By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Round 23 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague featured a handful of impressive individual efforts in the paint. There has been no shortage of prolific interior scorers to come through the league over the last decade, but several players are on pace to finish the 2018-19 among the most productive finishers in recent history.
Most productive finishers
The table above lists the most productive finishers in the 2018-19 EuroLeague campaign in terms of points per game. Only one player has been excluded from this list: Goga Bitadze, who has averaged 10.5 points per game, but has appeared in only eight games so far for Buducnost VOLI Podgorica.
Synergy Sports Technology defines finishing opportunities as dunks, layups, tip-ins, or floaters. Post-ups that do not result in one of the above—but instead result in a hook shot or turnaround jump shot—are deliberately excluded to paint a picture of which players are most brutally effective utilizing their athleticism, physicality, and body control to put points on the board.
The first thing that stands out about the list above is how many players are on pace to break the 10 points per game barrier. Only two players have eclipsed that mark this decade and only one player has broken it by any significant margin: Boban Marjanovic, who averaged 11.7 points per game in finishing situations during the 2014-15 season. More than ever, teams are finding ways to get their finishers more involved.
This should come as no surprise given the remarkably efficient contributions of the players above. The average finishing opportunity has been worth an impressive 1.27 points per attempt this season, but every player in this group has pushed the boundaries of efficient scoring on a high-volume of attempts for their teams this season.
Vincent Poirier and Michael Eric are the two players on the list above averaging below 10 points per game, but each is notable for a variety of other reasons. Both have been significantly more productive this season than they were a year ago for their respective clubs; Poirier for KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in the EuroLeague and Eric for Darussafaka Tekfen Istanbul in the 7DAYS EuroCup last season and the EuroLeague this one. Both players fill roles that revolve almost exclusively around finishing opportunities, but Poirier has done much of his damage finishing dunks as a lob threat in the pick-and-roll, while Eric has generated a high volume of his attempts with quick post seals inside.
Jordan Mickey of Khimki Moscow Region and Brandon Davies of Zalgiris Kaunas rank as the two players with the lowest number of their total points coming from finishing opportunities. Davies scores a lot of baskets utilizing his skill level in the midrange, while Mickey leads the EuroLeague in points as a roll man not just because of his ability to finish inside, but also due in large part to his ability to pick-and-pop to the perimeter where he makes three-point shots at a 32% clip overall.
Arturas Gudaitis has been one of the EuroLeague’s most efficient players for the better part of two seasons and his ability to finish inside is what helped drive his success. Though his recent injury will keep him out for the rest of the season, his effectiveness this season cannot be understated. Leading the EuroLeague in put-back scoring and drawing and-ones at a remarkable rate for a volume scorer, Gudaitis did not need a lot of touches to make a major impact for AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan.
Jan Vesely is having one of the most efficient and productive finishing seasons in modern EuroLeague history, thanks in large part to the fact that nearly half of his chances inside are dunks. Vesely leads the EuroLeague in cut scoring by a huge margin and despite playing just under 27 minutes per game, has scored more points on cuts than several teams have recorded in recent years. His activity level off the ball and explosiveness—in tandem with Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul’s ball movement—has positioned him to redefine what a high-level finisher can accomplish in the EuroLeague.
Source: EuroLeague