[European BasketballerParticipant]

http://www.euroleague.net/news/i/112909/180

Rising Star Trophy winner: Kostas Papanikolaou, Olympiacos Piraeus

In one of the closest races in the history of the award, Kostas Papanikolaou of Olympiacos Piraeus has been voted the Euroleague Rising Star Trophy winner for the 2012-13 season. The Rising Star Trophy recognizes Euroleague players who were under the age of 22 on July 1 of the summer before the season started. One of the heroes for Olympiacos as it became champion in breathtaking fashion a year ago, Papanikolaou improved his reputation for great performances in big games this season. He also made a smooth transition for promising young talent to a pillar in the Reds’ drive to repeat as Euroleague title-holders. During this 2012-13 season, Papanikolaou boosted his production in every major statistical category, led the Euroleague in three-point accuracy and collected his first bwin MVP of the Week honor. His never-ending hustle, feel for the game at both ends of the court, and tremendous confidence have helped Papanikolaou develop into an exciting force to watch. By the slimmest of margins in voting conducted by Turkish Airlines Euroleague head coaches, Papanikolaou edged the Rising Star winner of the last two seasons, Nikola Mirotic of Real Madrid. As with Mirotic and previous award winners, fans can expect Kostas Papanikolaou, the 2013 Rising Star, to keep shining for years to come.

The Rising Star Trophy is one of several end-of-season honors awarded by Euroleague Basketball. Earlier in the week, the Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy was credited to Montepaschi Siena guard Bobby Brown. Other to be announced shortly include: the Euroleague Best Defender Trophy, the All-Euroleague nominees and the first- and second-team honorees. The bwin MVP award will be revealed at the Efes Pilsener Euroleague Awards Ceremony on May 9. Two other awards, the Alexander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year Trophy and the Euroleague Club Executive of the Year, are given after the season ends.

The impact of Papanikolaou, 22, can be seen from the fact that he was among the Reds’ leaders across every statistical category. He was second on the team in rebounding ( 4.5 rpg.) and steals (0.9 spg.), third in performance index rating (12.2 per game) and blocks (0.7 bpg.), and fourth in both scoring (9 ppg.) and assists ( 1.4 apg.). It took Papanikolaou time to get going this season, but after three games passed, he rocked into form and led Olympiacos on a seven-game winning streak during which he averaged 13.1 points and an index rating of 15.3. His 59.4% three-point shooting was tied for the fifth-best regular season percentage in competition history among players with at least 30 attempts from the arc. He saved the best game of his career to date for a little later, with Olympiacos facing elimination in the Top 16 finale. Papanikolaou left no doubts about his star status by posting career-highs of 21 points, 12 rebounds and a 37 index rating to lead his team over BC Khimki Moscow Region 79-70 and into the playoffs with home-court advantage. His 6-of-6 three-point shooting that night matched the best perfect shooting from behind the arc in Top 16 history. Even in the playoffs, with points harder to come by, Papanikolaou doubled his assists average to that point (from 1.2 apg. to 2.8 apg.) by creating the best shots for others, while simultaneously cutting his turnovers As he has all season, Papanikolaou will look to take responsibility well beyond what his age would suggest as Olympiacos heads to London chasing history in the form of a title repeat.

Papanikolaou’s selection ensures that half of the first eight Rising Star Award winners will be competing at the London Final Four. Barcelona Regal big man Erazem Lorbek, then of Climamio Bologna, was the recipient of the inaugural Rising Star Award in 2005 and Mirotic’s Madrid teammate Rudy Fernandez collected the trophy with DKV Joventut in 2007. The list of other past Rising Star Award winners includes Andrea Bargnani with Benetton Treviso in 2006, Danilo Gallinari of Armani Jeans Milano in 2008, Novica Velickovic of Partizan in 2009, Ricky Rubio of Barcelona Regal in 2010, and Mirotic, the first two-time winner, in 2011 and 2012. Papanikolaou will be honored as the Rising Star Trophy winner at the Euroleague Awards Ceremony during the 2013 Turkish Airlines Euroleague Final Four.

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Euroleague.net

[JoeWolf1]

He did get drafted, last year, by the Knicks. He may be in the NBA soon.

[European BasketballerParticipant]

He better not dare sign with the Blazers. They are horrible to European players. They will ruin his career. He better not even consider playing with them.

[JoeWolf1]

The Knicks have his draft rights, they would be the favorite unless he’s traded.

[European BasketballerParticipant]

The Blazers have his draft rights. And he would be very stupid to play with them after how they have treated so many Euroleague players.

[JoeWolf1]

Really? That’s news to me, but I’ll buy it. They screwed Freeland, he got a raw deal going to the D-League.

[BenchWarmerParticipant]

Im pretty sure the Blazers dont care where a player is from. If you are refering to Fernandez, he was a roleplayer and was not willing to except that.
Batum is from Europe and hes making 10+ million a year and playing 38+ minutes a night…that not being treated horrible.

[European BasketballerParticipant]

For over a year, I was talking about him here and saying he should be drafted, and I would get dozens of hate posts from other posters here making fun of me and calling me a liar in response.

[European BasketballerParticipant]

[A Lil EnglishParticipant]

Your point was already proven that he could play when he performed well in the final four last year and then got drafted. I watched Olympiacos more after you mentioned him and knew he could really play. Very good athlete good shooter and solid IQ.

What remains to be seen is if he will got to the NBA and contribute. If his rights are owned by the Blazers then who else is he going to sign for?

[European BasketballerParticipant]

Well, Blazers have worst track record of any NBA team for Euroleague players in recent years.

[pohani komaracParticipant]

Like Batum???

Imo this award should went to Mirotic hands, Papanikolau should be 2nd

[European BasketballerParticipant]

Like I said you never watch Euroleague at all. You are a total poser. I TOLD YOU this award NEVER EVER goes to the player that deserves it. It NEVER has.

Then you called me a liar and an idiot and said I was trolling. Well, once again, we know now who the REAL troll is.

NEVER does this award go to the player that deserves it, just like I told you. You better stop trolling me, before others here catch onto how huge of a troll you really are.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I TOLD YOU this award NEVER EVER goes to the player that deserves it. It NEVER has.

So, are you admitting he is right in saying that Mirotic should have won it? Are you saying that someone else should have won it? Or, are you trying to say that for the first time in the history of the award, it went to the right player?

Really confusing. How is he a troll for stating an opinion? Much less for it being on topic and only a couple sentences, when you have trolled your @ss off for a number of paragraphs. Seems like a major flaw in your logic along with your beliefs on the matter.

Plus, just to see if you can actually give content that may indeed provide some information or maybe teach users something about European Basketball or the supposed injustice of the Euroleague Rising Star award, who should have won it from 2005 on? Guessing we will once again, be left hanging by Trolly O’Trollingsworth the Super Troll.

 

[A Lil EnglishParticipant]

That’s unfortunate for him then isn’t it!

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

I was busy with some other things and I was like "wait until European Basketballer sees the site giving his boy some props".

Congrats to Papanikolaou, just still do not think that means he is a better NBA prospect than Mirotic. Euro Baller (if I may call you that), it was not that you said he should get drafted that got you made fun of and called a "liar". It was the way you went about it, by pulling the same name calling tactics that you seem so offended by. It was the fact that you never seemed to give a gauge of where he should be drafted or who he was better than amongst draft prospects. It was calling other people "racists", "idiots" and referring to them as "retarded" that did not gain you many fan points. That my friend, is called "trolling".

Until having a conversation with you can be mutually beneficial, rather than you yelling out insults and name calling while any possible attempt of a friendly debate falls dead into a brick wall, look for the responses from people here to be what you referring to as "trolling". The thing is, you seem to want to elicit this response and have no real idea of how to actually get people to sympathize with your point of view when you tend to initially introduce prospects or things you consider to be grave unjustices to the Greek people.

Now, as far as "Well, Blazers have worst track record of any NBA team for Euroleague players in recent years." Really? Well, Nicolas Batum came over and got immediate minutes, though I am not sure if he played in Euroleague before entering the NBA (he did for a short while with SLUC Nancy during the lockout). Still, they gave a 20 year old kid confidence early and he displayed defensive ability plus signs of turning into a solid starting 3. Seems to have worked out fine.

Rudy Fernandez was in a difficult situation with Brandon Roy already in Portland. Nonetheless, got a nice bunch of minutes, though he wanted more. The thing was, once Roy went down and he actually had a chance to come in and prove himself, his confidence was shot. He did not seize this golden opportunity and seemed to be on a perma-cold streak. Still, people loved Rudy and their were high expectations. Can’t say the Blazers were completely to blame in his not reaching them in the NBA. Not to mention, didn’t exactly seize it in Denver, either.

Than you have Sergio Rodriguez, Victor Claver and Joel Freeland. "Spanish Chocolate" was a gifted ball handler and passer. Very exciting to watch. His shooting and defense were pretty damn bad by NBA standards. Another guy I felt got a chance, yet could not seize it. Sergio went on to play for Sacramento and with the Knicks, getting slightly more time with a combined record of 21-45 in that last NBA season.

With Claver and Freeland, are there any NBA teams that would be winning while giving these guys rotation minutes right now? They both have some promise, just seems the highest level they will be expected to compete at are at the role level and the Blazers had better players. Sending Freeland to the D-League for 2 games is not that big of a deal, I do not know why this makes the Blazers bad at dealing with Euroleague guys.

Not every Euroleague guy that has played on San Antonio necessarily kills it right out of the gate. They have the best scouts and tend to get amazing talent, just do not think the Blazers have been that bad for what they have had. Yes, it would suck for Papanikolaou to play behind Nicolas Batum, just think that if he went to New York his opportunity probably would not be much better. What team would you want to see him on, who beyond San Antonio meets your Euroleague development level? Honestly, to me, saying that about the Blazers is as you might say, "BS".

[European BasketballerParticipant]

Blazers are notorious danger spot for European players. They held Sabonis hostage for many years because they would not trade his rights and would not sign him.

They did everything possible to destroy Petrovic’s career.

And Rudy was NOT used properly in Portland, and you know nothing about his game if you claim otherwise.

As for Claver and Freeland. they are nothing special at all. They certainly were not among the better players in Europe by any means. However, they do have enough talent to get more than 8-12 minutes a game here and there, mixed in with DNP-CDs on a team as bad as that.

Sergio Rodriguez case I am not sure of, because he was very young. He’s not a great point guard or anything, but then again he’s also a lot better than several guys that started in the NBA this year.

So Blazers have a pretty horrid record with European players. I don’t think Batum is even an argument there, because he plays a pure American style of basketball, as most of the French players these days do.

Greek players have a complete 180 opposite playing style to French players.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Because you say, "in recent years", than go back to Petrovic and Sabonis! Seriously? The Blazers have had entirely new ownership and have had 6 different coaches in that time, not to mention administration changes. Yet, they are the worst team ever because of the Petrovic/Sabonis situation.

Yes, the Blazers sucked at using Drazen Petrovic. They unfortunately had two All-Star level guards on a team that indeed went to the NBA Finals Drazen’s rookie season. I know Drazen was more than likely a better player than Terry Porter and close to Clyde Drexler, but even Manu Ginobili had to wait his time in San Antonio. It sucks to go down a level when you feel you do not deserve it, just truly do not think the Blazers "did everything possible to destroy Petrovic’s career."

With Sabonis, most of what I heard is completely the other way around. In fact, I heard that they actually helped prolong Sabonis’ career, provided him with health care to deal with his knee problems only to have him go back to Europe. By the time he came over, he was well past his prime and he still had a pretty nice run with the Blazers. So, holding him hostage seems like it is certainly not true, or at least much more in the middle of your belief and my knowledge on the subject.

Love how you give nothing to describe or give an example of Rudy’s misuse in Portland, only insinuate ignorance for thinking otherwise. A clever way to get out of providing any details or proof to back your point up. This is what I am talking about the whole "talking to a brick wall" thing. Just complete trolling on your behalf.  Would like to at least say who Sergio should start over in the NBA. Plus say why Joel Freeland and Victor Claver should have larger roles, as well as whose roles should diminish to accomodate that happening.

Of course, just making claims and giving no evidence of knowledge of what is actually happening on a team makes it seem like you have an idea of what you are talking about. Much less watch or know about the NBA players you so often bash as inferior to the players you happen to be familiar with. Well, back to your trolling, just know that you have proved nothing. Which is the reason that people think as much about most of your opinions.

[Mad MaxParticipant]

In Freeland’s case, he was drafted in 2006 and didn’t come over until this year, that’s 6 years. A lot changed in Portland from when he was drafted, new GM, and coaches. The people who drafted that were high on him are not with Portland anymore, and the people there don’t have any ties or much commitment to him because he isn’t one of their guys. Freeland shouldn’t have waited as long to come over.

[domeico7Participant]

Mirotic should have won like the previous 2 years but I think they wanted to award Papanikolaou too. He is a good player has a chance in the NBA just needs to go to a team he fits nicely.

[European BasketballerParticipant]

No. This award is all about marketing. They don’t base it on who should win it. It’s a big marketing gimmick. It’s not even for best player of that age, it’s for “future star”. So it’s not even a vote for the best player.

And no, Mirotic absolutely did NOT deserve the award last year. Kostas Sloukas was much better than him last year and he should have won it if the award was based on merit, which it isn’t.

It’s always just been a marketing gimmick.

[NbanflguyParticipant]

Wait wait wait. You have been b*itching 24/7 about this guys for like over a year and you knew this whole time he was already drafted by the Blazers? You never cease to amaze me……….

[European BasketballerParticipant]

He was drafted by the Knicks genius.

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