There was a time when Olimpia Milano (known as Armani these days) was dominating European basketball by having a player that no other team could handle or find an equal to him. The legendary Bob McAdoo was an unstoppable force in the EuroLeague in the late 80’s and he led the Italians to two consecutive European Championship titles.
Unlike today, where top teams have a rotation of 10 high-level players, European basketball in the ’80s was different. You could reach the top with less than half that number, especially if one of them could make a huge impact. Milano realized this in 1986 when Drazen Petrovic’s Cibona and Arvydas Sabonis’ Zalgiris Kaunas kept Olimpia (then known as Simac because of their sponsor) out of the final by just one win. The tournament format back then had a group of six teams, with the top two going on to fight for the trophy in a single game.
After winning the Korac Cup in 1985, two straight Italian championships (1985, 1986), and the Italian cup (1986), Olimpia was determined to get the European Champions Cup (now known as the EuroLeague). Although they were the first Italian team to win it in 1966, they hadn’t repeat the feat since. On their the roster, they had Italian basketball legends like Mike D’Antoni, Roberto Premier and Dino Meneghin and on the bench one of Europe’s top coaches, Dan Peterson. But they needed a player who could single-handedly break down opposing defenses, much like Petrovic was doing back then.
Thanks to Peterson’s connections in the USA and the backing of their wealthy sponsor, Olimpia brought over some big names for Europe from the NBA, even Joe Barry Carroll in 1985 who was the number one pick in the 1980 draft. Since they had opened this door two years later the stage was set for a unique opportunity. None of the NBA’s 23 teams at the time made an offer to Bob McAdoo, who gladly accepted Olimpia’s lucrative contract. A rookie of the year in 1973, MVP in 1975, the NBA’s leading scorer in ’74, ’75, and ’76, a five-time All-Star, and a champion with the Lakers in ’82 and ’85, McAdoo wanted to be a star and get paid accordingly and the money the Italians gave him made their offer irresistible.
At 35 years old, something like that couldn’t happen in the NBA, but in Europe the conditions were ideal. McAdoo arrived in Milan as the best player to ever cross the Atlantic, and he didn’t just live up to the hype, he exceeded it. To this day, based on performance and success, he’s considered the greatest American to play in Europe. There was no one like him at the time. With his experience from another basketball world, European big men couldn’t handle him, and under their new sponsor’s name (Tracer), Olimpia won the EuroLeague two years in a row (1987, 1988).
In the first season, McAdoo averaged just 22.3 points per game because Peterson chose Ken Barlow as the second foreign player (back then European teams could only have two foreign players on the roster), who started his stellar European career at Olimpia. Their journey almost ended before it began, in the second qualifying round, Aris defeated them 98-67 in Thessaloniki. However, in Milan, they won 83-49 and faced no more surprises. They finished first in the group stage, tied at a 7-3 record with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and won the final in Lausanne 71-69, with McAdoo scoring 21 points and grabbing 9 rebounds, Premier adding 23 points, and Barlow 18. Domestically, they won the championship and the cup for the second straight year.
Considering what followed, this was just McAdoo’s adjustment season in the EuroLeague. In 1988, Tracer had Franco Casalini as coach, replacing the retired Peterson, who became a great TV commentator. Barlow went to Maccabi, and Rickey Brown from Brescia came in as the second foreign player. These changes affected the team to some extent but were overshadowed by McAdoo’s increased scoring, averaging 27.2 points. Tracer fought exciting battles with Partizan, Aris, Maccabi, and Barcelona, finishing third behind the Yugoslavs (10-4) and tied with the Greeks, both with nine wins and five losses. They suffered a huge upset in their opener, losing 102-78 to Saturn Cologne, which held McAdoo to 16 points, but such a performance was unlikely to repeat. In a 93-83 win over Partizan in Milan, McAdoo scored 34 points, put up 25 in a difficult 96-92 win versus Den Bosch in Italy, dropped 35 in a 99-93 win over Maccabi in Israel, scored 22 in an 80-78 victory over Orthez in France, and added 37 in a 100-94 home loss to Barcelona, finishing the first round with 38 points in a 120-95 loss to Aris in Thessaloniki, where Nikos Galis scored 50 points.
In the second round, McAdoo got revenge on Saturn with 43 points in a 115-104 win and kept dominating. He scored 31 points in a 92-85 loss to Partizan in Belgrade, and his 27 points were enough for an 85-80 win over Den Bosch in the Netherlands. Against Maccabi in Milan, he needed only 24 points for a commanding 113-81 win (Brown scored 35 in that game), scored 26 in an 87-77 win over Orthez, but his 25 points weren’t enough in another 102-87 loss to Barcelona. However, Aris couldn’t escape his 33 points and lost 97-82 in Italy. The competition format had expanded from six to eight teams, with the top four advancing to the first Final 4 in Ghent (Belgium), so ten days after that game, the two teams met in the Final 4 semifinal. Aris held their own for most of the game, but couldn’t handle McAdoo, who scored 23 points in the first half, which ended tied at 45-45. With Brown also having a big night (28 points), McAdoo added 16 more to finish with 39 points (a tournament record), sealing the game with a final basket to extend the lead to 84-74 before winning 87-82.
In the final, Maccabi put up a much tougher fight than in their previous games against Tracer. They trailed 52-41 at halftime but managed to make a comeback, ultimately falling 89-82. McAdoo was dominant, scoring 25 points, grabbing 12 rebounds, making 3 steals, and sealing the win with a dunk, earning the MVP title of the first Final 4. This marked the third and last time Olimpia Milano won the European Champions Cup. Since then, their only other Final 4 appearances are in 1992, when as Philips Milano, lost in the semifinals to eventual champions Partizan, and in 2021 as Armani Milano when they lost again in the semifinals against Barcelona this time.
The next season McAdoo and Tracer didn’t get a chance to defend their title. After their European triumph, they lost the Italian Championship finals 3-1 to Scavolini Pesaro and played in the Korac Cup in 1989 because FIBA hadn’t yet introduced the rule that granted the European champions direct qualification to the next year’s EuroLeague. In 1989, they reached the Korac Cup semifinals but were eliminated by Cantu without McAdoo, and then reclaimed the Italian championship by beating Livorno 3-2 in the finals, thanks to an epic moment of sacrifice from their superstar.
An injury late in the season slowed McAdoo down, affecting his performance. However, in the final minutes of Game 5 against Livorno, he dove to the floor and, with his long arms, managed to touch the ball just enough to prevent Alberto Tonut from scoring an easy basket. If Tonut had made that shot, Livorno would have closed the gap to 80-79, and since they lost 86-85, the outcome could have been different. This was McAdoo’s last title with Olimpia, as he left the team in 1990 after four years, which remains the best period in the club’s history. Speaking of history, McAdoo remained Olimpia’s all-time top scorer in the EuroLeague for almost 35 years. His record (1,292 points in 50 games) was broken a few months ago by Shavon Shields when he scored 15 points in a 77-76 home win over Fenerbahce at March 22 to make it a total of 1,298 points with Olimpia in 101 EuroLeague games (now he has 1,332 points in 104 games).
