The EuroLeague's GOAT Vote: All-Time Top 25 Players Ranked From #1 (Vassilis Spanoulis) To #25 (Kostas Sloukas)

[JujitsuFlip]

Shane Larkin won an MVP over there...says all I need to know about that league

No, he didn't. And that troll is really tired and played out.

Walter Tavares did in 2023, so it's not much better lol at least Larkin was able to step on the NBA floor in some meaningful mintues.

[Mirotic12]

Walter Tavares did in 2023, so it's not much better lol at least Larkin was able to step on the NBA floor in some meaningful mintues.

No, Walter Tavares was not the EuroLeague's MVP in 2023.

[JujitsuFlip]

Walter Tavares did in 2023, so it's not much better lol at least Larkin was able to step on the NBA floor in some meaningful mintues.

No, Walter Tavares was not the EuroLeague's MVP in 2023.

Well, whatever this is, he did it. And if a guy who had Nate Robinson literally dribble under his legs is the most valuable anything for a league, yikes.

[Mirotic12]

Walter Tavares did in 2023, so it's not much better lol at least Larkin was able to step on the NBA floor in some meaningful mintues.

No, Walter Tavares was not the EuroLeague's MVP in 2023.

Well, whatever this is, he did it. And if a guy who had Nate Robinson literally dribble under his legs is the most valuable anything for a league, yikes.

Walter Tavares was not the EuroLeague MVP in 2023.

Sasha Vezenkov was the EuroLeague MVP in 2023.

[iggymcfrack]

Thanks for the list. Except for a couple or more, indeed a list why the quality of this league is multiple tiers below the NBA.

If EuroLeague was "multiple tiers" below the NBA, it would be impossible for an NBA team to ever lose a game to a EuroLeague team. Yet, NBA teams have lost a bunch of games to EuroLeague teams.

If there was even one tier of difference in the levels, just one, NBA teams could never lose a game to a EuroLeague team.

You obviously don't understand what a tier system is.

NBA to G League is one tier. NBA to NCAA Division I is two tiers. So NBA to NCAA Division I is "multiple tiers".

There is a zero percent chance that any NCAA Division I team can beat any NBA ream, or any EuroLeague team either. There is also a zero percent chance that any G League team could ever beat an NBA or EuroLeague team, and that's just one tier level of difference, and not "multiple tiers".

I hope you are just talking smack and that you don't actually believe that EuroLeague teams are "multiple tiers" apart, or in other words, that EuroLeague teams are at the same level as NCAA college teams.

The NCAA select team beat the Dream Team. College baseball teams beat MLB teams all the time. You think they’re on the same level?

[Bloodbather]

Shane Larkin won an MVP over there...says all I need to know about that league

No, he didn't. And that troll is really tired and played out.

Shane Larkin won an MVP over there...says all I need to know about that league

Next statement of Mirotic: Larkin should not have won an MVP anyway it's the media blah blah blah...

Shane Larkin didn't actually win a EuroLeague MVP. He's been using that exact same phrase almost every time anything to do with the EuroLeague is mentioned on the forum.

I guess he thinks it's clever or something.

Your refutations aren't what you think they are. Just the fact that those players are MVP candidates proves their point about the talent gap. You're not really refuting the point. Larkin, James, Nunn, Micic, Vezenkov, Tavares, all belong to the same category of NBA players anyway.

I think Euroleague is usually a better watch than regular season NBA, but there's a massive talent gap between the two leagues no matter how you slice it.

[Mirotic12]

You know a league is weak when Mike James is ranked in the top 10.

He should not be ranked that high. The media voters put him at number 3. So I guess that's how he got 6th overall. European basketball media has a very strange obsession with Mike James.

They call him the EuroLeague GOAT like 20 times a week, even though he's never won a championship and is probably one of the worst players ever at the final four stage.

I think it's because the EuroLeague uses American marketing companies to run its social media, podcasts and such now. It's seems pretty clear that they want an American to be considered the EuroLeague GOAT, and James is the only option they have to push that narrative on.

Objectively speaking, I don't think he's higher than top 30 at best.

But he won euroleague mvp and was euroleague first team twice.

I don't think someone who would win an mvp would be a top 30 player....

Is former NBA MVP Derrick Rose a top 30 all time NBA player?

[Blame Rasho]

Listing of people who cry about missing their mommy…

1. Vassilis Spanoulis.

[dantas]

NBA is obviously the best basketball league in the world.

Of course, none of them would be candidates for GOAT in NBA. But many of these players could have played a good role. Those who tried their luck in the NBA just didn't fit in at the time. There are many stories within the NBA itself of players who did well in one franchise and not in another. There's even an award for it (mip).

[Woodsanity]

He should not be ranked that high. The media voters put him at number 3. So I guess that's how he got 6th overall. European basketball media has a very strange obsession with Mike James.

They call him the EuroLeague GOAT like 20 times a week, even though he's never won a championship and is probably one of the worst players ever at the final four stage.

I think it's because the EuroLeague uses American marketing companies to run its social media, podcasts and such now. It's seems pretty clear that they want an American to be considered the EuroLeague GOAT, and James is the only option they have to push that narrative on.

Objectively speaking, I don't think he's higher than top 30 at best.

But he won euroleague mvp and was euroleague first team twice.

I don't think someone who would win an mvp would be a top 30 player....

Is former NBA MVP Derrick Rose a top 30 all time NBA player?

Mike James was MVP literally last season. Rose was MVP ages ago....

[Mirotic12]

Mike James was MVP literally last season. Rose was MVP ages ago....

Which has nothing to do with being a top 30 player of alltime. You said you doubted an MVP would just be a top 30 player in league history.

So is Derrick Rose a top 30 player in NBA history? He won an NBA MVP, so should he automatically be considered one of the 30 best NBA players ever?

You seem to be disputing the argument that Mike James shouldn't be ranked as the number 6 of all time EuroLeague player, just because he once won an MVP award. So should Derrick Rose be a top 6 all time NBA player, just because he once won an MVP award?

There were several players that won MVP awards in EuroLeague that didn't make the all time top 25 list (Andrei Kirilenko, Nemanja Bjelica, Jan Vesely, Nikola Mirotic, Sasha Vezenkov, etc.). So obviously, just being a league MVP does not make a player worthy of the list. Otherwise, multiple EuroLeague MVPs wouldn't have failed to make the all time top 25 list. So just being a league MVP didn't get them on a top 25 player ranking.

[Mirotic12]

Shane Larkin won an MVP over there...says all I need to know about that league

No, he didn't. And that troll is really tired and played out.

Next statement of Mirotic: Larkin should not have won an MVP anyway it's the media blah blah blah...

Shane Larkin didn't actually win a EuroLeague MVP. He's been using that exact same phrase almost every time anything to do with the EuroLeague is mentioned on the forum.

I guess he thinks it's clever or something.

Your refutations aren't what you think they are. Just the fact that those players are MVP candidates proves their point about the talent gap. You're not really refuting the point. Larkin, James, Nunn, Micic, Vezenkov, Tavares, all belong to the same category of NBA players anyway.

I think Euroleague is usually a better watch than regular season NBA, but there's a massive talent gap between the two leagues no matter how you slice it.

They claimed Larkin won the MVP in the EuroLeague. That was the claim that was made. I simply said he didn't win it, which is factually true and correct. So my refutation was most certainly pertinent.

Do you think that in this forum no one would point out the error if someone claimed that Tim Hardaway was NBA MVP? Of course it would be pointed out, and of course it would be a pertinent refutation of an incorrect statement.

[RRR3]

Yooooo OP has to be the legendary Euroleague from ISH. Am I right OP?

[Mirotic12]

NBA is obviously the best basketball league in the world.

Of course, none of them would be candidates for GOAT in NBA. But many of these players could have played a good role. Those who tried their luck in the NBA just didn't fit in at the time. There are many stories within the NBA itself of players who did well in one franchise and not in another. There's even an award for it (mip).

Yeah, unfortunately, a lot of NBA coaches didn't want to trust European players until the last 5-10 years or so. There were even mentions in the media how some NBA execs, scouts, and coaches doubted Luka before the draft, because [paraphrasing] "he didn't play in the NCAA against players that are superior to EuroLeague players."

Unfortunately, that kind of mindset in the NBA towards players from Europe persisted for a very long time.

[Mirotic12]

Just for clarification purposes, and I probably should have explained this earlier - for the posters here that don't follow the EuroLeague, Walter Tavares wasn't EuroLeague MVP, which is a season award. It used to be for the whole season and now it's just for the regular season.

Anyway, Tavares did not win that EuroLeague MVP award in 2023, Sasha Vezenkov did. The MVP award that Tavares won in 2023, was the EuroLeague's Final Four MVP, which is an award for the last 2 games of the season only. So two entirely completely different awards.

As for Shane Larkin, he wasn't the EuroLeague MVP or the EuroLeague Final Four MVP in those years that his team (Efes) was winning EuroLeague championships. Those awards did go to his teammate Vasilije Micic.

Hopefully, that clears up the confusion for members here that don't regularly follow the EuroLeague.

[Blame Rasho]

NBA is obviously the best basketball league in the world.

Of course, none of them would be candidates for GOAT in NBA. But many of these players could have played a good role. Those who tried their luck in the NBA just didn't fit in at the time. There are many stories within the NBA itself of players who did well in one franchise and not in another. There's even an award for it (mip).

Yeah, unfortunately, a lot of NBA coaches didn't want to trust European players until the last 5-10 years or so. There were even mentions in the media how some NBA execs, scouts, and coaches doubted Luka before the draft, because [paraphrasing] "he didn't play in the NCAA against players that are superior to EuroLeague players."

Unfortunately, that kind of mindset in the NBA towards players from Europe persisted for a very long time.

Another absolute trash post from you…. Had to bold everything since everything is wrong.

[Mirotic12]

Complete ranking of the media vote:

Media Top 25 Vote Results:

*players did not make the EuroLeague's Top 25 All-Time Selection

1. Vassilis Spanoulis (Greece)

2. Dimitris Diamantidis (Greece)

3. Mike James (USA)

4. Nando De Colo (France)

5. Juan Carlos Navarro (Spain)

6. Vasilije Micic (Serbia)

7. Sergio Llull (Spain)

8. Sarunas Jasikevicius (Lithuania)

9. Milos Teodosic (Serbia)

10. Theodoros Papaloukas (Greece)

11. Rudy Fernandez (Spain)

12. Sergio Rodriguez (Spain)

13. Anthony Parker (USA)

14. Dejan Bodiroga (Serbia)

15. Jan Vesely (Czech Republic)*

16. Mike Batiste (USA)

17. Nikola Mirotic (Montenegro)*

18. Sasha Vezenkov (Cyprus)*

19. Kostas Sloukas (Greece)

20. Nikola Vujcic (Croatia)

21. Edy Tavares (Cape Verde)

22. Kyle Hines (USA)

23. Felipe Reyes (Spain)*

24. Shane Larkin (USA)

25. Georgios Printezis (Greece)


Media Vote Results 26-41::

*players did not make the EuroLeague's Top 25 All-Time Selection

26. Marcus Brown (USA)*

27. Nick Calathes (USA)*

28. Ramunas Siskauskas (Lithuania)

29. Luis Scola (Argentina)*

30. Trajan Langdon (USA)*

31. Erazem Lorbek (Slovenia)*

32. Andrei Kirilenko (Russia)*

33. Manu Ginobili (Argentina)

34. Luka Doncic (Slovenia)

35. Ioannis Bourousis (Greece)*

36. Alphonso Ford (USA)*

37. Will Clyburn (USA)*

38. Victor Khryapa (Russia)*

39. Alexey Shved (Russia)*

40. Tiago Splitter (Brazil)*

41. Paulius Jankunas (Lithuania)*

[Optimus_Steel]

Not that I follow Euroleague but this seems like a weird list…. No Toni Kukoc????

[GreatWhiteStiff]

You know a league is weak when Mike James is ranked in the top 10.

lol I still remember when he had his breakout season on a mediocre Heat squad replacing Tim Hardaway. He could shoot the 3 ball, I’ll give him that, and he never lacked confidence.

Different Mike James. This Mike James went undrafted and played less than 50 nba games as a two way contract and 10 day contract guy. And mirotic says the NBA isn’t tiers above Euroleague

The Mike James you’re talking about had a breakout year in Toronto

They are tiers (ok ok Mirotic one tier, PERHAPS) different in terms of basketball skill. Mike James the raptor was a decent nba player, Mike James the Euroleague star was not.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

lol I still remember when he had his breakout season on a mediocre Heat squad replacing Tim Hardaway. He could shoot the 3 ball, I’ll give him that, and he never lacked confidence.

Different Mike James. This Mike James went undrafted and played less than 50 nba games as a two way contract and 10 day contract guy. And mirotic says the NBA isn’t tiers above Euroleague

The Mike James you’re talking about had a breakout year in Toronto

They are tiers (ok ok Mirotic one tier, PERHAPS) different in terms of basketball skill. Mike James the raptor was a decent nba player, Mike James the Euroleague star was not.

It's funny because even if it was Mike James the Raptor (and also Heat! He actually had his semi breakout with Miami, to the NBA as a league anyways), I'd still say that proves the Euroleague isn't that great, if he was one of the top 10 players ever. The fact its a whole other guy levels below him, ouch.