At the one-third mark of the 2022-23 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season, a few insights jump out from looking at what players and teams are thriving so far.
Five takeaways from the first third of the EuroLeague season
Fenerbahce found instant chemistry
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul has put an early grip on first place in the standings by leaning on a host of newly-arrived players, several of whom are producing better numbers than last season.
In similar minutes as he played at FC Barcelona last season, veteran point guard Nick Calathes has higher scoring (9.0 to 7.8 ppg.) and PIR (13.8 to 11.8), and his 48.3% three-point accuracy is by far the highest of his 11-year career. Swing forward Nigel Hayes-Davis, also over from Barca, has doubled his scoring (4.2 to 10.9) and triples his PIR (4.0 to 13.4) with almost 10 minutes more per game. Shooting guard Scottie Wilbekin has been holding his own on a per-minute basis since migrating from Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv, while EuroLeague newcomer Johnathan Motley is leading Fenerbahce in scoring (14.4) and rebounds (5.5).
That quartet started in all of Fenerbahce's games until Wilbekin missed the last one with an injury. Far from taking time to build chemistry, the familiar storyline with revamped rosters like this, new head coach Dimitris Itoudis has infused this team with confidence even as the team awaits the return of former MVP Nemanja Bjelica, who has yet to play this season.
As good as Fenerbahce has been, the standings leader through a third of the season might just be getting started.
Clyburn has fit right in at Efes
Anadolu Efes Istanbul has played all season so far without Shane Larkin, who had the highest PIR average on the team over the last two seasons, but is none the worse for his absence thanks to the perfect fit that Will Clyburn has proven to be for the two-time defending champs.
The 32-year-old forward leads the EuroLeague in scoring with 20.7 points per game while ranking third in PIR (22.4) and fourth in rebounds (6.5). He is playing more minutes (35:21) than any player in the league, but right behind him is Vasilije Micic (34:44), who is second in PIR (22.5).
The duo of Micic and Larkin had given Efes a choice of go-to stars that was too much for other pretenders to the crown to overcome in not only the last two seasons, but the unfinished one before that. With Clyburn making similar impact from the forward position, Efes has barely missed a beat, and in fact sits higher now – tied for sixth place – than after 11 games last season.
With Larkin due back before long, the question is how Efes – not to mention its opponents – will deal with a triple-star lineup aiming to win the first three-peat title of the century.
Streaky last month rocked the standings
If you looked at the EuroLeague standings just a month ago, after Round 6, you would have found three teams in the bottom five – Anadolu Efes Istanbul, Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade and Panathinaikos Athens – who are now tied for eighth place or higher.
Three others then tied for eighth place – ALBA Berlin, EA7 Emporio Armani Milan and LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne – have not won since and now share the bottom spot in the table. Shifts may be common early in any season, but to see so many positive and negative streaks in the same short span is rather rare.
There have been 42 streaks of five or more defeats since the round-robin format debuted in the 2016-17 season, but never three happening together simultaneously, let alone with three winning streaks, though smaller, in progress.
So, going forward, as always, expect the unexpected in the EuroLeague. After all, injury-plagued Milan is one of just four teams to post at least four six-win streaks in the last five seasons, so there's no telling which teams will see the elevator go up or down again in the coming months.
Vezenkov has set a record pace
It's hard to underestimate how dominant forward Sasha Vezenkov has been for Olympiacos Piraeus, currently fifth in the standings with a 7-4 record. Vezenkov, the November MVP, has a league-high average PIR of 26.6 through 11 games. He also tops all EuroLeague players in rebounds (8.2) ranks second in scoring (19.9 ppg.). Perhaps most remarkable is his shooting. Vezenkov is the only player in the league making more than 65% of his two-point shots, 40% of his threes and 85% of his free throws.
Advanced stats add to the story. No one who plays more than 25 minutes a game pulls at least 20% of the defensive rebounds available to them except Vezenkov, who grabs 24.9%, basically one of every four misses by opponents, in his 32 minutes per game. The same is true of total rebounds, offensive and defensive: He grabs 16.2% of what's available when he's on the floor, the highest among any player averaging more than 22 minutes.
Only one player this century has played a full EuroLeague season of more than 12 games with an average PIR higher than 26.0. That was the legendary Arvydas Sabonis, in the 2003-04 season, his finale with Zalgiris Kaunas, when he posted a PIR of 26.3 per game.
If Vezenkov can keep it up through the spring, he will be rewriting the history books.
Top teams are shrugging off injuries
A team's ability to compete well despite injuries comes with two benefits. First, and most obvious, by not automatically sinking when players are missing, the team's place in the standings is more or less maintained, making the climb easier when those players come back. Second, and less obvious, is that competing with fewer players than expected or reserves playing bigger minutes is the fastest way to team depth. Players whose minutes go up because a teammate is injured gain valuable experience that the team can depend on later.
As already mentioned, first-place Fenerbahce has played without major off-season pickup Bjelica, not to mention defensive ace Dyshawn Pierre, others like Hayes-Davis stepped up. The same can be said for FC Barcelona, who was missing Nikola Mirotic, last season's MVP, until Round 11, and shooting ace Kyle Kuric for much of the same time.
Finally, there's Real, which has not seen Rudy Fernandez, Anthony Randolph or Carlos Alocen play yet and went the first seven games without Nigel Williams-Goss. Another backcourt veteran, Adam Hanga, has been able to appear in just four games, and yet another, Fabien Causeur, just seven. It was after Round 7, too, that Real lost one of its top performers from last season, Guerschon Yabusele, to injury.
Real always has depth, of course, but three new arrivals have helped plug the gaps in the absence of others. Dzanan Musa is leading the team with 14.9 points per game. Mario Hezonja is close being at 9.0 and 2.4 rebounds, while Petr Cornelie is contributing 6.5 and 2.6 rebounds.
Fenerbahce, Real and Barca currently hold the top three spots in the standings, which makes you wonder how strong they will be once fully healthy.