Joventut Badalona guard Andrew Andrews scored 33 points to help his team to a 32-point victory and earn Round 5 MVP honors. He scored 20 of those points by creating his own shot out of pick-and-rolls — among the highest totals in recent BKT EuroCup history.
Andrews showed off his shot-making prowess from beyond the arc off the dribble in one of the most impressive offensive displays of the early part of the season.
As the table above suggests, the veteran guard has been the EuroCup’s gold standard in the early going in pick-and-roll situations, joining Paris Basketball teammates TJ Shorts and Nadir Hifi as the only players scoring more than 7 points per game as ball handlers. Only four players have scored more than 8 points per game as the ball handler in pick-and-rolls across a full season over the last decade.
At this point, every team in the EuroCup relies on pick-and-roll play as a cornerstone of its offense.
No team has generated less than 39% of its possessions in the half-court from shots attempted or created by passes out of ball screens. That formula has worked well on paper as the average possession derived from a pick-and-roll has been worth 0.96 points per possession this year — a significant leap from the 0.91 points per possession scored from all other sources outside of transition.
Digging a little deeper into who does the heavy lifting when teams utilize the two-man game, 46% of all possessions derived from pick-and-rolls are used by the ball handler.
Those possessions have been converted for just 0.81 points per possession — a mark that puts the table above in perspective. While pick-and-rolls tend to be a fruitful, efficient option for EuroCup offenses in general, a lot of the best looks they create come from what a team’s ball handlers find with their passes. Having a player who cannot just make reads and find the open man, but create his own shot efficiently is a luxury and what makes Andrews’s outburst so impressive.
While the productivity of the top three and the gaudy efficiency of Justin Cobbs, DJ Stewart, Hifi, and Andrews stands out among this season’s individual leaders, the presence of three players from Paris is perhaps the most intriguing wrinkle on this list. Ranking second behind Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana by creating 56% of its half-court offense out of pick-and-rolls and second behind Dreamland Grand Canaria in points per possession created, Paris is generating 50.4 points per game out of pick-and-rolls. No team in EuroCup history has scored more than 42. Much of Paris's undefeated start can be traced to how well Shorts, Hifi, and Ngouama have scored the ball in the early going.
Whether it’s a solo act like Andrews in Round 5, a team effort like one Wolves Vilnius has used leveraging the pick-and-roll to spread the ball around to its scorers, or a team setting its foundation like Paris with the production of its ball handlers, pick-and-roll play drives much of what occurs on the offensive end in the EuroCup. While it remains a little early to talk about league records, it will be worth monitoring where the individual and team leaders go from here. It often seems as though the league reaches a tipping point with pick-and-roll play, but every year a few teams and players continue to push the envelope.
