Euroleague regular season MVP: Arvydas Sabonis of Zalgiris

He came home to Europe and he did it in style! In clinching the Euroleague 
regular season MVP title for 2003-04, legendary center Arvydas Sabonis has 
shown at age 39 that genius never gets old. Even though Sabonis never 
earned the MVP of the Week and missed two games due to sickness, in the 
other 12 games Sabonis put together consistently brilliant performances to 
average a 26.41 index rating per game. The index rating, based on a 
cumulative statistical criteria, is applied to all Euroleague players in 
each game they play. Not only did Sabonis lead the MVP rankings for the 
regular season, he was also the Euroleague's best rebounder, with 10.45 
boards per night, and shot block king, with 2 rejections on average. "The 
fact is I just returned to Europe to conclude my career here, as I wanted
to play and try to do something good for my team," Sabonis told 
Euroleague.net. "I did not know anything about the MVP ratings and 
rankings, and individual accolades are not what I usually strive for. 
Obviously, now that I have won the regular season MVP title, I must admit 
that I was very pleased to learn the news, because I found it really tough 
to play in this league, and especially in our group. They play hard on 
defense in the Euroleague, so you have to make a lot of effort to achieve 
anything on the court, especially if you are not fit as a fiddle. I hope 
that I managed to help my team so far, but the most important things are 
still ahead." Second in line in the MVP ranking was Lynn Greer of Idea 
Slask Wroclaw, a Euroleague newcomer whose average index rating (24.28) 
was helped by the fact that he was the regular scoring champ, with 25.07 
points per game, and second in assists with 5.5 per night. 

Sabonis (39, 220), the ultimate basketball hero in Lithuania, has been a 
major international force since the early 1980's, when he debuted with 
Zalgiris and played for the national team of the Soviet Union. After a 
successful career in Lithuania, Sabas left for Spain in 1989, playing 
there for Forum Valladolid and Real Madrid, with whom he won a European 
club title, until 1995. Then Sabonis crossed the Atlantic Ocean to join 
the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA, with whom he averaged double 
figures as a scorer for several seasons until his last one there, 2002-03. 
Along the way, Sabonis indicated he would like to finish his career where 
he started, in Europe, and last summer surprised many by keeping his word, 
rejecting lucrative NBA offers to play for the original club he now owned, 
Zalgiris. From his first Euroleague game in November, Sabonis showed he 
meant business, and his double-double performances kept coming until he 
finished the season with averages of 15.9 points and 10.3 rebounds. Even 
though it lost two games when Sabonis was sick, Zalgiris ended up earning 
a Top 16 spot as the best sixth-place team in all the three groups. 
Sabonis topped three statistical categories at the end of the regular 
season: MVP rating, rebounds and blocks, while he finished 10th among the 
top scorers. Sabonis joins a list of regular season MVPs that includes: 
Joseph Blair, Ulker (2002-03), Mirsad Turkcan, CSKA (2001-02) and Dejan 
Tomasevic, Buducnost (2000-01). 
 
Behind Sabonis all season was Greer (24, 185), surely the Euroleague's 
biggest surprise after signing with Idea Slask a few days before the 
season began. Greer greeted everybody by winning the very first 
MVP-of-the-week honor. After that, all eyes were on Greer and he didn't 
disappoint, earning MVP honors twice more, in Weeks 8 and 9, while 
consistently leading all scorers. Greer finished with 25.07 points per 
game based on fine shooting percentages: (47.6% on two-point shots, 41.4% 
on triples and 89.8% on free throws). Greer showed that he knew the right 
times to pass, too, as he also ranked second in assists with 5.5 per game. 
It is fair to say that Greer was one of the main reasons that Idea Slask 
reached the very last day of the season with chances for its first-ever 
Top 16 berth, losing it finally in a tiebreak to Zalgiris and Sabonis. 

Though they were everywhere, plenty other Euroleague players called 
attention for their statistical achievements during the regular season. 
After Sabonis and Greer, the players in the top spots of the MVP rankings 
were Tau Ceramica's Arvydas Macijauskas and Maccabi's Nikola Vujcic. 
Another Euroleague newcomer, Macijauskas managed to move up in the final 
week to an average index rating of 22.85 while Vujcic was utterly 
consistent in averaging 22.21. Macijauskas always scored steadily and 
finished second behind Greer on the scoring charts with 21.50 points per 
game. Another of the revelations of the season was AEK point guard Horace 
Jenkins, the league's third-best scorer (20.08). The two previous regular 
season MVPs came behind Sabonis in the rebound rankings. Joe Blair of 
Ulker, last regular season's MVP, averaged 10.09 rebounds per night, and 
Mirsad Turkcan of CSKA, a two-time MVP (regular season 2001-02 and Top 16 
2002-03) pulled 9.92 boards on average. Another Zalgiris player, point 
guard Ed Cota, led all passers with 5.64 assists per game, with Greer 
coming second, tied with Skipper's Gianmarco Pozzecco (both 5.5). Sabonis 
was the top shot blocker with 2 rejections per game, followed by Asvel's 
Robert Gulyas and Maccabi's Maceo Baston, with next averaging 1.30 and 
1.28 blocks per game respectively. Finally, Fred House of Partizan 
registered 3.38 steals per night to lead all Euroleague players in that 
category. He was followed by Benetton's Massimo Bulleri (2.44) and 
Cibona's Scoonie Penn (2.30). 

The most accurate shooters of the Euroleague also merit mention, with 
Pamesa's Jose Antonio Paraiso finishing as the best two-point shooter by 
making 77.41% of his shots inside the arc. David Frigout of Asvel also had 
a steady hand (70.73%) and Maccabi's Deon Thomas was third (66.15%). The 
best three-point bombers of the competition were topped by Asvel's Harold 
Mrazek, who landed 56.81% in triples, including 5-for-5 and 7-for-8 
performances on two nights. Montepaschi's Vrbica Stefanov (55.81%) 
followed and Pau-Orthez's Artur Drozdov (53.33%) was the third most 
accurate shooter from behind the arc. Finally, the best performers at the 
free throw line were Olimpija's Marino Bazdaric, who had an impressive 
91.66%. Benetton's Tyus Edney was second (90.90%). Macijauskas of Tau 
(90.47%) and Skipper's Matjaz Smodis (90.32%) were the other players to 
shoot over 90%.