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| Vladimir Stankovic, Euroleague.net |
Veteran sportswriter and Euroleague.net collaborator Vladimir Stankovic has been following the best basketball on the continent longer than almost anyone journalist, writing for decades about the sport in major publications in both Serbia and Spain. For the new 2009-10 season, he offers a series of opinion blogs about what's happening on and off the court in the Euroleague.
A decade of distinction!
Nikos Zisis at point guard, Marcus Brown and Gianluca Basile at the wings, Matjaz Smodis at power forward and Kostas Tsartsaris at center; coming off the bench, Sergi Vidal and Rodrigo De la Fuente. No, it is not an All-Euroleague team, even though any coach would be glad to have those seven top-class players on his roster. Instead, we are talking the seven players who have been on Euroleague rosters for every single season this decade! There are some caveats, of course. Due to injuries, Smodis and Tsartsaris have not played yet this season for CSKA and Panathinaikos, respectively. Tsartsaris is close to returning from a hand injury while Smodis underwent back surgery and is expected to return in January or February. Also, there is another player, Derrick Sharp, who doesn't have 10 in a row only because Maccabi was in the SuproLeague back at the start of the decade, in 2000-01. His nine consecutive Euroleague seasons since then are matched by several other players, like Ender Arslan, Carlos Cabezas, Yotam Halperin, J.R. Holden, Jaka Lakovic, Theo Papaloukas, Berni Rodriguez and Nikola Vujcic. Three more - Sani Becirovic, Louis Bullock, Denis Marconato - have played nine out of 10, though not consecutively. Two more - Davor Kus and Alexey Savrasenko - played the first nine but not this season. (I hope I'm not missing anybody!) Of the seven guys who have stuck it out the full decade, Marcus Brown is the Euroleague's all-time top scorer (2,565 points) while Gianluca Basile has played more games than anyone in the competition (183). Smodis has been Euroleague champ three times, Tsartsaris twice, De la Fuente and Zisis once each. Smodis has reached six Final Fours plus the first seasons's playoff finals. Vidal has played in four Final Fours plus the first season's playoff finals. Basile and Brown have reached three Final Fours each, De la Fuente and Zisis two each. Brown has worn six different Euroleague jerseys - Benetton, Efes Pilsen, Maccabi, CSKA, Unicaja and Zalgiris! As for coaches, only two men have been on a Euroleague bench each of the 10 seasons: Ettore Messina and Dusko Ivanovic, although Zeljko Obradovic would have matched them of Panathinaikos had not played the SuproLeague in that first year, 2000-01.
Euroleague Clinic, now multi-language
Speaking of coaches, it is worth a reminder to everyone that the Euroleague Institute's third on-line clinic opens next February for coaches anywhere in the world. In its first edition, with Ettore Messina as guest teacher, as many as 75 students joined the clinic. Last season, Aito Garcia Reneses joined Messina in the teaching duties and their lessons were followed by 115 coaches, 87 of whom traveled to Barcelona for the on-court seminar that ends the course. The Euroleague has added another great coach for this third edition: Zeljko Obradovic of Panathinaikos. This time, there is an added incentive and help to prospective students, as the written lectures of each coach will be offered in both English and his native language. In other words, Obradovic's lessons will be available in English and Serbia, Garcia Reneses in English and Spanish, and Messina in English and Italian. It adds up to more possibilities to learn from the Euroleague's greatest coaches!
About the MVP
Since there were no Euroleague games this week, there was not a weekly MVP. It doesn't matter, because we will have two soon - the Week 5 and November MVPs. Speaking of which, I wonder how many people would remember the very first weekly MVP back in the Euroleague's inaugural 2000-01 season. There was no monthly MVP back then, but the first weekly honor went to Panos Liadelis, who played back then PAOK. Liadelis still holds the second-best career scoring average for players this decade with 19.3 points per game, ranking him behind only the late Alphonso Ford (22.2 ppg.). The regular season MVP in 200-01 was Dejan Tomasevic, playing for Buducnost that season. Manu Ginobili earned Finals MVP honors. The All-Euroleague first team featured Louis Bullock (Muller Verona), Ford (Peristeri), Dereck Hamilton (St.Petersburg Lions), Gregor Fucka (PAF Bologna) and Tomasevic. The All-Euroleague second team had Jamiel Rich (Lugano), Liadelis, Pau Gasol (Barcelona), Ioannis Giannoulis (PAOK) and Rashard Griffith (Kinder Bologna).
Of course, most of those players made headlines througout the decade. Ginobili and Griffith won the Euroleague title that season. Fucka and Tomasevic won subsequent Euroleague titles, in 2003 with Barcelona and 2007 with Panathinaikos, respectively. Ginobili and Gasol went on to win NBA championships with the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers, respectively. Bullock has been a mainstay in the Euroleague, playing for Unicaja and Real Madrid. After his premature passing from leukemia, Ford had the Euroleague's Top Scorer Trophy named in his honor. It all confirms that the competition had an excellent level from the very beginning.
The numbers
Several players have the chance to reach interesting all-time numbers in Week 5 of the regular season. For instance, Bullock is just 4 points away from reaching 1,850 in the Euroleague while Igor Rakocevic also needs 4 to get 1,800. Jiri Welsch and Bootsy Thornton will play their 100th Euroleague games. Jorge Garbajosa needs to make a three-pointer to reach 150 shots made from that distance, while Drew Nicholas must score twice from downtown to total 200. Juan Carlos Navarro needs 5 triples to reach his 300th, which will put him in exclusive company with Gianluca Basile (364), J.R. Holden (326) and Jaka Lakovic (311), the only players who have reached that milestone this decade. Pablo Prigioni needs just one steal to have 250, another exclusive club, as only Basile and Theodoros Papaloukas have surpassed that total so far.
Records, after all, are out there to be beaten.
POSTED BY
Vladimir Stankovic, Euroleague.net
DATE:
Saturday, November 21, 2009