By John Rammas/ irammas@eurohoops.net
Reaching the 75% mark of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, Eurohoops presents the fourth edition of the MVP Ladder.
We rated the players on a scale of 1 to 10 in five different areas to reveal the competitive value of each so far this season.
Honorable mentions: Mike James (AS Monaco), Sasha Vezenkov (Olympiacos)
#5 WILL CLYBURN (previous rank: 3rd)
CSKA Moscow | Forward | May 17, 1990 | USA
14.9 pts | 5.2 reb | 1.7 ast | 0.7 stl | 0.3 blk | 2 tov | 28:11 min | 15.2 PIR | 20 G
Player performance: 8
Team’s course: 7
Role of the player: 9
Consistency: 7
Leadership: 8
Total: 39
Missing a chunk of games to start 2022 certainly did not help Will Clyburn. Upon returning to action, he struggled shooting the ball, nevertheless kept stuffing the stat sheet as usual. Although he’s moving down the ladder, CSKA Moscow has been improving overall with more players standing out to get the job done moving forward in the season.
Facing ALBA Berlin, CSKA opted to rest him after distancing itself on the scoreboard. He had eight points in 14:34. Presumably, his talent and quality will soon recover his playing time and efficiency.
Clyburn lines up seventh in the EuroLeague scoring table, while sitting 20th in rebounds and 13th in PIR.
The Moscow team won two out of three games without him on the court.
#4 LORENZO BROWN (previous rank: 5th)
UNICS Kazan| Guard | August 26, 1990 | USA
14.1 pts | 3.7 reb | 6.1 ast | 1.5 stl | 0.2 blk | 2.7 tov | 29:40 min | 18.1 PIR | 23 G
Player performance: 9
Team’s course: 8
Role of the player: 8
Consistency: 8
Leadership: 8
Total: 41
A couple of players are named Brown at UNICS Kazan, but Lorenzo Brown is certainly a unique asset. A do-it-all player and a major factor in a wide variety of areas for his team.
Snapping a three-game losing streak corresponding with his first double-double (19 points, 10 assists) might not have been a mere coincidence. He powered his side past bottom side Zalgiris Kaunas on the road (76-67).
Brown is the eighth-best scorer in the EuroLeague. In addition, he now ranks first in assists, sixth in steals, and fourth in PIR.
UNICS has enjoyed him on the floor in all games so far.
#2 SHANE LARKIN (previous rank: 3rd)
Anadolu Efes | Guard | October 2, 1992 | USA
15 pts | 3 reb | 5.4 ast | 1.4 stl | 0 blk | 2.4 tov | 31:19 min | 19.8 PIR | 22 G
Player performance: 9
Team’s course: 7
Role of the player: 9
Consistency: 8
Leadership: 9
Total: 42
Speaking for ourselves, we absolutely miss the Shane Larkin of the previous two years. His every move put tremendous pressure on the defense. Those conditions have been steadily resurfacing as Anadolu Efes attempts to finally get back on track.
Dancing around the 20-point mark, he tied his season-high 26 points in the recent overtime win opposite CSKA Moscow on the road (99-97) and poured 19 more points in the home win versus LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne (78-72). Filling the stat sheet beyond scoring points is becoming another pleasant sight.
Larkin sits sixth in points and second in free throw percentage (93%). In other EuroLeague rankings, he is third in assists, seventh in steals, and second in PIR.
Ruling him out of Round 23, Efes lost to Zenit Saint Petersburg (76-67).