By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
We evaluated the players – with 10 being the highest score – in five different areas that reveal the competitive value of each of them so far this season.
Honorable mentions: Vasilije Micic, Facundo Campazzo
#5 SCOTTIE WILBEKIN (previous rank: 4th)
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv | Guard | April 5, 1993 | USA
16.3 pts | 2.0 reb | 3.5 ast | 1.3 stl | 0.1 blk | 2.3 to | 26:43 min | 16.3 PIR | 20 G
Player’s performance: 8
Team’s course: 8
Player’s role: 10
Consistency: 8
Leadership: 10
Total: 44
Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv has three defeats in its last six games and Scottie Wilbekin, unwittingly, bears a great deal of responsibility for that. It’s no coincidence that in most of those defeats he was far from his best and/or contained by the rival defenses. Because that’s how important he is to them.
Other than that, he’s the one who has stepped up in a season where one injury follows the other for his teammates. In his worst performance, he will still get close to a double-digit number of points, while also contributing significantly in creating for a team that may have the best defense in the EuroLeague (76.8), but which has always been known for its philosophy on offense.
He’s sixth in scoring in the competition and rounds out the Top 10 in PIR.
#4 NIKOLA MIROTIC (previous rank: tied 2nd)
FC Barcelona | Forward | February 11, 1991 | Montenegro
18.7 pts | 7.4 reb | 1.3 ast | 1.2 stl | 0.4 blk | 2.1 to | 27:58 min | 21.8 PIR | 21 G
Player’s performance: 9
Team’s course: 9
Player’s role: 9
Consistency: 9
Leadership: 9
Total: 45
Nikola Mirotic is still one of the most consistent players in the entire EuroLeague and he has managed to become a benchmark on an FC Barcelona team full of stars. Despite that, the recent three-game losing streak, aside from pulling the team further away from the top and risking their place in the top four, also hurt his image.
On an individual level, no one can ask more of him. Mirotic’s stats remain at the levels that put him in the No.1 spot for the month of December, while he has climbed up to third place in double-doubles (5). He’s the only player who is in the top five in three main categories: points, rebounds and PIR.
#3 NICK CALATHES (previous rank: tied 5th)
Panathinaikos OPAP Athens | Guard | February 7, 1989 | Greece
13.4 pts | 4.8 reb | 9.9 ast | 1 stl | 0.1 blk | 3.1 to | 33:06 min | 19 PIR | 21 G
Player’s performance: 9
Team’s course: 8
Player’s role: 10
Consistency: 9
Leadership: 10
Total: 46
Nick Calathes is still inconsistent in his scoring, he was always like that, but that is still the only blemish in his game. For anything else that Panathinaikos OPAP Athens needs, he’s there.
Obviously, his ability to create for others stands out more than anything else. Now, he’s on his way to breaking his own record for assists in yet another season (nine double-doubles in points-assists and another two in points-rebounds) and if he continues at this rate, he will possibly become the first player to complete a season with a double-digit average in that category. The fact that he’s first in the EuroLeague in terms of playing time and that almost everything goes through his hands to a certain degree excuses his 3.1 turnovers (second in the competition), while, at the same time, he’s second in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.14).
His performances – Calathes is ranked fifth in PIR – have stabilized Panathinaikos in the top six in the standings.
#2 MIKE JAMES (previous rank: tied 2nd)
CSKA Moscow | Guard | August 18, 1990 | USA
21.1 pts | 3.4 reb | 4.4 ast | 0.7 stl | 0.1 blk | 2.6 to | 28:44 min | 21.8 PIR | 21 G
Player’s performance: 9
Team’s course: 9
Player’s role: 10
Consistency: 8
Leadership: 10
Total: 46
Injury problems continue to plague CSKA Moscow, but Mike James is still doing everything in his power to not let anything or anyone push the champs outside of the top four spots again.
If he was more composed in the game against Panathinaikos in Kaliningrad, his team would now count eight consecutive wins instead of seven in the last eight games and CSKA would be the sole occupant of second place in the standings. James, however, has taken responsibility for this defeat and since then has kept doing his thing. “His thing” is career-high averages in points and PIR, statistical categories in which he’s ranked second in the competition.
In a recent poll, the GMs of teams justifiably declared James to be the best clutch player in the EuroLeague, with him having proved them right countless times, not to mention his four times as MVP of the Round this season.
#1 SHANE LARKIN (previous rank: 1st)
Anadolu Efes Istanbul | Guard | October 2, 1992 | USA
21.6 pts | 3.4 reb | 4 ast | 1.2 stl | 0.1 blk | 2.2 to | 29:37 min | 26.1 PIR | 20 G
Player’s performance: 9
Team’s course: 10
Player’s role: 10
Consistency: 9
Leadership: 10
Total: 48
Just when you’ve started to believe that Shane Larkin cannot be any more impressive, he becomes MVP of the Round for a record four times in a row (five in total, including November) and you start to reconsider.
Almost all of Anadolu Efes Istanbul’s wins have his signature, the most recent being the first road win at Real Madrid after 12 consecutive defeats in the Spanish capital. It’s not just all that he tallies on the stat sheets and his leadership skills that make him unique. It’s the details too. There isn’t a more characteristic instance than his attempt to get an offensive rebound in the game against AX Armani Exchange Milan in Istanbul, when he almost went over Christian Burns and landed clumsily on the court, with a little less than 4 minutes to go in the game and a 16-point lead!
Just like he’s first in scoring and PIR in the competition, obviously with career-high averages, his team is also first in the standings and now with a three-victory lead ahead of the teams tied for second place.