By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
With the race for the playoffs heating up, the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague is having a season to remember in every aspect.
That includes the on-court spectacle and also the names of players who are still active and are producing records almost on a weekly basis.
Nando De Colo of LDLC ASVEL, Nick Calathes of Fenerbahce BEKO, Walter Tavares of Real Madrid and Moustapha Fall of Olympiacos are not simply among the best, but all-time leaders in several statistical categories, making this season even more special.
Nando De Colo rarely misses a free throw
Nando De Colo is a deadly scorer, just one of three players in the history of the competition who have scored more than 4,000 points, with legends Juan Carlos Navarro and Vassilis Spanoulis being the other two. To be exact, the French sharpshooter needs just 7 more points to rank second on the all-time scoring list, ahead of “La Bomba” , who has scored 4,152 points. De Colo will hunt “Kill Bill”, who has a total of 4,455 points in his career.
And while De Colo is dangerous from every spot on the floor, when he is on the free throw line he simply never misses. The leader of ASVEL has a career average of 93.3% efficiency in free throws, the best ever in the competition – and he is not slowing down. Considering his track record, whenever De Colo decides to retire, he will still be on the top, over current Barcelona coach Sarunas Jasikevicius (92.3%), although another Lithuanian being a threat to De Colo. Panathinaikos swingman Marius Grigonis has an impressive 91.3% career efficiency from the free-throw line. In theory, he is the only active player who can hope to dethrone De Colo in the future.
Nick Calathes, in a league of his own
The all-time EuroLeague leader in assists is Nick Calathes of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul with 1,839. When he decides to call it a day, it will be very hard for anyone to measure up to his efficiency and creativity in passing. The Greek-American guard has a total of 1,839 assists so far. Sergio Rodriguez (1,651) and Kostas Sloukas (1,455) are still active and on the hunt, while Vassilis Spanoulis (1,607) remains third in the career ranking.
However, what’s really impressive about Calathes is that he is also the all-time leader in average assists with 6.0 per game. Facundo Campazzo of Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade, with 5.3 per game, is currently tied for second-best in this ranking with Thomas Heurtel and Pierria Henry of Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. However, with Calathes not only having the highest number of assists made but also creating more assists per game than any other player in the EuroLeague history, the top is more than secured and his record will be safe for many years to come.
If all goes well, Calathes is expected to be the first player to reach the milestone of 2,000 EuroLeague assists, and at this point there’s no other player on the horizon who can reach that number.
Tavares the blocking machine
Few players in the history of the EuroLeague have affected the game so much through their defensive presence as Walter Tavares of Real Madrid. While defense is not easily measured by simple numbers, Tavares’s blocks prove beyond any doubt his abilities. While currently he is averaging 2.4 blocks per game in the season, Tavares is also the all-time leader in blocks, averaging 1.8 rejections over six seasons.
The number is huge, considering that the other two active players behind him are Georgios Papagiannis of Panathinaikos with 1.2 and Bryant Dunston of Anadolu Efes with 1.1.
Tavares is 31 years old, but usually centers are just entering their prime at this age and he seems to be getting better and better every year. He is also the all-time leader in blocks made with 345, followed by Dunston (321) and Kyle Hines (300). The next active player in the list is Jan Vesely (183), while Papagiannis has made 174 blocks so far in his career. You can argue that the Greek big man will be the heir to Tavares, but what the Real Madrid center is doing remains unique.
Moustapha Fall’s amazing efficiency
Olympiacos is having a memorable season, with several Reds putting up amazing numbers, however one of them boasts a EuroLeague all-time best statistic – and his name is not Sasha Vezenkov. French big man Moustapha Fall is the all-time leader in two-point shooting efficiency with a mind boggling 71.5% throughout his three seasons so far.
That may not surprising for big men who make their living in the paint. Still, when Fall gets the ball and decides to execute, his numbers are astonishing. In his EuroLeague career so far with Olympiacos and LDLC ASVEL, he has made 308 two-pointers in just 431 attempts. He is the only active player shooting over 70% in this category, and in the past only CSKA Moscow‘s Sasha Kaun has shot marginally over this mark, with a 70.2% career average.
Tavares follows with 68.8% career two-point efficiency and next one in the list from the active players is Zvezda’s Hassan Martin with 66.7%.
It has also to be noted that the number for this season is even better for Fall, who is shooting inside at a 75.2% rate so far, making 82 two-pointers in just 109 attempts!