By: Nick Gibson / @euro_adventures
You guys will never guess who made the All-Euroleague team: Juan Carlos Navarro. Mike Batiste, too. About time those guys got some recognition.
No doubt that those two have had stellar careers and won ‘ships for two of the most historic clubs in European basketball. But that’s just it: these feel like little more than lifetime achievement awards.
Need proof? Read the write-up on Euroleague.net for Batiste. It mentions his all-time record for two-pointers made, the fact that Panathinaikos has won Greek titles in all of his nine seasons and that he’s on the verge of a fourth Euroleague title, using words like steady, over the years and career top ten. The only mentions of this season’s production cite his two offensive rebounds per game and his 10.6 average PIR, which while second on his Greens, is only 38th best in the EL.
Similar story for Navarro, whose write-up opened like this:
By becoming the Turkish Airlines Euroleague’s all-time top scorer this season, FC Barcelona Regal superstar Juan Carlos Navarro added another milestone to his already legendary career.
I guess we should have seen that one coming.
It does mention that his 17.3 ppg in the playoffs were second best in that phase (Mr. Kirilenko was tops at 17.5), but a three game sweep over an outclassed UNICS Kazan team is not enough to erase my memories of sitting in Palau Blaugrana for Barcelona home games and thinking to myself that La Bomba, normally the star, was merely a spurt scorer and a complementary cog in Xavi Pascual’s defensive machine.
Navarro’s ability to put the ball in the bucket has never been and will never be questioned on this site, nor will the fact that he’s an all-time great. But injuries cost him three weeks for Barca, and his contributions to his team’s success were hardly more impactful than, say, Kostas Vasiliadis of Bilbao, whose quick trigger and 14 threes in the Top 16 kept defenses off balance as much as anyone.
And then there are the guys whose contributions were clearly more valuable, more consistent and more well-rounded: Galatasaray’s Jamon Lucas, whose quick hands and iron will were reminiscent of a pre-injury Doron Perkins; Keith Langford, who did a better Navarro impression than Navarro himself on a Maccabi team that sorely lacked outside punch once Jordan Farmar returned to Prokhorov’s arms; and Cantu’s Vladimir Micov who, despite Giorgi Shermadini’s brilliance (more brilliant than Batiste, just so we’re clear), was Cantu’s heartbeat and a more versatile offensive weapon than anyone outside of AK15.
Clearly, voters are wary of giving these awards to folks who won’t be playing in Istanbul. In fact, Bo McCalebb and Henry Domercant are the only non-Final Fourers to make the cut. Therefore, the flaws might be systematic more than anything.
Your 2011-12 All-Euroleaguers:
Mike Batiste, Panathinaikos
Dimitris Diamantidis, Paanthinaikos
Henry Domercant, UNICS Kazan
Andrei Kirilenko, CSKA Moscow
Nenad Krstic, CSKA Moscow
Erazem Lorbek, Barcelona Regal
Bo McCalebb, Montepaschi Siena
Juan Carlos Navarro, Barcelona Regal
Vassilis Spanoulis, Olympiacos
Milos Teodosic, CSKA Moscow
All that remains is sorting them between first and second teams. For the record, I’ve got no quarrel with seven of the names above; Teodosic’s inclusion at least warrants a little debate, while Batiste and Navarro—well, I think you know where I stand on those fellas by now.
Would it be the worst thing in the world if both Panathinaikos and Barcelona were singly represented? Should making a Final Four instantly entitle you to 20 percent of the All-Euroleague spots?
No it shouldn’t, just as a solid track record should not supersede one spectacular season.
Or maybe you think Navarro and Batiste earned their accolades. Vote for your biggest snub below, then tell us why in the comments section. For bonus points, leave your All-Euroleague teams down there, too.
Loading ...
I am not so much against Navarro making the team, as his team made the final four and he was great in the playoffs. I can accept him being there, although I think both him and Domercant in the team is over kill.
I would have taken one or the other, not both of them. Domercant had the better season, but Navarro outplayed him in the playoffs, where Navarro’s team beat Domercant’s team.
So, for me Navarro is OK to be there.
I am also OK with Batiste being there. His team made the final four and he had a good season. It was either him or Andersen I think. Basically him and Navarro had second best seasons of anyone on their final four teams.
I disagree totally with Teodosic making it though. I don’t see why he was selected. I look at him making it, the same way as all the talk of Kirilenko being MVP. CSKA’s players are getting way too much credit.
They are being overrated and are getting too much credit, based on they actually played.
So, my problem is taking both Domercant and Navarro (when they should have taken just one of them) and selecting Teodosic.
Personally, I really would have liked to have seen Marko Banic and Georgios Printezis in the team. I would have taken Domercant and Teodosic off, and put Banic and Printezis in there.
Printezis and Banic had great seasons and IMO they deserved to be selected. I don’t like how the Euroleague does their awards in general.
Their seems to be a real media push for Kirilenko to me MVP, as I think it was actually Spanoulis as you said also, and I don’t like how they do the Rising Star and Best Defender awards at all.
I feel like for example, Diamantidis would win Best Defender for no apparent reason. The last 2-3 times he won that award I just had to shake my head. I mean last year he hardly even played defense and he won it.
I can see why they gave the Best Defender to Kirilenko this year, based on stats, which is similar to how the NBA does it. But then again, Kirilenko isn’t what I would call a great on the ball man to man defender. He’s very good at that, but not great. He’s more special at help defense.
I can name a whole bunch of guys that play in Euroleague are better man to man on the ball defenders than Kirilenko. So, I think even with this Best Defender award the voters love Diamantidis and Kirilenko and almost just want to give them an award just to give them one. And since they have a rep as defenders, then their you go.
Rising Star award is really odd to me also. I still can’t believe how guys like Vesely and Shermadini were so robbed on that award. Then this year I felt like Sloukas deserved it more than Mirotic did.
To me it seems like Rising Star award just goes to whatever player they think the NBA and its fans are paying the most attention to at the time. Rising Star and Best Defender awards seem to lack even a basic criteria almost.
I think the Euroleague needs to handle these awards a little better. I always think they do a very good job in giving out the Eurocup awards, then I wonder why they make so many odd choices for the Euroleague awards.
I will also be disappointed if Kirilenko is named MVP, because Spanoulis deserves it more. But you are the only media guy I see saying so, the rest are all for Kirilenko.
And yes, I know that the coaches vote for Rising Star and Best Defender, so I don’t like how the coaches are making their picks.
So for me,
First Team
Spanoulis (MVP)
Diamantidis
Kirilenko
Lorbek
Krstic
Second Team
McCalebb
Navarro
Printezis
Banic
Batiste
I would also be fine with replacing Navarro with Domercant and Batiste with Andersen. So, I don’t have such an issue with Navarro and Batiste making it. But I don’t see why Teodosic was selected at all, and I am a big Teodosic fan.
Banic and Printezis were the biggest snubs in my view.