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.
75. Moustapha Fall (Olympiacos Piraeus)
Year of birth: 1992
Position: Center
Height: 2.18 m.
2020-21 stats: 8.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists in 21:59 minutes over 31 EuroLeague games with ASVEL Villeurbanne
74. Isaiah Canaan (Unics Kazan)
Year of birth: 1991
Position: Guard
Height: 1.83 m.
2020-21 stats: 14.1 points, 3.1 assists, 2.9 rebounds in 26:56 minutes over 24 EuroCup games with Unics Kazan
He’s a bucket: And he also showed it last way in EuroCup. After five years in the NBA and a stint in China, Isaiah Canaan moved to Europe for the first time last year by signing with Unics Kazan. He adjusted rather quickly to have multiple high-scoring games as his team made the Finals thus earning a ticket to the 2021-22 EuroLeague.
73. Adam Hanga (Real Madrid)
Year of birth: 1989
Position: Guard/Forward
Height: 2.00 m.
2020-21 stats: 4.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists in 15:53 minutes over 41 EuroLeague games with Barcelona
72. Gigi Datome (Olimpia Milano)
Year of birth: 1987
Position: Forward
Height: 2.03 m.
2020-21 stats: 7.1 points, 2.8 rebounds in 16:29 minutes over 37 EuroLeague games with Olimpia Milano
71. Simone Fontecchio (Baskonia)
Year of birth: 1995
Position: Forward
Height: 2.03 m.
2020-21 stats: 10.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists in 23:35 minutes over 29 EuroLeague games with Alba Berlin
70. Rob Gray (AS Monaco)
Year of birth: 1994
Position: Guard
Height: 1.86 m.
2020-21 stats: 17.3 points, 2.3 rebounds in 23:41 minutes over 17 EuroCup games with AS Monaco
69. Filip Petrusev (Anadolu Efes)
Year of birth: 2000
Position: Forward/Center
Height: 2.11 m.
2020-21 stats: 23.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.1 blocks in 31.5 minutes over 21 ABA League games with Mega Basket
The big challenge has arrived: Dario, Saric, Vasilije Micic, Filip Petrusev. What do all these have in common? Their NBA rights have been held by Philadelphia 76ers (at some point at least) and they’ve all been with Anadolu Efes. The Sixers will definitely been paying a lot of attention to how their 20-year-old stashed big man and reigning ABA League MVP will perform with the jersey of the reigning EuroLeague champion. If the preseason sample is a sign of things to come, they will love what they’ll see.
68. Marcus Eriksson (Alba Berlin)
Year of birth: 1993
Position: Guard/Forward
Height: 2.01 m.
2020-21 stats: 12.4 points, 1.7 rebounds in 23:18 minutes over 22 EuroLeague games with Alba Berlin
67. Mindaugas Kuzminskas (Zenit St. Petersburg)
Year of birth: 1989
Position: Forward
Height: 2.05 m.
2020-21 stats: 12.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists in 26:49 minutes over 19 EuroCup games with Lokomotiv Kuban
66. Luke Sikma (Alba Berlin)
Year of birth: 1989
Position: Forward
Height: 2.03 m.
2020-21 stats: 9.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists in 24:56 minutes over 31 EuroLeague games with Alba Berlin
65. Thomas Heurtel (Real Madrid)
Year of birth: 1989
Position: Guard
Height: 1.89 m.
2020-21 stats: 2.9 points, 2.4 assists in 13:31 minutes over 12 EuroLeague games with Barcelona
Revenge season (?): The last two years had been a struggle for one of the prolific passers in the history of EuroLeague. Thomas Heurtel was pushed back by injuries, then lost his position in the rotation of Barcelona, until the incident in Istanbul that basically sealed his departure from the team. He will now look to re-establish himself as one of the Europe’s top floor generals, under the banner of Real Madrid. His former team’s archrival.
64. Anthony Randolph (Real Madrid)
Year of birth: 1989
Position: Forward/Center
Height: 2.11 m.
2020-21 stats: 9.3 points, 3.6 rebounds in 18:53 minutes over 13 EuroLeague games with Real Madrid
63. Alex Poythress (Zenit St. Petersburg)
Year of birth: 1993
Position: Forward/Center
Height: 2.06 m.
2020-21 stats: 8.6 points, 4.3 rebounds in 18:46 minutes over 32 EuroLeague games with Zenit St. Petersburg
62. Arturas Gudaitis (Zenit St. Petersburg)
Year of birth: 1993
Position: Center
Height: 2.08 m.
2020-21 stats: 9.7 points, 4.0 rebounds in 20:05 minutes over 31 EuroLeague games with Zenit St., Petersburg
61. Johannes Voigtmann (CSKA Moscow)
Year of birth: 1992
Position: Forward/Center
Height: 2.11 m.
2020-21 stats: 8.5 points, 4.9 rebounds in 19:36 minutes over 36 EuroLeague games with CSKA Moscow
60. Chris Singleton (Anadolu Efes)
Year of birth: 1989
Position: Forward
Height: 2.06 m.
2020-21 stats: 6.1 points, 3.8 rebounds in 22:01 minutes over 41 EuroLeague games with Anadolu Efes
59. Shaq McKissic (Olympiacos Piraeus)
Year of birth: 1990
Position: Guard/Forward
Height: 1.96 m.
2020-21 stats: 10.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.5 steals in 23:24 minutes over 33 EuroLeague games with Olympiacos Piraeus
58. George Papagiannis (Panathinaikos Athens)
Year of birth: 1997
Position: Center
Height: 2.20 m.
2020-21 stats: 8.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.6 blocks in 21:52 minutes over 32 EuroLeague games with Panathinaikos Athens
57. Troy Daniels (Olimpia Milano)
Year of birth: 1991
Position: Guard
Height: 1.93 m.
2019-20 stats: 4.3 points in 11.9 minutes over 47 NBA games with the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets
56. Alec Peters (Baskonia)
Year of birth: 1995
Position: Forward
Height: 2.06 m.
2020-21 stats: 11.5 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists in 23:29 minutes over 33 EuroLeague games with Baskonia
55. Shabazz Napier (Zenit St. Petersburg)
Year of birth: 1991
Position: Guard
Height: 1.83 m.
2019-20 stats: 9.6 points, 5.2 assists, 3.1 rebounds in 23.8 minutes over 36 NBA games with the Minnesota Timberwolves plus 11.6 points, 3.8 assists, 2.4 rebounds in 24.4 minutes over 20 NBA games with the Washington Wizards.
It sucks: How else could you describe the fact that 24 hours after Shabazz Napier scored 33 points in his first official game with Zenit, he suffered an ankle injury that was described as “serious” by his team. There’s no specific timeframe now for Napier’s return but the NBA veteran showed early that he make some noise on the floor in Europe so we can expect a loud comeback.
54. Thomas Walkup (Olympiacos Piraeus)
Year of birth: 1992
Position: Guard
Height: 1.93 m.
2020-21 stats: 8.2 points, 4.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds, 1.1 steals in 24:09 minutes over 34 games with Zalgiris Kaunas