MIES (Switzerland) – Aaand we're back. Season X was emotional, but that's in the past now. We have new teams, new players, new coaches and new stories to write in Season 11 of the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL. Basketball never stops.
If you haven't had the chance to keep up to date with the teams and transfers this summer, don't stress. We here at BCL HQ have got you covered. To get you back up to speed, we put together a list of players to watch in Season 11.
We call them Player Power Rankings, but note the disclaimer that this is written before a ball has been tipped in anger, and we have included players who have yet to play a game in the BCL Regular Season.
We aren't saying this is absolutely the 15 best players in the BCL.
But they might be.
#15 Leland Walker (Salon Vilpas)
Players like Leland Walker have been key threads woven into the fabric of the BCL from the very start. Walker is the type of player who arrives in their rookie season in Europe and shines from the get-go.
He exploded for 42 points in Salon Vilpas' qualification tournament final against CSM CSU Raiffeisen Oradea, setting a new scoring record for a BCL qualification tournament game.
That was after scoring 29 points in the Quarter-Finals and then 33 in the Semi-Finals. He eventually finished the tournament with an average of 34.7 points per game. Oh, and he put up those numbers on 50-55-89 shooting splits as well!
Those are absurd numbers for a player taking his first steps on a new continent and playing FIBA basketball for the first time.
Walker is shifty, fearless, ruthless and smart. Of course, there will be challenges in maintaining those numbers, especially with the step up in level to the Regular Season.
But this isn't a player who needs space and time to get shots off or make decisions. This is a player who has already shown an impressive ability to bend the space and time available to him to get the shot or make the decision he wants.
If he can do that in the Regular Season, watch out!
#14 Emanuel Terry (Trabzonspor)
At #14, we have Emanuel Terry, a name that needs no introduction in the BCL. In Season 4, ET arrived at Bandirma and dominated both ends of the floor with extreme energy and determination. He put up 12 points and 10 rebounds over 14 games and played alongside a young Alperen Sengun.
Those numbers may look familiar to you, as Terry had 12 points and 8 rebounds in his first game with Trabzonspor, taking down Bursaspor in the Turkish League.
Terry is relentless on the glass, even more relentless defensively, but the real reason he's on this list is the highlights. Watch that video above, and you'll understand where we're coming from.
Lobs, blocks, dunks in transition: you just know it's going to be non-stop entertainment in Trabzonspor. With a stacked backcourt behind him, Terry should be must-watch basketball.
#13 Souley Boum Jr (UCAM Murcia)
If you have watched the Guinea national team, or you're an NCAA fan and caught a Xavier or UTEP game, you will know that Souley Jr. is Boum by name and BOOM! by nature.
This is a player that this particular BCL columnist has been hoping to see grace a BCL court for some time. We're talking about a playmaker with the speed and direction changes of a slalom skier and the shot-making of Yusuf Dikec.
Murcia and Sito Alonso have a roster that already looks like a strong contender for the Vibes team of the season.
The fact that we're putting Souley Boum Jr. on this list ahead of names like Dylan Ennis, Jonah Radebaugh and Howard Sant-Roos should tell you exactly why this is a player you'll want to look out for.
#12 Zoltan Perl (Falco KC Szombathely)
Do we really need to tell you why Zoltan Perl is in the top 15 of the Player Power Rankings?
If you've been paying even the slightest bit of attention over the last six seasons, you'll know that Perl is up there with the most difficult offensive players to stop in Europe.
Perl is eighth all-time in scoring, with 938 points, and will almost certainly climb into the top five by the time this season is done.
If he were a football player, the fans would sing, He scores when he wants, he scores when he wants, Zoltan Perl, he scores when he wants.
Because he really does score when he wants.
You can't sag off him and let him shoot; you can't get too close or he'll go by you. If you force him to pick up his dribble, he'll use crafty pivots and fadeaways.
Given the way Falco leans on him for huge usage numbers, if Perl ends a game with fewer than 20 points, it's been a bad night.
#11 Adama Sanogo (Hapoel Maoz Daniel Holon)
Adama Sanogo might be the best big in the BCL this season.
And as hot as that take might sound, with the likes of Willy Hernangomez, Arturas Gudaitis and Ismael Kamagate suiting up every week, Sanogo was certainly up there with the best of them statistically in Season X.
The big Malian put up 17 points and nine rebounds for Holon last year, and he did it with an efficiency rating of 22 as well. Sanogo has long arms and bullish strength, but also a delicate touch around the rim.
You'll see him catch lobs and use deliberate footwork around the rim, but don't sleep on him as a passer or as a shooting threat from outside.
Sanogo dished out 1.3 assists last year and shot 41 percent from deep on a low volume of attempts. Watch out for both his assist and shot-attempt numbers to increase this year.
It may seem strange to say that an NCAA champion and Final Four Most Outstanding Player with UConn in 2023 is somehow underrated, but we do feel like Sanogo maybe doesn't get the hype he deserves at times.
Let's see if that changes in Season 11.
#10 Speedy Smith (Pallacanestro Reggiana)
Our first BCL champion on the list, and one of the sport's good guys. Last year, Rytas head coach Giedrius Zibenas said that he wanted to win the BCL for Speedy because he'd come so close with Jerusalem before. And win it they did.
Speedy was outstanding in that Final Four, and his 11 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in the Final only tell part of the story.
His leadership and basketball IQ were the difference between Rytas making that incredible comeback and finishing second.
Speedy will be running the show for Reggiana this season, and they have a team that could be a real surprise package.
He looks to be out injured for the first couple of weeks, but when he's back, there's no doubt Speedy will be looking to write a few more stories.
#9 Hunter Hale (Itelyum Varese)
If Murcia don't end up as the Vibes team of Season 11, then Varese probably will.
They have a good-time roster with the likes of Amadeo Della Valle, Ismael Kamagate and Nate Renfro, but the talisman will almost certainly be Hunter Hale.
Hale put up 16 points, three rebounds and three assists as he steered AEK to the Season 9 Final Four.
The season before that, he put up 17.6 points and 3.3 assists for Promitheas Patras.
If you're looking for a leading candidate to finish the season as our top scorer, you likely won't find a stronger candidate than Hunter Hale.
#8 Jack Kayil (ALBA BERLIN)
We love a homegrown hero in the BCL!
Especially when that homegrown hero is the reigning Best Young Player winner and a second-round draft pick for the New York Knicks.
Kayil stepped up for ALBA when Boogie Ellis left the team and, at just 19 years of age, found a way to put the team on his back and make them even better than they were with Ellis on the roster. He put up 12 points, four assists and three rebounds and never hid from the big moments when his team needed him.
This is a player with a medal cabinet already overflowing from his youth exploits with Germany and, without a doubt, a future star of the sport on this continent.
#7 Dyshawn Pierre (Galatasaray MCT Technic)
Dyshawn Pierre was a double-double machine in his two BCL seasons with Sassari. So, it should come as no surprise that his old friend, Coach Gianmarco Pozzecco, reached out to him when he needed offensive firepower and defensive versatility in his frontcourt.
Pierre put up 12.6 points and 8.4 rebounds on 50 percent shooting in 2020. He's only grown as a player since then, as well.
As always, Gala look stacked and primed to compete for the whole thing.
If they're to finally get over the hump and win the BCL for the first time, there's no doubt Dyshawn Pierre will be one of the main reasons why.
#6 Nicolas Laprovittola (Asisa Joventut)
Look out! Nico Laprovittola and Ricky Rubio are both back in Badalona, and the fireworks are about to go off.
If you don't believe us, just look at what Laprovittola did in his first two games back for Joventut in the Spanish Supercopa.
First, he had 27 points and 10 assists against Baskonia in the Semi-Finals, then followed it up as he ripped through 31 points and seven assists as Badalona dropped 101 points on Barcelona's heads in the Final, winning the event.
He followed that with another 22 points against Breogan to start the Liga Endesa season.
You don't need us to tell you about what Nico Laprovittola can do on the basketball court. He's one of Spanish club competitions' most decorated individual players of the last nine years.
A 2023 ACB champion, 2019 ACB MVP and two-time Team of the Season selection... the list just goes on.
This Joventut squad is one of the favorites to lift the BCL trophy next May, and Nico Laprovittola is certainly a strong preseason MVP candidate.
Above all that, they're just going to be absolute cinema to watch.
The Basketball Champions League's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA or the Basketball Champions League.
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