PARMA guard Codi Miller-McIntyre has been the VTB United League’s version of Russell Westbrook this season. He’s flirted with triple-doubles several times, missing out by a couple rebounds or assists. The American came agonizingly close in a December game vs. VEF: 13 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists. On Saturday vs. Enisey, he finally broke through with a 17-point, 11-rebound, 11-assist outing in the win.
Before Miller-McIntyre’s big game, the VTB United League went three seasons without a triple-double. Only six players have ever accomplished the feat. Let’s take a look.
As the 4th season in the League got underway, few in Russian basketball even thought a triple-double was possible. This is not the NBA: The quarters are shorter, coaches yank players for bad defense and the tempo is slower on average. But in January 2013 in a game between CSKA and VEF, Moscow captain Victor Khryapa erupted for 10 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in only 27 and a half minutes on the court. Unlike the rest of the players on this list, Khryapa also only turned the ball over once, a remarkable feat. It was the League’s first-ever triple-double and the only one by a Russian. The rest have been American-made.
Prior to playing for Avtodor, Jeremy Chappell spent time at young, ambitious Triumphy Lyubertsy, where he was teammates with future CSKA, Zenit and Lokomotiv stars. But Chappell was one of the best players on that team, thanks to his impressive build and play on the court. At the beginning of the 2013-14 season, Chappell dropped 18 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists on Neptunas. Triumph lost the game, but Chappell has almost certainly not forgotten that night in Lithuania, even if his former club no longer exists.
During the same season, Bernard King of Krasny Oktyabr posted the League’s third triple-double, playing for yet another team that would disappear over the summer. Tsmoki-Minsk was the opponent and desperately wanted to win. But Oktyabr presented a tough challenge. Dmitry Gerasimenko made frequent changes to the roster and, as a result, opposing teams had a difficult time preparing for the Reds.
That was the case in this game. King was everywhere on the court, dropping 18 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Krasny Oktyabr picked up the win as King wrote his name in the VTB United League record books.
You won’t believe it, but Krasnye Krylia, where Aaron Miles posted the third triple-double of the 2013-14, would also close up shop. Looking back, maybe the flurry of triple-doubles that season was a curse, but it didn’t feel that way at the time. Krasnye Krylia played Enisey in the first round of the postseason, cruising to a 2-0 sweep. During Game 2 in Samara, Krylia captain Aaron Miles finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 15 assists, one of the most impressive triple-doubles in League history and the only one to come in the playoffs.
The following season, Miles left for Lokomotiv-Kuban along with his coach Sergei Bazarevich.
Point guard Scott Machado spent only one season at Kalev. But what a ride! Together with Frank Elegar, the duo wreaked havoc on opposing defenses, willing the Estonians to win after win. He nearly recorded a triple-double in his second game with the club, coming up four rebounds shy against Nizhny Novgorod. Several months later, he made sure to finish the job, posting a 12-point, 10-rebounds, 14-assist line, once again vs. Nizhny.
For the next three seasons, no one else could break through…
… Until Codi Miller-McIntyre took on Enisey. Krasnoyarsk is the worst team in the VTB United League this season and PARMA took care of business at home. Perm probably could have won without Miller-McIntyre–the team was that dominant–but he made it a lot easier, dropping 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists to join one of the League’s most elite clubs. Of the six players to post triple-doubles, only Miller-McIntyre and Khryapa are still playing in the League.
Source: Championat.com
