The Euroleague's 50 best players: 50-41

The Euroleague’s 50 best players: 50-41

BELGRADE, SERBIA - MAY 20: Rudy Fernandez, #5 of Real Madrid and Pablo Laso, Head Coach celebrates after the 2018 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague F4 Championship Game between Real Madrid v Fenerbahce Dogus Istanbul at Stark Arena on May 20, 2018 in Belgrade, Serbia. (Photo by Rodolfo Molina/EB via Getty Images) /

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REGGIO NELL’EMILIA, ITALY – MAY 09: Amedeo Della Valle (L) of Grissin Bon competes with Oliver Lafayette (R) of Segafredo during the LBA LegaBasket match between Grissin Bon Reggio Emilia and Virtus Segafredo Bologna on May 9, 2018 in Reggio nell’Emilia, Italy. (Photo by Roberto Serra – Iguana Press/Getty Images) /

50. Amadeo Della Valle, SG, AX Olimpia Milano

Nationality/College: Italian (Ohio State)

Career synopsis: After two years with the Buckeyes, Della Valle has spent the past four years with Reggio Emilia in Italy. This is his first year in Milan and in Euroleague.

2017-18 stats: 15.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists per game (Reggio Emilia)

Representative Highlight Play:

What’s his skill set?: ADV is a combo guard that specializes in shooting off screens. He has a strong pull-up jumper, and also shoots well curling off screens. But he can also take a hit, as he might have been Eurocup’s best player at drawing fouls on drives last season. He’s in the Alexey Shved mold of unabashed chuckers.

What makes him special?: Production, especially in terms of age. It’s hard for a player to come in and dominate to the degree ADV did with Reggio Emilia in Eurocup last year. Euroleague’s star guards have traditionally been known as scorers first, and it helps if you can consistently bail out possessions late in the clock with your off-the-dribble game. ADV has that skill set, and looks poised to deliver on it this year with Milano, where he’ll have even less point guard duty next to Jordan Theodore and Mike James and can settle in as an old-school two guard. He might be Euroleague’s next star player, and he looks like he should be composing symphonies into the wee hours of the morning.

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