2015–16 Lega Basket Serie A

Lega Basket Serie A
Champions	EA7 Emporio Armani Milano (27th title)
Runners-up	Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia
Semifinalists	Umana Reyer Venezia Sidigas Avellino
Relegated	Obiettivo Lavoro Bologna
Teams	16
Games played	240 (Regular season) 24–41 (Playoffs)
Duration	4 October 2015 - June 2016
Top seed	EA7 Emporio Armani Milano
TV	RAI, Sky Italia
Awards
MVP	James Nunnally
Finals MVP	Rakim Sanders
Best Young Player	Diego Flaccadori
Statistical leaders
PIR	Austin Daye 22.4
Points	Austin Daye 21.3
Rebounds	Dario Hunt 9.9
Assists	Peyton Siva 6.5
Records
Highest scoring	Bologna 115–109 Brindisi (24 January 2016)
Home win	Milano 87–50 Sassari (2 January 2016)
Away win	Brindisi 53–79 Reggio Emilia (13 December 2015)
Highest attendance	12,683 Milano 94–90 Torino (6 March 2016)
Average attendance	3,967[1]

The 2015–16 Lega Basket Serie A, known for sponsorship reasons as the Serie A BEKO, is the 94th season of the Lega Basket Serie A, the highest professional basketball league in Italy.

The regular season started on 4 October 2015 and finished on 4 May 2015, with the playoffs starting on 7 May (dependent on an Italian club qualifying for the 2016 Euroleague Final Four) to finish between 13 and 16 June depending on results.^[2]

Banco di Sardegna Sassari was the defending champion.

EA7 Emporio Armani Milano won their 27th title by beating Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia in game 6 of the finals.

Teams

Number of teams by region

Number of teams	Region	Team(s)
4	Lombardy	Acqua Vitasnella Cantù, EA7 Emporio Armani Milano, Openjobmetis Varese and Vanoli Cremona
2	Emilia-Romagna	Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia and Obiettivo Lavoro Bologna
	Campania	Pasta Reggia Caserta and Sidigas Avellino
1	Apulia	Enel Brindisi
	Marche	Consultinvest Pesaro
	Piedmont	Manital Torino
	Sardinia	Banco di Sardegna Sassari
	Sicily	Betaland Capo d'Orlando
	Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol	Dolomiti Energia Trento
	Tuscany	Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia
	Veneto	Umana Reyer Venezia

Venues and locations

Avellino

Milano

Sassari

Cantù

Bologna

Varese

Trento

Torino

Capo d'Orlando

Caserta

Pesaro

Cremona

Venezia

Pistoia

R. Emilia

Brindisi

Lega Basket Serie A 2015–16 – Club Locations

Personnel and sponsorship

Team	Chairman	Head Coach	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Acqua Vitasnella Cantù	Dmitry Gerasimenko	Sergei Bazarevich	Macron	Acqua Vitasnella
Banco di Sardegna Sassari	Stefano Sardara	Federico Pasquini	Eyesportwear	Banco di Sardegna
Betaland Capo d'Orlando	Roberto Enzo Sindoni	Gennaro Di Carlo	Legea	Betaland
Consultinvest Pesaro	Ario Costa	Riccardo Paolini	Erreà	Consultinvest
Dolomiti Energia Trento	Luigi Longhi	Maurizio Buscaglia	Spalding	Dolomiti Energia
EA7 Emporio Armani Milano	Livio Proli	Jasmin Repeša	Armani	EA7 Emporio Armani
Enel Brindisi	Fernando Marino	Piero Bucchi	Bitre Sport	Enel
Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia	Roberto Maltinti	Vincenzo Esposito	Erreà	Giorgio Tesi Group
Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia	Maria Licia Ferrarini	Massimiliano Menetti	Sportika	Grissin Bon
Manital Torino	Antonio Forni	Francesco Vitucci	Spalding	Manital
Obiettivo Lavoro Bologna	Alberto Bucci	Giorgio Valli	Macron	Obiettivo Lavoro
Openjobmetis Varese	Stefano Coppa	Paolo Moretti	Spalding	Openjobmetis
Pasta Reggia Caserta	Nicola Cecere	Sandro Dell'Agnello	–	Pasta Reggia
Sidigas Avellino	Giuseppe Sampietro	Stefano Sacripanti	Joma	Sidigas
Umana Reyer Venezia	Federico Casarin	Walter De Raffaele	Erreà	Umana
Vanoli Cremona	Aldo Vanoli	Cesare Pancotto	Erreà	Vanoli Ferramenta

Managerial Changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced with	Date of appointment
Acqua Vitasnella Cantù	Stefano Sacripanti	Resigned	6 June 2015	Pre-season	Fabio Corbani	11 June 2015
Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia	Paolo Moretti	End of contract	13 June 2015		Vincenzo Esposito	22 July 2015
Pasta Reggia Caserta	Vincenzo Esposito	End of contract	21 June 2015		Sandro Dell'Agnello	23 June 2015
Openjobmetis Varese	Attilio Caja	End of contract	24 June 2015		Paolo Moretti	25 June 2015
EA7 Emporio Armani Milano	Luca Banchi	Resigned	25 June 2015		Jasmin Repeša	6 July 2015
Sidigas Avellino	Francesco Vitucci	Resigned	1 July 2015		Stefano Sacripanti	2 July 2015
Banco di Sardegna Sassari	Romeo Sacchetti	Sacked	21 November 2015	6th (4–3)	Marco Calvani	24 November 2015
Manital Torino	Luca Bechi	Sacked	14 December 2015	16th (2–9)	Francesco Vitucci	18 December 2015
Acqua Vitasnella Cantù	Fabio Corbani	Sacked	18 December 2015	11th (4–7)	Sergei Bazarevich	18 December 2015
Betaland Capo d'Orlando	Giulio Graccioli	Sacked	28 December 2015	15th (4–10)	Gennaro Di Carlo	30 December 2015
Umana Reyer Venezia	Carlo Recalcati	Sacked	14 February 2016	9th (10–10)	Walter De Raffaele	14 February 2016
Banco di Sardegna Sassari	Marco Calvani	Sacked	7 March 2016	9th (11–11)	Federico Pasquini	7 March 2016

Changes from 2014–15

The season saw historic public broadcaster RAI (one match every week) joined by Sky Italia (two matches every week) in broadcasting the league's games for television, after an agreement with Lega Basket covering the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons.^[4]

Rules

The season consists of a home-and-away schedule of 30 games, followed by an eight-team playoff round. The Quarterfinals are best-of-five, while the semifinals and finals series are best-of-seven. The last placed club is relegated, and is replaced by the winner of the playoffs of the second-level Serie A2 Basket.

Each team is allowed either five or seven foreign players under two formulas:

1. 5 foreigners from countries outside the European Union
2. 3 foreigners from countries outside the E.U., 4 foreigners from E.U. countries (also including those from countries signatory of the Cotonou Agreement)

In early September 2015, nine squads had chosen the 5+5 formula and seven the 3+4+5.^[5][6]

Regular season

Standings

Calendar

Statistical leaders

As of 04 May 2016.^[7]

Points

Rank	Name	Team	PPG
1.	Austin Daye	Consultinvest Pesaro	21.3
2.	Adrian Banks	Enel Brindisi	19.0
3.	James Nunnally	Sidigas Avellino	18.4
4.	D. J. White	Manital Torino	17.1
5.	David Logan	Banco di Sardegna Sassari	17.0

Assists

Rank	Name	Team	APG
1.	Peyton Siva	Pasta Reggia Caserta	6.5
2.	Ronald Moore	Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia	6.1
3.	Walter Hodge	Acqua Vitasnella Cantù	5.5
4.	Michael Green	Umana Reyer Venezia	5.3
5.	Roko Ukić	Acqua Vitasnella Cantù	5.2

Steals

Rank	Name	Team	SPG
1.	Peyton Siva	Pasta Reggia Caserta	2.0
2.	Deron Washington	Vanoli Cremona	2.0
3.	David Logan	Banco di Sardegna Sassari	1.9
4.	Jerome Dyson	Manital Torino	1.7
5.	Bobby Jones	Pasta Reggia Caserta	1.7

Rebounds

Rank	Name	Team	RPG
1.	Dario Hunt	Pasta Reggia Caserta	9.9
2.	Austin Daye	Consultinvest Pesaro	9.0
3.	Alex Oriakhi	Betaland Capo d'Orlando	8.8
4.	D. J. White	Manital Torino	8.6
5.	JaJuan Johnson	Acqua Vitasnella Cantù	8.2

Blocks

Rank	Name	Team	BPG
1.	Riccardo Cervi	Sidigas Avellino	1.4
2.	Dario Hunt	Pasta Reggia Caserta	1.4
3.	JaJuan Johnson	Acqua Vitasnella Cantù	1.4
4.	Ndudi Ebi	Manital Torino	1.3
5.	Alex Kirk	Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia	1.3

Valuation

Rank	Name	Team	VPG
1.	Austin Daye	Consultinvest Pesaro	22.4
2.	D. J. White	Manital Torino	21.7
3.	Adrian Banks	Enel Brindisi	19.7
4.	David Logan	Banco di Sardegna Sassari	19.4
5.	Alex Kirk	Giorgio Tesi Group Pistoia	17.7

Playoffs

The Serie A playoffs quarterfinals are best-of-five, while the semifinals and finals series are best-of-seven.

Serie A clubs in European competitions

Supercup

The 2015 Italian Supercup was the 21st edition of the super cup tournament in Italian basketball. It opened the season on 26 and 27 September 2015. Qualified for the tournament were league winners and cup winners Banco di Sardegna Sassari, cup finalists EA7 Emporio Armani Milano and league finalist Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia and Umana Reyer Venezia. These four teams competed for the title in Turin's PalaRuffini.^[8][9] Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia went on to win its first Supercoppa ever beating EA7 Emporio Armani Milano.

All Star Game

The league's All Star Game was contested on 10 January 2016 at PalaTrento in the city of Trento. The two teams were Dolomiti Energia Team and Cavit Team, for sponsorship reasons. The Cavit Team's head coach was the American Dan Peterson. The event was organized in a match between the two All Star teams, the three-point contest and the slam dunk contest. All teams' players had been voted by the Serie A supporters. Cavit Team won the game 154–148. Alex Kirk was named MVP of the 2016 Serie A All Star Game.

Cup

The 48th edition of the Italian Cup, knows as the Beko Final Eight for sponsorship reasons, was contested between 19 and 21 February 2016 in Milan at the Mediolanum Forum.^[2] Eight teams qualified for the Final Eight were the best ranked teams at the end of the first stage of the 2015–16 Serie A. EA7 Emporio Armani Milano won their 5th Italian Cup since over 20 years.

Awards

As of 04 May 2016.^[10]

Most Valuable Player

Pos.	Name	Team	Votes
SF	James Nunnally	Sidigas Avellino	90
PF	Davide Pascolo	Dolomiti Energia Trento	41
SG	Krunoslav Simon	EA7 Emporio Armani Milano	38

Best Player Under 22

Pos.	Name	Team	Votes
SG	Diego Flaccadori	Dolomiti Energia Trento	187
SF	Simone Fontecchio	Obiettivo Lavoro Bologna	83
PG	Tommaso Laquintana	Betaland Capo d'Orlando	75

Best Coach

Pos.	Name	Team	Votes
1.	Cesare Pancotto	Vanoli Cremona	146
2.	Stefano Sacripanti	Sidigas Avellino	134
3.	Maurizio Buscaglia	Dolomiti Energia Trento	49

Best Executive

Pos.	Name	Team	Votes
1.	Nicola Alberani	Sidigas Avellino	122
2.	Andrea Conti	Vanoli Cremona	84
3.	Salvatore Trainotti	Dolomiti Energia Trento	65

Finals MVP

Pos.	Player	Team
G/F	Rakim Sanders	EA7 Emporio Armani Milano

Source: ^[11]