaggiato il playmaker Jordan Howard". Napoli Basket (in Italian). 2022-06-20. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
10. "Napoli Basket, preso anche Robert Johnson: ufficiale l'arrivo della guardia americana". NapoliToday (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-04-23.
11. "Gevi Napoli Basket, Arriva il playmaker David Michineau". Napoli Basket (in Italian). 2022-06-17. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
12. "UFFICIALE - Gevi Napoli Basket, arriva Elijah Stewart". Basketinside.com (in Italian). 2022-07-19. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
13. Stefano (2022-07-15). "Scouting, Jacorey Williams: il volto nuovo Gevi Napoli Basket". Backdoorpodcast.com | Podcast e news su Nba, Eurolega e Basket Serie A (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-04-23.
14. Arcari, Marco. "SERIE A - LA GEVI NAPOLI ESONERA MAURIZIO BUSCAGLIA". Eurosport (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-04-23.
15. "Ge.Vi. Napoli: Cesare Pancotto cambia idea e accetta il ruolo da head coach". SuperBasket (in Italian). 2023-01-03. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
16. "UFFICIALE - Gevi Napoli Basket, arriva Devin Davis". Basketinside.com (in Italian). 2022-11-15. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
17. "UFFICIALE - Napoli, colpo in entrata: Joe Young firma con la GeVi". Basketinside.com (in Italian). 2023-01-05. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
18. Uccella, Davide (2023-02-07). "UFFICIALE - Gevi Napoli Basket, arriva Thomas Wimbush". Basketinside.com (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-04-23.
19. "Simone Zanotti lascia Napoli e firma in A2 con Torino". Basket Magazine (in Italian). 2023-04-20. Retrieved 2023-04-23.

External links

• Official Site (in Italian)