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| 2018-19 All-EuroLeague Second Team presented by 7DAYS |
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The 2018-19 All-EuroLeague Second Team highlights some of the best performers of the current season, with one of the most consistent honorees of recent years being joined this time by four players receiving the distinction for the first time. Included on the second team, which was voted for by fans and accredited media members, are this season's Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy winner, Mike James of AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan, and the EuroLeague Best Defender, Walter Tavares of Real Madrid. They are joined by two more newcomers to the All-EuroLeague team, Vasilije Micic of Anadolu Efes Istanbul and Victor Poirier of KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, and by CSKA Moscow's Nando De Colo, whose fifth All-EuroLeague selection ties him for the fourth-most such honors in competition history.
Media voting counted for 75% and fan voting 25% of the totals used to determine the All-EuroLeague selections. The All-EuroLeague Second Team is the last among a series of honors announced this week. The EuroLeague MVP award will be named at the 2019 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain. The Alexander Gomelskiy Coach of the Year Trophy and the Gianluigi Porelli EuroLeague Executive of the Year are post-season awards.
Nando De Colo – CSKA Moscow
Nando De Colo has earned his fifth consecutive All-EuroLeague team nomination. The French guard, who ranked fourth in the league in scoring with 14.5 points per game, tied for a competition-best three MVP of the Round honors. De Colo was a single shot away from his fourth straight 50-40-90 season (50% shooting on field goals, 40% on three-pointers and 90% on free throws) and also contributed 3.4 assists and 1.0 steals for a performance index rating of 16.0, which was eighth in the league. De Colo's five games with a PIR in the 30s was second-best this season, and two of them came on the road in the playoffs to lift CSKA back to the Final Four at the expense of KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz. He ranked second in the playoffs in scoring (18.0) and third in PIR (20.8).
Mike James – AX Armani Exchange Olimpia Milan
Mike James was this season's Alphonso Ford Trophy winner with 19.8 points per game. He also led the league in performance index rating (20.2) while ranking second in assists (6.4) and fifth in steals (1.3). James topped the charts in free throws made (147) and attempted (178), too. Moreover, if there were a table for most exciting plays, James would feature prominently there as well. The EuroLeague MVP for February, James carried the weight for the league's top-scoring team by netting at least a dozen points in all but one game this season. He dished at least 5 assists in 25 games and made multiple three-pointers 21 times. James scored a career-high 35 points but could not lead Milan to a win and fell 92-89 at defending champion Real Madrid in Round 27.
Vasilije Micic – Anadolu Efes Istanbul
Vasilije Micic turned his first season with Efes into a memorable one by posting career-high numbers while leading the team to its best season in years and its first Final Four appearance in nearly two decades. The EuroLeague MVP for November, Micic was second on his team in scoring (12.1) and steals (1.1) and ranked third in the EuroLeague in assists (5.7). All three numbers represented career bests in his fifth EuroLeague campaign. Micic raised his game even higher in the playoffs; he was Game 1 MVP after dropping 21 points and 7 assists on FC Barcelona Lassa. He followed that with his second career double-double (10 points, 10 assists, 3 steals) in Game 5. Micic ranked second in the playoffs in assists (6.6) and fifth in steals (1.6).
Vincent Poirier – KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria – Gasteiz
Vincent Poirier was a tower of power for Baskonia this season as he led the league in rebounds (8.3) and offensive rebounds (3.4). In fact, Poirier set a single-season EuroLeague record with 117 offensive rebounds. He also led Baskonia in scoring (11.9) and blocks (0.8) to rank fifth in the league in performance index rating (17.7). Of the seven occasions on which players collected at least 15 rebounds this season, three were Poirier's. His 10 double-doubles were second-most in the league, too. Poirier gave his best in the playoffs and earned Game 2 MVP honors with 14 points on perfect shooting and 15 rebounds for a PIR of 34 to help Baskonia to its first win over CSKA in Moscow in 14 years. He finished as the playoff leader in average PIR (27.8) and rebounds (10.0).
Walter Tavares – Real Madrid
The EuroLeague Best Defender for the 2018-19 season, Walter Tavares led the league in blocks per game (1.7) and total blocks (53) and caused countless more shots to be badly missed or simply not taken out of fear of the long arms of "Sergeant Swat". He recorded multiple blocks in half of his 32 games played, including four games of 4 blocks each. Only one other player in the league had as many as two such games. His 78.7% two-point shooting set a competition record for any player with more than 50 shot attempts in a season. Tavares was the season's MVP for October while helping Los Blancos to a perfect 8-0 start. He ranked fifth among all EuroLeague rebounders with 6.2 per game. Tavares finished the regular season strong, with a career-best 16 rebounds at Panathinaikos OPAP Athens in Round 29 and a career-high 22 points against Zalgiris Kaunas a week later.
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