By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
With the EuroLeague Final Four around the corner, the time has come for the season awards and Vladimir Lucic is the first one to get his place among the best five players.
Per EuroLeague Basketball:
As a result of voting that included fans, media and – for the first time in competition history – head coaches and team captains, small forward Vladimir Lucic of FC Bayern Munich has been chosen to the 2020-21 All-EuroLeague First Team!
Lucic ranked eighth among all EuroLeague players with an average performance index rating of 17.8, his career high in seven full-time EuroLeague seasons. The do-it-all small forward ranked among Bayern’s top three players in points (13.6), rebounds (4.8) and steals (1.1) and assured Bayern its first EuroLeague Playoffs berth by making all the key plays – drawing a foul, making go-ahead free throws and blocking a shot at the buzzer – in the decisive Round 33 game against Zalgiris Kaunas.
Lucic earned MVP of the Week honors twice this season. In the week spanning Rounds 3 and 4, he amassed a total PIR of 53 to lead Bayern in victories against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul. Later in November, Lucic led Bayern in a 90-79 win against his former team, Valencia Basket. He was that game’s leading scorer with 22 points and best rebounder with 7 boards for a career-high PIR of 35.
Lucic continued to shine under the bright lights of the playoffs, helping Bayern take its series against AX Armani Exchange Milan to a fifth and final game with 12.8 points per game on 45.5% three-point shooting, 4.8 rebounds and 1.4 steals. His PIR average of 18.6 was third-best in the playoffs. In Game 3, he posted a career-high 27 points and matched his personal best PIR with 35 again. He also helped Bayern win Game 4 with a show-stopping, go-ahead alley-oop slam with 23 seconds left.
This marks the first All-EuroLeague selection for Lucic, 31, who made his EuroLeague debut with Partizan Belgrade in 2010 and became a regular in that team’s lineup over the next three years. After three seasons with Valencia Basket, with whom he won the 2013-14 EuroCup title, Lucic moved in 2016 to Munich, where he has been a starter for Bayern in 105 of his 111 EuroLeague and EuroCup games over five seasons.