By Stelios Toromanidis/ info@eurohoops.net
Thomas Heurtel is having an excellent season creatively with Efes and he’s about to shoot down great record in the history of the Euroleague. Eurohoops.net analyzes one of the most charismatic passers in Europe.
With Anadolu Efes’s game against Darussafaka, Thomas Heurtel completed 100 appearances in the Euroleague and on this occasion Eurohoops.net presents you the records he holds until now but also the ones he might achieve in the near future.
All the essence of basketball is the “orange goddess” going through the hoop and… sweetly touching the net on its way down. Therefore, the player who can do this better than the others automatically receives most of the glory from the fans and the media.
But basketball is a team sport. And aside from the scorer, a proportional kind of glory should be given to the player who hands the assist for the basket. And Thomas Heurtel is one of the best in Europe in recent years with 5,3 per game! At the same time, in 101 appearances in the Euroleague he has an average of 8,6 points and a 40,2% success rate from outside the 6,75 line!
The gradual increase in assists and his transfer to Efes
The 26-year-old guard first appeared in the tournament in the 2011-12 season with the colors of Laboral Kutxa (then Caja Laboral) and it didn’t take him long to show his rich talent at a time when there is a shortage of great creators.
His first year might have had more of an identifying character as he had a complementary role in the rotation of the then coach of the Basques, Dusan Ivkovic, but from the following season when his playing time was increased, his numbers in assists soared.
Actually, the fact that his averages kept improving did not go unnoticed by the coaches of the great clubs, with Ivkovic and Obradovic fighting for his signature in the middle of last season. The winner turned out to be the “Wiseman” who brought him to Efes, in the colors of which the talented Thomas continues his upward course.
At the end of the season’s first 14 games, Heurtel ranks first in the department of assists with 8 per game, while in the first game of the regular period he dished 15 assists, a number that constitutes the second best performance this year and third best of all-time in the competition (1st is Stefan Jovic with 19, Marcus Williams is 2nd with 17).
Heurtel’s improvement in the department of assists over the years
| Season | Team | Games | Assists per game |
| 2011-12 | Caja Laboral | 10 | 1 |
| 2012-13 | Laboral Kutxa | 28 | 4,5 |
| 2013-14 | Laboral Kutxa | 21 | 5,3 |
| 2014-15 | Laboral Kutxa/
Anadolu Efes |
28 | 6,4 |
| 2015-16 | Anadolu Efes | 14 | 8 |
The amazing averages he has in 101 appearances in the tournament so far have brought him into the top spots of the greatest “creators” in the history of the Euroleague. We are not speaking of a total number of assists since he still doesn’t have a lot of appearances compared to the “sacred monsters” of the tournament like Diamantidis, Spanoulis, Prigioni etc., but of averages.
Actually, if we count the statistics from 2000 until today, the period the Euroleague exists, we can observe that Heurtel, with 5,3 assists per game, is at the top of the players with the highest average.
The top passers (in terms of averages) in every season of the Euroleague (2000-2016)
| SEASON | PLAYER | GAMES | ASSIST |
| 2000-01 | Ivica Maric (KK Zadar) | 10 | 5,90 |
| 2001-02 | Elmer Bennett (Tau) | 15 | 5,27 |
| 2002-03 | Ed Cota (Zalgiris) | 14 | 6,50 |
| 2003-04 | Ed Cota (Zalgiris) | 20 | 5,65 |
| 2004-05 | Mire Chatman (Orthez) | 14 | 6,21 |
| 2005-06 | Pablo Prigioni (Tau) | 25 | 6,24 |
| 2006-07 | Theodoros Papaloukas (CSKA) | 25 | 5,40 |
| 2007-08 | DeJuan Collins (Zalgiris) | 20 | 5,35 |
| 2008-09 | Theodoros Papaloukas (Olympiacos) | 22 | 5,18 |
| 2009-10 | Omar Cook (Malaga) | 16 | 5,94 |
| 2010-11 | Dimitris Diamantidis (Panathinaikos) | 22 | 6,23 |
| 2011-12 | Omar Cook (Armani Milano) | 16 | 5,69 |
| 2012-13 | Zoran Planinic (Khimki) | 22 | 6,32 |
| 2013-14 | Dimitris Diamantidis (Panathinaikos) | 29 | 6,21 |
| 2014-15 | Milos Teodosic (CSKA Moscow) | 24 | 7 |
| 2015-16 | Thomas Heurtel (Anadolu Efes) | 14 | 8 |
Also, the 6,39 assists per game that he achieved last season place him in third place of the players with the highest average during a season. If, in fact, his numbers this year don’t drop in the time remaining until the end of the season (8 assists per game), then he is going to climb at the top of the chart, writing his name in even brighter letters in the history of the competition.
The 10 best performances in assists per game averages in a season (2000-2015)
| PLAYER | SEASON | CLUB | GAMES | Assists |
| Milos Teodosic | 2014-15 | CSKA Moscow | 24 | 7 |
| Ed Cota | 2002-03 | Zalgiris | 14 | 6,50 |
| Thomas Heurtel | 2014-15 | Laboral Kutxa/
Anadolu Efes |
28 | 6,39 |
| Zoran Planinic | 2012-13 | Khimki | 22 | 6,32 |
| Pablo Prigioni | 2005-06 | Tau Ceramic | 25 | 6,24 |
| Dimitris Diamantidis | 2010-11 | Panathinaikos | 22 | 6,23 |
| Mire Chatman | 2004-05 | Orthez | 14 | 6,21 |
| Dimitris Diamantidis | 2013-14 | Panathinaikos | 29 | 6,21 |
| Marcus Williams | 2014-15 | Crvena Zvezda | 24 | 6,08 |
| Omar Cook | 2009-10 | Unicaja Malaga | 16 | 5,94 |