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 successor of the Basket Napoli which was dissolved in 2009.

Napoli Basket
2021–22 Napoli Basket season
LeagueLBA
Founded2016
ArenaPalaBarbuto
Capacity5,500
LocationNaples, Italy
Team colorsWhite and Blue
   
PresidentFederico Grassi
Head coachMaurizio Buscaglia
Championships1 Italian A2 Cup (2021)
1 Italian B Cup (2017)
Websitenapolibasket.eu

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 beated 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 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 1 May, Napoli defeated Fortitudo Bologna at PalaDozza, achieving the salvation from relegation.

Players

Current roster
GeVi Napoli Basket roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.Nat.NameHt.Wt.Age
C 0 Zerini, Andrea 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 112 kg (247 lb) 33 – (1988-10-25)25 October 1988
PF 1 McDuffie, Markis 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 95 kg (209 lb) 24 – (1997-09-06)6 September 1997
SF 6 Grassi, Sergio 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 80 kg (176 lb) 17 – (2004-06-25)25 June 2004
PG 7 Matera, Antonio 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) 75 kg (165 lb) 18 – (2004-02-24)24 February 2004
PG 7 Vitali, Luca 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 85 kg (187 lb) 35 – (1986-05-09)9 May 1986
PG 8 Velička, Arnas 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 90 kg (198 lb) 22 – (1999-12-10)10 December 1999
PF 11 Parks, Jordan 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 91 kg (201 lb) 28 – (1994-04-06)6 April 1994
G/F 13 Marini, Pierpaolo 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 87 kg (192 lb) 28 – (1993-10-08)8 October 1993
C 15 Elegar, Frank  2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 109 kg (240 lb) 35 – (1986-12-03)3 December 1986
G/F 16 Uglietti, Lorenzo (C) 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) 84 kg (185 lb) 27 – (1994-06-27)27 June 1994
SG 25 Rich, Jason 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 94 kg (207 lb) 36 – (1986-05-05)5 May 1986
C 77 Gudaitis, Artūras 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 115 kg (254 lb) 28 – (1993-06-19)19 June 1993
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  • Francesco Cavaliere
  • Armando Trojano
  • Davide Gabriele
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • Injured
Updated: May 5, 2022

Depth chart
Pos. Starting 5 Bench 1 Bench 2
C Artūras Gudaitis Andrea Zerini Frank Elegar
PF Jordan Parks Markis McDuffie
SF Lorenzo Uglietti Sergio Grassi
SG Jason Rich Pierpaolo Marini
PG Arnas Velička Luca Vitali Antonio Matera

(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


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