SASHA VEZENKOV - EUROLEAGUE MVP

Sasha Vezenkov, born Alexander Vezenkov, is currently the top running player for the Euroleague MVP. The Bulgarian native is averaging almost 18 points per game along with 7 rebounds and a steal, being 3rd in scoring and 3rd in total rebounds, and top in efficiency (Performance Index Rating) all while not dribbling the ball.

What is the Euroleague?

The Euroleague is a basketball association that was founded in 1958, it was supposed to be the European equivalent of the NBA, or the basketball equivalent of the champions league, depending on where you stand on the discussion. Since its foundation, both the NBA and the Euroleague went different ways, which can be scoring, dribbling, the way the game is played generally. In the NBA, it is normal to have many dribbles, it's also normal to play less team basketball, but it's hard to say since it has always fluctuated between the 70's and the 2000s. Nowadays it's clear that the game has changed in the US with higher scoring players, higher scores at the end of a fixture, and higher season stats. The NBA created this environment where offense is priority with more fouls, more carrying allowed, and the gather step. On the other hand, the Euroleague based evolved its rules to be more team centric, much like college basketball. As a matter of fact, college basketball is more similar to overseas basketball, since team plays are prioritized over the flashiness the NBA has to offer.

Now averaging 18 points per game may sound low to an NBA fan, since the top scorers are around the 33+ points mark in Luka Doncic, but the current top scorer in the league only averages 21.2 points. In fact when looking up the player stats on the Euroleague website, scoring is not the first statistic to show, it's fourth, while the first one is player efficiency or Performance Index Rating (PIR). Sasha Vezenkov is currently topping the chart in PIR, and what's more impressive is that he's doing it without dribbling the ball.

Only one month ago, Vezenkov had a total of 275 points in the Euroleague while dribbling the ball only 26 times the entirety of the season so far. Now he's at around 320 points in total, and we can imagine his dribbles aren't very high either. Now how can one of the best players in scoring not dribble? I'm sure you know the answer, and that is passing. Passing is a huge part of overseas basketball, in fact European basketball takes it to heart. In recent years, the Fordham Rams, a college basketball team, made the state championship by playing basketball with a minimum of three dribbles per player, the rest of the time the name of the game was passing. In total the team dribbled around 500 times throughout the season, while other teams had thousands of them, and somehow they managed to make it quite far in the division.

But passing isn't the only reason why Vezenkov and Olympiakos are doing so well. Of course passing plays a crucial part, but what Vezenkov has mastered is the off-ball movement around the court. Setting screens and fake screens, cutting, passing the ball, all of the above lead to Vezenkov scoring the ball, this season so far he is averaging 67% from the field. Additionally, Sasha can shoot from 3, in fact he is a taller version of Steph Curry seeing how far he shoots the 3 where he averages 44% of those.

Now 27 years old there is no real reason for Vezenkov to join the NBA, but teams such as the Sacramento Kings have shown interest in the player, and seeing how young European talent break through in the NBA it would be a great addition to the current NBA.