EuroLeague Week 14 Winners and Losers: Showing some love to Moustapha Fall, Jerian Grant, and others who deserve it

Last week, we made our EuroLeague mid-season award picks. Almost all of the players we selected and mentioned have received near-universal praise this season for their performance, and rightfully so. That’s why they warrant recognition via EuroLeague awards.

However, plenty of other players are having impressive seasons. Enough for MVP or to make an All-EuroLeague team? No. Enough that they deserve praise and recognition? Absolutely. For this week's Winners and Losers, we’re going to do the 2023-24 EuroLeague mid-season All-Underappreciated team.

2023-24 EuroLeague All-Underappreciated Team

Guard: Iffe Lundberg

Stats: 8.06 points and 1.89 assists per game on 43/34/82 splits

Iffe Lundberg is nothing special, and that’s okay. He can’t be an offensive hub for 25-30 minutes a night, he doesn’t shift entire defenses as a shooter, and he’s not some pick-and-roll maestro that makes the two-man game an instant offensive weapon for any team he’s on. But he is a skilled offensive player. He makes open shots (46 percent on unguarded catch-and-shoot 3s in EuroLeague play this season), can run the pick and roll, bring the ball up, reliably make the right pass, and finish at the rim. 

As Virtus Bologna continued to shock viewers round after round this season, there was always one hanging concern we had even as we bought all the way in on this squad’s EuroLeague Final Four potential. Who could get them a bucket in tough spots? Who’s going to be there when the Toko Shengelia post-ups aren’t cutting it and Marco Belinelli can’t get open off a screen? We have said more times than we can count that this team needs another perimeter threat, someone who makes something out of nothing in big moments. Lundberg has been that guy. 

In Round 8 of the Italian Derby against Milano, Lundberg scored seven points in the last two minutes and Bologna won 86-79. Against Barcelona in Round 12, six points in the last two minutes of an 80-75 victory. Against Partizan in Round 17, four points in the last two-and-a-half minutes in a 77-75 victory, and against Bayern in Round 18 he got a bucket to make it 85-81 with less than ten seconds remaining, putting the game to bed. 

Lundberg is not the main guy for Bologna, and shouldn’t be the main guy for any EuroLeague team but he’s got that Robert Horry vibe to him of just being able to hit the big shots. It’s been exactly what Bologna has needed to help drive their incredible season so far. 

Honorable Mention: Paris Lee! ASVEL is having an awful season so we don’t want to go too crazy on this but he’s averaging 10.37 points and 5.95 assists per game on 36/35/93 shooting splits. Lee will always struggle at the rim because of his size and he still hasn’t become efficient enough with a floater or mid-range jumper but he’s having another good season, yes on a bad team, but he’s a good player. Let’s hope he gets a shot on another decent EuroLeague team sooner rather than later. 

Guard: Jerian Grant

Stats: 9.16 points, 3.7 assists (only 1 turnover per game!), and 1.8 steals per game on 48/47/90 shooting splits. 

Panathinaikos is in fourth place at 12-8 after Round 20, which is impressive after their 2-4 start. They’ve got the third-best defense in EuroLeague with a 109.4 defensive rating and while the scoring prowess of Kendrick Nunn and pick-and-roll mastery of Kostas Sloukas draw the oohs and aahs of viewers, Jerian Grant is the glue that holds everything together and the connective tissue that makes it all work.

On offense, he has not only accepted a smaller on-ball role but embraced it and excelled at it. His usage is down from 23.25 with Turk Telekom Ankara last season to 14.05 and his other stats have dropped across the board. 14.86 points per game to 9.16, 11.45 field goal attempts per game to 6.21, and 4.14 3s per game to 2.7. 

His efficiency though, is up: .56 true shooting to .64, .51 effective field goal to .59, 45 percent from the field to 48, and 30 percent from 3 to 47! He’s getting the bulk of his offensive opportunities via spot-ups and in transition, instead of in isolation and pick-and-roll. He has not only recognized Sloukas and Nunn are better suited to run the show on offense, but has quickly figured out how to benefit from the attention they draw and volume they use up. 

On defense, he is a tireless pest, zipping around the court to stop anyone and everyone from what they want to do — like a young puppy getting in the way of your Dad trying to do any yard work at all in the summer. Even though he’s only 6-foot-4, Grant can comfortably guard all guards and wings with relative ease and is sturdy enough to bang down low with a fair share of EuroLeague’s forwards. He’s got great help instincts and has taken the extra energy he has from the lighter offensive load and channeled it to being a leader at the other end of the floor. 

Through 20 Rounds of EuroLeague action, Grant is far and away EuroLeague’s best role player this season. It’s high praise, but still not enough for what he’s brought to the Greens 

Honorable Mention: Codi Miller-McIntyre. The American guard looked like he wasn’t a EuroLeague quality player under Joan Peñarroya and experienced a full-scale revival under Dusko Ivanovic. While Ivanovic’s magic seems to have worn off, Baskonia are 2-4 in their last six after a 7-1 start under Ivanovic, Miller-McIntyre has continued to impress. His defense was never in question but he’s also averaging 8 points, 6.2 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game. The 3-point shooting is still bad but that hasn’t stopped him from hitting two clutch mid-range game winners against Olympiacos and Panathinaikos. Regardless of how this season ends for Baskonia, Miller-McIntyre has proved he belongs in EuroLeague basketball. 

Forward: Nigel Hayes-Davis

Stats: 13.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1 steal per game on 49/33/81 shooting splits. 

We mentioned Nigel Hayes-Davis in our International Basketball Big Board, and the former Wisconsin Badger has still gone relatively under-discussed while he’s having another solid season. Hayes-Davis' solid play has improved under Sarunas Jasikevicius, who took over for Dimitrios Itoudis a day before for Round 14. This is the third time in Hayes-Davis' career that he’s played for Jasikevicius — at Zalgiris and Barcelona before -—and the forward has been integral to the Turkish club's 7-1 record under the Lithuanian coach. 

Hayes-Davis’ stats are roughly the same during this eight-game stretch, but he is shooting considerably better from downtown: 46 percent under Jasikevicius compared to his season average of 33 percent. He’s getting better catch-and-shoot looks and has the confidence to capitalize. When Hayes-Davis is shooting like this, he’s one of the best two-way forwards in EuroLeague and helps open the floor for Nic Calathes, Jonathan Motley, Tyler Dorsey, and others. When he’s at another level, so is Fenerbahce, and that’s what Jasikevicius has been able to help deliver so far. 

Forward: John Brown III

Stats: 7 points and 4.1 rebounds per game on 52/0/75 shooting splits. 

His game doesn’t look pretty, he doesn’t stuff the stat sheet, and he shoots long 2s instead of 3s. With that summary, John Brown III sounds undesirable and disposable. For a team like Monaco, built around score-first star Mike James who demands the ball and struggles due to his size on the defensive end, he is indispensable. 

Brown III is Monaco’s dirty job man, and we mean that in an endearing way. He rebounds, pressures opponents full-court, dives into the stands for loose balls, and at times looks like he’s guarding three players at once. What he lacks in talent, he makes up for with perseverance, determination, will, and fitness. He seems to never tire and is never outworked or outhustled. Brown cannot thrive everywhere due to his limitations, but playing with James, Donatas Motiejunas, and so many others who can put points on the board he’s an ideal fit. A star in his role is the best way to describe him.  

Center: Moustapha Fall

Stats: 7.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3 assists per game on 78/0/55 splits.

Moustapha Fall never seems to get the love. Sure, he’s not Olympiacos’ best player and never has been. That title belongs to Isaiah Canaan and Alec Peters this season, and Sasha Vezenkov last season. And as far as dominant excessively tall big men go, Edy Tavares soaks up a lot of the praise and attention. But Fall is right there with him. 

At 7-foot-2 the French big man looks uncoordinated and clunky at times, but most of us look like that at six feet and shorter so maybe let's look past that and appreciate what else he does. Fall is a great screener, who rolls to the rim hard and uses his soft hands to catch easy and difficult passes and finish with ease if help doesn’t come over to get in his way. When help does come, he makes the right read. Perhaps it is a product of playing under Georgios Bartzokas for three seasons, but his 3 assists per game is a career-high and he’s doing this on a career-low usage of 13.56. 

On the defensive end, Fall’s size and length allow him to dominate the restricted area and prevent opponents from getting easy twos. He’s a decent drop defender, and while he looks clumsy at times, he moves his feet decently well for his size. And just like he does on offense, he reads the game well on the defensive end. His size isn’t making up for any mistakes, it’s enabling him to dominate through his basketball IQ. Fall isn’t just some physically imposing presence who’s lucky he’s 7-foot-2. He’s got an elite IQ and feel for the game, and it’s time we appreciate that aspect of what he delivers in EuroLeague play too. 

EuroLeague Week 14 Winners and Losers: Lines of the Week

Just everyone in Anadolu Efes and Real Madrid’s four-overtime thriller. What a game.

EuroLeague Week 14 Winners and Losers: Quote of the Week

It’s good to have Andrea Trinchieri back in EuroLeague. 

EuroLeague Week 14 Winners and Losers: Clip of the Week

At 36 years old, Sergio Llull isn’t a big fan of four overtime games.