Olympiacos Piraeus is flying high in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague standings and its starting frontcourt is a large reason – both literally and figuratively – for its success. While Sasha Vezenkov is shining as the league’s top scorer and rebounder, with 20.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game, 2.18-meter center Moustapha Fall remains a force in the paint.
The Reds, under Coach Georgios Bartzokas, have married the modern-day skill of an elite stretch-4 in Vezenkov with the old-school size and strength of Fall. And to date, it’s been a combination that few teams have been able to solve.
This summer Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv underwent a total roster makeover and brought in a host of new faces for its frontline. The plan was to have a smaller, quicker and more athletic frontline that could switch on pick-and-rolls, create havoc on the offensive glass and run the floor in transition. The results thus far for Coach Oded Kattash’s side have been mixed.
On the one hand, Maccabi leads the league in offensive rebounding (12.9 per game) and is second in blocks (4.1 bpg.). However, it allows the most offensive rebounds too (14.9 per game), is last in defensive rebounds taken (20.3) and, correspondingly, is outrebounded on average by 4.8 rebounds per game.
When the Reds walk into Menorah Mivtachim Arena on Tuesday night, the play of the two teams’ frontcourt will be at the center of the action. No team has found a recipe for slowing down Vezenkov this season and Maccabi will likely rely on a mix of Alex Poythress and tweener forward Bonzie Colson to try to do the trick. Of course, Vezenkov’s great movement without the ball is one of his finest traits and that is where the Maccabi defenders will be continually tested.
Closer to the basket, Josh Nebo (2.06 meters) and Roman Sorkin (2.08) will be giving up size to Fall, which will also constantly test the Maccabi frontcourt because if the Olympiacos center gets the ball near the basket, he usually finishes; Fall is the EuroLeague’s all-time leader in two-point accuracy at 70.5% and is shooting even better this season (73.2%).
It will be a tip-toeing act for the home team as the bigs’ ability to switch could help them slow down Olympiacos’s other star, point guard Kostas Sloukas, as well as its other main scorers, but the risk of Fall or Vezenkov getting a mismatch is high. And the hard work doesn’t end there; Maccabi must keep Vezenkov and Fall from doing damage on the offensive glass, too.
If Coach Kattash’s charges are able to control the glass, it could change the game’s dynamic greatly. Then the speed of Maccabi’s bigs becomes an instant transition weapon against Fall, in particular with Lorenzo Brown and Wade Baldwin leading the way.
The game will be just the latest in the never-ending conversation between different schools of thought to roster building and interior players. There is no shortage of dominant super-tall players, with Walter Tavares of Real Madrid, Yousoupha Fall of LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne and Christ Koumadje of ALBA Berlin among them. Correspondingly, the little big man revolution that Kyle Hines of EA7 Emporio Armani Milan began and Othello Hunter of FC Bayern Munich, Devin Booker of Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and Mathias Lessort of Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade have continued is alive and well.
Vezenkov and Fall against Poythress and Nebo will be the next clash between differing frontcourt approaches and it should be a delight to watch.