Sportando European Team of the Week: Week of May 13

Since both Sportando and BallinEurope devoted the majority of our basketball-devoted time to the Euroleague Final Four and Nike International Junior tournaments last week, we’re doing things a little differently for this week’s Team of the Week: First up we’ll acknowledge the key players in the Euroleague events, followed by a second team comprised of the rest of The Continent’s worthy performances over the past seven days. Who were the very best in Europe? Read on to find out (and watch clips)!

Euroleague Final Four team

Vassilis Spanoulis, G, Olympiacos Piraeus. Gotta admit that it’s was tempting to simply fill all five of these roster spots with members of the now-defending Euroleague champion Reds after their stirring performance in capturing that second straight crown – particularly when The Captain got the Final Four MVP essentially based on one half of one game. What a half, though: After shooting an ice-cold 0-of-7 in the first 20 minutes, Spanoulis rallied back with 22 points in 18 minutes of court time in the third and fourth quarters of the EL championship game. And beyond the stats, how can any basketball devotee fail to appreciate the man’s off-the-charts leadership skills? Two-Continental-title-leading skills, that is.

Video: Spanoulis’ second-half assault of Madrid

Kyle Hines, F, Olympiacos Piraeus. As media members mulled over their choice for Euroleague Final Four MVP, BallinEurope’s informal poll revealed essentially a choice of two: Spanoulis or Hines. Though figuring Vassilis would get the nod, this writer nevertheless went with Hines, a certainly justifiable choice based on his 12.5 points and 18.0 PIR averages over the two games. And if you think this Sportando Team of the Week is short on big men, check out the tape for Hines’ 10 boards against the massive Moscow squad in the semifinal – not to mention the Lebron-like block from behind that was the individual highlight of the final game.

Euroleague video: Sir Hines channels King James

Rudy Fernandez, G, Real Madrid. Los Blancos’ bad boy was as good as Real wanted him to be in this tournament, displaying his All-Euroleague arsenal in both match with his playmaking and all-around game for an impressive stat line of 14.5 points, 4.0 boards, 3.5 assists, 3.0 steals per in the tourney.

Euroleague video: Rudy feeds Reyes for the dagger to Barcelona

Sergio Rodriguez, G, Real Madrid. At one point during the FC Barcelona-Madrid semifinal match, some wag bestowed the #FearTheBeard Twitter hashtag on Rodriguez. That alone might be enough to earn Europe’s apparent answer to James Harden a spot on this week’s team, but his line of 14.5 points and 6.5 assists (including a huge – and Blaugrana-spellbinding – nine in the first game) per wasn’t too shabby, either. ¡Tema la Barba!

Video: Rodriguez inducing pogonophobia in Barca before the Final Four

Ante Tomic, C, FC Barcelona. Barca may have finished fourth in this year’s edition of the Euroleague, but Tomic did what he could – until his teammates stopped going to him inside in the fourth quarter of the Real Madrid game. Still, his 10-of-13 (76.9%) was tops among starters in the Final Four tournament as the Croatian was forced to make up for the absence of Pete Mickael and the extremely hobbled Nathan Jawai.

Video: Tomic’s pre-tournament thoughts

Sixth man

Abaldo Abalde, FIATC Joventut. World, meet young Señor Abalde, a 17-year-old wunderkind guard that can shoot the long ball (he averaged 17.8 ppg including 9-of-18 shooting on threes in this NIJT) as well as snag key rebounds (to the tune of 5.8 per game). Abalade’s naming as tournament MVP is certainly just another step on the ladder to future success.

Video: …and this one should have been a four-pointer

All-Europe Team

Per Guenther, G, Ratiopharm Ulm. 35 points on 12-of-15 shooting would be notable over two games in a week – and Guenther did it in one: namely, in game two of Ulm’s Bundesliga quarterfinal series against Artland Dragons. The high-jumping playmaker would go on to score 12 as Ulm continued its pursuit of a 2013-14 Euroleague bid in game three of the series on Saturday to complete the sweep.

BBL video: Dragons-slaying Guenther fuels Ulm victory

Tony Parker, G, San Antonio Spurs. TP’s presence on Sportando Teams of the Week is nearly becoming cliché, but at almost 31 (his birthday’s this week), the Spur playmaker is simply playing some of the best ball of his career exactly when his celebrated team needs it. In four games against the Golden State Warriors with legs in varied state of injury, Parker’s average line read 24.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists; to put this in perspective his career playoff numbers are 19.1, 3.3 and 5.1, respectively.

Video: Parker keeps Golden State faithful quiet in game three

George Jgerenaia, F, Armia. Wow, the playoff schedule is intense in Georgia. Would you believe a best-of-five semifinals series in seven days? Unfortunately for them, Armia was swept in three, but Jgerenaia did what he humanly could with three consecutive double-doubles in four nights.

Video: What? You’ve never seen a Georgian League game?

Quinton Hosley, F, Basket Zielona Gora. The naturalized Georgian journeyman came to Poland this season after recent stints with Galatasaray and Real Madrid and most recently in his re-found leadership role helped get last year’s third-place finishers to within two wins of the championship round. In finishing off Energa Czarni on Wednesday and taking semifinal game one against AZS Koszalin on Sunday, Hosley was a human Swiss army knife with an average PIR of 20.5 based on 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and a huge 4.0 steals per in the two games.

Video: Hosley and Gora finish off Energa Czarni in game five

Marc Gasol, C, Memphis Grizzlies. First question: Is there a more skilled European big man in the game right now? Gasol The Younger’s average line in three games last week of 21.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.7 blocks would be impressive enough – but it’s coming against his Spanish teammate Serge Ibaka and the defending NBA Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder. Second question: How would David Stern feel about a finals pitting the small-market Grizz against, say, the equally small-market Indiana Pacers? (That one may be rhetorical…)

Video: Gasol, Z-Bo unstoppable against Thunder

Honorable mention

Depending on his career path, we may not get to honor the NIJT Team China’s Heng Yifeng ever again. The young big man make his mark on Europe last weekend – albeit perhaps briefly – by winning the NIJT Slam Dunk Contest with a “mini-windmill two-handed dunk.” And if it’s good enough to impress the likes of Aryvdas Sabonis, Trajan Langdon and Joe Arlauckas, it’s good enough for us.

Video: Well, none. (Come on, Euroleague, don’t you recognize an opportunity to go viral when you see one…?)

– compiled by Os Davis

Os Davis writes/posts/tweets for the ESPN TrueHoop Network site BallinEurope.com. He also co-produces the mostly European basketball-centered weekly podcast Taking the Charge with heinnews.com, and watches way too much basketball through online subscription packages and dodgy live streams.