Let's have a look at which players started the season on the right foot
Stats review: A EuroCup changing of the guard
Statistiche
3 Minuto di lettura
A new BKT EuroCup season is upon us bringing with it perhaps a few more new standouts to track as the season goes on than usual. In last week's opening round, 13 players scored 20 or more points. Of those 13, only Jordan Usher of Turk Telekom Ankara appeared in the EuroCup last season — and that was with a different club. Here is a closer look at which players hit the ground running in Round 1:
The scorers
Cory Davis Jr. of NINERS Chemnitz and Bryce Jones of Aris Thessloniki Betsson tied to lead all scorers with 26 points in their respective openers. Davis is a newcomer not just to the EuroCup, but to Chemnitz as well. A quick, tough lead guard, he showed his shotmaking prowess and ability to score opportunistically in transition as his team pushed Panionios Athens to the brink in overtime in Greece in their debut.
Jones competed in the EuroCup two seasons ago but appears set for more chances on the ball in his second go-round. Pulling down 8 rebounds and tallying 6 assists on top of the 14 points he scored out of pick-and-rolls alone; he unsurprisingly led all players in Performance Index Rating in Round 1 to help Aris score a coveted road victory to start the season.
The shooters
EuroCup rookie Darius McGhee led all players by going 6 of 14 from beyond the arc in Round 1. His range has been a talking point for nearly his entire career to this point and he was not shy in Cosea JL Bourg-en-Bresse's emphatic road win to open the season. Eric Reed of Veolia Towers Hamburg shot 5 for 14 in his debut at this level.
The playmakers
Arnas Velicka dished out a Round 1-best 10 assists in his first appearance in the EuroCup. Making all manner of reads and unselfish plays for Neptunas Klaipeda, the way he used his size to make passes over the top to rollers from a variety of angles was especially impressive. EuroCup veteran Hugo Benitz dished out 8 assists for BAXI Manresa as he settles into his role playing his first season outside of France.
The rebounders
Austin Wiley of Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem, Zacharie Perrin of Hamburg, Yordan Minchev of Chemnitz, and Thomas Kennedy of Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana all pulled down 11 rebounds in Round 1. In their respective EuroCup debuts, Minchev did a lot of dirty work on the interior for Chemnitz, Kennedy corralled all 11 of his rebounds on the defensive side, and, at just 21 years of age, Perrin pulled down 6 offensive rebounds in his debut for Hamburg. In his second year with Jerusalem, this was par for the course for Wiley who would have finished among the top 5 rebounders in the EuroCup last season, but did not play enough games to qualify.
The defenders
Second-year forward Justin Smith blocked 3 shots to help Jerusalem to a 100-point effort on the road. While he is not a classic rim protector, his ability to slide with guards in rotation helped him make multiple plays at the rim in Round 1. Velicka tied Michalis Lountzis of Panionios Athens, Malachi Flynn of Bahcesehir College Istanbul, and Ty Brewer of Chemnitz with 4 steals in week one. Lountzis made his EuroCup debut 5 years ago while Flynn is playing in Europe for the first time and Brewer has worked his way up the ranks to make his EuroCup debut.
Impact players
Jones, Lountzis, Flynn, Dusan Miletic of U-BT Cluj-Napoca, and Mark Smith of ratiopharm Ulm took the top 5 spots in PIR. Only Miletic had significant EuroCup experience prior to last week, appearing in three seasons since emerging as a pro eight years ago. Flynn’s dynamic ability with the ball, Miletic’s size and Smith’s versatility at the guard spots figure to play prominent roles in the success of their respective teams.
With a host of newcomers emerging out of the gates this season, it will be fascinating to see which players solidify themselves as stars as the year wears on.
