European Hoops Wrap-Up: Checking in on Luka Doncic and the Champions League

The first month of European intercontinental basketball is complete, and at this point we can see trends beginning to emerge. In the FIBA Champions League, contenders are starting to separate themselves from the pack, and several groups appear to have a deep middle class of teams fighting to advance to the next round.

In Eurocup, things appear more wide open in the standings, but strong point guard play has been an early prerequisite to success, as teams like Gran Canaria and UCAM Murcia have staked out winning records on the backs of strong leadership from players like Albert Oliver and Facundo Campazzo. In Euroleague, the theme of the year appears to be survival: A rash of early injuries has left teams like Fenerbahce and Barcelona struggling, while healthy, deep squads like CSKA Moscow and Olympiacos are taking pole position in the standings.

Prospect of the Week: Luka Doncic, G/F, Real Madrid

Luka Doncic, the Slovenian wing phenom who is a good bet to be a top-5 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, had another fantastic week, helping Real Madrid close out Galatasaray, 90-81. Doncic has been one of the biggest storylines of the young Euroleague season, as he’s been regularly playing closing minutes for one of Europe’s most veteran squads — at 17 years old. Austin Green did a marvelous job breaking down Doncic’s skill set after the Olympiacos game, and suffice to say, he has quite the NBA future ahead of him.

Read More: European Hoops Wrap-up — Point guards rule the day

On Thursday, Doncic’s contributions were mostly the little things that you wouldn’t expect a young player to grasp at this stage. With Sergio Llull and Rudy Fernandez holding down the scoring duties, Doncic filled in the gaps in a tertiary role, helping to lock down Jon Diebler and Sinan Guler on defense, assisting on a Rudy 3-pointer, and drawing a couple of big fouls in the fourth quarter with head and ball fakes. This helped Real Madrid snuff out a previously tight game. Doncic showed great awareness on the defensive end, and offensively, was able to keep the ball moving when Madrid tried to pick up the pace off misses. He also made a pair of impressive plays, juking Diebler out of the building to throw down a nice dunk:

And stripping Blake Schilb to start Madrid’s closeout run:

We know Doncic has NBA-ready talent. But the ability to make smart little plays like this show that his learning curve might not be as steep as some other recent high-level international prospects. Any team that might be in position to draft high in 2018 should look to get some eyeballs on Madrid right now.

Besiktas, Avellino and Tenerife are the class of the FIBA Champions League

Three weeks into the FIBA Champions League, there has been a lot of parity. The bulk of teams are 2-1 or 1-2, with only a few lower tier teams already looking out of it, and only a few teams looking like contenders. The two teams that have looked the best are in Group D, where Spain’s Iberostar Tenerife and Italy’s Sidigas Avellino are both 3-0 after impressive wins over Juventus and Cibona, respectively. Besiktas, who sits at 3-0 in Group E, seems pretty strong as well.

Tenerife has been the stronger team from a pure numbers perspective, as they have the best point differential and offense in the competition to date. Tenerife hasn’t even needed to sweat so far, as they’ve blitzed Cibona, Mornar, and Juventus by at least 20 points apiece, and had one of the more dominant quarters in all of Europe this season, taking a 29-7 first quarter lead against Mornar. Canadian scoring guard Carl English, at the ripe age of 35, paces the team with 20.0 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, while the big tandem of Tim Abromaitis and Mamadou Niang has helped anchor the team’s impressive rebounding.

Besiktas, meanwhile, is 3-0 thanks to an efficient offense lead by former Laker and Cavalier Earl Clark. Clark is flourishing in his first European season, averaging 17.3 points and 5.7 rebounds and shooting 58 percent from the field. Besiktas is shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 39.7 percent on 3-pointers as a team, and they probably had the best win of the three teams this week, beating AEK Athens 88-78. Avellino, meanwhile, hasn’t been as impressive in terms of point differential, but their on-court quality has been great, as the trio of Joe Ragland, Levi Randolph, and Adonis Thomas looks like one of the competitions’ best, and Avellino’s offense is heavy on misdirection and player movement resulting in some beautiful basketball:

At the start of the competition, these three teams appear to be the strongest of the bunch. We’ll see if they can keep things up, especially with Tenerife and Avellino squaring off in three weeks.

Upset city

Tuesday saw the first major upset of the Euroleague season, with Unics Kazan downing Fenerbahce 81-73 in Istanbul. This was not supposed to happen by any stretch of the imagination. Fenerbahce is a team that is supposed to be competing for the Euroleague title, and after a couple of nail-biters to begin the season, looked to be rounding into form. Kazan, meanwhile, was 0-4 and missing their best athlete, Coty Clarke, due to injury. It was a surprise that Kazan kept the game tight for three quarters — and then it was an outright shock when they put the clamps on Fenerbahce in the fourth, holding them to just 11 points.

Unics won on the back of three primary factors. They owned the glass, using one of their biggest strengths to capitalize on one of Fenerbahce’s biggest weaknesses. Center Artisiom Parakhouski grabbed seven offensive boards, manhandling Ekpe Udoh and Pero Antic to help Kazan tilt the efficiency advantage in their favor. On the defensive glass, it was Kazan’s wings keeping them afloat, as Quino Colom and Keith  Langford continually crashed in to grab long rebounds and end possesions.

Then there was the Unics’ perimeter defense, which completely shut down Fenerbahce’s outside shooting to secure the win. Fenerbahce was playing without their best perimeter scorer in Bogdan Bogdanovic, but Kazan rotated extremely well down the stretch, suffocating a potent offense by pressuring shooters as soon as they touched the ball. Fenerbahce was 1-of-8 in the final frame on 3-pointers, and Langford, Colom, and Evgeny Voronov were partially responsible.

Finally, Kazan has Langford, who has been one of Europe’s most productive players this year. He leads Euroleague in the Player Index Rating, and once again put the team on his back, posting 28 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists. The former Kansas Jayhawk is a special one-on-one scorer, and he picked Fenerbahce apart, generating mismatches on smaller guards and then popping pull-up 3s or driving by them, using his physicality to create space.

This game proved what we’ve seen so far – that Fenerbahce has some issues to work through, and that Unics Kazan is probably much better than their record would indicate. Circle January 24th on your calendar, because the return leg of this matchup should be a very interesting one.

Alba Berlin and Rytas tore the house down

Eurocup action was pretty tame this week, outside of the absolute thriller occurring in Berlin. Alba Berlin beat Leituvos Rytas 124-115 in double overtime, improving to 3-1 to take the group lead. This game featured 26 made 3s, 33 offensive rebounds, and saw six players post 20-point nights. The teams essentially traded haymakers for the entire second half, with Rytas taking a nine-point lead in the fourth that Alba would come back from via some Dominique Johnson heroics. That continued in the first overtime, with Alba taking a 101-98 lead, but Drew Gordon got back-to-back buckets at the rim to force the second extra period. There, Alba rode Eldemin Kikanovic (game leader with 33 points) and former Piston Peyton Siva to a comfortable win.

The star of the show was Kikanovic, a 28-year old Bosnian center. Kikanovic has really emerged as a force for Alba Berlin this year, taking more of a leadership role after being a secondary option for the team last year. He’s averaging 19.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per game so far this season, and provides a hub around which Johnson, Siva, and former UConn guard Neils Giffey can rotate. Kikanovic is an extremely versatile offensive weapon, able to bully bigger bodies in the post, score off face-up looks, or pull-up from midrange. At 6-foot-9 he’s probably too small to ever have a shot at coming to the NBA, but being the star for one of the Eurocup’s best early teams isn’t a bad gig.

On the other side, Drew Gordon, the brother of Aaron Gordon, continues to display the dazzling athleticism that should afford him another chance at the NBA next summer. Gordon had 16 points, 15 rebounds, and three steals, and was instrumental in keeping Rytas ahead in the second half. After a rough start to the game, Gordon was a human highlight reel down the stretch, finishing lob after lob from Corey Fisher and David Logan:

Gordon’s been one of the competition’s best rebounders so far, and his activity on both ends of the floor is incredible to watch. Aaron’s not the only Gordon who can fly, and Drew should definitely have a shot at rejoining his brother stateside in 2017.

Darius Miller puts Brose Bamberg back on track

Brose Bamberg went 1-3 through a brutal opening month of the schedule. The feisty German squad lost three close games to Fenerbahce, Panathinaikos, and Barcelona, and while they’ve looked good for stretches, they have struggled to execute late. On Friday, they were able to turn things around, beating EA7 Milano 106-102 in overtime thanks to close-game execution. After an early deficit, Bamberg battled back to take an 87-83 lead with 1:30 left in the fourth. A foul of Ricky Hickman on a three helped EA7 tie the game at 91 and send things to overtime, but Brose was able to clamp down defensively in the OT period to win.

Powering the win for Bamberg was Darius Miller, a former Kentucky and New Orleans Pelicans forward. Miller had 27 points, five rebounds, and three assists, pacing Bamberg with six made 3-pointers. Miller has been the squad’s most important player this year, averaging 15.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game and operating as a solid shooter and secondary ball-handler on offense. As a Pelican, Miller was a player who operated mostly as a reserve ball-handler and off-ball cutter, and was relied on more for his athleticism than his technical skill. In two seasons at Bamberg, Miller has grown significantly as an offensive weapon, both as a shooter and creator. Miller shot 42 percent from the field in the NBA but is shooting 50 percent from the field and 38.2 percent on 3-pointers in Euroleague play, and Friday, he was particularly lethal in catch-and-shoot opportunities:

Miller also was able to create some nice looks out of the pick-and-roll. The combination of Miller and Daniel Theis in the pick-and-roll is very difficult for Euroleague bench players to defend, because the size of Miller and mobility of Theis make it difficult for smaller guards and slower centers to survive on a switch. And as far as Miller’s athleticism, it’s still a big part of his game:

Miller struggled in three seasons in the NBA to find a consistent role. But in two years at Bamberg, the growth he has shown has been impressive. He should continue to be a challenge to defend at the Euroleague level, and his growth as a shooter could allow him to eventually land back in the NBA.

Elsewhere Around the Continent

• Unics Kazan wasn’t the only team to score a Euroleague upset, as Anadolu Efes beat Panathinaikos 91-83. Nick Calathes again posted double-digit assists for the Greens, but Efes won on the back of 51 team rebounds. The Turkish side had three players with double-digit boards, and was able to dominate the paint in the 4th quarter and overtime to earn their most impressive win of the year.
• Blaz Mesicek, a prospective second round pick in this year’s draft, had his best Eurocup performance of the year for Union Olimpija, posting 10 points and two rebounds in a 87-74 loss to Valencia. Mesicek’s had significant issues shooting the ball this year, so seeing him attack the basket and hit a pair of 3s was a nice development, especially against a strong Valencia squad.
• Grizzlies stash player Rade Zagorac had perhaps the play of the weekend, posterizing Lamont Jones of Mornar on a strip-and-slam:

• The week’s biggest signings: former Minnesota Timberwolves guard Lorenzo Brown signed with Unics Kazan to give them a strong backup guard, while former Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds joined KK Cibona.
• Barcelona, minus Juan Carlos Navarro, Pau Ribas, Justin Doellman already, also lost Victor Claver for four weeks with a hand injury. They still managed to beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 79-69, and improved to 3-2. They’re one of the more fascinating teams in the competition, as they’ve essentially been a M*A*S*H* unit but haven’t folded in the slightest, thanks to the strong interior play of Ante Tomic and red hot shooting from Aleksandar Vezenkov. How they navigate the next month until Claver’s return will be one of November’s biggest storylines.