As Euroleague marches on, here are my Euroleague MVP rankings, where there are some new faces and big changes since the end of regular season.

- All records and stats through Game 3 of Top-16

1. Juan Carlos Navarro - Regal Barcelona (3-0)

14.1 points, 2.7 assists in 26 minutes

The 2008-09 season Euroleague MVP award winner Juan Carlos Navarro is on the hunt for another MVP title. It is clear that the 30-year-old Regal Barcelona shooting guard, who missed almost half of the regular season due to foot injury, was the last piece of the puzzle to make Euroleague champions hardly stoppable (or even unstoppable).

Navarro, who is the 2nd on Euroleague's all-time scoring list with 2,556 points, averaged 21.3 points and 3.7 assists in three Top 16 games and helped Regal Barcelona to stay unbeaten so far. Navarro’s 24 points and five three-pointers in the first Top-16 game were simply too much for Maccabi Tel Aviv as Regal Barcelona ended Israeli team’s nine wins streak.

It seems that Navarro has finally recovered fully from injury and will be able to lead Regal Barcelona to Euroleague final, which will be held in their home court. If Navarro continues putting up these kinds of numbers in the strongest European competition and Regal Barcelona stays on the winning road, there’s no doubt that “La Bomba” will be the main candidate to win Euroleague MVP award once again.

2. Dimitris Diamantidis - Panathinaikos Athens (2-1)

11.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 6.1 assists in 30 minutes

A true of symbol of Panathinaikos, 30-year-old Dimitris Diamantidis is shining like never before in his seven-year Euroleague career. The five-time Euroleague Best Defender has improved his offensive game and averages a career-high 11.5 points and 6.1 assists per game (also career-high) this season while Panathinaikos is leading the group E.

Unlike the 2009-10 Euroleague season, Diamantidis hasn’t missed a single game and hasn't spent less than 23 minutes on the court in each game. Staying healthy and avoiding the injury bug is a big thing in the Greek champions camp, as only six players of Panathinaikos have played in all Euroleague games so far.

Diamantidis' scoring averages has slightly decreased as he creates more opportunities for his teammates and averages 7.7 assists per game in the Top-16, which leads all competitors. It’s obvious that Diamantidis is the right player with all the needed skills to bring back the Greens to Euroleague Final Four.

3. Roko Ukic - Fenerbahce Ulker (3-0)

13.2 points (47% 3FG), 2.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists in 28 minutes

After playing in the shadow of best European players and being just a second option, Roko Ukic has now become a true Euroleague star on a winning team. Ukic helped Fenerbahe Ulker finish the regular season in the second place of group C and also won all three games in the Top-16.

The best example to show the importance of Ukic for Fenerbahce Ulker was seen in the ninth Euroleague tour game, where the Turkish club fought against Montepaschi Siena. Fenerbahce Ulker had to manage without Ukic for the first time and that ended with unexpected season-high 29 points loss to the Italian champions.

Moreover, a true general on the court and the left hand of head coach Neven Spahija, Ukic is one of the most consistent players in the league. The Croatian didn’t reach double-digit scoring in just two games so far and also often kills his opponents with long-range shots.

4. Vassilis Spanoulis - Olympiacos Piraeus (2-1)

15.3 points, 4.7 assists, 3.7 turnovers in 29 minutes

Before the start of the season, there were a lot of speculations about how moving from Panathinaikos Athens to their biggest rivalry Olympiacos Piraeus camp will affect Vassilis Spanoulis game. However, Spanoulis has cleared the air with his great play in the first half of the season and became one of the candidates to win a Euroleague MVP award.

If we say that Ukic is a consistent player, it would be a shame to not say the same about Spanoulis. Differently from Ukic, the 28-year-old Greek scored in double-digits in all 13 Euroleague games so far. Spanoulis is also as dangerous from the three-point line as his opponent from Croatia.

The main problem keeping Spanoulis out of Top-3 in our Euroleague MVP ranking is turnovers. The Olympiacos guard leads the league with 3.7 turnovers per game. Nevertheless, it seems that Spanoulis is getting better in this area as he turned it over “only” four times in the last two games.

5.  Igor Rakocevic - Efes Pilsen Istanbul (2-1)

16.5 points, 2.6 rebounds in 30 minutes

It doesn’t seem that Efes Pilsen Istanbul could do anything beyond making Top-16 after losing all regular season games at home and getting the group with Montepaschi Siena and Real Madrid. However, Efes Pilsen managed to win against Bo McCalebb-less Montepaschi and stayed and later on grabbed their first away win in Belgrade against Partizan.

Igor Rakocevic was the man who led his team to those two wins. The 32-year-old Euroleague veteran scored 17 and hit three long-range shoots against Montepaschi. The game versus Partizan was even better for Rakocevic, who played his best season game and finished the match with 23 points and 4 rebounds. After a terrible performance in the 2009-10 season Top-16 phase where he averaged only 4.3 points, Rakocevic has already proved himself as a big time scorer this season.

Because of his experience and shooting abilities, it is safe to say that Rakocevic is one of the most dangerous players in the Euroleague. He is currently 4th in scoring rankings but extremely hot in Top-16 as he averages 18.7 points in those three games.

6. Fernando San Emeterio - Caja Laboral Vitoria (2-1)

13.9 points, (53.3% 3FG), 5.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists in 33 minutes

Fernando San Emeterio is probably one of the biggest surprises of the Euroleague in this season. The 27-year-old guard played extremely well during the season and produces with incredible efficiently for his team as he averages career-highs 13.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and five drawn fouls per game.

Moreover, San Emeterio’s shooting percentages are just as impressive. The Caja Laboral leader shot 61 percent from the short distance and 53.3 percent from the three-point line. San Emeterio has finally proved himself as a MVP material in the last Euroleague game, where Caja Laboral unexpectedly defeated Panathinaikos. The Spaniard stole the show with 21 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

San Emeterio also was one of those, who helped Caja Laboral to avoid early elimination in regular season. Vitoria’s club won only two of seven, but managed to win all last three and get a ticket to the Top-16, where they have all chances to go through it again.

7. Chuck Eidson - Maccabi Tel Aviv (2-1)

9.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.8 steals in 27 minutes

Tel Aviv Maccabi guard Chuck Eidson would be in Top-3 of our ranking if we would evaluate only performance in the Euroleague regular season. He was the man, who led Maccabi to amazing nine-game win streak. However, Eidson’s statistical numbers slightly went down in the Top-16, but despite this fact, the 30-year-old guard remains the most versatile player in the league.

Eidson doesn’t score so much points in Top-16 as he did in the regular season, but he still runs Maccabi's game and averages 9.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists. Moreover, he still leads the league in steals with 2.8 per game and averages only 1.6 turnovers.

Eidson’s statistical numbers don’t mean that the Maccabi guard is out of the rhythm. The Israeli team won their last two Euroleague games by an average margin of 37 points, while Eidson received more help from his teammates like Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Lior Eliyahu or Jeremy Pargo. And that makes Maccabi even stronger.

8. Mike Batiste - Panathinaikos Athens (2-1)

13.5 points, 5.3 rebounds in 27 minutes

It’s been three months since Panathinaikos Athens' Mike Batiste was in the spotlight. Unfortunately, it happened not for his performance on the court but for embarrassing kick to Union Olimpija’s player head. Surprisingly, Batiste didn’t receive any suspension at that time.

After coming back from injury, Batiste became one of the most valuable players in the league. The 33-year-old forward missed last two regular season games due to a leg injury but it didn’t prevent Panathinaikos from winning the group D and making one small step closed on winning a title.

A nine-year Euroleague veteran Batiste got another chance to be in the spotlight when the Top-16 stage started. Batiste was a true nightmare to his opponents’ defense as he averaged 17.3 points per game. Together with Diamantidis Batiste, they create probably the most powerful duo in league and could bring back the Greens to the finals.

9. Joel Freeland - Unicaja Malaga (1-2)

13.5 points (66 2PT), 6.3 rebounds in 25 minutes

Joel Freeland, still just 23, is the youngest player in our Top-10 and one of the leaders in efficiency as well. The 30th overall pick of 2007 NBA Draft by Portland has already proved he can play on the highest level in Europe and also gives a sign to the Portland Trail Blazers that the time to open the door to the NBA has come.

Freeland averages 13.5 points per game with a great shooting percentage in only his second season in the Euroleague. More intriguingly, Freeland spends an average 25 minutes on the floor, just ninth among MVP candidates, and there’s a question how much more productive he could be on the court if he would get more playing time.

However, we probably won’t see Freeland climbing up in our MVP rankings as his club, Unicaja, is not in the best situation at the moment. Despite last week’s win against Lietuvos Rytas, Unicaja stands at 1-2 and has slim chances to make it to the playoffs.

10. Mirsad Turkcan - Fenerbahce Ulker (3-0)

7.9 points, 7.3 rebounds in 21 minutes

A European Dennis Rodman, Mirsad Turkcan of Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul was a true king of rebounds this season. However, it’s right to say “was” because Turkcan won’t help his club this season anymore. The Turkish big man has suffered a knee injury during a Turkish Cup game, which took him out for the rest of the season.

Nevertheless, Turkcan, who lead the league in rebounds, is worthy of mention in the MVP candidates list. The 34-year-old forward demonstrated incredible shape in Top-16 as he averaged 13.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in only 26 minutes.

The Euroleague all-time rebounding list leader Turkcan was a big part of Euroleague title contender Fenerbahce Ulker’s success and one of the strongest powers, which comes off the bench. We can see how Montepaschi's game has changed since Bo McCalebb injury, now it’s a question how Fenerbahce Ulker will manage to stay on winning road without Turkcan.

Honorable Mentions: Ioannis Bourousis, Olympiacos; Bo McCalebb, Ksistof Lavrinovic, Montepaschi; Marcelinho Huertas, Mirza Teletovic, Stanko Barac, Mirza Teletovic, Caja Laboral; Keith Langford, Khimki; James Gist, Partizan; D’Or Fisher, Real Madrid; Kenny Gregory, Union Olimpija; Khalid El-Amin, Lietuvos Rytas; Lior Eliyahu, Jeremy Pargo, Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Maccabi.