Who would be EuroLeague all-time top scorer in new format era? / News - Basketnews.com

Data analyst Darius Garuolis calculated how many points every player would have scored if they had the opportunity to play in a 34-game EuroLeague regular season.

Credit: AFP–Scanpix, Alfonso Cannavacciuolo via Getty Images, AFP / ANGELOS TZORTZINIS Credit AFP–Scanpix, Alfonso Cannavacciuolo via Getty Images, AFP / ANGELOS TZORTZINIS

When Mike James became the EuroLeague's all-time leading scorer, surpassing former scoring king Vassilis Spanoulis, some argued that the increased number of games has allowed the American guard to climb up the ladder much faster compared to players belonging to previous generations.

Hence, using data from the 2000-01 EuroLeague season, data analyst Darius Garuolis calculated how many points every player would have scored if they had the opportunity to play in a 34-game regular season which was introduced in 2019 (following a 30-game regular season format established in 2016).

Methodology

The method predicts what the EuroLeague's all-time scoring table would have looked like if the current format had been in place since the very start of the modern EuroLeague.

So, if a player scored a certain number of points in a certain number of games during a certain season, we can estimate how many points they might score if they played more games, assuming their performance stays the same.

However, the actual number of missed games is also included in an equation so that the calculation is fairer. Also, since the EuroLeague playoffs format has been always the same, this calculation evaluated regular season games only.

Let's use an actual example so there wouldn't be any doubts about how it works.

In the 2007-08 season, Olympiacos played 20 regular season games (including the TOP 16). Arvydas Macijauskas played in 10 out of 20 games and scored 178 points.

If Olympiacos had played 34 games (34/20=1.7 times more), that means Macijauskas would have played 10*1.7=17 games (still half).

If he had continued to average 17.8 points per game, he would have scored 302.6 points in 17 games.

Results

James needed only 247 contests to reach 4.464 points, as opposed to Spanoulis' 310. However, James only had to miss 32 games due to the different format throughout his 10-year career in the league, while the current coach of the Greek NT was absent from 143 appearances.

According to this calculation, former scoring recordman Juan Carlos Navarro would still top the list, as he was doing until Spanoulis dethroned him.

The former FC Barcelona and EuroLeague legend missed 199 games because of a format change, which would have kept him ahead of the pack.

The same goes for Paulius Jankunas, who was absent from 200 EuroLeague games and could be as high as 4th instead of 13th, which is his current position.

On the other hand, Mike James got to play just 1.5 seasons under the previous format, which means that his overall scoring tally wouldn't have been significantly bigger. That's why the AS Monaco guard would drop to 6th place.

Mike Batiste, who retired in 2014, and Igor Rakocevic, who played his last EuroLeague game in 2012, would gain 18 and 32 positions, respectively, had their entire career transpired under the 34-game format.

Top 20 list

No. Player Status Actual games played Actual points scored New games New points Actual ranking 1. Juan Carlos Navarro Retired 289 4.152 488 6.732 4 2. Vassilis Spanoulis Retired 310 4.455 453 6.352 2 3. Nando De Colo Active 256 4.411 308 5.168 3 4. Paulius Jankunas Retired 386 3.241 586 5.064 13 5. Sergio Llull Active 334 3.849 462 5.048 5 6. Mike James Active 247 4.464 279 4.912 1 7. Giorgos Printezis Retired 324 3.599 458 4.813 8 8. Marcus Brown Retired 163 2.739 302 4.794 26 9. Sergio Rodriguez Active 345 3.731 456 4.719 6 10. Felipe Reyes Retired 302 3.029 478 4.655 16 11. Milos Teodosic Active 241 3.307 363 4.625 12 12. Mike Batiste Retired 201 2.496 370 4.500 33 13. Jan Vesely Active 301 3.713 387 4.500 7 14. Igor Rakocevic Retired 136 2.328 283 4.496 46 15. Jaka Lakovic Retired 187 2.524 351 4.457 30 16. Kyle Hines Retired 364 3.335 465 4.324 11 17. Nikola Vujcic Retired 162 2.444 306 4.324 38 18. Keith Langford Active 131 2.289 252 4.245 50 19. Nikola Mirotic Retired 202 3.435 264 4.159 10 20. Ioannis Bourousis Retired 244 2.408 436 4.095 41

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