MIES (Switzerland) - Season X of the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL brought plenty of excitement in the second Round of 16 week.
You know all the scores and matchups, you know about the biggest upsets and the biggest blowouts. Now it's time to focus on individuals.
It's time to continue the MVP Race for the tenth time in our history. The checkpoints are in no way official, it's more of a tool for you to keep up with the biggest favorites to win the MVP of the Season award on the final weekend of the season in May.
To figure out who has the best chance to win the award, we have to take a look at the profiles of previous MVPs in the Basketball Champions League.
Jordan Theodore (Season I), Manny Harris (II), Tyrese Rice (III), Keith Langford (IV), Bonzie Colson (V), Chima Moneke (VI), TJ Shorts II (VII) and Marcelinho Huertas (VIII, IX) all reached the Final Four, all played crucial roles in their teams getting there, all made clutch shots during the seasons and had the numbers to prove they were the Most Valuable Players.
With that in mind, during the MVP Race, we will have four serious questions to help us figure out who the leader is at each checkpoint:
(1) Does his team have a winning record?
(2) Is he the reason why?
(3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP?
(4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it?
Since this is a column and - we repeat - not in any way an official ranking, we need the grand separator to figure out the leader.
That's why the fifth question will always be random, to give you a hint of who's the guy in the lead.
This week, it's pure and simple:
(5) Did he win his first major international trophy 20 years ago?
(See? Number five is just random.)
#10 Jahmi'us Ramsey (Pallacanestro Trieste)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Nope, 5-6. (1.5) Wow, off to a great start here... What's Ramsey doing on this list then? He is one of the best scorers in the entire BCL, and who knows, maybe his foot injury was the only thing that kept Trieste from completing a unique Canary Islands sweep and leading the group at 2-0. He's a beast. Feels like he's the guy we'll have on our BCL Alumni list for the 20th anniversary, and we'll go "yeah, Ramsey is a superstar now, but did you know at 24, he played his first international season in the BCL?" He'll be that guy, trust us.
#9 Kendrick Perry (Unicaja)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? LOL. (2) Is he the reason why? Yep. Leads the team in points and assists. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 13.0 points, 59-48-78 shooting split, 4.3 assists, 14.3 efficiency rating, all done in just 19.1 minutes per game. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Sure. (5) Did he win his first major international trophy 20 years ago? Ugh, no. He was 13 then, probably had no clue he'll fall in love with Southern Spain and become a legend of the game in all of Europe. So no, not the leader of our MVP Race.
#8 Cameron Hunt (Joventut Badalona)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Por supuesto. First team to win their first eight games in BCL, ever! (2) Is he the reason why? Yes, he is a Certified Legend, Unstoppable Tormentor Cameron Hunt, spelled C.L.U.T.C.H. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 13.9 points, 3.4 assists, 1.4 steals, 13.5 efficiency rating per game. Solid. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Oh boy you really need to go watch his highlights on YouTube if you don't know the answer to that one. (5) Did he win his first major international trophy 20 years ago? He was eight 20 years ago. So no.
#7 Frank Bartley (AEK BC)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yes, 7-1. (2) Is he the reason why? Leads the team in points, so yes. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 17.1 points, 36 percent from deep on seven tries per game, 3.3 assists, 3.1 rebounds, 1.1 steals, 15.3 efficiency rating. Yep. MVP. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Yep, he has made a name for himself all over the continent for knocking down crucial clutch shots. In fact, one of them was against AEK BC last season, nearly eliminating them in the Greek League Play-offs. But a certain RaiQuan Gray answered at the buzzer on the other end, saving AEK's season and eliminating Bartley and PAOK, instead. (5) Did he win his first major international trophy 20 years ago? He was 11 back then, enjoying life in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. No international trophies back then, nope.
#6 Errick McCollum (Galatasaray MCT Technic)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 6-2 all season long, 1-1 now. But that first "1" in W-L record was a gigantic road win over Rytas Vilnius, so it kinda feels like more than just "1" if that makes sense. (2) Is he the reason why? You're gonna hate me, but probably not. (2.33) What!? Well, since the start of the MVP Race, we've had Will Cummings, James Palmer Jr and Fabian White Jr as MVP contenders from Galatasaray. And now we've got Errick, too. So, yeah, not sure if he's the reason why they have a winning record, or if all of them are the reason. (2.66) So in theory, if Galatasaray end up winning the BCL, All-Star Five of the season could be: Cummings - McCollum - Palmer Jr - White Jr - somebody? Exactly! Just a team loaded with MVP candidates, Errick is the one in the best shape right now. But still not the leader of the MVP Race.
#5 Jack Kayil (ALBA BERLIN)
(0.5) Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!? Yep. We got a baby as a potential MVP of the Season, deal with it! (1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 6-2 for the season, 1-1 in the Round of 16, but both of those were road games, so it's more like 1.5-0.5 than 1-1. (2) Is he the reason why? Yes! We probably told you ALBA started the season 1-3 in all competitions, then went on to win 19 of the next 22 games, and it kinda coincided with Jack taking over as a legit star of the team. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? While 9.5 points and 4.0 assists won't impress anybody, we have to tell you that he's got 14.8 points, 5.0 assists and 17.5 efficiency rating per game across the last four BCL games. Three of them were extremely important, all on the road, and guess who was ALBA's best player at Elan Chalon, Tofas Bursa and AEK? That's right, Jack Kayil. 17 points and 9 assists in Chalon to clinch top spot in the Group Phase; 16 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds in Bursa to kick-start the Round of 16 campaign with a win; and finally, season-high 20 points in just 22 minutes in the toughest of all environments, on the road in Athens this week. Growing up so incredibly fast! (4) Okay, bro, you didn't have to write an entire essay about it, we believe you. Anyway. If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Probably. He's the one with the ball in his hands the most, and his decision making is improving each week. (5) Did he win his first major international trophy 20 years ago? He just celebrated his 20th birthday this week. Unless you're considering birth a major international trophy, the answer is no.
#4 Jerrick Harding (Rytas Vilnius)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 5-3. Although, 1-1 in the Round of 16 with a home defeat, so that kinda hurts, but it's still a winning record for the season, right? Right. (2) Is he the reason why? He leads the BCL in scoring, so consider it a YES! (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 21.0 points, 51-39-86 shooting split, 3.0 rebounds, 17.8 efficiency rating per game. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Well, Speedy Smith did take the last shot in the fourth quarter against Galatasaray, but Speedy had just made one before that, so it's understood. Otherwise, it's Jerrick, or something around Jerrick to create the best possible shot for Rytas to win the game. (5) Did he win his first major international trophy 20 years ago? He was 7 back then. From what we've heard, he was very much into soccer as a kid, but the answer is still no.
#3 RaiQuan Gray (AEK BC)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 7-1 all season long, 2-0 in the Round of 16. (2) Is he the reason why? Yep, leads the team in measurable and unmeasurable. (2.5) You sound like a politician. Thanks. It means he leads the team in efficiency per game (16.8), but also in heart and determination, sacrificing his body, guarding "one" through "five" and generally being the leader in that locker room. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 12.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.5 steals per game. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? As explained in Frank Bartley's section of this, yep, probably. (5) Did he win his first major international trophy 20 years ago? He was six. Didn't even start playing basketball until he was nine.
#2 Jeremiah Hill (Elan Chalon)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 8-2 overall. (2) Is he the reason why? Click play and listen to the crowd down here, that'll get you the answer. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 15.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.4 steals, 14.4 efficiency rating per game. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? HAHAHAHAHAHA go ask ASVEL, ALBA, Nymburk, Wurzburg... (5) Did he win his first major international trophy 20 years ago? He was 10 then, so no.
#1 Ricky Rubio (Joventut Badalona)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? YES! 8-0. (2) Is he the reason why? Yes, leads the team in efficiency rating and points per game. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 14.1 points, 49-52-97 shooting split, 4.4 assists, 2.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals, 16.7 efficiency rating in just 17.7 minutes per game. Incredible! (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Either that, or he's finding an assist that nobody else on the floor thought was possible. (5) Did he win his first major international trophy 20 years ago? YES!!
Ricky was a part of the legendary Joventut Badalona team that went on to win the 2005-06 FIBA EuroCup, getting his first taste of international basketball as a 15-year-old!
Rubio played in six games that season, and while you'll be quick to recognize the names of Rudy Fernandez, Elmer Bennett, Robert Archibald, Lubos Barton, Andrew Betts, Alex Mumbru or Pau Ribas, there's one teammate from that Joventut team that caught our eyes immediately.
Back then, a 15-year-old Rubio had a backcourt partner in a 22-year-old man named Marcelinho Huertas.
Fast forward 20 years, they are still in the MVP conversations in international events. Eternal. No other words.
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