By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
Valencia Basket (3-6) hosts Olympiacos Piraeus (7-2) on Thursday eager for a big win after suffering through five defeats in a row. In this clash, Valencia’s top scorer, Erick Green, will meet Olympiacos once again.
The 27-year-old American is enjoying a breakout season and enters Round 10 as the fourth-best scorer in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague behind only Luka Doncic, Alexey Shved and Nando De Colo. Green first tasted the EuroLeague in the colors of Montepaschi Siena in the 2013-14 season, when in 10 games he averaged 11.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.0 assist. His career high in scoring from his rookie season still stands; Green torched Olympiacos for 28 points in December 2013. Those same Reds are the club that brought Green back to Europe in the summer of 2016.
His season at Olympiacos
Green played for Olympiacos last season and in 36 appearances posted 9.9 points on 40% three-point shooting, 1.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 20.5 minutes per game in a reserve role. On four occasions Coach Sfairopoulos inserted Green into the starting lineup and he was up to the challenge by averaging 16.5 points in said games. He helped Olympiacos reach the Final Four in Istanbul, where in the semifinal against CSKA Moscow he scored 5 crucial points in the last 40 seconds. The season came to an end without a title for Green or his team and the Reds chose not activate the renewal option they had on his contract in the summer, Green was a free agent and signed with the Spanish League champion.
He’s having his most productive season
Nine games into the new season with Valencia, Green is having the most productive campaign of his professional career. He’s scoring 15.7 points with 2.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and has the highest average playing time so far in his career in the EuroLeague with 27 minutes. Coach Txus Vidorreta has faith in Green; the ball is in his hands in most crucial possessions and the attempts he takes have increased, as have the responsibilities he undertakes, compared to the role he had last season.
The rationale behind a decision that was right for everyone!
Olympiacos made a difficult decision in the summer since it was up to them to renew Green’s contract for this season. Why didn’t they do it? The Reds needed a scoring guard who could play and click in a harmonious way alongside Vassilis Spanoulis and not just play behind their captain and leader. This requires great skill in reading the game and high-quality features in creating beyond just scoring. Moreover, Olympiacos sought more effectiveness in defense, which is no longer Spanoulis’s strong point.
They found all of these elements in Janis Strelnieks, who was not the Reds’ first signing last summer by chance. So far, their choice has proven to be the right one. Strelnieks scores almost as much as Green scored last season (9.4 ppg.) and has better percentages in two-point and three-point shooting, while delivering three times as many assists (2.8 apg. to 0.9).
He’s happier, he found the role he was looking for!
On the other side, Green feels justified and happier now too. He was looking for a leading role with more responsibilities and found it in Valencia. Green wanted to play more, enjoy greater freedom in his game and spend more time at the point guard position. He was seeking more possessions in his hands; he didn’t want to come off the bench as a sub at shooting guard, as was the case in Olympiacos, but to be a starter and more of a leader, exactly like it is in his new team. Now, aside from getting more playing time and taking shots, he has responsibility and is called to prove that he’s also a good closer.
So far, Green has been able to do this in some games and in others he hasn’t, but what matters is that he’s in the situation he was looking for to take the next step in his career.
The gift, the room for improvement and the big challenge!
Green is without a doubt one of the best scorers in the league and one of its top one-on-one players. His greatest gift is the combination of the ease with which he sets up shots and the speed of his release. Few players in the EuroLeague have such an effective midrange shot and such fast execution. As he himself knows and has said at times, evolving and improving his ability to create opportunities for his teammates to score and make them better is a big key.
Developing his game in terms of reading plays will also improve his decision-making skills and automatically bump him to a higher level. Aside from being a great scorer, it will make him a complete combo guard, more unpredictable, more of a leader, with an even bigger impact on the game. Green knows this and it is why he wanted a new team where he would have a more crucial role. Obviously, Valencia believes in the prospect of him evolving his leadership skills and that is why they offered him the biggest responsibilities and the crucial possessions on offense.
The case of Green, Olympiacos and Valencia is one of the most concrete proofs that in professional sports, a change that is based on complicated – for the simple fan – basketball criteria might be a correct decision for all parties involved. The game between Valencia and Olympiacos was going to be of great interest, regardless. Green’s response in his first meeting against the Reds and whether he will manage to shine for his new team in a role he couldn’t get with Olympiacos with a good performance and a win makes this clash even more colorful and suspenseful.