Mike James believes Panathinaikos could be considered EuroLeague title contenders, while Olympiacos and Fenerbahce still have unanswered questions about their ability to claim such status.
Mike James discussed the latest EuroLeague action, talking about the top teams and whether they should be considered contenders.
Interestingly, James didn't have many doubts regarding Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens but admitted he still needs more time when it comes to Olympiacos Piraeus.
"I think Panathinaikos are contenders," James said in the 'Triple Threat Show' podcast, hosted by his ex-teammate at Monaco, Chima Moneke, and journalists Dionysis Aravantinos and Giorgos Efkarpidis.
"I need to see when all 17 Olympiacos players are healthy, what happens?" James argued the Olympiacos case. "When they have 17 of them healthy and on the roster, who plays? How does it work?"
"Keenan Evans is a big piece. You can argue that he's, if not their second-best player, their third-best player. How will it look like when he's back? Does [Evan] Fournier take a dip? Do they go super small?"
"Because they normally need a big '3'. That's how they play -- big and kind of physical. If they play Walkup, Keenan, and Fournier, do they lose some defense? I need to see what it looks like.
I know what Pana look like, that's why I said 'yeah, for sure.' I think Olympiacos will be good. But it's hard to tell without a big piece of your team playing," James continued.
However, Olympiacos weren't the only team that raised questions for James. Even though Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul started with 8 wins out of 10, James isn't convinced.
"I don't know. I mean, I don't like it," James admitted. "Wade [Baldwin] hasn't looked great. They're playing with no guards. I watched a game where they posted up 97 times. I didn't like it. I feel like we see people on the paper and assume everything's going to be amazing."
"Like when Wade starts playing like Wade, maybe someone gets fewer touches. So, when he shoots, he's going to be a little bit off. Maybe Nigel [Hayes-Davis] will be mad if he's not getting enough touches. Anything can happen. Until I see what they look like with their whole roster playing, it's going to be hard to predict. But they obviously have a good roster.
Title contenders? I don't know. Final Four contenders? Yes. Zalgiris made the Final Four one year, and they weren't title contenders," James noted.
AS Monaco star also touched on a sluggish Real Madrid start. Nevertheless, James believes that the Spanish powerhouse will eventually bounce back.
"They lost a lot of players who were Madrid guys and were used to how they play and to how things go. I don't think they replaced them well," James noted. Chacho was the main dude. He could come in for 15 minutes, and those 15 minutes would count."
"[Fabien] Causeur could be out for two months and then have two months of great basketball. Rudy could do the same thing. [Guerschon] Yabusele can be your guy in crunch games when you're struggling, get big rebounds and be the tough guy. [Vincent] Poirier was a big help."
"I'm not saying they didn't replace anyone, but I don't think they replaced them that well. [Xavier] Rathan-Mayes is a good player, but it's a tough situation where some games you play and some games you don't. I don't know who replaced Rudy.
Will [Andres] Feliz ever be anything like Chacho? Not really. He's probably the total opposite of him. Chacho makes stuff out of nothing.
And I think Yabusele was one of the most underrated players in the EuroLeague for like 5 years to me. He was one of their best players just because of how reliable he is. You don't even need to run plays for him; he comes with 12-15 points and 6 rebounds.
I think their main problem was Yabusele, and they didn't really replace him. And I think they were trying to do that by committee with Deck, Ndiaye, and Hezonja. But it's different. I still think they're going to make the playoffs. It would be awful to face them in the playoffs, though," James concluded.
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