By Stefan Djordjevic/ sdjordjevic@eurohoops.net
Three-point shooting has become one of, if not the most important offensive category in basketball and every team aims to have at the very least one player that specializes in it.
The Basketball Champions League has seen many great sharpshooters over the years and this season has been no exception.
Eurohoops picked out ten players that have been on fire from long range their teams so far in the 2020-21 campaign.
Keep in mind that the list includes only the players (one per team) who’ve attempted five or more three-point shots per game and they’ve made at least half of them.
The list is not a ranking but is sorted according to percentages, starting from the player with the highest.
RJ Hunter
Team: Galatasaray
Age: 27
Nationality: American
Position: SG
Three-pointers: 14-20 (70%)
Points per game: 13.5
RJ Hunter is no stranger to the Basketball Champions League. He played in the competition last season with Turk Telekom. It was his first year in Europe after four in the NBA and the G League.
Over 11 games with Turk Telekom, he averaged 42.7% from the three-point range while this season, he found himself wearing the Galatasaray jersey and he’s been banking in 70% of his long-range shots in the four games so far.
Steven Gray
Team: Peristeri
Nationality: American
Age: 31
Position: SG
Three-pointers: 16-24 (66.7%)
Points per game: 22.3
Steven Gray has spent his whole career playing across Europe and he’s been with Peristeri since 2018. H’s been known for his great three-point shooting but this season could be his best yet.
He lit the Basketball Champions League on fire in Persiteri’s first game this season with a record-breaking performance worth 47 PIR. Gray banked in 10-13 threes on his way to 39 points.
Isaiah Miles
? @freakyzeke_32 keeping @HapoelHolonBC alive with 4 bombs early on! #BasketballCL pic.twitter.com/W5wJ6Fl2hl
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) November 17, 2020
Team: Hapoel Holon
Age: 26
Nationality: American
Position: SF
Three-pointers: 14-24 (58.3%)
Points per game: 14.8
Whether it was in the NBA Summer League, the G League, France, Turkey, EuroCup or Basketball Champions League, Isaiah Miles consistently produced ample points from the three-point line and he’s been doing it in his debut BCL season as well.
Miles has been shooting 58.3% from deep and his case has the biggest difference between the individual and team three-point percentages (36.2%) on this list. Goes to show how important he’s been for Holon this season.
Jean-Marc Mwema
? @FILOU_Oostende upset the #BasketballCL reigning Champs Hereda San Pablo Burgos (99-98)! pic.twitter.com/ASNAJLHiYq
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) November 10, 2020
Team: Filou Oostende
Age: 31
Nationality: Belgian-Ugandan
Position: F
Three-pointers: 9-16 (56.3%)
Points per game: 13
Jean-Marc Mwema has been born in Belgium and has spent his whole career playing for two teams there – Telenet Giants Antwerp (2009-16) and Filou Oostende.
The two Belgian teams in question have been known for their development of young players which became somewhat of their trademark. Mwema has been one of those projects as well and now he’s returning the favor in Oostende’s jersey with a veteran role as a leader and one of the best three-point shooters in the Basketball Champions League.
Sasu Salin
Team: Iberostar Tenerife
Age: 29
Nationality: Finnish
Position: SG
Three-pointers: 14-25 (56%)
Points per game: 20
It’s very hard to make a top 10 BCL list without Tenerife’s squad finding a way to get on it and that is especially when picking out three-point shooters as they’ve got one of the best – Sasu Salin. The Finnish guard has been with Tenerife since 2019 and shooting triples has been his main job.
If you need someone to shoot after Marcelinho Huertas and Gigori Shermadini create confusion with pick and roll – he’s your guy. Corner shots? Easy. Acrobatic contested threes under foul for a four-point play? With eyes closed. Game-winner? Rest easy. Ah, yes, he shot 8-11 from deep for 34 points in the last game.
Phil Scrubb
? @PhilScrubb23 was UNCONSCIOUS in 4QT, scoring 11 consecutive points (13 in total) for @LimogesCSP, but he could not prevent Türk Telekom W! #BasketballCL pic.twitter.com/6uVi0nj9AP
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) December 11, 2020
Team: Limoges CSP
Age: 28
Nationality: Canadian-British
Position: SG
Three-pointers: 10-18 (55.6%)
Points per game: 21.3
After a highly successful college career in Canada, Scrubb started off his pro career in Europe and has stayed on the continent ever since. AEK, Frankfurt, Zenit, Estudiantes and since this year – Limoges.
His shooting was consistent for years, keeping his percentages over 40% and in some cases 50%. Such is the case with BCL this season as well. Scrubb made 56% of his shots from deep so far and he’s also one of the players that have a significantly higher percentage than the team as a whole which makes him invaluable to Limoges.
Vitor Benite
Team: Hereda San Pablo Burgos
Age: 30
Nationality: Brazilian-Italian
Position: SG
Three-pointers: 7-13 (53.8%)
Points per game: 13.5
San Pablo Burgos ‘came out of nowhere’ and became the BCL champions after the Final Eight Tournament in Athens and they owe much of it to their sharpshooters. One of them is Vitor Benite.
If it weren’t for him and his 30-point performance in the Round of 16 – for which he won the MVP – as well as the 25-point performance in the semis, the Spanish team wouldn’t have been able to lift the trophy. Benite played only two games so far this season but he’s shown that he’s going to continue ripping the opposing nets.
Kristers Zoriks
???????? ?????? @BasketballCL ?
?? 17 gūti punkti, 3 precīzi tālmetieni. pic.twitter.com/p4R7pWeMTq
— VEF Rīga (@vefriga) October 29, 2020
Team: VEF Riga
Age: 22
Nationality: Latvian
Position: G
Three-pointers: 8-15 (53.3%)
Points per game: 15.3
Another team that has been giving a chance to prospects. Last year, it brought Arturs Kurucs to the spotlight while this season, Kristers Zoriks started making a name for himself and he’s the youngest man on this list.
He was playing for younger selections of Riga before he went to Saint Mary college in the US and the 22-year-old has now returned for his first pro season. And he’s already leading the team’s scoring in BCL with 15.3 on average along with excellent shooting from range.
Evgenii Baburin
Evgenii Baburin finished with a game-high 22 points on 6 of 9 three-point shooting for @BC_NN! ? #BasketballCL #Road2Final4 pic.twitter.com/D2fezXa1X6
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) March 13, 2020
Team: Nizhny Novgorod
Age: 33
Nationality: Russian
Position: PG
Three-pointers: 9-17 (52.9%)
Points per game: 11.7
Contrary to Zoriks, Evgenii Baburin is the second-oldest entry to the list and he’s got a long history with Nizhny Novgorod. This club was where he started his professional career back in 2005 when it was in the Russian third division.
He’s had three stints with Nizhny so far with this being his tenth season in total. He’s got national team experience, he’s the team captain and coach Zoran Lukic is counting on his help a lot. Baburin rarely disappoints leadership-wise and his shooting is as good as ever. If anything, he’s been taking more shots than usual lately.
David Holston
Team: JDA Dijon
Age: 34
Nationality: American
Position: PG
Three-pointers: 8-16 (50%)
Points per game: 20.5
Last but definitely not least. The oldest player on the list, the shortest player on the list, only two games played this season so far, lowest percentage. Doesn’t matter. David Holston earns a spot because he’s proved himself last season as one of the best players in crunch time. Certainly the ‘most explosive’ one. He won a few games practically by himself in just a couple of minutes with his three-point streaks.
This season hasn’t started badly at all for him either. Far from it. Making half of his shots from deep, leading the team in scoring with 20.5 points, in assists with seven a game, in steal with four a game. What else can a coach ask from a single player?