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.
Here are the picks from 30 to 21.
20. Danilo Gallinari (Denver Nuggets / Italy)
Year of Birth: 1988
Height: 208cm (6-10)
Position: F
Danilo Gallinari is coming off a great season with the Denver Nuggets. In a year where he played 63 games, ‘Galo’ led the Nuggets in scoring with 18.2 points per game on 44.7% shooting from the field and an impressive 90.2% from the free-throw line. This off-season he was traded to Los Angeles to play for the Clippers, next to Milos Teodosic, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. His health will be a major question mark moving forward, but if he is healthy he could play an important role on the offensive end as he is able to shoot the three and post-up with the same ease. The team’s goal is to make the playoffs and the combination of these four guys under coach Doc Rivers’ is something that will be crucial this upcoming NBA season.