By Stelios Toromanidis/ info@eurohoops.net
Who are the leading passers in Europe in the season that just ended? Eurohoops singles out the best from the top 7 championships in Europe.
The third and last feature for the best players of the top 7 championships of the old continent is going to focus on the athletes who dished the most passes on average as well as their most… productive game in the year in terms of creation.
A reminder that the championships that are part of the survey are the Basket League (Greece), ACB (Spain), Lega Basket (Italy), LNB Pro-A (France), VTB League (Russia, Belarus, Czech Republic, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Kazakhstan), BBL (Germany) and Super League (Turkey).
In terms of the players’ appearances we have included the games of the regular period as well as the playoffs. Also, a necessary condition for a player to be included on the list is for him to have played in more than half of the games of the regular period.
Basket League (Greece)
Nick Calathes (Greece)
Team: Panathinaikos
Games: 35
Assists (on average): 6,3 Total: 220
Best performance in assists: 11 (Panathinaikos – Arkadikos 90-69)
In the season that just ended he had a leading role in Panathinaikos, he excelled even further through his creative qualities by making excellent use of the greens’ big men, who he supplied quite a few times with impressive assists.
Furthermore, he was ranked first in evaluation, first in steals and second in rebounds for his team. He reached the championship final with the greens but wasn’t able to lift the trophy.
Enjoy two spectacular assists by Nick Calathes:
ACB (Spain)
Sergio Rodriguez (Spain)
Team: Real Madrid
Games: 42
Assists (on average): 5,9 Total: 247
Best performance in assists: 19 (Real Madrid – Fuenlabrada 129-81)
“Chacho” is an artiste of the pass. He’s among the best European creators of the last decade, with a four-year term in the NBA. He can supply his teammates in… myriads of ways, making their job on the court much easier. This is the second season in a row that Rodriguez dishes the most assists (on average) in the Spanish league. He was without a doubt one of Real Madrid’s most important… machines on their journey towards their third championship in the last four years.
Enjoy a video of magic assists by Sergio Rodriguez:
Lega Basket (Italy)
Peyton Siva (USA)
Team: Caserta
Games: 21
Assists (on average): 6,5 Total: 137
Best performance in assists: 13 (Caserta – Brindisi 80-75)
He missed the first few games of the season due to an injury, but when he rejoined the team he became at once their leader in the creative part of the game. The small American (1,83 m.) with the rich college career helped Caserta in scoring as well (13,3 points per game).
What’s interesting is the fact that Caserta had on their roster the best rebounder as well as the best passer in the league but still finished in 14th place of the ranking.