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By Nikos Varlas / varlas@eurohoops.net
The season gets under way in a few days and the time has come for the top 100 Euroleague Rankings. A difficult concept, subjective, one that – by nature – creates differing opinions and disagreements!
Eurohoops begins the presentation from the bottom up and the main thing that has to be made clear is that our Rankings are not made based on those that are published about NBA players in the USA. It’s true that the individual element is very important, but we equally evaluate the team’s dynamics and potential.
You can surf on Eurohoops’ Trademark Section and check out all the previous choices of Top 100 list.
Criteria
1. PLAYER’S VALUE: The overall competitive evaluation of players. The characteristics of their game, their worth, their leadership skills, their quality as a unit independent of the team they play for.
2. PLAYER’S ROLE: The importance of a player for their team as we evaluate and predict it for the new season.
3. TEAM’S WORTH: The team the player we choose plays for, its apparent value in the league in the long term and the potential it has. How far the player’s team that is chosen for the new Euroleague season can go.
4. INDIVIDUAL POTENTIAL: The individual potential of the player, exclusively. The extent to which they can grow and improve, how high they can go based on their value, talent and age.
5. THE NUMBERS: The statistics we speculate the player can tally on average, when their team’s run in the Euroleague is completed. This is definitely an important criterion but the last priority for our choices, since it depends directly on the quality of the team they play for and their role in the team.
These are the 5 criteria that we factor in in order to reach an overall assessment of every player individually and from that point to draw the Top 100 Ranks. If you consider that around 360 players are registered on the rosters of the Euroleague, you will comprehend how hard and tortuous it was to make these selections!
So many players of value that we respect infinitely for whom there was not enough space and, really, from a total of 150 players, the list of the 100 was drawn up with great difficulty. Especially in the bottom 20 slots, there could be any name from the 50 that were necessarily not included and we ask for your understanding for this in advance.
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[lptitle title=”60 Justin Doellman “]
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#60 Justin Doellman
1985 2m.06 F
Barcelona
His numbers last year in the Euroleague were good but he couldn’t rise to the occasion in the playoffs when Barcelona was knocked out and walked away in failure. The bet is whether he will manage to become instrumental. He has a lot of quality offensively and he’s a smart player with good technique. He’ll have more internal competition for the ‘4’ position this year.
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[lptitle title=”59 Mantas Kalnietis “]
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#59 Mantas Kalnietis
1986 1m. 95 G
Zalgiris
He returned to the team where he has spent all of his basketball life at the club level, with the exception of the break in Krasnodar. The main point guard of Lithuania’s successes. He knows all the basics well, he produces a lot of energy and a lot of assists, but he’s also prone to mistakes. If he played in a team that was shooting for a spot in the playoffs he’d definitely be higher on our list.
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[lptitle title=”58 Vladimir Jankovic “]
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#58 Vladimir jankovic
1990 2m.02 F
Panathinaikos
He’s getting ready for his second “full” season in the top league. A team – and coach – player that contributes in all areas of the game. He can score, play defense, help out with the rebounding, strike on the open court. The fact that he’s a hard worker, combined with most of his performances, are omens for growth and more productive numbers.
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[lptitle title=”57 Jeff Taylor “]
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#57 Jeff Taylor
1989 2m.01 F
Real Madrid
A player that is worth keeping an eye on, for many reasons. Very athletic, explosive, hard to contain on the open court. In the last years in the NBA he showed some improvement in his shooting as well. He has never played in the Euroleague before, he doesn’t have any experience in European basketball and it’ll be quite interesting to see how he will adapt in Real’s system, with a lot of internal competition in the positions he plays in.
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[lptitle title=”56 Petteri Koponen “]
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#56 Petteri Koponen
1988 1m.94 G
Khimki
He returns to the Euroleague more experienced and more ready for the top level. A guard with a lot of offensive gifts who can be a threat and score in every way. He has improved on his facilitating noticeably as well. He’s entering the peak of his career and we’re expecting to see more things from him, even whether in the future he’ll be able to be a central member of teams that are after the title.
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