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5 things we learned from Eurocup 2016-17

By Trevor Magnotti

Mar 20, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Knicks guard Alexey Shved (1) moves the ball up the court during the first quarter of the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 20, 2015; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Knicks guard Alexey Shved (1) moves the ball up the court during the first quarter of the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports /
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The 2016-17 Eurocup competition came to a close yesterday, with Unicaja Malaga edging Valencia to take their first Eurocup title and claim a spot in Euroleague in 2017-18. This was a trying year for the Eurocup — a new competition structure was introduced, and the competition had to compete with the start of FIBA’s rival basketball league, the FIBA Champions League. Adding to that stress was FIBA’s constant antagonization of Eurocup-level teams, as Europe’s primary basketball governing body threatened suspension of international teams if certain countries participated in the competition instead of the Basketball Champions League. The competition preserved, though, and without a doubt remained the second tier of international play at the European level behind Euroleague.

They did this through star power, primarily. The contest featured an army of former, and probable future, NBA players, both European and American. Some of the biggest names in Europe with NBA pedigrees were playing week to week in this competition — from Alexey Shved, to Amar’e Stoudemire, to Sergey Karasev, to Vitor Faverani. In addition, a number of future European stars and NBA draft prospects could be found playing big roles, and draft-and-stash players were sprinkled throughout the rosters. Everywhere you looked on a typical Wednesday evening across Europe, you could find past, present, and future NBA hopefuls doing battle with each other, and the competition capitalized on that publicity and a simpler competition structure to continue as a top tier tournament.

With the contest officially over, now is a good time to look back at some of the lessons that we learned throughout the last six months about some of the competition’s best players. Who is NBA ready? How did our favorite familiar faces do? And what does the future hold?

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