By Antonis Stroggylakis/ AStroggylakis@eurohoops.net
The 2023 All-EuroLeague First and Second Team were unveiled Monday and, as usual, the announcements were accompanied by all sorts of reactions from fans.
There will rarely (if never) be a complete agreement on the players who should compile those teams, even among those who are voted. This year we also had Maccabi Tel Aviv guard and Second Team member Wade Baldwin openly criticizing the results on Twitter while providing his own picks. Monaco guard Mike James, who most people (including yours truly) expected to be on the First Team instead of the Second, made some funny remarks on how imbalanced the two squads look from a basketball viewpoint.
Some people wonder “No X player?” or “Where is this player?” There’ll always be some players who are snubbed in the whole process and you can argue forever about who deserves to be on these Teams.
There may be many who have earned a spot but didn’t get it. The tricky question is, who should be taken out for them to go in? This is why we went down that path while choosing Five notable Snubs from the All-EuroLeague Teams this century.
Reminder: These individual trophies (as well as the MVP) are (at least supposed to) reward regular season and playoff performances, apart from some team success.
Cory Higgins – 2019
“I was disappointed. I felt it was disrespectful,” Cory Higgins told Eurohoops during the 2019 Final Four on the fact that he wasn’t voted on either the First or Second All-EuroLeague Team. He went on to score 20 points in the Final vs. then-rising power Anadolu Efes to help CSKA Moscow grab the 8th EuroLeague championship in the history of the club.
“What can people say now?” he said while he and his teammates were celebrating in the locker room.
Why he could’ve easily made one of the two All-EuroLeague Teams: He was the leading scorer of CSKA Moscow (second-seeded in the regular season with just one win less than first-placed Fenerbahce Beko) before the Final Four with 14.6 points while registering a fantastic 64.1 percent on True Shooting. This included 47 out of 96 3-pointers. It takes a lot to stand out on such a talent-stacked team and Higgins did so in a very efficient, smooth fashion.
Higgins was one of the very best players in crunch time that season with several key interventions and buckets in the last minutes of very close games. He also displayed plenty how committed and skilled he’s on defense.
Player(s) that could’ve been left out for him: The shortest straw goes to Vincent Poirier, then with Baskonia. Yes, I know he was a beast that season and he averaged a double-double (!) in the playoffs.
Kyle Hines – a couple of seasons but we’ll pick 2016
Out of all players who have been selected to EuroLeague’s two All-Decade Teams, four-time champion and three-time DPOY Kyle Hines is the only one who has never made an All-EuroLeague Team. It’s a bit of a paradox really.
So this begets the question: Is Kyle Hines the biggest All-EuroLeague Team snub ever? Maybe, considering that he didn’t crack any annual Top 10 despite always being a vitally significant member of Final Four or championship teams consistently for a decade (2011-2012 to 2020-21).
There’s a reason for this and it mainly has to do with the fact that Hines’ numbers has never been as striking as the ones of other prominent All-EuroLeague nominees. However, he gets some of the highest grades in the “eye test” that will always surpass everything the stats sheet says in the case of the veteran big man.
Why he could’ve easily made one of the two All-EuroLeague Teams: Hines was first and foremost an all-around defensive behemoth and the anchor of CSKA (since we’re talking about 2016, and his runs with the Russian powerhouse mainly) in that department but he’s been far more than that. He also brought an underrated impact on the offensive game thanks to his powerful screens for shooters/creators, his fast rolls to the basket and the ability to push transition plays by dribbling the ball from one side of the floor to the other like a point guard. 2016 marked his most productive season with 10.8 points and 4.6 rebounds but, again, his contribution beyond numbers has been immeasurable.
Player(s) that could’ve been left out for him: Gustavo Ayon.