Presenting 2023/24 AdmiralBet ABA League teams: Split
Split will try to take a step forward compared to last season when they were just a win away from reaching the Playoffs.
Lovre Runjic (Photo: Split/Ivica Cavka)
Split will try to take a step forward compared to last season when they were just a win away from reaching the Playoffs.
The previous season was successful for Split. The Yellow crew finished at the 10th position and therefore fulfilled the club’s main goal of keeping their AdmiralBet ABA League status. They were very close to qualify to the Playoffs, however at the end they stayed just outside the top 8 zone.
The new season brings the same ambitions for this team, yet the Yellow crew will look a bit different than a year ago.
First of all, Split have made a coach change as Slaven Rimac has replaced Srdjan Subotić at the bench. Rimac has worked in the coaching staff of Bayern Munich over the past few years, while before that he coached Cedevita Olimpija, Cedevita and Cibona. He won the 2014 ABA Championship as head coach of Cibona.
Split has stayed without some important players from the previous season as Dominik Mavra, Shannon Shorter, Lewis Sullivan, Tyrell Nelson and Josip Jukić have all left the team over the summer. Yet, some new faces have arrived to replace them.
Lovro Gnjidić came from Cedevita Olimpija, Krešimir Ljubičić from Cibona, while Toni Perković has returned to the club after a year spent in Orleans Loiret. On top of that, the new three foreign players are in the town as Split penned contracts with Cameron Shelton (Loyola Marymount University), Derek Funderburk Jr. (Hapoel Eliat) and Shamiel Stevenson (CMS Targu Jiu).
Also, there are 7 players from the last-season roster who are still in the team, including Lovre Runjić, Tonko Vuko, Mate Kalajžić, Boris Tišma, Ante Perkušić and two youngsters Marino Dubravčić and Antonio Klepo.
The Yellow squad has played 4 prep games in the past few weeks and they won 2 of them.
Split will play in the opening game of the new season as they are about to host SC Derby on Friday evening and that will be the first big test for this new group of players.
Check out Split’s ROSTER for the 2023/24 season.
