By Utkan Şahin, Translation: M. Bahadır Akgün / info@eurohoops.net
Once upon a time, stats were not kept properly in the game of basketball and one could decide which player performed best according to the points they had scored. The world has changed a lot. A player can have an impact in many different ways, which can be seen thanks to various statistical evaluations.
However, for a team to win, the most important thing still is simply to produce points. Yet, there are different ways to create and produce. One can contribute to the team’s scoring through assists as well. And those assists can help you understand how many points a player helped produce for the team.
That’s exactly what Eurohoops did! We tried to find out which players had the biggest impact through assists and points, and analyzed accordingly all the games that have been played so far in the EuroLeague.
So, here we are: the most productive EuroLeague players! Before we get going, we must state that Nando De Colo and Jordan Theodore, both of whom were responsible for 29.1% of their teams’ points, didn’t make the list because of a tiebreaker.
10- SERGIO RODRIGUEZ (CSKA MOSCOW)
Points scored: 311 points
Team points through his assists: 238 points / 106 assists
Total: 549 points
Last summer, CSKA Moscow turned to another superstar to fill a huge gap, and Sergio Rodriguez has done so brilliantly. The offense of the Russian powerhouse is functioning like a machine and Rodriguez has pulled his weight and then some by involving everyone in the game as a first-class guard. He’s dished out 10 or more assists to five different players, but it has been De Colo and Kyle Hines who’ve benefited the most from this. The fact that he has set up De Colo 20 times especially shows how successful Rodriguez is. He’s been responsible for 29.2% of CSKA’s points.
9- PIERRE JACKSON (MACCABI FOX TEL AVIV)
Points scored: 319 points
Team points through his assists: 196 points / 90 assists
Total: 515 points
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv is fighting hard to make the playoffs and Pierre Jackson has been sitting in the director’s chair so far. Jackson has had a flying start to the second chapter of his EuroLeague career. He has formed a long-awaited guard duo along with Norris Cole. Already a skilled master at scoring his own points, Jackson has also dished out 54 assists for Maccabi’s frontcourt players and got them involved. Jackson is responsible for 30.0% of Maccabi’s points.
8- VASSILIS SPANOULIS (OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS)
Points scored: 129 points
Team points through his assists: 129 points / 56 assists
Total: 258 points
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to watch him play for a long stretch in the beginning of this season, but we are lucky to have him back before it was too late. Vassilis Spanoulis is, without a doubt, the supreme leader of Olympiacos Piraeus and he proves it every single time. He scores and creates for his teammates, the biggest beneficiary being Georgios Printezis. Following his return to action, he has been responsible for 30.8% of Olympiacos’s points.