Olimpia Milano
| EA7 Emporio Armani Milano | |||
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| Nickname | Scarpette Rosse Little Red Shoes |
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| Leagues | Euroleague, Lega Basket Serie A |
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| Founded | 1936 | ||
| History | Pallacanestro Olimpia Milano (1936–present) |
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| Arena | Mediolanum Forum (capacity: 10,200 seats) |
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| Location | Milan, Italy | ||
| Team colors | White and Red |
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| President |  Livio Proli |
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| Head coach | Sergio Scariolo |
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| Championships | Italian Championships (25): 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1972, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1996 Italian Cups (4): 1972, 1986, 1987, 1996 Euroleague Championships (3): 1966, 1987, 1988 Intercontinental Cups (1): 1987 Cup Winners' Cups (3): 1971, 1972, 1976 Korać Cups (2): 1985, 1993 Triple Crowns (1): 1987 |
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| Website | olimpiamilano.com | ||
| Uniforms | |||
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Olimpia Milano, known as EA7 Emporio Armani Olimpia Milano for sponsorship reasons, is a Lega Basket Italian professional basketball team, based in Milan, Italy, founded in 1936 by Milan businessman Adolfo Bogoncelli. Its colors are red and white, and the team is sometimes referred as "Scarpette Rosse" (Little Red Shoes) because team officials imported red Converse All-Star shoes for players from the United States . The tag line stuck, and the nickname is still used by many fans today.
As usual in the Italian league, their sponsorship has kept the team name changing frequently. From 1936 until 1955, Borletti sponsored the club, then sponsorship changed to Simmenthal until 1973. Other famous sponsorships were Billy, Simac, Tracer and Philips in the Eighties. For past club sponsorship names, see the list below.
It's the most titled basketball team in Italy, having won 25 Italian Championships, 3 European Champions Cups, 4 Italian National Cups, 1 Intercontinental Cup, 3 Saporta Cups, 2 Korać Cups and many other youth titles.
Well-known players that have played with the team have included: Bill Bradley, Antoine Carr, Mike D'Antoni, Earl Cureton, Joe Barry Carroll, Bob McAdoo, Dino Meneghin, Ken Barlow, Albert King, Marc Iavaroni, Aleksandar Djordjevic, Antonio Davis, Darryl Dawkins, Hugo Sconochini, Gregor Fučka, Dejan Bodiroga, Rolando Blackman, Anthony Bowie, Thurl Bailey, Beno Udrih, Alejandro Montecchia, Danilo Gallinari and lately Maurice Taylor.
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History [edit]
Foreign players began playing in 1957, and the team kept winning the LEGA Basket Serie A championship of Italian basketball, with players from the 1960s including Nane Vianello, Sandro Riminucci, Pieri, and Bill Bradley. In the 60's and the 1970s three teams were fighting across Europe for supremacy: Olimpia Milano, Ignis Varese, and Real Madrid; Pallacanestro Varese and Olimpia Milano were arch-rivals, as the two cities are 25 miles (40 km) apart. While Milano was a frequent Italian League champion, they were unable to win the prestigious European Championship Cup.
Late in the 1970s, the quality of play declined, but Olimpia Milano still won a Cup Winners' Cup. In the second half of the 1970s the team signed several good players: the Boselli twins, Mike Silvester and Mike D'Antoni. American head coach Dan Peterson and a new sponsor led the team back to prominence, and the team was sold in 1980 to the Gabetti family. Top Italian superstar Dino Meneghin joined the team in 1981 and more players signed for Milano afterwards— John Gianelli, Roberto Premier. Bob McAdoo, Joe Barry Carroll, Russ Schoene, Antoine Carr, and Mike Brown followed.
During the 1980s, they qualified for nine LEGA championships finals, winning five, with the 1987 team winning LEGA Serie A, the European Championship (won also in 1988: both finals were won against Maccabi Tel Aviv), the Italian Cup and the 1987 Intercontinental Cup. This gave the club the coveted Triple Crown in Basketball and the even rarer Quadruple Crown.
Led by point guard Sasha Djordjevic, the team won another Korać Cup in 1993. Bepi Stefanel purchased the team in 1994, and the team signed notable European players like Dejan Bodiroga, Gregor Fučka, Sandro De Pol, and Nando Gentile. In 1996, the team won the Italian Cup and its 25th Italian National Championship, celebrating the 60th anniversary of the club.
Team management has been inconsistent as ownership groups from 1998 to 2004; team have included Warren Kidd, Hugo Sconochini, Claudio Coldebella and Petar Naumoski. In 2005 owner Corbelli, which bought the club in 2002 from Sergio Tacchini, is flanked by Adriano Galliani (Managing Director of Italian Football club A.C. Milan), Massimo Moratti (President of rival club Internazionale), NBA star Kobe Bryant, and stylist Giorgio Armani as sponsor with Armani Jeans brand. After difficult years, led by coach Lino Lardo, Olimpia reaches the national championship Finals, finally beaten by Fortitudo Bologna.
On January 25, 2006, in the midst of a disappointing season in the Euroleague and domestically, Djordjevic was named as the team's new coach. He left as coach after the 2006–07 season, but not before securing Olimpia a berth in the 2007–08 Euroleague. In 2008 Giorgio Armani bought team from Giorgio Corbelli, standing as only owner, entirely changing the management structure, naming Livio Proli as President and Lucio Zanca as general manager. Piero Bucchi is chosen to coach new team, leading Olimpia twice in second place in LEGA Basket, defeated by Siena in both case. On January 2011, after 23 years, glorious coach Dan Peterson came back from retirement to replace Piero Bucchi as head coach. However, his stint at Olimpia Milano this time was quite short: after failing to reach the championship Finals, on June 9 Olimpia Milano announced Sergio Scariolo as new head coach for the 2011-12 season. The first player signed for the 2011-12 season was Omar Cook, American-born playmaker who had played the previous season with Power Electronics Valencia. Due to NBA lockout, Danilo Gallinari went back to his Alma Mater, playing 15 matches (8 in Italian championship, 7 in Euroleague): he left the team in December.
Players [edit]
Current roster [edit]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined by FIBA. Players may hold more than one nationality.
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Olimpia Milano roster
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Roster |
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Depth chart [edit]
| Pos. | Starter | Bench | Bench | Inactive |
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| C | Ioannis Bourousis | David Chiotti | ||
| PF | Antonis Fotsis | Nicolò Melli | ||
| SF | Alessandro Gentile | Malik Hairston | ||
| SG | Keith Langford | Gianluca Basile | ||
| PG | Marques Green | J.R. Bremer | Jacopo Giachetti |
Sponsorship names [edit]
Through the years, due to sponsorship deals, it has been also known as:[1]
- Borletti (1936–55)
- Simmenthal (1955–73)
- Innocenti (1973–75)
- Cinzano (1975–78)
- Billy (1978–83)
- Simac (1983–86)
- Tracer (1986–88)
- Philips (1988–93)
- Recoaro (1993–94)
- Stefanel (1994–98)
- Sony (1998–99)
- Adecco (1999–02)
- Pippo (2002–03)
- Breil (2003–04)
- Armani Jeans (2004–2011)
- EA7-Emporio Armani (2011–present)
Notable players [edit]
Section includes players who represented the team on at least 15 occasions and have played at the senior level for any global national team. The section further includes players who have played at a senior level first division All Star Game or have played in the NBA before.
References [edit]
External links [edit]
- Official Website (Italian)
- Forum Olimpia Milano (Italian)
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