By: Freaknick/@euro_adventures
I know one shouldn’t judge on such a small sample size, but when only a single game has been played, what do you want from me? Should I let Cholet’s 44-point outing slide? Maybe shrug off CSKA’s 15-point loss at home? I suppose I’ll let excuse Maccabi for letting Chuck Eidson go 1-0n-5 against Caja Laboral? It just don’t work that way partner. Everyone get your Jump to Conclusion Mats in front of you and bend those knees.
Rank | Team (EL record) | What they did to get here and who's up next... | Last Week |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Regal FC Barcelona (1-0) | After a miserable showing at FIBA this summer and a lackluster ACB start, Ricky Rubio's 14 point, 6 rebound, 3 assist/steal EL opener has to be a relief. Wednesday at Cholet | 1 (80-66 W vs. Cibona) |
2 | Panathinaikos (1-0) | Either Tepic or Calathes needs to step up as a playmaker. Diamantidis is all alone in that backcourt right now. Thursday vs. CSKA Moscow | 3 (72-56 W at Valencia) |
3 | Olympiacos (1-0) | Dusan Ivkovic has these guys clicking early. The Teodosic+Papaloukas+Spanoulis combo has lent itself to plenty of ball movement. I expect Marko Keselj to get more involved this week. Wednesday at Bamberg | 4 (82-66 W vs. Madrid) |
4 | Caja Laboral (1-0) | Fernando San Emeterio piled up a 28 RKG by taking only 5 shots. A microcosm of Caja's ridiculous efficiency in Week 1. 53% on 2's, 46% on 3's and 88% on FT's. Wednesday at Asseco Prokom | 8 (94-78 W vs. Maccabi) |
5 | Montepaschi Siena (1-0) | Siena scored 43 points in the 2nd half. Cholet scored 44 the entire game. They made it look easy because it was. Wednesday at Lietuvos Rytas | 11 (76-44 W vs. Cholet) |
6 | CSKA Moscow (0-1) | The best defenses are built from the inside out, and CSKA struggled without Sasha Kaun and reigning Defensive POY Viktor Khryapa in uniform. Won't get easier when CSKA goes against Aleks Maric and Mike Batiste this week. Thursday at Panathinaikos | 2 (73-88 L vs. AJ Milano) |
7 | BC Khimki (1-0) | Balance is the key for these guys. Six guys in double figures last week vs. Prokom and they're still getting to know one another. Wednesday at Partizan | 9 (82-76 W vs. Asseco Prokom) |
8 | Armani Jeans Milano (1-0) | I bumped them up 8 spots this week, yet I still feel like it might not be enough. That's how impressive Milano's offense looked in Moscow. Thursday vs. Union Olmpija | 15 (73-88 W at CSKA) |
9 | Real Madrid (0-1) | Sergio Rodriguez looked...well, he looked horrible. 3/14 and only 1 assist from the man who was plucked from the shores of NBA Land to make an impact. Sergio Llull wants no part of the passing game so S-Rod better get it together. Thursday vs. Unicaja | 5 (82-66 L at Olympiacos) |
10 | Zalgiris (1-0) | They turned it over 21 times and shot 39% from the field. Still won. That's called home court advantage. Thursday at Maccabi | 12 (73-62 W vs. Partizan) |
11 | Unicaja (1-0) | Guillem Rubio seems far more comfortable than he did last year. A little continuity from him would take a load off Archibald/Freeland inside. Thursday at Madrid | 13 (84-73 W vs. Spirou) |
12 | Maccabi Electra (0-1) | They could not have looked worse last week. Nothing worked offensively outside of Chuck Eidson and they couldn't have stopped a high school team the first three quarters. David Blatt should fix the D, but the O needs a makeover. Thursday vs. Maccabi | 6 (94-78 L at Caja Laboral) |
13 | Fenerbahçe Ülker (1-0) | Gasper Vidmar followed up his FIBA breakout with a solid opener and Darjus Lavrinovic. Next up on list of things I'd like to see: Emir Preldzic doing something productive. Thursday at Cibona | 14 (86-69 W vs. L. Rytas) |
14 | Efes Pilsen (0-1) | There's not much the Beermen could've done last week against that atmosphere in Stozice Arena. They'll have All-Decader Nikola Vujcic at center this week after signing him only yesterday. Wednesday vs. Valencia | 7 (95-90 L at Union Olimpija) |
15 | Valencia (0-1) | A rough welcome for the Eurocup champs. Apparently the rest of the guys don't understand that Omar Cook runs shit. I'm sure he's tried to tell them. Wednesday at Efes Pilsen | 10 (56-72 L vs. Panathinaikos) |
16 | Virtus Roma (1-0) | Last week I complained about a lack of depth, but if Vladimir Dasic is five times more effective than Ali Traore now, they should be even more dangerous once the big Frenchman comes around, Wednesday at Spirou | 19 (83-65 W vs. Bamberg) |
17 | Asseco Prokom (0-1) | JR GIddens loked like Scottie Pippen in his Euro debut and Bobby Brown couldn't buy a bucket despite despite tearing up the Polish League with 22.5 PPG. He'll clean it up this week, guaranteed. Wednesday vs. Caja Laboral | 16 (82-76 L at Khimki) |
18 | Lietuvos Rytas (0-1) | Khalid El-Amin to the rescue! Well, hopefully. This team never once found a rhythm offensively and poured in most of their points after a 13-point halftime deficit. Bajramovic can't go 1/13 anymore and El-Amin needs to make sure Gecevicius can catch and shoot with space. Wednesday vs. Montepaschi Siena | 17 (86-69 L at Fenerbahçe) |
19 | Partizan (0-1) | The way things looked last week, it's tough to see them winning outside of Pionir. That means they'll need to take advantage of every single home game they can. Starting this week. Wednesday vs. Khimki | 18 (73-62 L at Zalgiris) |
20 | Union Olimpija (1-0) | How inspiring was their Double OT win to christen their brand spankin' new Stozice Arena? Now if they can just find more of that elixir that chopped five years off of Goran Jagodnik's age.Thursday at AJ Milano | 23 (95-90 W vs. Efes Pilsen) |
21 | Spirou Charleroi (0-1) | Sticking with Unicaja in Malaga is so small feat, hence the 3-spot jump up from the cellar. They outrebounded a very physical Unjicaja frontcourt by +8, but they can't keep letting opponents shoot 59% from inside the arc. Wednesday vs. Roma | 24 (84-73 L at Unicaja) |
22 | Cibona (0-1) | Bojan Bogdanovic is this team. So is it bad news that 28 points from him can't fetch them anything better than a 14-point loss. Even though it was against the champs, I think Cibona should be worried. Someone other than Rok Stipcevic needs to help out. Thursday vs. Fenerbahçe | 21 (80-66 L at Barcelona) |
23 | Brose Baskets Bamberg (0-1) | I'd like to see Casey Jacobsen take more than 7 shots and for their assist:turnover ratio to be slightly better than 9:16. Wednesday vs. Olympiacos | 20 (83-65 L at Roma) |
24 | Cholet (0-1) | Their entire team compiled a RKG of 27 in their 44-point effort last week. Three EL players bested that in Week One. Credit Siena's defense, but worry about Cholet's offense. Wednesday vs. Barcelona | 22 (76-44 L at Siena) |