By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Eurohoops presents the Top 100 EuroLeague Players ahead of the 2021-22 season. It’s a list that was compiled with some specific criteria with the purpose of tracing and ranking those hoopers who are expected to define the upcoming EuroLeague season.
Editors from the international, Turkish, Greek and Spanish edition of Eurohoops selected the 100 players and ranked them after a certain procedure that included a lot of agreements and even more disagreements before a final consensus was reached. While there are some objective and factual elements/data that were taken into consideration when choosing the 100 players and then ranking them, the final result is, inevitably, subjective.
The list was compiled based on the rosters and moves as they were presented on the official EuroLeague website. Some cases, such as OJ Mayo, aren’t included as the list had been made before their official addition.
This year the primary criterion that determined the ranking was the momentum that a player may be carrying from the 2020-21 EuroLeague (or another European competition) as he’s heading into the new season. A decision was taken to focus on and reward a player’s individual performances, especially if his contribution lifted his team to certain EuroLeague heights.
In contrast, a player’s past achievements and overall legacy was taken in account far less than in our previous Top 100 features.
As always, there was a calculated risk with EuroLeague newcomers, especially those who are completely unfamiliar with European basketball. Hence why some players who will now take their first steps in EuroLeague have been omitted from the list or where placed in lower positions in comparison with “rookies” that already have a certain experience at a competitive level of European basketball. Experience in this level and type of game matters since we’ve seen no few quality players, even established NBAers, immensely struggle in their new surroundings simply because of their unfamiliarity with everything that European basketball encompasses.
A player of a team that is a title or Final Four contender automatically got a relative priority over another with possibly similar or equal, maybe even superior individual strengths. The higher the team’s projection for the upcoming season, the more boost a player got when it comes to his ranking and this is why you will find that there is an increased number of players from well-known powerhouses. Of course, there’s also the fact that these teams acquire top talent.
There are a few cases where a player’s overall value and proven capacity to deliver big, counterbalanced numbers and stats as well as age, that otherwise wouldn’t justify his position.
It should be noted that the place an “x player” gets on the list doesn’t necessarily mean that he is overall “better” than another player since there’s a multitude of factors – some that matter more than others – that determine the final ranking.
75. Moustapha Fall (Olympiacos Piraeus)
Year of birth: 1992
Position: Center
Height: 2.18 m.
2020-21 stats: 8.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists in 21:59 minutes over 31 EuroLeague games with ASVEL Villeurbanne
74. Isaiah Canaan (Unics Kazan)
Year of birth: 1991
Position: Guard
Height: 1.83 m.
2020-21 stats: 14.1 points, 3.1 assists, 2.9 rebounds in 26:56 minutes over 24 EuroCup games with Unics Kazan
He’s a bucket: And he also showed it last way in EuroCup. After five years in the NBA and a stint in China, Isaiah Canaan moved to Europe for the first time last year by signing with Unics Kazan. He adjusted rather quickly to have multiple high-scoring games as his team made the Finals thus earning a ticket to the 2021-22 EuroLeague.
73. Adam Hanga (Real Madrid)
Year of birth: 1989
Position: Guard/Forward
Height: 2.00 m.
2020-21 stats: 4.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists in 15:53 minutes over 41 EuroLeague games with Barcelona
72. Gigi Datome (Olimpia Milano)
Year of birth: 1987
Position: Forward
Height: 2.03 m.
2020-21 stats: 7.1 points, 2.8 rebounds in 16:29 minutes over 37 EuroLeague games with Olimpia Milano
71. Simone Fontecchio (Baskonia)
Year of birth: 1995
Position: Forward
Height: 2.03 m.
2020-21 stats: 10.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists in 23:35 minutes over 29 EuroLeague games with Alba Berlin
70. Rob Gray (AS Monaco)
Year of birth: 1994
Position: Guard
Height: 1.86 m.
2020-21 stats: 17.3 points, 2.3 rebounds in 23:41 minutes over 17 EuroCup games with AS Monaco
69. Filip Petrusev (Anadolu Efes)
Year of birth: 2000
Position: Forward/Center
Height: 2.11 m.
2020-21 stats: 23.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.1 blocks in 31.5 minutes over 21 ABA League games with Mega Basket
The big challenge has arrived: Dario, Saric, Vasilije Micic, Filip Petrusev. What do all these have in common? Their NBA rights have been held by Philadelphia 76ers (at some point at least) and they’ve all been with Anadolu Efes. The Sixers will definitely been paying a lot of attention to how their 20-year-old stashed big man and reigning ABA League MVP will perform with the jersey of the reigning EuroLeague champion. If the preseason sample is a sign of things to come, they will love what they’ll see.