By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
The Euroleague season is approaching the home stretch and Eurohoops.net, just before the Final Four, showcases the ten players that stood out the most by creating the All-Euroleague Team.
The voting for the best of the season has closed with the fans and the “experts” having submitted their opinion. From our side, Eurohoops elected our own top ten based purely on basketball criteria, on the impact of each player on their team, on his success and performance throughout the entire season, but with bigger emphasis on the playoffs and then the Top 16. The choices were not made based on numbers (points, ranking), but on the image they projected on the court, their dominance and efficiency.
The players are not divided into positions, but we tried to be as close as possible to the model of every line-up having three backcourt players and two big men.
Height: 1,95m.
DOB: 23/6/1987
Country: France
Nando De Colo is the absolute dominator of the season in individual statistics, he led CSKA Moscow to the Final Four by showing excellent consistency and he’s one of the strongest candidates for the title of the MVP of the season. The French guard was first in evaluation with a grade of 24 per game, having a ranking of 16+ in all the games of the season! In addition, De Colo won the ‘Alphonso Ford’ award as the top scorer of the competition with 18,9 points per game and only one game with a single-digit number of points.
Height: 1,95m.
DOB: 19/3/1987
Country: Serbia
Milos Teodosic is ready to become a member of the All-Euroleague Team for the fifth time in his career after his most comprehensive season in the Euroleague. The Serbian playmaker played at the side of Nando De Colo during most of the games, shared the creative and executional duties with the Frenchman and did splendidly. He had by far his best year as a scorer with 16,3 points per game, finishing second behind De Colo and almost matching his best season in terms of accuracy in three-point shooting with 42,4%.
Laboral Kutxa
Height: 1,89m.
DOB: 17/4/1989
Country: USA
Darius Adams rightfully has a place in the top ten of the season mostly because of his performances in the Euroleague playoffs. Laboral’s American guard was the top scorer in this stage with 22,7 points per game, leading his team to the qualification for the Final Four after eight years with 3-0 wins over Panathinaikos. Adams had several ups and downs in his performance throughout the season, but in the crucial games he was excellent and led his team to the Final Four.
Height: 1,97m.
DOB: 18/8/1992
Country: Serbia
Bogdan Bogdanovic had the best season of his career in the Euroleague, even better than the impressive performances with Partizan three years ago. The 24-year-old Serb is now a high-class guard, since aside form his lethal instinct he has also added to his game the effective creation and defensive commitment. His role in Fenerbahce this season was catalytic and his performance in the more crucial games proves this. His teammate Luigi Datome also could have had a place in the top ten as he was very good in the Top 16, but Bogdanovic’s contribution was more decisive in the playoffs.
Lokomotiv Kuban
Height: 1,91m.
DOB: 11/3/1989
Country: USA
Malcolm Delaney is the player with the third highest average in evaluation points. The American guard helped Lokomotiv Kuban qualify for the Final Four with a ranking of 19,3, plus 15,8 points and 5,7 assists! Delaney’s biggest contribution however is not captured by numbers. Very often the American guard sacrifices himself for his teammates, waits for them to get warm and prefers to pass rather than execute. From the total of 29 games in which he took part he had a single-digit number of points and evaluation points in only three!
Height: 2,06m.
DOB: 18/11/1992
Country: USA
Quincy Miller had his first contact with European basketball at the beginning of November and immediately started making an impression with his performances. With his explosiveness and his quick first step, he couldn’t be contained easily because of the good mid- and long-range shooting ability that he has. He has an excellent aptitude for rebounding and his long limbs made things easier for him in defense as well against different types of opponents. The American athletic big man was impressive throughout the regular season, defenses started adjusting according to his game, but as the year wore on he managed to stand out and lead Crvena Zvezda until the end, making the difference in all three games of the playoffs in which his team fought to the end against CSKA.
Lokomotiv Kuban
Height: 2,11m.
DOB: 15/7/1989
Country: USA
Anthony Randolph was the personification of Lokomotiv Kuban’s game. The 27-year-old American was used by Georgios Bartzokas in both positions of the frontline, he could strike from outside going in with drives thanks to his athletic qualities, while he also had in his repertoire plays from the post that secured for him an advantage against most of his opponents. He missed the greatest part of the regular season, but from the Top 16 and after his performance took off, and in the playoffs against Barcelona he was the most decisive factor in the Russian team’s qualification for the Final Four.
Height: 1,98m.
DOB: 2/9/1986
Country: USA
In his sixth year in the Euroleague Kyle Hines had the fullest and most productive season! The American center made a bang with Bamberg, has won the Euroleague two times with Olympiacos, led CSKA Moscow to the Final Four in two seasons, but this year was the year in which he was the most effective and had the highest average in the evaluation. Hines had an excellent playoff series, but his contribution in the Russian team is even more important if one considers that Joe Freeland played in less than half of this year’s games (13 from 27) and the American had to cope alone with a more substantial role in the rotation.
Height: 2,08m.
DOB: 20/5/1987
Country: USA
Ekpe Udoh was the big man that made the difference for Fenerbahce and dominated with his athletic gifts. The American became the player with the most blocks in a season in the history of the Euroleague, an indication of his defensive commitment and his contribution in the defensive armor of the Turkish team. In offense, his finishes after pick-and-roll plays were excellent. The impressive fact with Udoh is that at every stage of the competition he was even better than the last, both in terms of points scored and evaluation. His contribution in Fenerbahce’s successful season is seen from the fact that he emerged the top player in April, during the playoffs, when in fact he was practically alone in the frontline. His teammate Jan Vesely could have been included in his place but his injury shortly before the end of the Top 16 deprived him of participating in the playoffs, allowing Udoh to emerge as the absolute protagonist in Fenerbahce’s key.
Laboral Kutxa
Height: 2,10m.
DOB: 17/11/1983
Country: Greece
His 14th consecutive season in the Euroleague was Ioannis Bourousis’ best! The Greek center had by far the highest average in points (14,6), rebounds (8,9) and ranking (21,5) in his career and led, almost… by himself, Laboral Kutxa to the Final Four in Berlin. Bourousis is the only experienced player on the Basques’ roster, he defined the way they played as well as their rhythm, undertook most attacks, and his role was even more important as he often functioned as a playmaker from the key, “seeing” his open teammates along the perimeter.