By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
As Valencia is preparing for the Eurocup finals against Unics Kazan, Bojan Dubljevic already defending his title as the competition’s rising star by getting the award for the second straight season. The 22 years old forward became the first player to win the award twice and he is leading his team in scoring and index rating (14.2 ppg, 16.4) despite missing a month due to dislocated left shoulder.
The Eurocup rising star award so far has been the first step for almost every player who have won it for an NBA career. Only Milan Macvan, the 2008-09 winner, is still playing in Europe. On the contrary Victor Claver, Donatas Motiejunas and Jonas Valanciunas continued their career across the pond. Dubljevic has been draft last year with the 59th pick by Minnesota.