By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
So far, Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana’s EuroCup season has been underwhelming, to say the least. This is a team with high ambitions and its share of familiar names on the roster, but it sits at the bottom of the Group A standings with a 2-7 record. And things get even more complex when you look at the numbers.
Usually, teams on the bottom of the standings are an all-around mess with very few things to hope for. That’s not the story here. Cedevita is the team with the fewest turnovers in the competition (11.9 per game) and it also has the best player in the EuroCup by the numbers.
Yes, it’s peculiar if you look only at the standings, but Yogi Ferrell is having a killer season. He is the top player in the competition based on his PIR of 22.2 per game. He is fourth in scoring with 17.9 points per game and eighth in assists with an average of 5.2. He’s simply been great, his team doesn’t commit turnovers and still, they are dead last in their group.
The plot thickens even more if you check the total PIR of Cedevita, which is the 12th best in the competition. The team is 10th in total rebounds and seventh in points scored. Not exactly spectacular findings, but not what you would expect looking solely at the record.
So what exactly is going on here?
There’s not an easy answer and this is a prime example of why stats are a tool that must be used correctly and not a religion that should dominate sports.
First and foremost, Ferrell and his teammates are all productive on offense, however, they are still lacking on defense with the problem being, in most cases, how they close games.
Yes, Cedevita has only been outscored by 39 on the season, but that’s just an illusion. Things would have been very different if it hadn’t claimed a 30-point win over Ulm in one of its two wins through the first nine rounds.
Against Germani Brescia, Cedevita entered the last minute leading 80-78 and lost by 3 and in the game against Prometey Slobozhanske, it led 79-77 entering the last 5 minutes and lost by 5.
On the other hand, after starting the season with three bad defeats (81-73 to Frutti Extra Bursaspor, 94-76 to U-BT Cluj-Napoca, 100-78 to Joventut Badalona), Cedevita lost four of its next six games by an average margin of defeat of 5.5 points.
So the signs of improvement are there, especially in the narrow Round 9 win over Mincidelice JL Bourg en Bresse, 91-90, with not surprisingly Ferrell sealing the deal from the free-throw line in the closing seconds by making 4 attempts.
And with nine more rounds left in the regular season, Cedevita has everything almost in place to turn things around, starting with a road challenge against Bursaspor, last season’s 7DAYS EuroCup runner-up.