By: Freaknick/@euro_adventures
Oh yes we did. From potential All-Euroleaguers to guys who might get loaned out before I finish typing this sentence, we’ve taken all 110 signings and put them in a subjectively determined order. Remember: Team need, individual abilities, and my own personal grudges will be taken into account somewhat equally. Over the last three days I’ve added nearly 40 acquisitions I missed while covering the World Championships. For full descriptions and extended outlooks on these players, click on the links below:
Tuesday: Euroleague free agency waits for no man.
Wednesday: From Pargo to Playboy, ELA sizes up 14 more free agent signings.
Thursday: Suarez still in Madrid, only Realer. Plus a dozen other EL pick-ups.
So come on people. There are 100 players down below. If you can’t find at least one ranking you disagree with, I’ll be heavily disappointed. Still can’t find one? OK, let’s do this. Go pick a random player. Got it? Good. Now find the player three spots above and then three spots below. Would you have those three in the same order? If not, then you’ve got yourself a valid comment. Looking forward to the scathing feedback.
Rank | Player | Team | He's here because... | Last Line Up |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Aleks Maric | Panathinaikos | PAO is back on the map as championship contenders with a busy offseason. Last offseason's lull hurt them in the EL. | 1 |
2 | Terrell McIntyre | Unicaja | I think T-Mac has enough in the tank for one more dazzling season. He'll have new life in Malaga. | 2 |
3 | Bo McCalebb | Montepaschi | He is the human green light. Just go. Passes Sato due to positional importance. | 4 |
4 | Romain Sato | Panathinaikos | He's rated fourth, but he might fill a need more than any signing on the list. | 3 |
5 | Vassilis Spanoulis | Olympiacos | If they're not going to sign a forward that can make some plays, his penetration becomes much more important. | 5 |
6 | Marko Tomas | Fenerbahçe | F**k Jacob & Edward. I'm #TeamMarko. | 6 |
7 | David Logan | Caja Laboral | Add Pops to a team that was built to run in the first place. | 7 |
8 | Oleksiy Pecherov | AJ Milano | I think he'll be Milano's best player and one of the EL's top 5 bigs. | - |
9 | Ali Traore | Lottomatica Roma | It's nice to have a big man to run your offense through. They need to put shooters around him. | 8 |
10 | Lawrence Roberts | Efes Pilsen | We know what he can do with ample PT. | 11 |
11 | Malik Hairston | Montepaschi | A very symmetrical replacement for Romain Sato. | 13 |
12 | D'Or Fischer | Real Madrid | This team is dying to be exciting. With enough talent, maybe Messina will let Llull/Rodriguez/D'Or do their thing. | 9 |
13 | Omar Cook | Valencia | It remains to be seen how de Colo will adjust to off-ball scenarios. | 15 |
14 | Jeremy Pargo | Maccabi Electra | He and Perkins will be the toughest cover in the EL for opposing guards who fear contact. | - |
15 | Sergio Rodriguez | Real Madrid | He'll love throwing it up to Fischer. Lavrinovic/Reyes not exactly "flyers" for 09-10 squad. | 18 |
16 | Jamont Gordon | CSKA Moscow | A jampacked backcourt is much more open with Ponkrashov and Planinic leaving town. | 23 |
17 | Brad Newley | Lietuvos Rytas | I's been harder to dislodge Newley from this spot than almost anyone else on the board. He looks good in the top ten. | 10 |
18 | Nathan Jawai | Partizan | Nathan hungry. Nathan want ball. Nathan want dunk ball. | - |
19 | Uros Tripkovic | Unicaja | He will lead the EL in 3-pointers. You heard it here first. | 22 |
20 | Marcus Haislip | Caja Laboral | The extended 3-point line could be the best or worst thing for his game. Pack it in, Marcus. | - |
21 | Marko Keselj | Olympiacos | I cannot overestimate how much he impressed me in Turkey. | - |
22 | Nemanja Bjelica | Caja Laboral | With a finished roster, Bjelica looks like a solid sub, possible starter at SF. | 25 |
23 | Sofoklis Schortsanitis | Maccabi | How much will Blatt play him? | 32 |
24 | Paulius Jankunas | Zalgiris | Not that Mario Delas would directly rob minutes from him, but now Jankunas will have even more time to regain his 08-09 form. | 19 |
25 | Bobby Brown | Asseco Prokom | He just might match the scoring Prokom lost with David Logan. | - |
26 | Lior Eliyahu | Maccabi Electra | Back where he belongs. | - |
27 | Andrew Wisniewski | Efes Pilsen | Droping because of the wealth of talent in front of him, not personal issues. Efes needs to give him the reigns. | 14 |
28 | Richard Hendrix | Maccabi | Sofo's a nice to guy to have in your frontcourt. He softens the defense up so you can come in and clean up. | 16 |
29 | Matt Nielsen | Olympiacos | Damnit, Matt. Why'd you have to go to Olympiacos? Just doesn't spice up that slow frontcourt. | 21 |
30 | Dusko Savanovic | Valencia | Valencia has done a beautiful job building a big man by committee. | 28 |
31 | Carlos Suarez | Real Madrid | If he rots on the bench I'll be sick to my stomach. I can't imagine he will | - |
32 | Jamon Lucas | Olympiacos | An upgrade over Scoonie Penn (no disrespect, ScoonDog). | - |
33 | Ibrahim Jaaber | AJ Milano | Now he understands what works in Europe vs. what does not. Dangerous. | 24 |
34 | Rimantas Kaukenas | Montepaschi | The Hairston signing takes SO much pressure off of the 33-year-old. | 27 |
35 | Pietro Aradori | Montepaschi | Might be in the EL's top 10 scoring leaders in the next three years. | 29 |
36 | Sergey Bykov | CSKA | I really need to see how the CSKA backcourt shakes out before I rank him appropriately. | 44 |
37 | James Augustine | Valencia | He can play halfcourt or uptempo, which may change game-to-game based on Valencia's match-ups. | 26 |
38 | DeMarcus Nelson | Cholet | You know I had to put the DeMarcus the Blue Devil over Reyshawn's sky blue ass, right? | - |
39 | Reyshawn Terry | Bamberg | It still pains me to put a Tarheel in the top 40. Just doing my job. | - |
40 | Kaya Peker | Fenerbahçe | It's tough for me to put Kaya this low after his workmanlike consistency throughout his career. | 30 |
41 | Tomas Delininkaitis | Zalgiris | Bronze medalist. Golden shooting touch. | - |
42 | Jeremy Richardson | Valencia | Jeremy knows how to stroke it, too. | - |
43 | Robertas Javtokas | Valencia | Huge slip here. I saw how hurt he really is in Turkey. Only good for stretches. A real shame. | 17 |
44 | Mike Wilks | Asseco Prokom | I don't know why he's this low. He'll probably be on my fantasy team. | - |
45 | Damir Markota | Union Olimpija | Still 24 despite making his rounds in Europe and the NBA. | - |
46 | Charles Smith | Lottomatica Roma | He's forgotten more about scoring than I'll ever know. | - |
47 | Cenk Akyol | Efes Pilsen | I like ol' Cenk a lot. He could definitely outperform this ranking. | 43 |
48 | Rasho Nesterovic | Olympiacos | Not the gamechanger they needed down low. | 34 |
49 | Omar Samhan | Zalgiris | 49 seems awfully low, doesn't it? But think about it. 22 teams (soon to be 24) means a lot of signings. | 48 |
50 | David Hawkins | AJ Milano | Finley/Jaaber/Hawkins figures to be weekly entertainment in Milano. | 31 |
51 | Kosta Perovic | Barcelona | He'd be an outstanding pickup for anyone else. For Barca he's just another guy. | 35 |
52 | Kenny Gregory | Union Olimpija | Hello, Kenneth. Welcome to Ljubljana. | - |
53 | Kyle Hines | Bamberg | Rebounds and defense never hurt anyone. | 46 |
54 | Vladimir Dasic | Lottomatica Roma | Where's Hermione Granger to cast her improvement spell? | - |
55 | Mindaugas Kuzminskas | Zalgiris | The extra dose of talent and versatility that Zalgiris needs. | 41 |
56 | DeJuan Collins | Zalgiris | He'll be more valuable to this team than we know yet. Great ice to Mantas' fire. | - |
57 | Miroslav Raduljica | Efes Pilsen | Injuries drop him low. | 33 |
58 | Dejan Musli | Caja Laboral | Will he get a chance? Given Caja's thin frontcourt, he should. 20 minutes per game will bump him up the list. | - |
59 | Kostas Kaimakoglou | Panathinaikos | I've moved Kostas more than anyone on this list. This week he jumped up. Lucky him. | 38 |
60 | Elishay Kadir | Maccabi | Always important to lock up homegrown talent. | 39 |
61 | Giorgi Shermadini | Union Olimpija | Great to see him leave Panathinaikos for a year and spread those long, skinny wings. | - |
62 | Kevin Pinkney | Union Olimpija | Toughness is a good thing. | - |
63 | Clay Tucker | Real Madrid | Should see plenty of good looks with Rodriguez/Prigioni runnin' thangs. | 47 |
64 | Vule Avdalovic | Cholet | A solid veteran point guard to help Fabien Causeur grow. | - |
65 | Mario Delas | Cibona | At least CIbona is giving themselves a chance to surprise people. | 50 |
66 | Darjus Lavrinovic | Fenerbahçe | I have an incurable dislike for his game. | 36 |
67 | Jaka Klobucar | Partizan | With Bojan Popovic leaving town, will he start at PG? Wild. | 55 |
68 | Ian Vougioukas | Panathinaikos | A nice backup to the back up down low. | 45 |
69 | Marcus Johnson | Cibona | Not sure why Johnson got the call over other capable NCAA swingmen. We shall see. | - |
70 | Luc-Arthur Vebobe | Cholet | May end up on my All-Beastly team. | 40 |
71 | Milovan Rakovic | Montepaschi | Does the EL test for steroids? | 42 |
72 | Pablo Aguilar | Real Madrid | Not sure what his status is with Madrid right now. | 56 |
73 | Jerry Johnson | Lietuvos Rytas | Nice piece. Can do a lot of things without hurting the team. | 51 |
74 | Goran Jagodnik | Union Olimpija | Super veteran presence for Jure Zdovc's squad. | - |
75 | Mamoutou Diarra | Cholet | He should be a captain of sorts. Older, French, and still a quality hooper. | - |
76 | Engin Atsur | Fenerbahçe | A ruptured achilles and he's out four months. Devastating blow for a guy I was expecting to blow up. | 49 |
77 | Erwin Dudley | Efes Pilsen | Efes Pilsen should never let a rebound touch the ground ever. Great offseason. | 53 |
78 | Jure Lalic | Cibona | Another dude on Cibona. Nothing to write home about from Zagreb. | 54 |
79 | Arvydas Sisknius | Lietuvos Rytas | Smooth offensive player who plays hard. | 52 |
80 | Sasu Salin | Union Olimpija | I want to see him get playing time. | - |
81 | Iwo Kitzinger | Asseco Prokom | The best of Prokom's late season bulk add 95 players). | - |
82 | Dovydas Redikas | Lietuvos Rytas | WIll be a starter in two years. | - |
83 | Tal Burstein | Maccabi | It must seem like I'm hating on the veterans pretty hard. Sorry. | 57 |
84 | Bogdan Bogdanovic | Partizan | No idea how Partizan expects to do it again this year. Bo McCalebb not walking through that hard. | - |
85 | Courtney Eldridge | Asseco Prokom | Yet another American guard in the AP backcourt. | - |
86 | Dragan Milosavljevic | Partizan | If it's not Klobucar who steps up on the wing, it better be Dragan. | 61 |
87 | Dawis Przybyszewski | Asseco Prokom | ...now close your eyes and try to spell his name. | - |
88 | Rasko Katic | Partizan | Lord have mercy on the man who's expected to fill in for 7'6" behemoth Slavko Vranes. | 67 |
89 | Nicolo Melli | AJ Milano | This signing will look terrific in two years. Wait on it. | 62 |
90 | Nihad Djedovic | Lottomatica Roma | Roma's wing is wide open. Nihad could be a guy to watch if nobody steps up behind Charles Smith. | - |
91 | Zydrunas Kelys | Lietuvos Rytas | Speedster. Vroom vroom. | 60 |
92 | Suad Sehovic | Union Olimpija | Bosnian NT member. I like signing guys who played this summer. He'll be ready to go. | - |
93 | Pawel Kowalczuk | Asseco Prokom | Get 'em Pawel. | - |
94 | Andrea Michelori | Montepaschi | Part of a bulk signing to make MPS feel good about their interior D. | 63 |
95 | Romain Duport | Cholet | He'll block some shots. So that's cool. | 58 |
96 | Marc Fernandez | Valencia | Might watch a playoff run from the bench. | - |
97 | Djordje Drenovac | Lottomatica Roma | Averaging 9 per game as a 17-year-old is impressive, even in Austria. Watch his career take off the next few years. | - |
98 | Jeff Foote | Maccabi | Until they sign someone else down low (they have to) I'll keep him slightly higher. Congrats, Jeff. | 59 |
99 | Robert Witka | Asseco Prokom | He's no Qyntel Woods. | - |
100 | Gabriele Ganeto | AJ Milano | 11 and 5 in the Italian Second Division's all I have to go on. So...yeah. | 65 |
101 | Andrea Iannilli | Lottomatica Roma | He'll contribute, which is more than I can say about some of the guys below him. | 64 |
102 | Giedrius Staniulis | Lietuvos Rytas | He and Valanciunas should have some fun practices. | 66 |
103 | Eimantas Bendzius | Lietuvos Rytas | Well Rytas certainly has options on the perimeter. Good ones? Not sure yet. | 69 |
104 | Meredis Houmounou | Cholet | He doesn't need to buy a vowel. | 70 |
105 | Drago Pasalic | Cibona | Thinking of donating the contents of my piggy bank to CIbona. | 71 |
106 | Sebastian Balcerzak | Asseco Prokom | It seems like Asseco owns every tenth signing on this list. | - |
107 | Paulius Dambrauskas | Lietuvos Rytas | Couldn't let him rot at the bottom of the list forever. | 72 |
108 | Dimitris Katsivelis | Olympiacos | While some of the guys around him on the list might get some PT, he'll likely be loaned out. | 73 |
109 | Cemal Nalga | Lietuvos Rytas | Is Rytas going to have enough jerseys to go around? | 68 |
110 | Gustavo Barrera | Unicaja | Had to give someone else a shot in the cellar. | 74 |