By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Well, it’s that time of the year again.
Eurohoops presents the Top 100 EuroLeague Players ahead of the 2018-2019 season. A list of players compiled with some specific criteria with the purpose of tracing and ranking those hoopers that are expected to define the upcoming EuroLeague season.
While there are some objective and factual elements that were taken into consideration when choosing the 100 players and then ranking them, the final result is, inevitably, subjective.
As always, there was a calculated risk with rookies, especially those who are completely unfamiliar with European basketball. Hence why some players who will now take their first steps in EuroLeague have been omitted from the list or where placed in lower positions in comparison with rookies with considerable experience at a competitive level of European basketball. Experience in this level and type of game matters since we’ve seen no few quality players, even established NBAers, immensely struggle in their new surroundings simply because of their unfamiliarity with everything that European basketball encompasses.
What should be noted is that player of a team that is a title or Final Four contender automatically got a relative priority over another with possibly similar or equal, maybe even superior individual strengths. This is why you will find that there is an increased number of players from well-known powerhouses, apart from the fact that these teams usually sign top talent.
It goes without saying that injuries also played apart in picking and ranking the players.
Like every year, the Eurohoops Top 100 Players ranking is based on the following criteria (in this order):
1) The individual quality of each player in combination with the role and playing time we anticipate he will get with his team.
2) The strength of the club he plays for. The players of the teams that are usually playoff staples and are considered among the title contenders always have the edge because they combine individual quality with their club’s high aspirations.
3) What each player has achieved in his career in the EuroLeague, combined with the prospect he carries for the 2018-19 season.
The countdown continues with the spots from 90 to 81. Click here for the 100 to 91 picks.
90. Earl Clark (Buducnost)
Year of birth: 1988
Position: Forward
Height: 2.08
2017-2018: 10.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists in 23 minutes per game with Besiktas in the Basketball Champions League.
Following a six-year stint in the NBA, Earl Clark emerged as one of the most interesting players in both the Turkish League and the Basketball Champions League these last couple of seasons with Besiktas. And this summer, he capitalized on these performances by signing with a EuroLeague club: Buducnost.
Granted, Clark’s last season wasn’t as productive as 2016-2017 (13.6 points, 5.6 rebounds per game in BCL) but he remains a player with the capabilities of a scoring machine and a forward who possesses a rich offensive skillset. Only this time, he’ll have to put it to effective use at a bigger stage, by confronting EuroLeague-caliber defenses. Not easy.
Since he will most likely be the guy that coach Aleksandar Dzikic will entrust with the bulk of offensive missions, Clark’s output will be a decisive factor of Buducnost’s winning record in the Montenegrin club’s return to EuroLeague for the first time since 2003.
89. Marcus Eriksson (Gran Canaria)
Year of birth: 1993
Position: Guard/Forward
Height: 2.01 m
2017-2018 stats: 15.4 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 24:39 minutes per game with Gran Canaria in EuroCup.
You should expect a completely different Marcus Eriksson than the one the EuroLeague crowd watched back in 2016-2017. With his hands tied due to an injury outbreak, then-Barcelona head coach Giorgos Bartzokas included Eriksson in the team’s rotation, along with many other young players of the “Blaugrana”. They were all inexperienced and EuroLeague turned out to be an uphill fight for them.
Two seasons have passed and Eriksson has evolved into nothing less than one of the most lethal marksmen outside the NBA. His 2017-2018 stats from the 3-point line were superb (45/82 – 54.9 percent in EuroCup, plus 67/151 – 44 percent in ACB) but still don’t do justice to the beauty of his shooting flair. The Swedish player will bury it from the hand-off pass, coming off the screen, stopping his dribble, with/without arms in front of him, or at a spot “catch and shoot”position. He just makes it happen in every single way.
Eriksson is the kind of player that shoots a perhaps disproportionate amount of 3-pointers over his two-point attempts (151/98 in ACB, 82 vs. 67 in EuroCup) but that doesn’t mean he’s afraid taking the ball to the basket if needed. It’s just revealing of the great confidence he has when he finds himself at a (very) long range.
88. James Anderson (Anadolu Efes)
Year of birth: 1989
Position: Guard/Forward
Height: 1.97 m
2017-2018 stats: 9.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists in 21:45 minutes per game with Khimki Moscow in EuroLeague.
Since he returned to Europe from the NBA, James Anderson has helped two teams (Darussafaka Istanbul, Khimki Moscow) that had previously never been in the EuroLeague playoffs to make their maiden postseason trips. With Efes however, simply making the Top 8 might not cut it.
Perhaps for the first time in his career in Europe, Anderson will play for a team where there is some serious pressure for success. Efes came so very close to the Final Four in 2017 but failed to qualify to the playoffs last season. In Turkey, the team hasn’t won the league title since 2009.
It will be interesting to see how Anderson will fare into this new situation for him after two seasons where he often delivered but was somewhat lackluster. A bit bland. That doesn’t mean he stopped being an efficient offensive player, particularly potent against closeout defenses and with a mid-range jumper that can “kill” when he gets his rhythm going. It remains to be seen how he will adjust his talents in a team already packed with weapons and a squad where chemistry (or lack of it) might make all the difference in the end.
87. Shavon Shields (Baskonia)
Year of birth: 1994
Position: Guard/Forward
Height: 2.01 m
2017-2018 stats: 11.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 26:06 minutes per game with Dolomiti Energia Trento in EuroCup.
A look at the 2018 Italian League Finals and someone would swear that Shavon Shields was born for big games.
Against Olimpia Milano (that Shields will face at least twice in EuroLeague this season), the American swingman went nuclear: Two 31-point games, one 27-point performance and an average of 21 points. Small wonder that these displays of raw, offensive strength along with his overall stint with Trento led to a contract with a EuroLeague Final Four contender.
I’d say that Shields aptly reads what the opposing defense gives and all the gaps that lead to the basket, but, honestly, sometimes he looks like he has no regards for who or what is in front of him. When he wants to drive to the hoop, he’ll just do it, even if it means that he has to lunge and thrust his way against all of his opponents combined.
Shields is primarily a scorer but also always follows the action around him to get a piece of it via a rebound and observes where his teammates are to get them involved. The latter will be super useful in a Baskonia offense that heavily relies on a fluid passing game.
86. DeAndre Kane (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
Year of birth: 1989
Position: Guard
Height: 1.96 m
2017-2018 stats: 7.4 points, 4 rebounds, 2.1 assists in 23:22 minutes per game with Maccabi Tel Aviv in EuroLeague.
“He was one of the most important players on our team last year. He is a fighter who always gives 100% on the court,” Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach Neven Spahija said following the news that DeAndre Kane will stay with the team for 2018-2019.
It’s not surprising that Kane was rewarded by surviving the massive rebuild that Maccabi underwent for yet another summer following a disappointing, playoff-less run in EuroLeague. In his debut EuroLeague season, the American guard was the definition of a “team player”, displaying altruistic behavior on offense and massive eagerness to help wherever he was needed on the defensive end.
As one of the top EuroLeague rebounders of his size (he was ranked third among guards in last season), Kane is expected to once again try to increase his team’s chances for effective transition game by either finishing the play himself or dishing the ball to a teammate. His 3-point shooting remains a “stain” (28.9 percent last season) on his resume, but Kane will make up with diverse contribution in nearly all other areas of the game.