One of the leaders of the Moscow basketball club CSKA Nikita Kurbanov received three-month ban for cocaine. Sports explains why the suspension of the 37-year-old veteran is a big loss for Muscovites.
Usually such news comes from the NBA world, where Nikita Kurbanov never made it. He was not selected by any team in the league in the 2008 draft, although the list of potential rookies was not very impressive at the time. Yes, in addition to three or four future stars, there were quite a lot of strong role players to choose from, but Nikita did not receive an invitation to the best basketball league in the world even at the end of the second round. At the same time, by the way, Russian center Sasha Kaun, a significant person for the NCAA student championship and one of the two “Russian” NBA champions in history, left the draft.
After an unsuccessful attempt to break into the NBA, Kurbanov focused on European basketball and ultimately achieved the status of a living legend, despite the fact that he never showed high performance. Quite average for a player of his role (small forward), five or six points on average per match should alert fans of not very advanced statistics – especially in contrast with Nikita’s colleagues in his position overseas. Yes, and it’s hard not to wonder when you see the supposed Kawhi Leonard scoring 20 points per game – how is that possible?
In fact, Kurbanov's influence on the game is noticeable not in numbers, but in the process itself. A versatile forward with a shot, the ability to pass and compete for rebounds – this is exactly what the cornerstone for building a championship team looks like. Therefore, the best basketball clubs in Russia (from Lokomotiv-Kuban to UNICS) were interested in Nikita’s services in different years of his career, and in his native CSKA he remains in demand even at the age of 37.
The secret of basketball longevity, in addition to his variability in attack, lies in his defensive abilities. Kurbanov is one of the few players in the history of the VTB United League who has both an award for the most valuable player (in 2019 he was recognized as the best basketball player in the victorious playoffs for CSKA) and a prize for the best defender. If in Russia there were multi-level symbolic teams in the manner of the NBA, Kurbanov could still claim to be in the second or third defensive five. Which in turn means that Nikita is capable of giving his team good periods of defensive play, even taking into account the natural limitations in playing time.
It is largely thanks to Kubranov’s versatility that CSKA remained at the top of Russian basketball for so long. “Army” had one of the best rosters at the national level, they signed up foreigners who were as ready as possible for Europe, but even the brightest individualists need a connecting link – someone who can hit the decisive shot, defend on his feet and lead the way. Without this, CSKA would not have had six championships in Russia, nor a record three victories in the Euroleague for our country’s clubs.
Therefore, Nikita’s disqualification is a definite loss for the Muscovites, especially if it turns out to be longer than initially expected. According to the current suspension period, the basketball player has a chance to return to the floor as early as the 20th of January.
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