A trio of EuroLeague stars of yesteryear shared their thoughts on how to handle some of the biggest stars in this season’s Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four.
Can the stars be stopped? Retired EuroLeague greats share their thoughts
Nikola Vujcic, Felipe Reyes and Dusko Savanovic were not only standout players, but all three keep a close eye on the EuroLeague today. Vujcic is the most decorated center in competition history as a five-time All-EuroLeague champion. Today he is the general manager of Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. Felipe Reyes retired last summer after a standout career with Real Madrid, with which he won a pair of EuroLeague titles and was a member of the 2015 All-EuroLeague First Team. Dusko Savanovic, an All-EuroLeague choice in 2011, runs the Akademija Vojvoda basketball academy here in Belgrade.
They shared their opinions on what must be done to win the matchups against the four All-EuroLeague First-Team members in the semifinals: Nikola Mirotic of FC Barcelona, Walter Tavares of Real Madrid, Shane Larkin of Anadolu Efes Istanbul and Sasha Vezenkov of Olympiacos Piraeus.
Nikola Mirotic, FC Barcelona
"How to stop Mirotic is the biggest question and the answer is that there are no secret weapons. There is no such thing as that,” said Savanovic. “Usually, winning teams do collective stuff on defense. When I was playing it was like that and it was not a long time ago. Being able to stop a superstar, or someone who is dominating, you cannot do it with one player, or by changing one thing. European basketball is beautiful because teams approach defense as a collective effort. If Madrid wants to stop Mirotic, or Barcelona wants to stop Tavares, it will have to be as a team, adjusting. I believe it is going to be like that."
“Mirotic has superpowers,” Vujcic said in summing up the Barcelona forward’s talents. “What you cannot do is worry so much about him that you open yourself up to getting beat by other players,” explaining that with a team player like Mirotic, he is happy to get pushed off to the side if it means his teammates are controlling the game.
Savanovic, however, said he thinks limiting Mirotic could make all the difference: "If you hold Mirotic to 14 points, that would be good defense. That would be enough for Real to make it to the final."
Walter Tavares, Real Madrid
More than any other player mentioned here, Tavares is a dual-threat as a two-time EuroLeague Best Defender who can protect the rim and a towering presence in the paint who can dominate with efficient touches in the post and great rebounding.
Vujcic explained that the key for FC Barcelona to neutralize Tavares on defense rests in what could be a favorable matchup. “In Davies and Sanli, they have big men who can shoot and draw Tavares outside,” he said, which is where Barcelona wants him.
"Tavares is going to provide a certain amount of points, for sure,” Savanovic added. “All team leaders will do that. You have to prevent a 20-20 game, but he will score 10-14 points.”
Sasha Vezenkov, Olympiacos Piraeus
"Sasha Vezenkov is a player with great shooting skills. It was very tough to defend him because you had to be very close to him, and that allowed him to drive inside more easily,” said Reyes, who has first-hand experience facing Vezenkov in recent years. “This is what you have to go through when you play against players like him, who can play both inside and outside."
“There are two approaches. You have to choose between two options,” Savanovic said. “Either you put all the effort to stop one player and not think about others, or stopping others and allow the star to score his usual points. Usually, when a player scores a lot of points, his team doesn't win the game. That's always going to be a doubt for coaches and teams preparing the game. Are we going to let a player like Vezenkov score 30 and focus on all other 11 players, or do we focus on stopping him, and not the rest of the team? That is the beauty of it.
"I guess that Anadolu Efes’s inside players will focus on attacking [Vezenkov] inside, as even if he can hold on inside, they could exploit some weaknesses.”
Shane Larkin, Anadolu Efes Istanbul
“It's crystal clear that you need the whole team to be very concentrated and stuck together to be able to defend him. I don't think you can stop any of these players with just one player. You can only stop them with good team defense, altogether,” Reyes noted.
"Shane Larkin is a very explosive player, who is very difficult to stop because of his incredible quickness. He knows how to play pick and roll very well, as well as playing great coming off the screen,” Reyes observed. “Olympiacos will have a hard time defending him, not only with good team defense, because you also have Micic by his side. If you focus too much on Larkin, Micic can harm you a lot.
"I think that, in the end, the team that plays better defense, plays harder, controls the boards better, will have more chances, but I see a very balanced matchup."