Βy Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
European basketball is evolving and improving by changing direction. Star scorers no longer dominate and now success is more abouτ teamwork. With that in mind, we ask: who are the four top scorers from every Turkish Airlines Euroleague team? Eurohoops.net highlights the Fantastic Four in scoring for every team in the Top 16. The top quartet belongs to Fenerbahce Istanbul, which has four players with an average of 11 points per game or more! However, the plenitude of Real Madrid is such that they showcase five players with double-digit scoring (although they have fewer points per game)!
Before we take a detailed look at the top quartet from every team that has four players averaging double-digits in points, let’s consider the rest of the teams that have fewer players that stand out in scoring. For example, CSKA Moscow has three players that are impressive (the league’s No. 1 scorer, Nando De Colo with 18.3 points per game; Milos Teodosic with 14.2 ppg. and Cory Higgins with 11 ppg.), but Joel Freeland just misses our cut-off. Something similar occurs with Unicaja Malaga, where the standouts are Mindaugas Kuzminskas (13.2 ppg.), Edwin Jackson (11.4 ppg.) and Richard Hendrix (10.9 ppg.), with Will Thomas complementing the quartet, but not reaching double figures (9.2 ppg.).
On the other side is Cedevita Zagreb, where Miro Bilan (15 ppg.), Jacob Pullen (14.1 ppg.) and James White (10.1 ppg.) stand out followed by Luka Babic (9.2 ppg.). Malcolm Delaney stands out for Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar as the second best scorer in the league, but aside from him there is only Victor Claver (10.4 ppg.), with Anthony Randolph (9.5 ppg.) and Ryan Broekhoff (9.2 ppg.) below our threshold. At Crvena Zvezda Telekom Belgrade, Maik Zirbes has 16.8 points and is the third-best scorer in the competition and then comes Quincy Miller (15.7 ppg.), with Marko Simonovic (9.4 ppg.) and Stefan Jovic (7.6 ppg.) lower. Olympiacos Piraeus’s top scorer is Georgios Printezis with 13.3 points per game, followed by Patric Young (10.8 points in the five games before he got injured) and then Matt Lojeski (9.9 ppg.) and Vassilis Spanoulis (9.6 ppg.).
The “Fantastic Four” of Zalgiris Kaunas are the two big men: Paulius Jankunas (12.1 ppg.) and Ian Vougioukas (11.3 ppg.). A bit further down the line are Olivier Hanlan (9.9 ppg.) and Brock Motum (7.6 ppg.). Khimki Moscow Region also has just two players in double figures: Alexey Shved (16.8 ppg.) and Tyrese Rice (12.7 ppg.). Then come James Augustine (9.3 ppg.) and Zoran Dragic (8.1 ppg.).
Only one of FC Barcelona Lassa’s “Fantastic Four” is in double digits: Ante Tomic with 14.1 points per game. Then come Carlos Arroyo (9.3 ppg.), Justin Doellman (8.3 ppg.) and Tomas Satoransky (7.5 ppg.). Finally, for Darussafaka Dogus Istanbul there is no player in double figures! Luke Harangody (9.8 ppg.) leads the team in scoring followed by Milko Bjelica (9.5 ppg.), Jamon Gordon (8.2 ppg.) and Scottie Wilbekin (7.7 ppg.), who collectively average 46% of their team’s points and have attempted 49% of the shots, showing that the Turkish team really is a perfectly-balanced ensemble.
Use the 2-7 numbers below to read about the six teams with the best four players in double scoring digit numbers!