The Last Age-Benders

28/Feb/18 16:39

If there is something no one can beat on the court, that is time. Or is it? Eurohoops presents the ten oldest players in this season’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and what they’ve accomplished in these first 23 rounds.

By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net

If there is one thing no one can beat on the court, it is time. Or is it? Eurohoops presents the 10 oldest players in this season’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague and what they’ve accomplished in these first 23 rounds.

For some, age is an ally and for others, it is another opponent. Eurohoops looked at the 10 oldest players this season and tried to work out who belongs in which category. How difficult is life on the court after 35? Or later still? Here’s the Top 10, from the… youngest of the bunch to he who will celebrate his 38th birthday on the court!

Despite the fact he’s almost 35, Marcelinho Huertas is still a reliable solution for Baskonia Vitoria Gasteiz This is his second stint with the team (2009-11, 2017-today) and eighth season in the EuroLeague (2006-07, 2009-15, 2017-today). In 23 appearances, he has scored in double digits six times and he’s one of only 12 players this season to achieve a 10-assist game. His most productive performance was in a 105-75 victory over Real Madrid in Round 7 in which he had 13 points (4-for-6 shooting) and 6 assists for performance index rating of 20.

Sergey Monia, who is trying to help Khimki Moscow Region climb higher in the standings, hopes to spend his birthday in the playoffs. His experience makes him a multi-tool weapon in the hands of his coach, which is obvious in wins like the 86-68 victory against Anadolu Efes Istanbul in Round 13 in which he scored 9 points on 3-for-5 three-point shooting plus 5 rebounds and 4 assists, just a few weeks after tying his career-high in assists (6) and steals (4), even if he didn’t enjoy it as much as he would’ve liked in a Round 8, 69-77 loss against Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv.

In his third season with Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul and fourth in the EuroLeague (ASVEL Villeurbanne 2009-10), Ali Muhammed has seen his playing time reduced and his stats go down with it, but woe to anyone who believes that he has lost his contact with the basket. In a 95-70 loss to Olympiacos Piraeus in Round 21, he poured in 24 points on 6-of-11 three-point shooting, coming close to his career-high of 26. The 6 three-pointers he nailed in that game was the second most in his 84-game EuroLeague career.

He started the season with an injury and had to wait until Round 11 to make his debut, but nothing seems to be able to stop the player who is second in both scoring (3,554 points) and assists (1,222) in the history of the EuroLeague. Vassilis Spanoulis has made this very clear by scoring in double digits in nine out of the 13 appearances since he came back, and even more so with the 25 points on 10-for-16 shooting in the 80-70 win over Valencia Basket in Round 23. He also dished 9 assists in that game and is now fifth in the league with 5.4 assists per game this season. So what if 266 games (seventh-most in competition history) have passed by since his debut? He’s again leading Olympiacos in points and assists this season.

His has been a career of 13 EuroLeague seasons (2002-04, 2007-today) full of team and individual distinctions, but has also been marred by injuries in recent years. CSKA Moscow captain Victor Khryapa has slowly moved out of the limelight as his minutes and contributions have decreased, but every time he steps on the court he plays like it’s his first game. He may not fill the stat sheets anymore, but Khryapa has the wisdom and experience from a career that has seen him collect the 10th-most rebounds (1,067), eighth-most steals (241) and seventh-most blocks (161) in the history of the competition.

Pero Antic returned to his beloved Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade after 10 years away to bolster it in the EuroLeague and he has provided much more than just experience in his second stint (2005-07) with the club. Antic has recorded career-highs in assists with 5 in an 88-91 win over AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan in Round 15) and steals with 4 in an 82-86 win at Valencia in Round 12. In what was his best performance this season, Antic nearly posted a double-double and finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds in Round 2’s 90-82 victory over FC Barcelona Lassa.

Fifteen years after his last appearance in the competition (2000-03), Beno Udrih was called midway through the season by Zalgiris Kaunas as an extra option at guard. With seven rounds remaining until the end of the regular season and potentially the battle for home-court advantage in the playoffs, Udrih has yet to make a major impact. The 6 points he scored in a 79-77 win over Unicaja Malaga in Round 17 is the most he has scored in six appearances and he has twice delivered 2 assists.

In his third season in the EuroLeague (2010-11, 2014-15, 2017-today), Rafa Martinez has managed to tie more than one career-high. After first grabbing 5 rebounds and dishing 4 assists in an 81-76 win over Barcelona in Round 18, he collected 3 steals and a performance index rating of 23 in a 103-99 victory over CSKA in Round 22. He managed to combine his second-most productive performance (17 points on 5-of-7 shooting) in 53 career appearances in an 83-85 win in Malaga in Round 16.

Tags Beno Udrih Felipe Reyes Marcelinho Huertas Pero Antic Rafa Martinez Vassilis Spanoulis Victor Khryapa