EuroLeague 2023-24 midseason award picks: Tornike Shengelia, Facundo Campazzo and more

It’s time to pick our mid-season award winners and make selections that will certainly upset some folks for no reason at all because, after all, mid-season award picks don’t mean anything. Only what happens at the end of the season matters, so keep that in mind as you read through these.  

Note: Records are portrayed from each team after Round 17, but stats are after Round 19. 

2023-24 EuroLeague Midseason MVP: Tornike Shengelia

Stats: 15.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game on 59/29/83 splits

Team Record: 12-5 (2nd)

This is a tight MVP race, and who you pick comes down to what you value and what you think this award stands for. If you want to go with the best player from the best team, it’s Campazzo. There’s nothing wrong with that pick, nothing at all. If Campazzo wins this award at the end of the season, our team won’t be writing pieces about how Shengelia got robbed or anything like that. 

The other way to view MVP is which player's team would suffer the most from their current performance without X star player. In this regard, Shengelia and James are ahead of Campazzo, and Shengelia is leading his team to a better season overall. 

We had Virtus Bologna finishing outside of the play-in in our season preview, and one of our reasons was that Shengelia had never been the number-one option on a high-level EuroLeague team. This season, he is, and Bologna is reaping the rewards. He’s been wreaking havoc on opponents with his post offense while also finding opportunities in transition, as a cutter, and is making enough of his threes that you have to respect him out there. 

Shengelia is also averaging a career-high 3.78 assists per game. His improvement as a passer is not entirely new, he averaged 3.13 assists per game in EuroLeague play last season, but it does seem more impactful than ever. Opponents are paying for running second defenders at Shengelia, and it’s leading to Bologna racking up wins. 

We were lower on Bologna than others heading into this season, but practically no one had them in second. If they finish the season in this position, Shengelia truly deserves this award for what he and this team have done. 

Honorable Mentions: Facundo Campazzo and Mike James

2023-24 Midseason All-EuroLeague First Team:

Guard: Facundo Campazzo

Stats: 12.05 points, 7.26 assists, and 1.2 steals per game on 44/31/87 shooting splits. 

Team Record: 16-1 (1st)

Second in our MVP rankings, Campazzo has lifted Real Madrid from defending EuroLeague champions into arguably the greatest EuroLeague team of all time. He takes whatever the defense gives Real every single game, and runs Los Blancos offense like an orchestra. Everybody eats with Real Madrid, and they have Campazzo to thank. 

Guard: Mike James

Stats: 19.63 points, 5.16 assists, and 1.11 steals per game on 48/43/77 shooting splits. 

Team Record: 10-7 (5th)

James is EuroLeague’s leading scorer, third in our MVP rankings, and once again has Monaco competing for a top-four spot and on track to potentially reach their second straight EuroLeague Final Four. He’s also shooting 43 percent from 3 on 6.5 attempts per game. At the age of 33, his volume shooting has reached a new level. Without James, Monaco would be a mess.

Forward: Mario Hezonja

Stats: 13.39 points and 4.67 rebounds per game on 49/41/91 shooting splits. 

Team Record: 16-1 (1st)

Real Madrid’s historical season warrants multiple spots on the All-EuroLeague First Team and their leading scorer, Mario Hezonja, gets the nod. Catch-and-shoot 3s, transition, attacking closeouts, and isolations are all scenarios where the Croatian forward has made opponents look helpless this season, and he and Dzanan Musa have both helped Real become Los Galacticos of EuroLEague. 

Forward: Tornike Shengelia

Stats: 15.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game on 59/29/83 splits.

Team Record: 12-5 (2nd)

He’s the MVP, and yes, he’s on the All-EuroLeague First Team.

Center: Edy Tavares

Stats: 10.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game on 66/0/76 shooting splits.

Team Record: 16-1 (1st)

Real’s perimeter dominance comes from Campazzo, Hezonja, Musa, and others. They control the paint and the backboards — at both ends of the floor — thanks to Tavares. The Cape Verdean big man continues to intimidate opponents like no one else in Europe, and the only argument for potentially keeping him off the All-EuroLeague first team is how freaking good Vincent Poirier has been as his backup. But Tavares has been doing this for years, he’s got longevity under his belt, and even though this is supposed to be a seasonal award longevity helps him get the benefit of the doubt. 

2023-24 Midseason All-EuroLeague Second Team:

Guard: Nico Laprovittola 

Stats: 13.35 points and 5.6 assists per game on 47/40/76 shooting splits. 

Team Record: 11-6 (3rd)

Easily Barcelona’s best player, and the hub of their offense, Laprovittola deserves a spot here. His 3-point shooting — 40 percent on over six attempts per game — seems to have taken a leap this season. It makes him even harder to guard and opens up even more passing angles. 

Guard: Lorenzo Brown

Stats: 14.16 points, 6.5 assists, and 1.3 steals per game on 42/34/90 shooting splits.

Team record: 10-7 (7th)

Maccabi continues to hang around, like Matt Damon in Rounders, in the face of everything they’ve had to deal with this season. Brown has been the team's star, just like he was last season, and for this team to be in the play-in spaces without their home court is notable. Brown has shined and kept Maccabi in contention. We can only wonder what this team might have been capable of with the ​​Menora Mivtachim Arena available to them all season.

Forward: Alec Peters

Stats: 15.39 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 2 assists per game on 58/55/85 shooting splits

Team Record: 9-8 (8th)

You cannot replace Sasha Vezenkov, and it’s clear Peters and Olympiacos haven’t exactly been able to do that due to their place in the standings, but Peters has come as close as you could expect him to. He’s averaging a EuroLeague career-high in points per game and shooting 55 percent from deep on 73 attempts so far. If he keeps that clip, he could get interest from NBA teams in the offseason. 

Forward: Dinos Mitoglou

Stats: 14.12 points and 6.6 rebounds per game on 52/35/72 shooting splits

Team Record: 10-7 (4th)

Panathinaikos made a lot of splashy signings this summer as they rebuilt the team under new Head Coach Ergin Ataman. While many of these new signings have been critical to the team's return to EuroLeague’s elite — Kostas Sloukas, Kendrick Nunn, Jerian Grant, and Matthias Lessort have all impressed — it’s returning Greek forward, Mitoglou, who has been arguably the best. 

His stretch shooting at decent volume and accuracy alongside his post scoring has helped open the floor for Ataman’s preferred spread pick-and-roll and makes the game easier for Sloukas, Nunn, and Grant. He’s been a force on the backboards as well and after his modest performance with Milano last season, few saw this coming, but the people of Athens are pleasantly surprised. 

Center: Serge Ibaka

Stats: 12.7 points, 7 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game on 58/41/63 shooting splits

Team Record: 8-9 (12th)

An NBA champion, Ibaka joined Kemba Walker and Jabari Parker among the three big NBA names that came over to EuroLeague this past offseason. Walker has been tolerable, Parker has been good, and Ibaka has been integral to Pablo Laso’s Bayern Munich. 

Ibaka is getting up there in age and has dealt with a multitude of injuries over the past few seasons and watching him, he’s not the same player he was in Oklahoma City and Toronto, but he is what Bayern needs. A great screener with solid basketball IQ on both ends of the floor Ibaka is capable of popping, rolling, or distributing in pick-and-roll play and has been a superb rim defender for the German club this season. At his age, you wonder if Bayern is too dependent on him but so far, he’s held up to the challenge. 

Honorable mentions: Shane Larkin, James Nunnally, Tadas Sedekerskis, Nikola Mirotic, Moustapha Fall, Chima Moneke, and Dzanan Musa. 

2023-24 EuroLeague Midseason Best Defender Award: Edy Tavares

Stats: 10.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game on 66/0/76 shooting splits.

Team Record: 16-1 (1st)

No one changes the game on defense in EuroLeague like Tavares does, no one. His mere presence on the court deters drives and forces opponents to resort to floaters or wrong-footed reverse layups. Even when he’s not physically blocking shots left and right, he figuratively rejects multiple shots every game. Add in his rebounding and active hands in drop coverage, and Tavares is on course to win this award for a fourth time, which would put him second all-time behind Dimitris Diamantidis. 

Honorable Mentions: Serge Ibaka, Moustapha Fall, and Jerian Grant

2023-24 EuroLeague Midseason Rising Star: Gabriele Procida

Stats: 8.65 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game on 42/30/73 shooting splits.

Team Record: 3-14 (17th)

In what has been another grim season for ALBA Berlin, Procida has managed to spark joy. At 21 the Italian wing still struggles with consistency and makes some decisions that are unexpectable. But his length, speed, and bounciness are constantly on display. He’s comfortably defended and scored against some of the competition's best this season and has let opponents know that as he gets more polished over the next few seasons, they better be on alert. 

Honorable Mentions: Leandro Bolmaro, Tarik Biberovic, Eli N’Diaye, and Dovydas Giedraitis

2023-24 EuroLeague Midseason Coach of the Year: Luca Banchi

Team Record: 12-5 (2nd)

Luca Banchi took over Virtus Bologna from Sergio Scariolo only 20 days before their season opener against Zalgiris Kaunas. He had zero pre-season and took over the team because Scariolo publicly complained multiple times about the lack of quality in the roster. 

It turns out there was plenty of quality for Banchi, and 20 days was more than enough time. Bologna was in second place in the EuroLeague standings at the halfway mark of the season and still is after Round 19. Banchi has put Shengelia and Isaia Cordinier in position to become stars, he’s squeezing as much error-free impactful basketball as he can out of Daniel Hackett, and is reminding everyone that Marco Belinelli is still one of the best movement shooters in the world at 37 years old and that Bryant Dunston is still one of EuroLeague’s best defensive centers at 37 years old. 

Iffe Lundberg, Alessandro Pajola, Ognjen Dobric, Awudu Abass, Devontae Cacok, and Achille Polonara are all thriving in their roles off the bench and Banchi’s stellar performance with this team has been rewarded in the transfer window with the additions of Rihards Lomazs and Ante Zizic. 

Virtus Bologna is a 2024 EuroLeague Final Four team at the moment. They have been the second-best team in the competition so far and Banchi continues to impress everywhere, currently with Bologna and earlier this summer with Latvia at the FIBA World Cup. The Italian Head Coach is reminding everyone just how good he is. 

Honorable Mention: Oded Kattash, Alex Mumbru