[lptitle title=”START THE COUNTDOWN”]
[lpcontent]
By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Who are the best passers in each of the top leagues in Europe? Eurohoops.net counted the assists of the top of the kind and presents to you the best!
Below you can review those who excelled in assists this year in the seven best leagues in Europe (VTB, Italy, Germany, France, Greece, Turkey and Spain). The biggest difference compared to the top scorers and the top rebounders is that there are many non-Americans on the list. In fact, in three of the seven championships a European is at the top, A Greek, an Italian and a Serb.
[/lpcontent]
[lptitle title=”VTB League”]
[lpcontent]
DJ Cooper
Enisey
9,2 assists per game
DJ Cooper has the ultimate record in “best passer in a season” titles in his career. Last year the 24yearold American guard was the top passer in the Greek league with PAOK and this year he became the top passer in the VTB with Enisey. In fact, he had an amazing performance [link] with 23 assists in 30 minutes of playing time against Astana! Cooper was rewarded for his excellent season by closing the year with Panathinaikos.
[/lpcontent]
[lptitle title=”LEGABASKET (Italy)”]
[lpcontent]
Andrea Cinciarini
Reggio Emilia
6,2 assists per game
The leader of Reggio Emilia led his team to the finals of the Italian championship by distributing 6,2 assists per game in the most productive year of his career. He had a similar distinction last year again with Reggio Emilia. For the past few years Andrea Cinciarini has been a regular member of the national team of Italy by demonstrating his improvement.
[/lpcontent]
[lptitle title=”BEKO BBL (Germany)”]
[lpcontent]
Branislav Ratkovica
Tubingen
7,2 assists per game
Branislav Ratkovica is not as famous as some of his compatriots, but with a steady progress mostly in German teams (he also passed from Turkey for two years) he managed this year to make the difference with his emergence as the top passer in the German championship. The 30yearold Serb had received the same distinction in the 2010-11 season again with Tubingen.
[/lpcontent]
[lptitle title=”ProA (France)”]
[lpcontent]
Mike Green
Paris Levallois
7,2 assists per game
Mike Green made an impression in this year’s season with Paris Levallois distributing to his teammates 7,2 assists per game. The 29year old American guard started his career on European courts in 2008 and gradually climbed levels culminating in his presence with Kimkhi last year. This year, he was excellent with Paris Levallois, as he scored 11,6 points on average as well.
[/lpcontent]
[lptitle title=”HEBA (Greece)”]
Vassilis Spanoulis
Olympiacos
6,1 assists per game
The third best passer in the history of the Euroleague and at the same time the second best scorer of the tournament, he was the leader in assists in this year’s Greek championship. Vassilis Spanoulis had 6,1 assists per game with Dimitris Diamantidis (best in the Euroleague) following in second place. The achievement of Olympiacos’s leader is all the more important considering his execution skills. In the game against AEK he had a personal best 12 assists.
[/lpcontent]
[lptitle title=”TBL (Turkey)”]
Marques Green
Kolejliler
8,8 assists per game
He’s only 168 centimeters tall but he’s having a memorable professional career in Europe due to his inclination to pass and steal the ball. Marques Green emerged as the top passer in Turkey with Kolejliler, while he received such a distinction once again in 2008 with Avellino in Italy, which gave him the… passport to Fenerbahce. In almost half of his games in Turkey (9 out of 21) the 33yearold American dished out double digit assists! He completed the season with the Italian Avellino.
[/lpcontent]
[lptitle title=”ACB (Spain)”]
[lpcontent]
Jared Jordan
Gipuzkoa
7 assists per game
The white diminutive American playmaker is the very definition of a passer. He reads the game excellently and he’s always useful in the teams he plays for because he feeds his teammates excellently and in this way he makes up for his lack of athletic skills. In college he had the nickname “The Wizard” and you can easily see why.
[/lpcontent]