By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Eurohoops presents the Top 100 EuroLeague Players ahead of the 2021-22 season. It’s a list that was compiled with some specific criteria with the purpose of tracing and ranking those hoopers who are expected to define the upcoming EuroLeague season.
Editors from the international, Turkish, Greek and Spanish edition of Eurohoops selected the 100 players and ranked them after a certain procedure that included a lot of agreements and even more disagreements before a final consensus was reached. While there are some objective and factual elements/data that were taken into consideration when choosing the 100 players and then ranking them, the final result is, inevitably, subjective.
The list was compiled based on the rosters and moves as they were presented on the official EuroLeague website. Some cases, such as OJ Mayo, aren’t included as the list had been made before their official addition.
This year the primary criterion that determined the ranking was the momentum that a player may be carrying from the 2020-21 EuroLeague (or another European competition) as he’s heading into the new season. A decision was taken to focus on and reward a player’s individual performances, especially if his contribution lifted his team to certain EuroLeague heights.
In contrast, a player’s past achievements and overall legacy was taken in account far less than in our previous Top 100 features.
As always, there was a calculated risk with EuroLeague newcomers, especially those who are completely unfamiliar with European basketball. Hence why some players who will now take their first steps in EuroLeague have been omitted from the list or where placed in lower positions in comparison with “rookies” that already have a certain experience at a competitive level of European basketball. Experience in this level and type of game matters since we’ve seen no few quality players, even established NBAers, immensely struggle in their new surroundings simply because of their unfamiliarity with everything that European basketball encompasses.
A player of a team that is a title or Final Four contender automatically got a relative priority over another with possibly similar or equal, maybe even superior individual strengths. The higher the team’s projection for the upcoming season, the more boost a player got when it comes to his ranking and this is why you will find that there is an increased number of players from well-known powerhouses. Of course, there’s also the fact that these teams acquire top talent.
There are a few cases where a player’s overall value and proven capacity to deliver big, counterbalanced numbers and stats as well as age, that otherwise wouldn’t justify his position.
It should be noted that the place an “x player” gets on the list doesn’t necessarily mean that he is overall “better” than another player since there’s a multitude of factors – some that matter more than others – that determine the final ranking.
The most important ones are the following:
1) The individual quality of each player in combination with the prospect he carries for 2021-2022, plus the role and playing time we anticipate he will get with his team.
2) The strength of the club the player belongs to. The players of the teams that are usually playoff staples and are considered among the title contenders always have the edge because they combine individual quality with the club’s high aspirations.
3) Prior experience in EuroLeague/European basketball.
4) Numbers. How the player performed in 2020-21
A note regarding positions 51 to 100: Sometimes there’s a small or no real difference in the player’s positions. Especially the ranking of the spots between 51 to 100 is, more or less, typical and the differences between players can be negligible.
100. Victor Wembanayama (ASVEL Villeurbanne)
Year of birth: 2004
Position: Forward/Center
Height: 2.20 m.
2020-21 stats: 6.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.9 blocks in 16.9 minutes over 18 French League games with Nanterre 92
A reason alone to watch ASVEL: The top prospect of his age in the world right now and the current frontrunner to be selected with No. 1 pick in 2023 will be presenting himself to the big stage of EuroLeague next season. French big man Victor Wembanyama entered our list at the 100th spot but his talent is so immeasurable that he may climb these ranks by the dozens if the growth rate of his game reflects his enormous potential.
99. David Lighty (ASVEL Villeurbanne)
Year of birth: 1988
Position: Guard/Forward
Height: 1.95 m.
2020-21 stats: 11.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists in 25:18 minutes over 33 EuroLeague games with ASVEL
98. Kostas Papanikolaou (Olympiacos Piraeus)
Year of birth: 1990
Position: Forward
Height: 2.04 m.
2020-21 stats: 5.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists in 21:41 minutes over 14 EuroLeague games
97. James Nunnally (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
Year of birth: 1990
Position: Guard/Forward
Height: 2.00 m.
2020-21 stats: 1.7 points in 5.3 minutes over nine games in the NBA with the New Orleans Pelicans
96. Danilo Andjusic (AS Monaco)
Year of birth: 1991
Position: Guard
Height: 1.94 m.
2020-21 stats: 17.4 points, 3.1 assists, 2.4 rebounds in 28:38 minutes over 15 EuroCup games with JL Bourg en Bresse
A new chance at the top level: It was mainly thanks to the numbers that you see above that Bourg made the EuroCup Top 16 last season in its first ever participation in a continental league. These performances also granted Danilo Andjusic a transfer to EuroLeague newcomer AS Monaco for his own return to the competition and an opportunity to be a major contributor for a “Cinderella” yet quite ambitious club.
95. Fabien Causeur (Real Madrid)
Year of birth: 1987
Position: Guard
Height: 1.95 m.
2020-21 stats: 6.3 points and 1.4 assists in 14:06 minutes over 28 EuroLeague games with Real Madrid.
94. Austin Hollins (Crvena Zvezda)
Year of birth: 1991
Position: Guard
Height: 1.93 m.
2020-21 stats: 8.2 points, 1.7 rebounds in 19:21 minutes over 38 EuroLeague games with Zenit