By George Efkarpides & Dionysis Aravantinos / info@eurohoops.net
In recent times, more and more European players join the NBA and this year, a record-breaking 74 European players will be playing in the NBA.
The NBA has been attracted to international players, who seem to have unique talents, and are ready to conquer the basketball world.
Last season, many European players had dazzling campaigns with their respective teams. Others are considered to be ‘rising stars’ and players like Giannis Antetokounmpo have already established themselves as top-10 players in the league.
An exciting season is just around the corner and eurohoops.net has ranked the top 30 Europeans for the upcoming year.
The criteria for this year’s rankings are: The quality of the player, his role on the team and what is expected from him this upcoming season. Moreover, the playing time we anticipate he will get by his coach in combination with what he has been able to achieve in his NBA career so far. That’s why no rookies made the list with just two exceptions.
Notable Mentions: Some of the following have not even played a single minute in the NBA, some of them are role players who average 10-15 minutes per game in fair teams, and the others like Bender, Papagiannis are sophomores in the NBA, who did not have great rookie seasons.
Still, those are the players who just missed the cut: Marco Belinelli, Timofey Mozgov, Juan Hernangomez, Lauri Markkanen, Kosta Koufos, Paul Zipser, Nemanja Bjelica, Cedi Osman, Furkan Korkmaz, Joffrey Lauvergne, Daniel Theis, Zaza Pachulia, Omri Caspi, Dragan Bender, Tomas Satoransky, Thabo Sefolosha.
30. Bogdan Bogdanovic (Sacramento Kings / Serbia)
Year of Birth: 1992
Height: 198cm (6-6)
Position: G
At 24-years of age, Bogdan Bogdanovic is now entering his prime and the timing couldn’t be any better. His first year in the NBA with the Sacramento Kings is just around the corner. His great shooting skills, handles and experience in Europe over the last years with Fenerbahce have given him the confidence which he will try to also use in a totally different environment, the NBA. As he has stated himself, the NBA’s game is faster than Europe’s and he will have have to make quicker decisions; Bogdanovic will need to work on his decision-making offensively and his spacing defensively.
In the 2017 EuroBasket, he led Serbia to the championship game but eventually could not get the job done against Slovenia. His talent is unquestionable but is he ready for this biggest change in his basketball career? We trust that he is. The fact that he is number 30 in this list has strictly to do with him being an NBA rookie.
29. Milos Teodosic (Los Angeles Clippers / Serbia)
Year of Birth: 1987
Height: 196cm (6-5)
Position: G
Milos Teodosic’s move to the NBA will shock the world. His unbelievable passing skills is what makes the experienced 30-year old a special talent. His passing gift is something the Clippers’ fans are already starting to see and appreciate from the first preseason games. If he gets the minutes he deserves under Doc Rivers, Teodosic could average 7+ assists per game this upcoming season with the Los Angeles Clippers. His experience, his great shooting percentages, the way he handles the ball and creates offense is what will make him really successful in the NBA. Chris Paul’s departure will give Teodosic more minutes next to Blake Griffin and he figures to throw lobs to him as well as DeAndre Jordan.
Teodosic did not participate in the 2017 EuroBasket, with a minor injury. To start the season, he is our #29 because he has not yet been challenged in an NBA game. He is the second rookie of this list after Bogdanovic. That’s the only reason he is not ranked higher. He has not played yet an official game in the NBA.
28. Boban Marjanovic (Detroit Pistons / Serbia)
Year of Birth: 1988
Height: 221cm (7-3)
Position: C
Over the last couple of seasons, the third Serbian in our list, Boban Marjanovic has tried to gain more minutes with the Spurs and Gregg Popovich but also last year with Stan Van Gundy and the Detroit Pistons. With Detroit last year he averaged 8.4 minutes per game in the 35 games he played in. Marjanovic is unquestionably skilled for his size and body, and even though he is averaging only 8.4 minutes per game, he does his job perfectly coming off the bench and providing solid minutes. He played also a crucial part of Serbia’s national team this past EuroBasket as his body, height and length provided scoring and rebounding for coach Djordjevic and his team.
This year he is expected to gain some more minutes from coach Stan Van Gundy. Per 48 minutes (in 2016-2017), Marjanovic would average 31.3 points per game and 21.3 rebounds (!) so we could not leave him out the top-30.
27. Alex Abrines (Oklahoma City Thunder / Spain)
Year of Birth: 1993
Height: 198cm (6-6)
Position: G
Alex Abrines had a decent rookie campaign as one of the best three-point shooters on last year’s Thunder team. This season, he will most likely be the second option off the bench even though he might close out games when his team needs a deep threat.
Now that the Thunder have become stronger and want to contend in the Western Conference, he will have to elevate his game if he wants to have a more important and stable role on the team. In the 68 games he played last year, the Spaniard averaged 6.0 points on 39.3% shooting from the field. Even though he is a good shooter, especially from the three-point line (38.1%), Abrines has to improve his field goal percentage, in order to be the sixth man for coach Donovan. This summer he managed to only play one game for Spain in the EuroBasket as he injured his ankle and remained sidelined.
26. Nikola Mirotic (Chicago Bulls / Spain)
Year of Birth: 1991
Height: 208cm (6-10)
Position: F
Nikola Mirotic is at #27 in our list to start this season. The 26-year old had a good season in the NBA with the Bulls, as he played 70 games and averaged 24 minutes and 10.6 points per game. Starting from this season, the Bulls will be in rebuilding mode, and that will favor Mirotic and the minutes he plays. The Bulls will try to have him help Lauri Markkanen (no. 7 pick), with the adjustment to the NBA and the different style of play than in the NCAA and Europe. Mirotic will challenge him and will try to make him better. “Threekola” will potentially be a starter for this Bulls team and will quite possibly be a no1 option on offense in a team that lacks players who can score.
Mirotic did not participate in the 2017 EuroBasket.