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By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
The GMs of the Euroleague teams voted Boban Marjanovic as the player who is most likely to have a breakout season in 2014-15. However, there are more. We checked the stats of all the Euroleague players, compared them with their careers so far, the expectations from them in the start of the season and picked our Top 10 of break out players.
In our list we took into account only the players who made it to the Top 16 and chose those whose career didn’t “betray” that they would have a season like this. We picked players who have key roles in their teams, improved their game and play better according to our expectations. For example in this list, we could include Dario Saric or Nando de Colo but they considered to were supposed to be leaders to their teams. So here are those who took us by surprise.
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[lptitle title=”10. A.J. Slaughter (Panathinaikos)”]
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The highlight of his four-year European career was his excellent last season with Chalon in the Eurocup and the French league. Who could think that A. J. Slaughter could be an X-factor of a top Euroleague team like Panathinaikos? Only Dusko Ivanovic! Slaughter is the absolute “catch and shoot” player with great technique and efficiency in shooting.
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[lptitle title=”9. Zoran Erceg (Galatasaray)”]
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During the last season he was also good with Galatasaray but there is a big difference. This season he forced to be the leader of his team and he is the most important big guy of his team. He shoots excellent and he’s much better in rebounding and in they way he passes the ball.
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[lptitle title=”8. Othelo Hunter (Olympiacos)”]
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He started the season as back up of Bryant Dunston, but he turned out as the starter center of Olympiacos, as soon as in the Top 16 he plays more than his teammate. Seven years now, Hunter was changing teams continually without being connected with one tea. He showed that he could improve his career with Siena, but now in the Reds he’s an undersized center with good pick ‘n roll moves and nice defense above the rim.
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[lptitle title=”7. Andrey Vorontsevich (CSKA Moscow)”]
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He’s 28 years old and this is his ninth season with CSKA. Under Dimitris Itoudis he has more confidence, scores a lot, grabs many rebounds and plays also great defense. He will not be named any more as “a talent who could be lost”.
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[lptitle title=”6. Esteban Batista (Panathinaikos)”]
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He started his Euroleague career great with Maccabi seven years ago, but after this season he was just a role player. Furthermore, Esteban Batista’s career seemed to touch down after his years in Efes. In spite of that, Dusko Ivanovic trusted him and Dimitris Diamantidis helped the center from Uruguay to establish himself again as a top Euroleague center.
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[lptitle title=”5. Aaron Jackson (CSKA Moscow)”]
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He started his European career as an American scorer with leading abilities but after his movement to CSKA he had to change his game. During the summer Aaron Jackson was on the verge of leaving Moscow but Itoudis trusted him as the “glue” between Teodosic, DeColo and the other players in the perimeter. He does everything a top class team needs from him and is considered as a player with European mentality and American passport.
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[lptitle title=”4. Brian Randle (Maccabi)”]
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You are a good American player who spent his career until his 29 in Israeli teams (and some months in Alba Berlin) and you are asked to sign with the European champs. The big challenge for you would be to have a role in the team, but Brian Randle surpassed the expectations. He is by far the steadiest player of Maccabi, alongside with Devin Smith having amazing numbers.
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[lptitle title=”3. Art Parakhouski (Niznhy)”]
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A Euroleague rookie is making an incredible season being the best “less lucrative” key-player of his team, Nizhny. Art Parakhouski played in five different teams in five different countries after his college years and couldn’t prove his value until his move to Nizhny. The forward from Belarus is among the leaders of many Euroleague stats categories being “silent but catalytic”.
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[lptitle title=”2. Taylor Rochestie (Niznhy)”]
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Five years and eight teams after the start of his professional career, Taylor Rochestie proved this season that he was a well-hidden pearl in the sea of the Americans guards who play all around Europe. Niznhy was the perfect place for him to show his scoring and playmaking abilities. He was never again a leader in a Euroleague team that made everything this season against all odds.
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[lptitle title=”1. Boban Marjanovic (Crvena Zvezda)”]
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Four years after his first appearance in the Euroleague he proved that the dinosaurs in the basketball are still alive. Boban Marjanovic forced Radonjic to build Crvena Zvezda around him and he feels vindicated. The Serbian giant was just perfect in the regular season and guided his team to the Top 16 with seven double-double games. There he keeps shining with six more double-double figures. It has been a long ago that the key player of a Euroleague team was a seven-footer.
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