Red Star and Olympiacos Play Tonight in Nicosia

Red Star’s bus pulled out on Wednesday for the airport, and the passenger list for Cyprus carried two names that had been giving Ibon Navarro headaches for days. Chima Moneke had finally sorted out the paperwork for his new passport, Stefan Miljenovic came through his last training session without pain in his leg, and both boarded for Nicosia along with the rest of the squad. September 10 turned out to be the day the roster filled back up for the red and whites, not the day it thinned out.

Tonight, Friday, September 11, Red Star tip off at 8 p.m. against Olympiacos, their first opponent at the preseason tournament named after “Neofitos Handriotis.” According to Max sport, the tournament also features Maccabi and Aris alongside the red and whites and the Greek club, while Kurir and Telegraf mention only Red Star, Olympiacos and Aris as participants in their reports. On Sunday, the red and whites also face Aris, and precision is needed here: Kurir’s report lists the match as kicking off Sunday at “14.4,” a figure that was left cut off and unclear in the original. An independent check of the schedule shows the actual kickoff time for Aris against Red Star is 2:45 p.m. Sunday, and that is the figure that should be taken as accurate.

Navarro is leading a squad in Cyprus that is deeper than the one he had at the previous preseason tournament in Crete. Dejan Davidovac still did not make the trip, as the coaching staff chose not to risk a minor injury, so the national team player remains in Belgrade, training individually at the Pionir hall until he is ready for the start of the season. Nikola Djurisic is also not on the plane, still recovering from an injury picked up on national team duty over the summer.

Olympiacos is not arriving in Nicosia at full strength either. The Greek club announced that center Tyrique Jones had a cyst removed from his right thigh on Thursday, a minor procedure that will keep him out for the entire tournament in Cyprus. That means coach Georgios Bartzokas will be without him against Red Star, Maccabi and Aris alike. Sunday’s opponent is short-handed as well: Aris guard Stefan Jovic will miss the game against the red and whites due to a cold, so both sides will be testing benches that are not at full strength in Nicosia.

The schedule in Nicosia leaves the red and whites little room to breathe. Tonight’s game against Olympiacos is followed by just one day off before the meeting with Aris, making the tournament as much a test of rotation as of form. That is exactly why both returning players matter to Navarro: Moneke brings size and strength under the basket that was missing in Crete, while Miljenovic restores a bench option that injury had taken out of the rotation. Both rivals arriving in Nicosia short-handed makes the matchups easier to read, though not necessarily easier to judge, since Navarro is watching his own rotation more closely than the results anyway.

For Red Star, this tournament is the last major test before the season starts. After Cyprus, the team returns to Belgrade for the final stretch of preparations, and the first game that actually counts does not come until September 24, when the red and whites host Zalgiris at Belgrade Arena in the opening round of the EuroLeague. Until then, Navarro has two weeks to shape a squad that looks fuller tonight than it did in Crete into a lineup ready for the start of the season, and Nicosia is the last stop before that date.