By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
While the 2020-21 7DAYS EuroCup is just a month old, there are some teams that already seem to be working with a machine-like efficiency.
We’ve got to give the necessary credit to the coaches of course, but also salute the ball-handlers, point guards, playmakers and floor generals overall. After all, they are the ones responsible for translating those battle plans from the coaches into brilliant execution on the floor.
And several of them actually are doing that – running the offense and delivering the ball to their teammates for buckets – with near-perfect precision.
Not only have we witnessed some impressive dime-dropping action so far, but we’ve seen many of the same players keeping turnovers down to extremely small numbers.
Take Round 4, for example. Your favorite passing wizard, Milos Teodosic, dished out a career-high 12 assists in Virtus Segafredo Bologna’s big win over AS Monaco while finishing with but one turnover in his 25:02 minutes on the court.
Mind you, this took place against the second-best team after Unicaja Malaga in forcing turnovers in the season so far (Monaco’s opponents commit 16.8 turnovers per game). Sure, Teodosic can dismantle any defensive strategy used against him, but even for his high standards, that was quite a feat.
Another assist-to-turnover performance nearly as impressive took place in Patras. Former two-time EuroLeague champion Vangelis Mantzaris was outstanding in his playmaking duties for Promitheas with 11 assists – his career-high in either the EuroCup or Turkish Airlines EuroLeague – while turning the ball over just once as his team beat Nanterre 92.
Teodosic and Mantzaris were next in line after Buducnost VOLI Podgorica guard Justin Cobbs and Malaga guard Alberto Diaz who had already registered a game each with double-digit assists and just one turnover in previous 2020-21 games.
|
Rank |
Player |
Team |
Assist-Turnover ratio |
date |
opponent |
|
10 |
TEODOSIC, MILOS |
Virtus Segafredo Bologna |
1,200.00% 12/1 |
21 Oct. 2020 |
AS Monaco |
|
17 |
MANTZARIS, VANGELIS |
Promitheas Patras |
1,100.00% 11/1 |
21 Oct. 2020 |
Nanterre 92 |
|
17 |
DIAZ, ALBERTO |
Unicaja Malaga |
1,100.00% 11/1 |
14 Oct. 2020 |
Buducnost VOLI Podgorica |
|
35 |
COBBS, JUSTIN |
Buducnost VOLI Podgorica |
1,000.00% 10/1 |
06 Oct. 2020 |
Boulogne Metropolitans 92 |
Just 76 times in EuroCup history has a player had 10 or more assists and one or zero turnovers. Last season – when just the regular season and Top 16 were played – featured six of those, and in the 2018-19 edition, there were 11.
If we add the four aforementioned games this season, nearly one-third of those remarkable assist-to-turnover ratios have happened these last three years. Looks like a pattern is beginning to form.
Of course, having four out of those games in one month (and the first month, when teams are still gelling) is rather notable and somewhat impressive.
It’s kind of exciting, too, since we generally don’t have players producing many assists in nearly error-less performances. This makes the games overall even more fun to watch.
Indeed, after four rounds, six players from this season rank among the EuroCup’s all-time best 15 for best accumulated assist-turnover ratios – and only one of them, Mantzaris, is among the higher-volume assist-makes mentioned above. If you think it’s too soon to credit them, look at it another way: only seven players in EuroCup history have played five or more games with better assist-to-turnover ratios than they have right now.
|
Rank |
Player |
Team |
Games |
Assist-turnover ratio |
Season |
|
1 |
ARSLAN, ENDER |
Galatasaray Medical Park |
12 |
1,600.00% 32/2 |
2012-13 |
|
2 |
MANGOLD, ANDREJ |
Telekom Baskets Bonn |
10 |
1,500.00% 15/1 |
2014-15 |
|
3 |
PUSKAS, ARTUR |
Debreceni Vadkakasok |
8 |
1,400.00% 14/1 |
2004-05 |
|
4 |
PERRY, KENDRICK |
Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana |
3 |
1,200.00% 12/1 |
2020-21 |
|
5 |
SLIPENCHUK, ARTEM |
Azovmash Mariupol |
6 |
1,100.00% 11/1 |
2011-12 |
|
5 |
VECVAGARS, ARNIS |
Ventspils |
8 |
1,100.00% 11/1 |
2004-05 |
|
7 |
VITALI, LUCA |
Germani Brescia |
4 |
1,000.00% 20/2 |
2020-21 |
|
7 |
FORRAY, TOTO |
Dolomiti Energia Trento |
4 |
1,000.00% 10/1 |
2020-21 |
|
7 |
CRAWFORD, JORDAN |
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar |
4 |
1,000.00% 10/1 |
2020-21 |
|
7 |
CESNAUSKIS, MANTAS |
Stelmet Zielona Gora |
5 |
1,000.00% 10/1 |
2013-14 |
|
11 |
THOMAS, TOREY |
Le Mans Sarthe Basket |
2 |
900.00% 9/1 |
2013-14 |
|
11 |
SZASZCZAK, GUILLAUME |
BCM Gravelines |
9 |
900.00% 9/1 |
2002-03 |
|
13 |
MANTZARIS, VANGELIS |
Promitheas Patras |
2 |
850.00% 17/2 |
2020-21 |
|
14 |
ALBICY, ANDREW |
Herbalife Gran Canaria |
4 |
833.33% 25/3 |
2020-21 |
It goes without saying that if playmakers keep this up, we may be in for some historically efficient basketball during the 2020-21 EuroCup season.
Photo: Virtus – Giulia Pesino via EuroCup Basketball