2003-04

And finally, after so many years, the Euroleague arrived at the Fonteta. The brilliant previous season, with the ULEB Cup title and the dispute of the ACB League Final, gave way to compete in the greatest European elite. Valencian coach Paco Olmos was at the helm for the second year.

The move to the Euroleague entailed a reform of the roster. The three positions of the court, point guard, outside player and inside player, are strengthened. In the point guard position, a difficult decision was made, to dispense with Nacho Rodilla after 9 seasons playing for Pamesa Valencia. In his place, the young Croatian point guard Marko Popovic arrives, coming from the Croatian team KK Zadar that had made it so difficult for the Valencians in the quarterfinals of the last ULEB Cup. For the shooting guard position, the arrival of Frenchman Antoine Rigaudeau, a complete and versatile player with one of the most respected European records. At the center position, Bernard Hopkins leaves the club after 5 years and the Greek Dimos Dikoudis, a power forward with projection coming from AEK Athens.

Changes in the roster in which players like the Argentinean Alejandro Montecchia will continue in the point guard position next to Popovic and will be joined by Pedro Llompart from the youth team. A recovered Alessandro Abbio and captain Víctor Luengo will play at shooting guard alongside Rigaudeau, while the pairing of José Antonio Paraiso and Federico Kammerichs will remain at small forward. In the inside game, Dejan Tomasevic and Fabricio Obertose will continue to be the mainstays along with newcomer Dikoudis and Asier Garcia, who will continue as fourth rotation.

The beginning of the league is not as good as the previous year, the signings do not start giving what is expected of them, although little by little the situation is getting back on track and the victories are coming. Very soon the Euroleague group will be known, where the Fonteta will see the debut against Benetton Treviso. Pamesa Valencia will overwhelm Benetton 89-64 to the delight of the fans. The Valencians will finish the first phase as third in the group behind Efes Pilsen and Benetton Treviso.

However, the performance of one of the newcomers, Popovic, was not the desired one, and just before the Copa del Rey, a change took place. Popovic was loaned to Cibona Zagreb and in his place came the American point guard Robert Pack “Packman”, who had accumulated a good reputation in his years as a point guard in the NBA. With this last-minute change, the team reached the Copa del Rey in Seville, where the team was defeated in the quarterfinals by Caja San Fernando, and Pack made his debut with the Taronja jersey.

After the first round of the Euroleague, Pamesa Valencia was placed in the Top16 Euroleague group with Maccabi, Ulker and Zalgiris, with only the first team qualifying for the Final Four. The initial defeat in the Fonteta against Maccabi of Anthony Parker and Jasikevicius will be contrasted by victories against Ulker and Zalgiris. In the fifth round, the decision not to travel to Israel after the decree of the State of Siege will not be supported by the Euroleague and the game will be forfeited, burying the qualification options.

Completing a good final stretch of the regular league, the team finishes third in the standings, which is its second best classification in history. The crossover would be against the remodeled Unicaja coached by Sergio Scariolo. The series was evenly matched until the fifth game at the Fonteta, where the Malagueños came from behind to win the quarterfinals.