By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
One of the most important individual awards every season is the Most Valuable Player! It is an award that has been won by players who have great quality and consistency in their games, leaders who put up very big numbers throughout the season and have a tremendous impact on their team’s success in the marathon that is the regular season.
Criteria: The criteria are very simple. Only players who consistently have a leading role, are very productive and determine and influence to a very large extent their team’s performance through their presence, can be candidates. The second criterion, which for us is just as important as individual performances, is the form and record of the teams the candidates play for.
It’s not enough for a player to have a great season on an individual level. Through his performance, impact and leadership skills, he also needs to lead his team to wins and a high position in the standings, and to prove the club he leads is capable of going far in the competition.
So, let’s take a look at Eurohoops’ top five choices based on these criteria. To be precise, it’s five candidates plus one honorable mention! We present you the favorites for the 2017-18 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague MVP award, with the clear footnote that the evaluations have been based on the first 19 rounds of the regular season. There is still time for things to change, but certainly, the sample is highly representative!
HONORABLE MENTION: Sergio Rodriguez!
Aside from the five candidates, we feel it’s necessary to make special mention of CSKA Moscow’s Spanish guard, Sergio Rodriguez. In his first season away from Spain in his European career, Rodriguez has been putting up great performances and is a barometer for his team. It’s no coincidence that when he’s having a good night, the Army Team wins. It’s just that he’s on the same team as Nando De Colo and we can only have one candidate from each team.
Rodriguez is averaging 14.7 points, 5 assists, 2.1 rebounds, 1 steal and has a PIR of 14.6, with 51.3% two-point shooting, 49.2% on three-pointers and 84.8% free throw shooting. He’s made the second most three-point shots in the EuroLeague so far (58), is sixth in passing and fifth in scoring. These numbers emphatically show that he’s one of the best facilitators and scorers in the competition, one of the most fun-to-watch players, who combines substance with loads of spectacle. It’s a given that for CSKA to return to the top, the Spaniard’s leadership skills and charismatic game will be needed in the spring.
Alexey Shved: Khimki Moscow Region (Record: 11-8)
No doubt, he’s been having a very productive season with impressive numbers. The Russian scorer is averaging 22.1 points, 4.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 3.2 turnovers and a PIR of 19.8. He is shooting 47.5% on two-pointers, 33.9% on threes and 82.2% in free throws. He’s the top scorer in the league (420 points), has the most minutes of playing time and the most scoring attempts by any player. He’s first in field goals made with 136, but also first in turnovers.
It’s clear from these numbers that Khimki Moscow Region’s entire offensive game passes through his hands. The most characteristic stat of all is that, so far, he’s been taking on 28.5% of all of Khimki’s attempts in offense in every game! The point is that his numbers and performances are leading Khimki on a steady course with a degree of efficiency that is worthy of the roster they have, as was the case last week with the two wins over Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade and Olympiacos Piraeus! His numbers make him a candidate for the MVP award, as long as Khimki keeps on winning and qualifies for the playoffs.
Jan Vesely: Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul (Record: 13-6)
Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul became European champions with Ekpe Udoh deservedly winning the MVP award in the Final Four last season. Zeljko Obradovic had two great centers at his disposal and he often used the American big man together with Jan Vesely, who also played at the ‘4’. Udoh left in the summer and so Vesely’s responsibilities have grown a lot this season, as has his overall impact on Fenerbahce.
He’s the point of reference at center and the big man from whom Obradovic is expecting a lot in defense as well as on offense. He’s rising up to the challenge, he works hard on the court, he contributes in every area and, of course, he has greatly improved his stats. He tallies 13.6 points per game, along with 4.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.1 blocks and a PIR of 17.3. He is shooting 59.6% on two-point field goals, he has improved his percentage from the free throw line (69.9%), and he’s first in two-point field goals (93) in the competition and fifth in the index rating.
The Czech is his team’s cornerstone under both baskets and the most important player in their defensive function. A team that’s going for back-to-back championships, Fenerbahce’s progress depends to a large extent on Vesely’s performance, so he has to keep going at the same rate and same levels all the way to the end.
Nando De Colo: CSKA Moscow (Record: 15-4)
The French guard already has an MVP award under his belt. It was in the 2015-16 season, when CSKA won the EuroLeague and he combined the trophy, the Final Four MVP award and Alphonso Ford awards, since he was also the top scorer too! This season, without having missed a single game so far, he is averaging 16.6 points, 4.1 assists, 2.6 rebounds, 1.4 steals and a PIR of 20.3, with 56.7% two-point shooting,, 52.6% on three-pointers and 95.6% in free throws!
He’s the third best-scorer in the league, second in field goals made, second in index rating and fourth in steals. De Colo is the definition of the charismatic offensive player, with unmatched quality, with many different ways of scoring and with great consistency in top-class performances. His numbers remain impressive, his percentages are very high, his impact on CSKA’s game is always crucial, and Coach Dimitris Itoudis’s team is ranked first in the standings. All of these factors suggest that he’s deservedly one of the strongest candidates for the MVP award for another season! Although, he does have some very… tough competition!
Nick Calathes: Panathinaikos Superfoods Athens (Record: 13-7)
Nick Calathes is having the best season of his career and, at times, he functions like a computer on the court. He did it again against Zalgiris as the hero of the last moment! He’s been in form for a while now, it’s the first time he unfolds such strong leadership skills and impact on the court, and he’s Panathinaikos’s ultimate leader and floor manager.
His numbers demonstrate his huge impact on the team. Calathes is averaging 13.9 points per game (he has never finished a season with a double digit number of points before in his career!), dishes 8.4 assists, has 3.9 rebounds, 1.7 steals and a PIR of 18.6! He shoots 55.7% in two-point field goals, 27.1% in three-point field goals and 60% in free throws. Of course, he’s first in assists in the entire league, second in steals and first in the assist to turnover ratio, which shows his quality in handling the ball and making decisions.
Not even these impressive numbers can illuminate with precision his interactivity in Panathinaikos’s game. Everything starts from Calathes on offense, he’s the one who makes almost all the crucial decisions, keeps the team’s shooters “warm,” offers the big men easy points by the bucket-load, is great in defense and does everything prolifically.
The most important? His game style is such that his own takeoff benefits the team’s overall performance and has taken it to a higher level. Even his weakness, shooting high percentages on three-pointers and free throws passes into the background since he makes everyone and everything better in Panathinaikos.
Luka Doncic: Real Madrid (Record: 13-7)
In this case, we don’t have to say much. Because there comes a time in life and in sports when words are not enough to describe the value of certain accomplishments and uniqueness! Dusan Ivkovic said recently that Luka Doncic shows greater maturity and quality in his game than Drazen Petrovic and Toni Kukoc did at his age! After that, what more can we say?
Let’s take a look at his numbers: He is averaging 17.3 points on average, along with 5.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.1 steals and a PIR of 23.9! He is shooting 60% on two-point field goals, 34.5% io three-point field goals and 85.3% in free throws.
He’s first in index rating in the entire league and its second best scorer, fifth in field goals, fifth in three-pointers, eighth in assists, first in free throws and second in fouls won. His numbers, which are inconceivable for a teenager, say only half the truth. The other half, which is of even greater value and is the essence here, is in the fact that, in the absence of Sergio Llull, Doncic has stepped up with unprecedented ease and effectiveness to the role of absolute leader and all this in a season Madrid has been hurt by some pretty big injury problems.
Read the exclusive interview of Eurohoops with his mother!
He’s amazingly multidimensional, he has a charismatic understanding of the game and there’s nothing he can’t do at an exceptional level on the court.
He looks like a born leader. His maturity, but also his impact on such a big team at the highest basketball level in Europe, cannot be explained in any way nor does it have a precedent. It’s pulled right out of the wildest basketball fairytales!