By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
Status, dynamics, form and the significance of results were the criteria for ranking the 18 teams.
Due to the unique circumstance of some teams playing more games than others because of the pandemic – not to mention some teams out-performing our wildest expectations – we are waiving our normal restriction limiting teams from moving more than six places from one month to the next.
Without further ado, here are the new rankings:
#18 LDLC ASVEL VILLEURBANNE
Previous ranking: 17 (-1)
Record: 0-3
At home: 0-1
Away: 0-2
Offense-Defense: 70-78.3
In contrast to Zenit St Petersburg below, ASVEL sample so far is more than enough for them to be assessed. Maybe as they go forward and games become successive they will manage to improve in many areas, but until then, the last place in the standings and the power rankings is rightfully theirs.
#17 ALBA BERLIN
Previous ranking: 14 (-3)
Record: 1-3
At home: 0-2
Away: 1-1
Offense-Defense: 77.5-87.8
ALBA enjoyed playing basketball like few teams did last season but now the only enjoyment seems to be for their opponents. The only exception was the game against CSKA (88-93, Round 4), which, in order to win, they had to stretch above their standards. Their offense is only the 10th best and their defense is the worst by far. With 15.3 turnovers per game (third highest), they cannot hope for anything better.
#16 KHIMKI MOSCOW REGION
Previous ranking: 7 (-9)
Record: 1-5
At home: 1-3
Away: 0-2
Offense-Defense: 76.8-83.2
Khimki had the misfortune of playing with an emergency roster in most games, waiting until Round 6 against Zvezda (83-77) to celebrate its first win. Contrary to what one might expect, it wasn’t Alexey Shved or Jonas Jerebko or Greg Monroe who led Khimki to that victory, but Errick McCollum, who just joined the team. With a full roster now, Rimas Kurtinaitis expects immediate improvement both in offense (fifth worst) and defense (second worst).