MIES (Switzerland) - The new year is upon us, which means the Play-Ins and the Round of 16 are soon to follow.
At this halfway point of the season, we like to take an early look at the front-runners for the end-of-season awards. In this case, we are looking at the Best Coach Award.
The list of previous winners reads as follows: Txus Vidorreta, Vassilis Spanoulis, Tuomas Iisalo, Pedro Martinez, Zoran Lukic, Oren Amiel, Roel Moors, and John Patrick.
It's a heady list of innovators, trend-setters, underdogs on teams from the Qualifying Rounds, and big-hitters from the most successful teams in the competition's history.
We tried to keep all the previous winners in mind when putting together the following list of possible favorites to win the award this year.
Remember, this isn't a prediction, and the list below is not any kind of official ranking, but saying that, we feel there is a decent chance that one of the names you read below will end up getting their name called at the Basketball Champions League Season X Final Four, powered by Ameresco SUNEL, in May.
Ibon Navarro (Unicaja)
And there we were, thinking that the kings might miss a step this season due to the roster turnover in the summer... Absolutely no chance.
Ibon Navarro steered his squad to a 6-0 finish at the top of Group G. They have the best Net Rating in the league at +32 points per 100 possessions, better than the teams in their group. The next team in the rankings is Dreamland Gran Canaria at +21.5.
Unicaja are also the most efficient offense in the BCL this season, scoring at a rate of 130 points per 100 possessions. In fact, they are on track to have the best offensive season in the history of this competition.
Let's see if that holds in the Round of 16, as it wouldn't be hyperbolic to say they are yet to see a serious challenge in the Regular Season - they won their six games by an average of 24 points.
The back-to-back champs look just as unstoppable as they ever have, if not more so. If that doesn't make Ibon Navarro a hot favorite to win this award, then what does?
Jaka Lakovic (Dreamland Gran Canaria)
Don't look now, but Dreamland Gran Canaria welcomed themselves to the BCL with a casual 6-0 record to top Group H. As we mentioned above, they also had the second-best Net Rating in the BCL at +21.5 points per 100 possessions, which was better than their opponents.
Added to that, they have the second-best Defensive Rating in the league this year, allowing just 98 points per 100 possessions.
Jaka Lakovic's smooth offensive flow and ruthless defensive discipline saw his Granca team win their six games by an average of 15.5 points, and really got the max production from his roster.
Isaiah Wong averaged 14.2 points in just 19 minutes of action, Nicolas Brussino shot 48 percent from deep on five attempts, and Kur Kuath established himself as one of the league's best in blocked shots at 1.8.
Lakovic steered Granca to become one of only four teams ever in the BCL to win their first six games. He is undoubtedly one of the top playcallers in this competition.
Elric Delord (Elan Chalon)
From the Qualification Round Tournament to the Play-Ins, Elric Delord has created a monster that punches well above its weight.
We spoke to Coach Delord about his team earlier this season, and it's safe to say they have been one of the hottest stories in Europe this season. Not only did they knock out UCAM Murcia to reach the Regular Season, but they have also claimed huge wins over ASVEL and Monaco in France this season.
They ended Group B with a 5-1 record and narrowly missed out on a spot in the Round of 16 thanks to ALBA BERLIN claiming the head-to-head.
Only three teams in the BCL this season had a better record than Chalon, and two other teams matched them with 5-1. Both of those teams, BERLIN and AEK BC, topped their groups.
Chalon need to get past Promitheas Patras BC Vikos Cola in the Play-Ins. If they manage it and then continue their epic run to a Final Four, Elric Delord will fit the exact same profile as the first-ever winner of this award, John Patrick.
Daniel Miret (Joventut Badalona)
The next man up is Daniel Miret and Joventut Badalona. Miret is the perfect homegrown story. His entire career as a coach has been about developing within the Badalona system, from mini to Infantil, Cadete, and Junior teams.
He then went to coach in Badalona's LEB Gold affiliate team CB Prat. Mixed in along the journey, he also became a FIBA EuroBasket champion with Spain at the U16 and U18 levels before also winning a gold medal at the 2023 U19 World Cup. Miret's journey as a coach is one that makes Badalona such a special addition to the BCL.
Let's not give any illusions that Miret is only on this list as a token, homegrown representative. He has steered a team full of big-time players and big-time youth talents to become one of the very best teams in the BCL this season.
Like Granca, they have joined the rarified air of four teams (also Besiktas in 2016-17 and Virtus Bologna in 2018-19) that have opened their BCL accounts with a 6-0 record and secured their spot in the Round of 16 with one of the most clutch performances we have seen in this competition.
Miret has his team ranked third for Net Rating at +18 points per 100, better than his opponents, and didn't put a foot wrong during the Group Phase.
Dragan Sakota (AEK BC)
Dragan Sakota's AEK have the fourth-best Net Rating in the league this year at +14 points per 100 possessions, better than their opponents. That is mainly thanks to being the absolute best defensive team in the competition so far.
They allow just 96 points per 100 possessions, which equates to just 72 points per game against them.
They rebound 74 percent of missed shots on the defensive glass and allow opponents to shoot just 42 percent from the field, including just 25 percent from deep, which is the second-lowest in the BCL after Legia Warzsawa at 22 percent.
The impressive numbers don't end there either.
Sakota's AEK topped Group F with a 5-1 record and led their games for 1890 minutes. Only Unicaja, Joventut Badalona, and Galatasaray spent more minutes in the lead during the Regular Season.
The only game that AEK dropped so far this season was the final game of the Group Phase against NHSZ-Szolnoki Olajbanyasz, and that game was long after they had already qualified to the Round of 16 as group winners.
Dragan Sakota has created another team with a very legitimate chance of claiming the title in May.
Honorable Mentions
Special mentions also go to Michal Madzin steering Patrioti Levice from the QRT to the Play-Ins, Pedro Calles' excellent defensive unit at ALBA BERLIN, Giedrius Zibenas producing another excellent Rytas team, and Vladimir Jovanovic guiding Spartak Office Shoes to the Play-Ins in their debut season.