2015–16 ABA League

The 2015–16 ABA League was the 15th season of the ABA League, with 14 teams from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia participating in it.

ABA League
Season	2015–16
Duration	October 1, 2015 – March 7, 2016 (Regular season) March 14, – May 2, 2016 (Playoffs)
Teams	14
TV partner(s)	Arena Sport
Regular season
Top seed	Budućnost
Season MVP	Miro Bilan (Cedevita)
Relegated	Sutjeska Tajfun
Finals
Champions	Crvena Zvezda Telekom 2nd title
Runners-up	Mega Leks
Semifinalists	Budućnost Cedevita
Finals MVP	Stefan Jović (Crvena Zvezda Telekom)
Awards
Best young player	Ante Žižić (Cibona)[1]
Statistical leaders
Points Tadija Dragićević (Budućnost) 16.33 Rebounds Ante Žižić (Cibona) 8.00 Assists Omar Cook (Budućnost) 6.62
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

Regular season started on October 1, 2015, and finished on March 7, 2016 followed by playoffs of the four best placed teams.^[2][3]

Teams

Partizan

Crvena Zvezda

Mega Leks

Cedevita

Cibona

Zadar

Metalac

Olimpija

Tajfun

Krka

MZT Skopje

Igokea

Budućnost

Sutjeska

Location of teams in the 2015–16 ABA League

Country	Teams	Qualification	Team	City	Venue (Capacity)
Serbia	4
		1st in the Basketball League of Serbia	Crvena Zvezda	Belgrade	Hall Aleksandar Nikolić (8,150)
		2nd in the Basketball League of Serbia	Partizan	Belgrade	Hall Aleksandar Nikolić (8,150)
		3rd in the Basketball League of Serbia	Metalac	Valjevo	Valjevo Sports Hall (2,500)
		4th in the Basketball League of Serbia	Mega Leks	Sremska Mitrovica	Sports Hall Pinki (3,000)
Croatia	3
		1st place in the A-1 League	Cedevita	Zagreb	Dom Sportova (3,500)
		2nd place in the A-1 League	Cibona	Zagreb	Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall (5,400)
		3rd place in the A-1 League	Zadar	Zadar	Krešimir Ćosić Hall (10,000)
Slovenia	3
		Champion of the 1.A SKL	Tajfun	Šentjur	Golovec Hall (3,200)
		1st place in 1.A SKL	Krka	Novo mesto	Leon Štukelj Hall (3,000)
		Wild card	Union Olimpija	Ljubljana	Arena Stožice (12,480)
Montenegro	2
		Champion of Montenegrin Basketball League	Budućnost	Podgorica	Morača Sports Center (5,000)
		2nd place in Montenegrin Basketball League	Sutjeska[note 1]	Nikšić	Nikšić Sports Center (3,000)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1	Champion of Premijer liga BiH	Igokea	Aleksandrovac	Laktaši Sports Hall (3,050)
Macedonia	1	Champion of Macedonian First League	MZT	Skopje	Jane Sandanski Arena (6,000)

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Budućnost	Luka Pavićević	Suad Šehović	Luanvi	VOLI
Cedevita	Veljko Mršić	Miro Bilan	Nike	Cedevita / Konzum
Cibona	Damir Mulaomerović	Marin Rozić	Adidas	Franck
Crvena Zvezda	Dejan Radonjić	Luka Mitrović	Champion	Telekom Srbija
Igokea	Dragan Bajić	Marko Čakarević	Givova	M:tel / Hemofarm
Krka	Vladimir Anzulović	Matej Rojc	Žolna šport	Krka
Mega Leks	Dejan Milojević	Rade Zagorac	Adidas	Beoleks
Metalac	Vladimir Đokić	Dušan Kutlešić	Kamp	Farmakom
MZT Skopje	Aleksandar Jončevski	Damjan Stojanovski	Li-Ning	Sinalco / Bauer BG
Partizan	Aleksandar Džikić	Vanja Marinković	Adidas	NIS
Sutjeska	Igor Jovović	Nikola Žižić	PEAK	—
Tajfun	Dejan Mihevc	Dragiša Drobnjak	Spalding	Tajfun
Union Olimpija	Gašper Potočnik	Saša Zagorac	Macron	Pivovarna Union
Zadar	Ante Nazor	Lovre Bašić	Adidas	OTP banka

Coaching changes

Week	Club	Outgoing coach	Date of change	Incoming coach
3rd	Metalac	Vladimir Đokić	7 October 2015[4]	Vladimir Mišković
4th	Metalac	Vladimir Mišković	12 October 2015[5]	Vladimir Đokić
11th	Budućnost	Igor Jovović	27 November 2015[6]	Luka Pavićević
13th	Cibona	Slaven Rimac	7 December 2015[7]	Damir Mulaomerović
13th	MZT Skopje	Aleš Pipan	7 December 2015[8]	Aleksandar Jončevski
15th	Igokea	Željko Lukajić	21 December 2015[9]	Dragan Bajić
18th	Partizan	Petar Božić	5 January 2016[10]	Aleksandar Džikić
20th	Krka	Ivan Velić	18 January 2016[11]	Vladimir Anzulović
20th	Sutjeska	Dušan Dubljević	24 January 2016[12]	Igor Jovović

Regular season

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Budućnost	26	23	3	2032	1774	+258	49	Qualification to playoffs
2	Crvena Zvezda	26	20	6	2046	1800	+246	46
3	Cedevita	26	19	7	2024	1879	+145	45
4	Mega Leks	26	17	9	2051	1940	+111	43
5	Partizan	26	12	14	1973	1974	−1	38
6	Zadar	26	12	14	1808	1868	−60	38
7	Union Olimpija	26	11	15	1921	1955	−34	37
8	Cibona	26	11	15	1887	1936	−49	37
9	Igokea	26	11	15	1839	1899	−60	37
10	MZT Skopje	26	10	16	1869	1908	−39	36
11	Metalac	26	10	16	1837	1941	−104	36
12	Krka	26	10	16	1853	1924	−71	36
13	Sutjeska	26	9	17	1867	2011	−144	35	Relegated
14	Tajfun	26	7	19	1790	1988	−198	33

Source: ABA Standings

Schedule and results

The regular season began on October 1, 2015, and ended on March 7, 2016.

Home \ Away	BUD	CDV	CIB	CZV	IGK	KRK	MEG	MET	MZT	PAR	SUT	TAJ	UOL	ZDR
Budućnost		76–66	78–68	68–54	89–74	81–65	71–56	83–72	65–55	78–65	89–87	81–61	89–77	78–47
Cedevita	57–81		83–65	74–72	67–56	70–60	78–68	77–63	89–64	75–72	73–50	94–61	82–58	81–88
Cibona	69–91	69–81		83–94	86–72	85–78	82–89	77–73	68–62	63–57	93–76	71–69	75–79	74–65
Crvena Zvezda	83–62	79–80	75–58		81–87	77–67	76–70	86–74	92–79	92–77	96–67	113–66	73–77	83–57
Igokea	76–86	86–91	68–57	54–74		54–65	80–75	60–66	70–86	71–64	75–58	71–82	72–63	77–73
Krka	78–84	85–77	90–86	65–71	74–64		74–57	70–75	72–68	70–75	58–66	103–96	55–59	77–66
Mega Leks	81–83	100–93	76–72	78–79	69–68	84–77		77–64	82–70	76–59	101–72	92–70	78–81	87–61
Metalac	61–67	79–81	77–61	62–68	56–74	83–77	83–76		68–77	67–64	84–78	78–62	74–61	71–67
MZT	68–72	65–70	69–68	66–71	75–70	69–67	76–77	93–67		82–78	71–75	77–70	81–62	60–72
Partizan	86–77	82–61	85–82	86–81	66–73	69–70	78–85	81–70	72–69		75–67	89–85	76–74	87–76
Sutjeska	92–91	68–83	68–80	62–70	72–83	87–81	68–73	84–73	68–77	82–71		51–60	86–78	71–60
Tajfun	61–80	67–78	52–74	63–73	76–81	74–51	60–64	76–63	68–62	65–83	71–68		73–59	66–82
Union Olimpija	63–67	84–91	67–68	69–77	79–63	80–50	89–99	76–62	91–76	118–115	60–61	77–69		84–76
Zadar	52–65	81–72	62–53	49–56	69–60	67–74	76–81	88–72	84–72	65–61	85–83	73–67	67–56

Source: ABA League Calendar^[3]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Playoffs

	Semifinals							Finals
	1	Budućnost	81	75
	4	Mega Leks	85	76
									Mega Leks	88	74	49
									Crvena Zvezda	95	93	61
	2	Crvena Zvezda	97	73
	3	Cedevita	88	65

Semifinals

Game 1

14 March 2016	Budućnost	81–85	Mega Leks	Podgorica
20:00 (CET)	Scoring by quarter: 15–24, 28–18, 19–18, 19–25
	Pts: Jenkins 26 Rebs: Marić 9 Asts: Cook 5 PIR: Jenkins 24	Boxscore	Pts: Zagorac 27 Rebs: Luwawu, Zagorac 7 Asts: Ivanović 12 PIR: Zagorac 40	Arena: Morača Sports Center Attendance: 4,560 Referees: Srđan Dožai Matej Boltauzer Siniša Herceg

Budućnost v Mega Leks

15 March 2016	Crvena Zvezda	97–880(OT)	Cedevita	Belgrade
18:45 (CET)	Scoring by quarter: 22–14, 15–29, 19–13, 26–26, Overtime: 15–6
	Pts: Miller 24 Rebs: Zirbes 11 Asts: Jović 8 PIR: Zirbes 29	Boxscore	Pts: Pullen 24 Rebs: White 12 Asts: Pullen 5 PIR: White 29	Arena: Hall Aleksandar Nikolić Attendance: 6,286 Referees: Saša Pukl Damir Javor Miloš Koljenšić

Crvena Zvezda v Cedevita

Game 2

19 March 2016	Mega Leks	76–75	Budućnost	Sremska Mitrovica
21:00 (CET)	Scoring by quarter: 22–24, 22–16, 18–15, 14–20
	Pts: Luwawu 17 Rebs: Ivanović, Simeunović 8 Asts: Ivanović 8 PIR: Ivanović 21	Boxscore	Pts: Dragićević 20 Rebs: Marić 13 Asts: Se. Šehović 5 PIR: Dragićević 20	Arena: Sports Hall Pinki Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Sreten Radović Petar Obradović Tomislav Hordov

Mega Leks v Budućnost

22 March 2016	Cedevita	65–73	Crvena Zvezda	Zagreb
20:00 (CET)	Scoring by quarter: 19–16, 20–18, 10–21, 16–18
	Pts: Pullen 17 Rebs: Bilan 7 Asts: four players 2 PIR: Pullen 12	Boxscore	Pts: Štimac 17 Rebs: Zirbes 9 Asts: Jović 6 PIR: Miller 20	Arena: Dom Sportova Attendance: 3,300 Referees: Saša Pukl Damir Javor Sašo Petek

Cedevita v Crvena Zvezda

Finals

28 April 2016 Game 1	Crvena Zvezda	95–88	Mega Leks	Belgrade
19:00 (CEST)	Scoring by quarter: 27–25, 21–20, 20–25, 27–18
	Pts: Miller, Zirbes 17 Rebs: Zirbes 12 Asts: Jović 9 PIR: Zirbes 29	Boxscore	Pts: Ivanović 25 Rebs: Nikolić 6 Asts: Ivanović 6 PIR: Ivanović 28	Arena: Hall Aleksandar Nikolić Attendance: 2,586 Referees: Sreten Radović Milivoje Jovčić Siniša Herceg

Crvena Zvezda v Mega Leks

30 April 2016 Game 2	Crvena Zvezda	93–74	Mega Leks	Belgrade
20:00 (CEST)	Scoring by quarter: 26–21, 26–18, 20–21, 21–14
	Pts: Simonović 16 Rebs: three players 5 Asts: Jović 9 PIR: Jović 20	Boxscore	Pts: Ivanović 22 Rebs: Nikolić 7 Asts: Ivanović 5 PIR: Ivanović 22	Arena: Hall Aleksandar Nikolić Attendance: 3,000 Referees: Ilija Belošević Petar Obradović Saša Maričić

Crvena Zvezda v Mega Leks

2 May 2016 Game 3	Mega Leks	49–61	Crvena Zvezda	Sremska Mitrovica
20:30 (CEST)	Scoring by quarter: 16–24, 18–13, 6–9, 9–15
	Pts: Zagorac 21 Rebs: Janković 8 Asts: Ivanović 6 PIR: Zagorac 22	Boxscore	Pts: Miller 18 Rebs: Miller 8 Asts: Jović 6 PIR: Miller 19	Arena: Sports Hall Pinki Attendance: 2,500 Referees: Saša Pukl Srđan Dožai Marko Juras

Mega Leks v Crvena Zvezda

2015–16 ABA League Champions
Crvena Zvezda 2nd title

2015–2016 Crvena Zvezda Team Roster

Position(s)	Name
G/F	Tarence Kinsey
PG	Nikola Rebić
G/F	Nemanja Dangubić
PF	Luka Mitrović
G/F	Branko Lazić
F	Boriša Simanić
PG	Vasilije Micić
SF	Marko Simonović
C	Stefan Nastić
SG	Marko Gudurić
PG	Stefan Jović
F	Quincy Miller
C	Maik Zirbes
C	Vladimir Štimac
Head Coach	Dejan Radonjić

Individual statistics

Rating

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Rating	PIR
1.	Miro Bilan	Cedevita	28	575	20.54
2.	Sava Lešić	Olimpija	26	448	18.88
3.	Ante Žižić	Cibona	21	379	18.05
4.	Kevin Jones	Partizan	19	332	17.47
5.	Nemanja Vranješ	Sutjeska	23	396	17.22

Points

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Points	PPG
1.	Tadija Dragićević	Budućnost	26	424	16.31
2.	Kevin Jones	Partizan	19	310	16.32
3.	Sava Lešić	Olimpija	26	395	15.19
4.	Đorđe Drenovac	MZT Skopje	26	388	14.92
5.	Nemanja Vranješ	Sutjeska	23	337	14.65

Rebounds

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Rebounds	RPG
1.	Ante Žižić	Cibona	21	168	8.00
2.	Kevin Jones	Partizan	19	149	7.84
3.	Miro Bilan	Cedevita	28	217	7.75
4.	Sava Lešić	Olimpija	26	200	7.69
5.	Aleks Marić	Budućnost	26	184	7.08

Assists

Rank	Name	Team	Games	Assists	APG
1.	Omar Cook	Budućnost	28	181	6.46
2.	Stefan Jović	Crvena Zvezda	27	145	5.37
3.	Nikola Ivanović	Mega Leks	26	134	5.15
4.	Marko Ljubičić	MZT Skopje	25	103	4.12
5.	Vuk Radivojević	Igokea	25	91	3.64

Source: ABA League Individual Statistics ^[13]

MVP List

MVP of the Round^{[note 2]}

Round	Player	Team	Efficiency
1	Rade Zagorac	Mega Leks	29
2	Miro Bilan	Cedevita	33
3	Suad Šehović	Budućnost	30
4	Marko Luković	MZT	28
5	Aleks Marić	Budućnost	32
6	Ive Ivanov	Krka	27
7	Jure Lalić	Krka	25
8	Nikola Ivanović	Mega Leks	31
9	Ante Žižić	Cibona	30
10	Ante Delaš	Zadar	33
11	Jure Lalić (2)	Krka	35
12	Tadija Dragićević	Budućnost	30
13	Tadija Dragićević (2)	Budućnost	25
14	Miro Bilan (2)	Cedevita	37
15	Miro Bilan (3)	Cedevita	28
16	Miro Bilan (4)	Cedevita	35
17	Vuk Radivojević	Igokea	30
18	Nemanja Vranješ	Sutjeska	42
19	Glenn Cosey	Zadar	30
20	Aleksandar Cvetković	Partizan	42
21	Miro Bilan (5)	Cedevita	30
22	Maik Zirbes	Crvena Zvezda	36
23	James White	Cedevita	26
24	Maik Zirbes (2)	Crvena Zvezda	34
25	Vuk Radivojević (2)	Igokea	31
26	Sava Lešić	Olimpija	43
SF1	Rade Zagorac (2)	Mega Leks	40
SF2	Nikola Ivanović (2)	Mega Leks	21
F1	Maik Zirbes (3)	Crvena Zvezda	29
F2	Stefan Jović	Crvena Zvezda	20
F3	Quincy Miller	Crvena Zvezda	19

Source: ABA League MVP List ^[14]

MVP of the Month

Month	Player	Team	Ref.
October 2015	Suad Šehović	Budućnost	[15]
November 2015	Miro Bilan	Cedevita	[16]
December 2015	Miro Bilan (2)	Cedevita	[17]
January 2016	Tadija Dragićević	Budućnost	[18]
February 2016	Maik Zirbes	Crvena Zvezda	[19]

The ideal five of the season

The ideal five of the season were selected by head coaches, fans and the ABA League Commission, with the coaches contributing 60%, the fans 30% and the Commission 10% of the votes for the final result.^[20]

Position	Name	Team
PG	Jacob Pullen	Cedevita
SG	Timothe Luwawu	Mega Leks
SF	Tadija Dragićević	Budućnost
PF	Miro Bilan	Cedevita
C	Maik Zirbes	Crvena zvezda

ABA League clubs in European competitions

Competition	Team	Progress	Result
Euroleague	Crvena Zvezda	Playoffs	Eliminated by CSKA Moscow, 0–3
	Cedevita	Top 16 Group E	8th place
Eurocup	Union Olimpija	Last 32 Group M	4th place
	Budućnost	Regular Season Group D	5th place
FIBA Europe Cup	Cibona	Quarter-finals	Eliminated by Enisey Krasnoyarsk, 1–2
	Krka	Round of 32 Group O	3rd place
	Tajfun	Regular Season Group F	4th place

Notes

1. A qualification tournament, to which the highest placed teams (that did not already qualify for the 2015/16 ABA League) from the Croatian, Macedonian, Bosnian and Montenegrin Leagues were invited, was announced. After Zagreb, Kumanovo and Široki withdrew from the tournament, Sutjeska was placed in the League.
2. Unlike the previous seasons in the 2015–16 season only players playing for winning teams could be named MVP of the Round.

References

1. "2015/16 Top Prospect: Ante Žižić". abaliga.com. 9 March 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
2. "Important decisions made at the Assembly". abaliga.com. 17 July 2015. Archived from the original on 19 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
3. "ABA League Calendar". aba-liga.com. Archived from the original on 2016-08-18. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
4. "Đokić resigns as head coach of Metalac". abaliga.com. 7 October 2015. Archived from the original on 8 October 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
5. "The great return of Vladimir Đokić". abaliga.com. 12 October 2015. Archived from the original on 14 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
6. "Luka Pavićević is the new Budućnost VOLI head coach". aba-liga.com. 27 November 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
7. "Cibona appointed Damir Mulaomerović as new head coach!". 7 December 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
8. "MZT Skopje Aerodrom parted ways with Pipan". 7 December 2015. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
9. "Dragan Bajić replaced Željko Lukajić at the bench of Igokea". 21 December 2015. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
10. "Partizan NIS replaced Božić with Džikić". 5 January 2016.
11. "Vladimir Anzulović replaced Velić at Krka's bench". 18 January 2016. Archived from the original on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
12. "Sutjeska appointed Igor Jovović as new head coach!". 24 January 2016. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
13. "Individual Statistics". Archived from the original on 2015-11-21. Retrieved 2015-12-28.
14. "ABA League MVP List". aba-liga.com. Archived from the original on 2015-11-18. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
15. "INTERVIEW: Suad Šehović, the MVP of October". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
16. "November MVP: Miro Bilan – "We can win the rings this season"". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
17. December MVP: Miro Bilan
18. December January MVP: Tadija Dragićević^{[permanent dead link‍]}
19. "February MVP: Maik Zirbes". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
20. "Dragićević heads the Ideal Starting Five". 11 March 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-03-11. Retrieved 11 March 2016.

External links

• Official website
• ABA League at Eurobasket.com