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 a part 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 71-60. Here are the 80 – 71, 90 – 81, plus the 100 to 91 picks.
70. Malcolm Thomas (Khimki Moscow)
Year of birth: 1988
Position: Forward/Center
Height: 2.06
2017-2018 stats: 7.4 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists in 22 minutes per game with Khimki Moscow in EuroLeague.
In his second EuroLeague season, Malcolm Thomas contributed far more for Khimki Moscow than what numbers tell.
Thanks to his mobility and athleticism, Thomas was one of the most interesting compact centers in the competition and a quite integral part for the defense of the Russian team. He was always on the move to the point of sometimes looking omnipresent, providing tons of help defenses, using his frame to intercept passes or simply snatch balls from his opponents. Speaking of which, opposing guards really struggled when they faced him after a switch.
This is the main reason why Khimki kept him for the upcoming season. Along with Jordan Mickey, Thomas will once again be one of the pillars of Giorgos Bartzokas’ defensive plans and one dangerous pick n’ roll finisher who, when he finds his way to the basket, will even have MVP nights.
69. Tarik Black (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
Year of birth: 1993
Position: Center
Height: 2.06 m.
2017-2018 stats: 3.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 0.6 blocks in 10.5 minutes with the Houston Rockets in the NBA.
The massive overhaul that Maccabi underwent for yet another summer included a major boost of athleticism and strength inside the paint with Tarik Black.
Black has all the potential to be a beast of a center in EuroLeague with a crazy impact on both ends. That’s it if he adjusts to European basketball successfully, which isn’t always easy. Maccabi though has traditionally been an ideal team to assimilate such centers due to its high-tempo type of game that usually favors athleticism and speed. Black can thrive on this.
In the preseason, Black showed a strong effort against powerhouse Fenerbahce and a star center like Jan Vesely no less with 16 points plus 11 rebounds. Quite the promising stuff by a player who can earn an NBA return if he plays his cards right.
68.Stefan Jovic (Bayern Munich)
Year of birth: 1990
Position: Guard
Height: 1.94 m.
2017-2018 stats: 5.3 points, 5.6 assists, 2.5 rebounds in 21:45 minutes per game with Bayern Munich in EuroCup.
The record holder for most assists in a single EuroLeague game (19 vs. his current team when he played with Crvena Zvezda) is back in the top-tier continental competition following an absence of a one year that he spent with the Bavarians in Eurocup.
2017-2018 might’ve been a bit subpar compared to his usual standards, but Stefan Jovic remains among the most intriguing points guards in Europe and a mighty representative of all that cerebral basketball is about. Once again under Dejan Radonjic, the coach with whom he blossomed into a leading floor general, Jovic should be the driving force for Bayern in the club’s return to EuroLeague.
Facilitating for his teammates comes naturally to Jovic thanks to his court vision, passing aptitude and mind for involving every single player on the floor.
67.Nigel Williams-Goss (Olympiacos)
Year of birth: 1994
Position: Guard
Height: 1.91 m.
2017-2018 stats: 16.9 points, 7 assists, 3.7 rebounds in 32.2 minutes per game with Partizan Belgrade in ABA League.
This summer David Blatt handpicked Nigel Williams-Goss to come to Olympiacos and become the team’s starting point guard in the new, brand of motion basketball he wants to implement with the Reds.
While a rookie in European basketball last season (a characteristic he shares with teammate Zach LeDay), Williams-Goss showed early on that he won’t have a problem facing a completely alien to him kind of competition. Already in his fifth official game with Partizan Belgrade, he scored 30 points by taking just 15 shots and later in the season he proceeded to be the team’s leader in ABA League (just look at the numbers above) while adding the Serbian Cup plus the MVP title in his trophy case.
With his passing savvy and knack for dispatching his opponents by spinning and dribbling around them to finish with a quick and high release on his jumpers or floaters, Williams-Goss is projected to be one important player for Olympiacos next season. Not only for his direct impact but also because one of the American guard’s missions will be to share some of the load Vassilis Spanoulis carries (remember that the legendary V-Span becomes 37 next Spring). A big challenge for Williams-Goss in just his second professional season.
66.Amedeo Della Valle (Olimpia Milano)
Year of birth: 1993
Position: Guard
Height: 1.93
2017-2018 stats: 17.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists in 29:59 minutes per game with Reggio Emilia in EuroCup.
Last season Amedeo Della Valle basically led Reggio Emilia to a historic campaign since the Italian club advanced to the Eurocup semifinals for the first time ever. Della Valle was simply sensational and earned All-EuroCup First Team honors. Olimpia Milano proceeded to acquire the Italian standout guard and next season we are going to see him in EuroLeague for the first time in his career.
Della Valle shoots, shoots and then shoots some more. He loves pulling off jumpers from all ranges and under any circumstances and perhaps that’s the reason he had 30.7 percent on 3-pointers in EuroCup and 30.1 percent in the Italian League. He’s a much better shooter than that, but he just won’t care even if his defender’s hands are covering his eyes. He’s that confident.
It’s not that his offensive spunk is restricted to shooting. While not particularly strong physically, he’s agile enough to move through traffic and take the ball to the basket. But yes, most of the times, he’ll prefer the jump stop.
With Milano, Della Valle won’t have the opportunity to make attempts with the volume he used in the previous seasons since initially, he’ll be a top-notch backup to the star duo of Mike James and Nemanja Nedovic. In the future? He has the potential to become a star.
65. Kyle Kuric (Barcelona)
Year of birth: 1990
Position: Guard
Height: 1.93 m.
2017-2018 stats: 15.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists in 24:43 minutes with Zenit St. Petersburg in EuroCup.
After playing in EuroCup for four consecutive seasons, Kyle Kuric was “promoted” to EuroLeague this summer by signing with Barcelona. Thanks to his potent sharpshooting (in the 2018 EuroCup Top 16 he shot with a ridiculous 57 percent on 42 attempts over six games) and overall offensive charisma, he has often featured in lists of the top players in Europe “not in EuroLeague.”
It’s high time for Kuric to present his game at a bigger stage, one that will be like entering a mythical gauntlet him. Barcelona, the 2010 EuroLeague champion and a Final Four regular from 2009 to 2014 (minus 2011), hasn’t even made the playoffs in the last two seasons and desperately needs at least a return to the Top 8.
It will be quite demanding for Kuric, but if anything, he’s been through much-much greater challenges. And came out victorious.
64. Alex Tyus (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
Year of birth: 1988
Position: Center
Height: 2.03 m.
2017-2018 stats: 8.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1 block in 19:53 minutes per game with Maccabi Tel Aviv in EuroLeague.
It’s far from a coincidence that out of all teams he’s played for, Alex Tyus has spent more than one season only with Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Tyus is the single remaining link to the Maccabi squad that won the EuroLeague in 2014 since the “Yellows” have been going one renovation after the other each summer. Thus, his presence with the team is significant not only because of his dynamic pick n’ roll finishers, the rebounding he provides on both ends of the floor or his often terrifying rim-protecting abilities. It’s the fact he’s the only one in the roster who knows the way to a EuroLeague title that also makes his so important for the Israeli squad.
We’ll see how he will inspire his teammates in the upcoming season where Maccabi will attempt a return to the EuroLeague elite.
63. Alec Peters (CSKA Moscow)
Year of birth: 1995
Position: Forward
Height: 2.03 m.
2017-2018 stats: 4.1 points, 1.9 rebounds, 0.6 assists in 11.3 minutes per game with the Phoenix Suns in the NBA.
This summer CSKA Moscow got themselves a bona fide menace from beyond the arc as the “unofficial” replacement of former captain Viktor Khryapa in the face of Alec Peters.
Pick n’ pop with Sergio Rodriguez or Nando De Colo cooperating with Peters will be the new delicious dish in an already luxurious menu that CSKA Moscow uses on offense. It won’t be the only way that Peters will score though since, apart from nailing jumpers in every way, he will take the ball to the basket when the defense closes out on him.
Peters’ specialty will be, of course, shooting the ball, be it via handoffs, coming off the screens or by positioning himself at the perimeter for his teammates to send him the ball. Don’t forget that this guy had a 36-point game with eight 3-pointers last season vs. the Dallas Mavericks.
Considering Peters’ capability as a scorer, and the fact that CSKA prides on the best offense in Europe , he might casually finish any game in double figures. He has already had a couple of those actually.
62. Ioannis Papapetrou (Panathinaikos)
Year of birth: 1994
Position: Forward
Height: 2.05 m.
2017-2018 stats: 6.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 0.7 assists in 21:57 minutes per game in EuroLeague with Olympiacos.
Pete Michael, Stratos Perperoglou, KC Rivers and others can testify for this. Xavi Pascual has always loved from his small forwards to do two things mainly on offense: Post up and be able to hit the open 3-pointer from a spot position.
While Ioannis Papapetrou comes from a poor season regarding the latter (28.6 percent on 84 attempts) he’s one of the best “3s” in Europe at the low post, on both ends of the floor. As the new starting small forward (the position he always felt more comfortable in) for Panathinaikos, Papapetrou should often find himself receiving the ball from the point guard of each lineup in order to initiate offense for his teammates or try to take it to the basket himself. It will be a key aspect of his new duties with the Greens.
It’s a given that Papapetrou is at his best at close proximity to the hoop but he needs to once again find his shooting form that has been at a decline these last two seasons following two straight years in which he hit 3s with 40 percent. Seriously, everything will be much-much different for him once he re-introduces the 3-pointer among his weapons.
61. Trey Thompkins (Real Madrid)
Year of birth: 1990
Position: Forward
Height: 2.09 m.
2017-2018 stats: 9.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists in 21:11 minutes per game with Real Madrid in EuroLeague.
With the score 81 – 78 for Real Madrid in the 2018 EuroLeague Final against Fenerbahce, Trey Thompkins collected a loose offensive rebound and dropped the basket to give his team an invaluable 5-point advantage and more or less, secure the title for the “Blancos”.
It was nothing less than a gigantic even play. But honestly, Thompkins’ “heroics” for Real began earlier in the previous season when he found himself receiving much more playing time and undertaking an increased number of jobs in light of the vast amount of absences that an injury-plagued Real suffered from.
Thompkins grabbed the opportunity by the bal… well, you catch my drift and had his most productive run with the team, including a pivotal performance (12 points, six rebounds) in a road win over Panathinaikos in Game 2 of the playoffs.
His role might not be that large the next season but he will always be there to drain 3-pointers, collect boards and, possibly, hit baskets that win titles again.