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Muslim Basketball's back for another exciting season! Last year we saw amazing talent week by week as the top players in the division played their hearts out trying to lead their teams to glory. These players went the extra mile for their team and without them on the court their teams would fall in shambles. The effect they have on the court can be seen through both what does and does not show up on the stat sheets; it's the little things they do that help fuel the fire of their teams. Through their leadership and great play, week in and week out, they hope to do everything in their power to elevate their teams to the next level. These aren't any ordinary players, these are MVP caliber type of players. Welcome to this week's edition of the KP MVP Ladder - The Verdict!
5. Rameez Khizer, Sarajevo
Sarajevo is a force to be reckoned with, they had their early season struggles but have completed turned their season around winning 5 of their last 6 games and earning themselves a first round bye. This is the one team I would not want to see because they play quick and can kill you with their speed. Rameez along with his partner in crime Leonard have put the league on notice sending the message that they will take on any team no matter what their ranking in the playoff bracket is. He averaged 19.8 points, 11.7 boards, and 3.5 assists in his rookie season in the league. His impact on the floor is impossible to ignore, he has the size of a stretch 4 but can do it all running on both ends of the court. I’m excited to see what he and Leonard will do against a hungry Beirut team in the second round who are hungry themselves at getting back to the title game.
4. Mujtaba John S, Jakarta
You want to see a guy make the game look easy look no further than Jakarta’s very own Mujtaba. The dudes a Muslim Basketball legend and watching him play both ends of the floor so effortlessly is a sight to see. You take him off of that Jakarta team and there’s no way they win as many games as they did; not a disrespectful message to the team but a compliment to Mujtaba’s greatness. He averaged a cool 20 points, 3.6 boards, and 3 assists on the season and that’s just him taking it easy. With 7 rings to his name and a great supporting cast look for Mujtaba and co to make some noise going into the playoffs. They start their journey with an interesting matchup against Alexandria, a team who finished 2nd in scoring on the season. Should be a fun one!
3. Mohamed Amin, Sana’a
Sana’a’s a team that’s had an interesting season. They’ve had some great wins, some ugly wins, and some close losses. They could easily be 10-0 right now and I think they’re going to be a tough team to take down because even when their offense isn’t going their number one ranked defense can win them games. Mo Amin had an amazing game to finish the season finishing with 29 points and 12 boards but Sana’a couldn’t get the job done and Riyadh took over in the closing minutes of the game. Statistically, he’s had one of his best seasons yet finishing with a career high 18.6 points per game, 10.1 boards, and 3.2 assists. The turnovers were a bit of an issue but nonetheless another dominant season for one of the best big men in the league. It’s tough because he’s definitely a top 5 player this season but I don’t know if I can definitely say he was the best player overall this season. Regardless Sana’a is a force to be reckoned with I’d love to see them make a deep run in the playoffs.
MVP: The Verdict
You see this one is tough because you can make an extremely strong argument for either side. On one hand the defending MVP Raza Nassim averaged a career high 18.2 points per game on over 50% shooting from the field, 6 boards, and 4.7 assists. On the other hand Omar Abbassi averaged a career high 14 points per game on over 50% shooting, 14.9 boards, and 4 assists. So how do you make the call? Well analytics is one thing and I don’t like to base decisions based purely off analytics it has to be a fair mix between analytics and actual observation of game play on the court. So let’s head back to analytics for a second. Raza and Omar both have amazing supporting casts and seasoned veterans who have been there, done that time and time again. Raza got an upgraded sidekick this season in Yousef Shahsamand who averaged 16.2 points on over 40% shooting from the field. He’s also a strong weapon who can take over games when no one else has it going. Omar didn’t really have a defined number 2 but by his side but he did have his fair share of weapons in Fursan, Islam, and Billal Abbassi. This was Yousef’s inaugural season so it’s tough to really see the impact Raza has had on his game but they definitely mesh well together as their 9-1 record indicates. If we’re talking analytics though it’s very interesting to see how Islam and Fursan’s numbers have gone up from a season ago. Fursan and Islam both saw an increase in over 3 points per game this season. Now it wouldn’t be fair to say based off of analytics alone that this is a direct correlation to Omar being on their team, this is something you can only judge by watching their games in person. But man did Omar have an effect on how these guys played and moved around the court. He was able to facilitate for them and be the team leader they needed to get them to the 8-2 record they have going into the playoffs. The one game Islamabad did lose without Omar in the lineup they shot a team low below 30% from the field. Omar’s more than your typical big man he’s a force that when taken out of the equation results in the rest of the team struggling. I’m not saying that’s the key to beating Islamabad because they do have their fair share of weapons but look at the one game they did lose with Omar in the lineup, Granada was able to limit Omar and keep the ball out of his hands which forced his teammates to chuck up shots and not get the looks they wanted. Raza is absolutely a top 5 player in this league and can easily be the MVP of this season, it’s just hard to judge and say that he had a better impact on Mombasa than Omar had on Islamabad this season. Both teams were absolutely dominant with the majority of their wins being by 10+ points. The only way those two teams can meet would have to be in the finals and that would absolutely be a matchup for the ages. Anyways, there really is no wrong answer here but based off what I’ve personally seen combined with a bit of an analystics review I’d have to give the upper hand to Omar Abbassi.
2017 Summer Ball MVP: Omar Abbassi
Runner Up: Raza Nassim
Edited by user Tuesday, October 3, 2017 6:31:37 AM(UTC)
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