MIES (Switzerland) - It's time to continue the MVP Race for the 11th 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), Marcelinho Huertas (VIII, IX), and Frank Bartley (X) 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) Was his father a pro soccer player in Morocco?
(See? Number five is just random.)
#10 Zoltan Perl (Falco-Vulcano Szombathely)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Nope, 1-2. (1.5) So... Why is he here then? Because he's what makes BCL such a fun competition. All-time leader in 20+ point games, all-time leader in consecutive games with 10+ points scored, and as of this week, the sixth player with 1000 career points. In other words, Zoltan is BCL. Just not the MVP Race leader, that's all.
#9 Ty Nichols (Peristeri Betsson)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 3-0. (2) Is he the reason why? Well... (2.5) Oh my lord now what!? He is. But he's got one major issue in his MVP campaign, and that is the fact that Peristeri are really a one-two punch with him and Jalen Finch. Both of them are clutch, both of them are scorers, passers, defenders, and it's just a matter that we chose Nichols over Finch for this checkpoint. But in reality, if Peristeri repeat 2024 and reach the Final Four, we could do that NBA All-Star thing when they have co-MVPs.
#8 Bastien Vautier (Surne Bilbao)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 2-1. (2) Is he the reason why? Well... (2.5) Sometimes, I hate this column. Shut up. Thing is, he only played a pair of games, and they lost one of those. The one game he didn't play? They won that one. So technically, he's not the reason why. But if he keeps these numbers up (18.0pts, 10.0reb, 20.5 eff), and Bilbao have a deep run in them, Bastien would be part of the MVP Race every time.
#7 Neftali Difuidi (SIG Strasbourg)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 2-1. (2) Is he the reason why? Ehm... Yes? (2.5) That sounds convincing, sure. Thing is, this is - statistically - one of the most impressive starts to the season we've ever seen, because SIG Strasbourg have... (wait... counting...) SEVEN players with an efficiency rating of 13.0 or higher, per game. And yes, you're spot on when you go "wasn't Maxence Lemoine in the MVP Race the last time!?" and yes, you're absolutely correct when you say "wasn't Abdoulaye N'Doye pulling off some crazy stats on Gameday 1!?" and yes, yes, yes, their real MVP isn't even mentioned yet, because you feel like Jaylen Hands is actually THAT guy. Anyway, Neftali celebrated his 25th birthday with 23 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and a block. But he's not the leader of the race here.
#6 Adama Sanogo (Hapoel Maoz Daniel Holon)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yeah, 2-1. (2) Is he the reason why? Oh yes. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 22.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 25.7 efficiency rating per game. That's a yes. No, wait, that's a YES! (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Not sure. Because Lester Medford and Claudell Harris Jr had all the clutch buckets against RASTA Vechta the other day. (4.5) So you're saying Adama is not the leader of the MVP Race at checkpoint 3? Nope. But still the leader in efficiency rating per game this season.
#5 Gytis Radzevicius (Rytas Vilnius)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 2-1. (2) Is he the reason why? Yes. Simple math: Gytis scores 10+ pts: Rytas 2-0. Gytis scores less than 10 pts: Rytas 0-1. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 14.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 19.7 efficiency rating per game, while shooting 55 percent from deep on four attempts 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? He has a history of doing stuff like that, yep. (5) Was his father a pro soccer player in Morocco? Nope. Soccer is growing in Lithuania, thanks to a lot of Croatian firepower on the pitch, but no, his father was not a pro soccer player in Morocco. Being from Vilnius, though, his dad probably witnessed the greatness of Zalgiris Vilnius' 1987 team, finishing third in the Soviet Top League. Go look it up on YouTube, it's a nice story.
#4 Brandon Angel (ALBA BERLIN)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 3-0. (2) Is he the reason why? Oh yes, difference maker in just 20.7 minutes per game. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 16.3 points, 79-67-68 shooting split, 4.3 rebounds, 20.7 efficiency rating per game, yes, that's the same number as his minutes per game, yes, that means he gets one efficiency rating point per minute which means he does one good thing per minute, basically. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? He went 10-of-10 from the field the other day against Surne Bilbao, so it sounds like a good idea, yep. (5) Was his father a pro soccer player in Morocco? Nope. But his mother played volleyball at Hawaii, which is a fun fact to keep in mind if we need the fifth question when he's the leader of the MVP Race.
#3 Frank Bartley IV (AEK BC)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 2-1. (2) Is he the reason why? They won the two games he played, and lost the one he did not play. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 21.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 19.0 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? My brother in Christ, have you not watched a single Frank Bartley clip in your life? (5) Was his father a pro soccer player in Morocco? Nope. Also, this is the reason we put "soccer" in this question, because Frank's father, Frank Bartley III, played football for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns. Which explains the natural upper body aggression Frank IV has, btw.
#2 Nicolas Laprovittola (Asisa Joventut)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep, 3-0. (2) Is he the reason why? Oh Nico is always the reason why. (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 16.7 points, 48 percent from deep on seven attempts per game, 3.3 assists, +28 with him on the floor this season. (4) If his team's season is on the line and they need one shot to save it, is he the one taking it? Bro. (5) Was his father a pro soccer player in Morocco? You can imagine Juan Carlos probably played it in the streets back home in Argentina, but no, there are no actual records of Juan Carlos Laprovittola being a pro soccer player. Also, here's one thing that will get no further explanation, but you know it's 100 percent true and you feel it, too: Of all the pro basketball players in the world, Nicolas Laprovittola looks like he's the best soccer player of them all. Easy.
#1 Amine Noua (Unicaja)
(1) Does his team have a winning record? Yep! 3-0! (2) Is he the reason why? Yep! Became only the second Unicaja player EVER to score 15+ points in three straight BCL games, after Dario Brizuela, while also tying the Basque Mamba's mark with 27 points this week, the second best by an Unicaja player in a single BCL game (Kam Taylor, 33). (3) Does he have the numbers to be the MVP? 22.0 points, 60-56-80 shooting split, 4.0 rebounds, 21.3 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? Catch and shoot three, and it's going in by not touching the rim. (5) Was his father a pro soccer player in Morocco? YES! According to Amine, a pretty good one, too!
However, Amine did not follow in Mohamed's footsteps, simply because his feet became too large.
He grew so much he had to switch from all the other sports he tried playing as a kid, including soccer, of course, but also rugby and swimming.
But those soccer genes, along with a swimming technique which makes Amine claim he's the best swimmer among basketball players and the best basketball player among swimmers, have clearly made him a pro athlete of the highest level.
He's doing something we've never seen a player on any Unicaja roster do, just dominating with elite numbers. Can't wait to see if he can keep it up all season long, because you just know Unicaja will be a contender with all these pieces fitting in.
Amine being the most consistent one, right now.
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