#3 Enes Kanter – Utah Jazz

After a stellar career in European Youth Championships, Kanter decided to move to the United States in order to prepare for the NBA. After two years of doing not much except a big game at the Nike Hoop Summit, he gets drafted at #3 and you can assume that it was the right choice. I remember him from the first time I saw him at the Albert-Schweitzer Tournament back in 2008 where he dominated already as a 15 year old. Since then, he crashed anyone in Youth Competitions and had his glory days with the Turkish U18 National team in 2009 during the European Championships in France. Since then, nothing really worthy has been put on the table by the Turkish big guy. So the main question is how quickly he will find his way back into game rhythm and how to come up with the lost game experience after missing out nearly two years against top level competition. With the lock-out looming, it could even be that Kanter will not play for three consecutive seasons which would be a big hit for his future. But his overall talent level is so good that he will in any case develop into a future top-level player in the NBA.

#5 Jonas Valanciunas – Toronto Raptors – Lietuvos Rytas

Same age group but different career choices are the first things that come up to your mind when you hear the name of Jonas Valanciunas after Enes Kanter. The Lithuanian big guy put up huge numbers in nearly every youth competition that he played as well. Additionally, he started to have an impact on Euroleague level from 2010 on next to all the other senior competitions he has played in. The next stop of Valanciunas will be the U19 World Championships in Latvia in one week and we are already looking forward to follow him there. Before joining the NBA, Valanciunas will play at least another year in Europe with Lietuvos Rytas . His impact on NBA level will be great even if he might not develop into an All-Star one day. But his great sense for rebounding the ball is one of the best assets a player can have together with his athletic abilities and potential to score in the paint.

#6 Jan Vesely – Washington Wizards – Partizan Belgrade

The next European to be drafted was the Czech forward Jan Vesely. Shortly after the Draft, we had the possibility to speak with Jan’s father who told us the following:

I am very glad that Jan was drafted by the Washington Wizards. I think it’s a very good choice for my son. Washington Wizards is a very good team and the cooperation with John Wall will be very good and interesting for the team and for the fans.

The result in the Draft is a success not only for the Czech Republic, but also for the city of Příbor where Jan began with basketball and for the basketball team of Snakes Ostrava, where Jan worked before his departure to Slovenia. I believe, that Jan’s results will help the whole Czech basketball to get to the level on which our basketball should be. I am pleased with the success of Jan. He worked very hard for 5 years and what happened to him is like a big dream coming true.

There is not much to add to this except that you have a player who chose to leave home at the age of 17 to play in a foreign country (Slovenia) and slowly climbed up the ladder to become one of the most spectacular players in Europe when he played for Partizan Belgrade. He should be able to develop into a similar representative for basketball in his country than Dirk Nowitzki is for Germany even if they can not be compared as players. Be prepared to see him in lots of Top 10 plays right from his Rookie season.

#7 Bismack Biyombo – Charlotte Bobcats (from Kings) – Fuenlabrada

Bismack Biyombo came into the NBA Draft with only having played 232 minutes of division 1 basketball with his former team of Fuenlabrada in Spain. He arrived there after having spent several months abroad from his native Congo touring around the Middle East to land in Spain in 2009 and play for Illescas Urban in the 3rd division LEB Silver. From there, his development was exponential and was crowned by a first ever triple-double in the Nike Hoop Summit 2011. Since then, he has not played one game anymore and was only preparing for the NBA Draft. Pretty limited in terms of offensive moves, Biyombo excels with a fantastic athletic and physical package that seems enough to make him a lottery pick. We are really looking forward to see if he can have an impact right from the start on the NBA level and how much development is possible for the Congolese native. One thing is sure, he is willing to learn and wants become the best player possible.

#16 Nikola Vucevic – Philadelphia 76ers – Southern California

The Montenegrin forward is a true success story when you know where he is coming from. After having developed steadily over his years in the United States, Vucevic has become one of the most versatile and physically strong Europeans in this Draft. He knows the American game style very well and he should not have any problems in order to adapt to the NBA. If there will be a lock-out, I would not be surprised to see him play in Europe next season before going to Philadelphia, an option that might even happen for the full season if the lockout finishes before.

#20 Donatas Motiejunas – Houston Rockets (from Wolves) – Benetton Treviso

Donatas Motiejunas is a player that has probably the most amazing tools of all Europeans in this Draft. However, he trails a reputation that is not that great and when seeing him play in reality, you can only imagine where this is coming from. Ups and downs, questionable body language but what a bag full of talent. Now, how will this translate to the NBA? His post-up game will probably suffer in the United States but his capability to stretch the court through his shooting talent is certainly an asset that gives him a roster spot for several years. If he can ever live up fully to his potential is what he has to show to his distractors.

#23 Nikola Mirotic – Minnesota Timberwolves (from Rockets) – Real Madrid

Mirotic was in fact my personal favorite for the #31 Euro Pick but he ended up in the first round which makes him a really long reach. In fact, he probably earns already more in Madrid right now that he would earn with his NBA Rookie contract which makes him a tough target for the future. As Mirotic will stay in Europe for at least 2-3 more seasons, I do not really know how the Rockets want to sign him one day. But anyhow, they would get an excellent basketball player who showed this season that he can be a decision maker in clutch moments of the game.

#31 Bojan Bogdanovic – Minnesota Timberwolves (from Heat) – Cibona Zagreb

It has been quiet around Bojan Bogdanovic since his team Cibona Zagreb got eliminated in the Euroleague with a poor 0-10 record. However, the Croatian forward nearly finished in the first round of the Draft where he was targeted during certain moments of the season when he was leading the Euroleague in scoring. But before coming to the United States, Bogdanovic will first play with Fenerbahce Ülker and try to bring them to the Final Four organized in Istanbul in 2012.

#42 Davis Bertans – San Antonio Spurs (from Pacers) – Union Olimpija Ljubljana

Supposed to be drafted in the first round for a long time, the San Antonio Spurs have made a great move by getting one of the most talented players in Europe in the middle of the second round. Bertans, who is the youngest player drafted this year will grow slowly with Olimpija Ljubljana next season and he could be ready to come to the United States in 2-3 years, when he is still only 21. I think, this was the best pick of the whole Draft on a long-term perspective and we are really looking forward to see how far he can go with his U19 National Team at home during the World Championships.

#54 Milan Macvan – Cleveland Cavaliers – Maccabi Tel Aviv

Nobody spoke about Milan Macvan as a potential NBA Draft pick anymore. However, some Cavaliers scouts may have remembered what Macvan did in the Nike Hoop Summit back in 2009 where he dominated outrageously. Through the website of his agent, Macvan declared that he is very happy with the pick.

I really can’t hide the excitement… I am happy that a team like Cleveland decided to choose and include me in the list of potential members of their future team. This is a very big thing for me and my family, as well as for all the people who worked and took care of me all along these years.

We are looking forward to see if this is more than just marketing talk as we have always been a big fan of Macvan’s game.

#59 Adam Hanga – San Antonio Spurs – Albacomp

And the Spurs do it again, grabbing up a European prospect very late in the second round. This time, it is not your typical European talent but an athletic swingman that you are more used to see coming out of the US. Hanga played an excellent Adidas Eurocamp recently but has never really competed against top-level player as he did not leave Hungary so far. He will play in the ACB next season and that will show how far he rally can go in the future.

NBA Draft 2011: the Euro-Review is a post from: European Prospects
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NBA Draft 2011 – Early Entry Candidates

Davis Bertans – 2m08 – Small Forward – 1992 – Latvia – Olimpija Ljubljana

After his performances at the Nike Hoop Summit earlier this year, Davis Bertans really came into the NBA Focus. However, his star had already emerged during the U18 European Championship in 2010 where he was a member of the All-Tournament team. During his presence in Treviso, Bertans only played one All-Star game and held an individual workout. As we are not really fans of these kinds of exercises, we limit our analysis to the All-Star game that he played but taking into account what we have seen from him already in previous games or tournaments.

In fact, Bertans did nothing different to what we knew from him. Despite being 2m08 tall, Bertans played full-time on the Small Forward position attacking the basket from outside or taking three-point shots. Unluckily for him, he missed most of his tentative so that the overall impression was not really great. As Bertans revealed during the Nike Hoop Summit, he has grown a few centimeters recently; we had him at 2m05 last year; which might be a reason for the missing shooting touch. But already in Lithuania, he showed that he can have games where the ball is not falling.

Overall, Bertans has excellent tools to become an NBA Small Forward, but do not expect him to be a pure shooter. He can put the ball on the floor and has athletic qualities to attack the rim. With a first real Euroleague season ahead, he will also grow physically and become a lot stronger as you should not forget that he will only turn 19 in mid-November and was not only one of the youngest players in the camp but is also the youngest player in the current NBA Draft pool.

For a larger analysis of his game, we recommend our report from the U18 European Championship from last summer as well as our (non-highlight) Video Analysis below.

Donatas Motiejunas – 2m10 – Power Forward – 1990 – Lithuania – Benetton Treviso

Donatas Motiejunas, the second European Early Entry Candidate present in Treviso for more than interviews, did two workouts that we did not attend. Having scouted Motiejunas about a dozen time over the last three years, we can say that we know his game already pretty well. So the report on his Treviso camp will be limited to mentioning our latest Scouting report on him that we wrote when he played with his team Benetton Treviso against BG74 Göttingen in the Eurocup earlier this season in front of a multitude of NBA Scouts.

Automatically eligible players – born in 1989

Dogus Balbay – 1m85 – Point Guard – 1989 – Turkey – Texas

If there was one player who really boosted his stock not only in terms of the NBA Draft but overall, it was the Turkish guard Dogus Balbay. Freshly out of the University of Texas, Balbay was a bit overlooked so far as he was considered as a pure Pass-first PG who had most of his qualities on the defensive end. But in Treviso, Balbay showed excellent leadership skills and the potential of attacking the basket hard against European defenses. With his above average athletic skills (unfortunately no details in the Vitals list), he finished several plays above the rim or with excellent hang time.

He recognizes very well where are the open players and sees his own scoring possibilities only when the defense gives him the possibility or as a last resort. The fact that he is not a great jump shooter might be one of the reasons why this is the case and this will certainly be quickly exploited by European defenses on the professional level. The problem is that if he does not get the possibility to pass by his defender, his game remains limited. Balbay showed though at the Shooting drills that he can hit the ball from outside but he does not feel too comfortable doing so.

His future is most likely not in the NBA except in a similar role than he had in the NCAA which means as a defensive stopper and set play announcer. Additionally, he might struggle to do so because of his limited size and his most likely destination will be Europe. It will be interesting to see which will be his destination and how quickly he can have a major impact as his leadership, intangibles and athleticism will be great for Europe. But as we mentioned, his limits as a shooter from outside might hinder him from becoming a real top-level player in the future.

Robin Benzing – 2m07 – Small Forward – 1989 – Germany – ratiopharm Ulm

The German forward confirmed with his camp what can be expected from him in the future. Benzing, who played his second season at ratiopharm Ulm this year had some kind of a difficult seaon with several ups and downs that we have analyzed a few weeks ago. During the camp, Benzing showed that he has made some progress in toughness aspects of his game like rebounding or defense but he still is not a major player in both areas. This might be the biggest problem for him as we can not imagine him defend on NBA level either on the SF nor on the PF position. However, he would be a match-up problem on the offensive end as he is close to seven feet tall with shoes and can attack the basket from outside with either hand and good speed. His three-point shooting is one of the better ones in Europe and certainly superb for a player of his size.

Technically, Benzing showed some problems with his footwork on the dribbling attacks where he traveled quite often. These moves, that he does quite often in the game, get rarely called in the Bundesliga but the camp referees sanctioned him on these several times per contest. In the NBA, it would not be a travel call and he could beat his defender probably a lot of times with these starts into the opposite direction of receiving the ball. Out of his drives, he came up occasionally with nice passes but he mostly looks for his own scoring. During the camp, where he had to play PF all the time, he never really showed a back-to-the-basket attack and scored mainly from drives and three point shots. His limited athletic abilities will certainly be a problem on the next level as well but there might be an NBA team who takes a look at him in the second round, especially following the current Nowitzki hype.

Ousmane Camara – 2m04 – PF/C – 1989 – France – Le Havre

One of the European based players that improved his stock the most was the French inside player Ousmane “Sarra” Camara. Camara has never really cracked the rotation of his team Le Havre were he only played 11 minutes per game this season. But out of the limited stats (2.8ppg, 3.5rpg), you can already see what his main asset is: rebounding. Camara really has a great sense for rebounding the basketball on both ends of the court. He creates a lot of second possessions for his team as he has a superb timing on the offensive glass. His motor helps him to jump around and even get lots of long rebounds with several quick jumps to tip the basketball either to himself or one of his team mates.

But Camara is not only an excellent rebounder, he can also finish the basketball pretty well close to the basket out of Pick and Roll situations with the powerful layup but also with some kind of jump hook out of the back-to-the-basket move. With his 2m04, he is limited to play the Center position even in European conditions as his vertical is not really off the charts. His 2m16 wingspan speaks though in his favor but he misses the necessary ball handling skills to develop a power forward game in the future.

Antoine Diot – 1m90 – Point Guard – 1989 – France – STB Le Mans

The camp in Treviso was not really a great setting for Antoine Diot who excels more in “real” game situations. However, the season was not really a success for Diot either as he had to fight through different injuries and did not succeed in leading his team Le Mans to a title. The NBA currently seems out of reach for a player who has his future most likely in a regular Euroleague team. With his good physical skills, leadership and scoring skills, Diot is still waiting for his total break-out year on the highest European level.

Bangaly Fofana – 2m11 – Center – 1989 – France – ASVEL Villeurbanne

The French Center had a good showing in Treviso compared to what we were used to see from him during the French regular season. Fofana played a good role in the defensive rebound but had no major impact on the offensive end. He fought a lot and rejected some shots without doing something special though. As we mentioned already a few weeks ago, he should probably go to a team where he earns more minutes in order to develop into a more complete player in the future. The NBA is currently out of reach for him.

Adam Hanga – 1m97 – PG/SG/SF – 1989 – Hungary – Manresa

It can be said that the Hungarian swingman played an excellent camp and that some NBA teams might take a look at him at the end of the second round. Displaying a great speed and athletic abilities, Hanga does a lot of damage in the fast break where he can use his skills to either score by himself or create for his team mates. Being able to play all three positions from PG to SF, Hanga should be able to have quickly an impact in the ACB where he decided to play next season. All of his movements look extremely fluid and smooth and he is able to pass by his defender without any major problems.

The main problem about Hanga is still his shot. His overall mechanics are quite quick and fluid but he comes up with some kind of chest/shoulder shot that prevents him from taking it when defended hard. This is not a major problem as he can beat his defender on the dribble in these situations but overall, his percentages are not really great for a top-level European guard. However, he is improving his three-point shooting accuracy over the last years but he remains a below 40% shooter from behind the arc in the poor Hungarian League. This weakness is also translated to the free-throw line where he is not coming up with a more than mediocre 65%.

Defensively, Hanga can however develop into a very interesting player in the future. Quite agile and showing a good lateral quickness, Hanga reads the passing lanes very well and comes up with a nice amount of steals in those situations that create easy fast-break opportunities for his team. With his above average leaping abilities, he is a good shot blocker as well and nearly averaged 1 rejection per game in Hungary. With a developing shot, Hanga can become a highly interesting long term potential on the highest European level as his combination of size, speed and athleticism is not seen that often in European back-court.

Edwin Jackson – 1m88 – Shooting Guard – 1989 – France – ASVEL Villeurbanne

Edwin Jackson is a player that excels in this type of setting. The French guard can easily beat players on the dribble with his explosiveness and is not afraid to take and make lots of shots. As we have scouted him in a regular setting a short time before the camp, we suggest that you check out that article in order to get a better feeling for his game.

Adidas Eurocamp 2011: NBA Draft eligible players is a post from: European Prospects
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Jan Vesely (CZE) – 2m11 – Forward – Partizan Belgrade – 1990

The Czech forward is one of the hottest prospects in Europe in terms of athletic abilities, energy and potential. The 2m11 tall forward played his second full season on the Euroleague level and underlined his status as one of the biggest potentials in Europe. However, you could not really see a lot of progress this season in his shooting skills, he remains for example relatively poor from the FT line. But he is among the best athletes that exist right now in Europe and has terrific length and motor to play the game. He will probably never develop into a major scoring leader on NBA level.

Prediction: stays in (Lottery)

Andrew Albicy (FRA) – 1m78 – Point Guard – Paris-Levallois – 1990

The tiny PG from Paris was a big name at the U20 European Championship last summer. He had an up and down season this year but he helped his team to find the way back to victory in the end of the season when he played his best games. Mostly an energizer and ball stealer on defense, Albicy needs to improve his shooting regularity from outside on offense. On NBA level, he might struggle to attack rim as he has not an outstanding leaping ability.

Prediction: stays in (2nd round to undrafted)

Furkan Aldemir (TUR) – 2m05 – Forward – Karsiyaka – 1991

A player that flew a bit under the radar the last years as he was active in a smaller team in Turkey. Additionally, he had an  injury this season that kept him of the courts from mid-December to mid-February. Doing a lot of little things on the court, Aldemir will not surprise you with big stat lines but he is a regular contributor on the Senior level for the second year in a row. His main force are his outstanding rebound skills, Aldemir is averaging 7.9 rebounds per game in the Turkish league and rejected 0.9 shots per game as well.

Prediction: withdraws

Bismack Biyombo (CON) – 2m03 – Forward/Center – no team – 1992

The big riser on the Draft boards over the last weeks comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Bismack Biyombo used the Nike Hoop summit at its best to impress the NBA Scouts but remains though a very raw player. He has certainly a great upside and seems to be a quick learner but he lacks also on-going high level experience. But with his amazing body structure, he will certainly be among the players that will be analyzed in full detail by all the teams in the lottery.

Prediction: stays in (Lottery to mid-1st round)

Abdoulaye Loum (FRA) – 2m08 – Forward – Le Havre (FRA) – 1991

Abdoulaye Loum is one of the names that comes a bit out of nowhere as the French forward has only played 3 professional games in his career. The long forward is not a major scorer on the Espoirs level as well but he has a lot of tools to work with and develop into a good potential. The fact that Le Havre is known for good development of young players but a relatively late integration of these kids into the professional team might be an indication why he has not played more in the ProA so far.

Prediction: withdraws

Negueba Samake (FRA/MLI) – 2m11 – Center – 1990

A very long and athletic player but without any major experience on the professional level. Samake has switched teams over the last two years since he finished his Espoirs status with Le Mans but he never really could find his niche with Rouen or Limoges where he played as a sparring partner after having left the ProB team of Rouen.

Prediction: withdraws

Donatas Motiejunas (LIT) – 2m13 – Forward – Benetton Treviso (ITA) – 1990

The Lithuanian forward is one of the prospects that has been covered since his youngest age and he has now reached the moment where he is ready to be drafted. He played a nice season in Italy and reached the EuroCup Final 4 with his team Benetton Treviso. In the Italian League, he is one of the best Power Forwards and he seems to have become a regular double-digit contributor. He had his best game of his career a few days ago against Vanoli Cremona with 31pts, 14rebs, 5stls and 2blks.

Prediction: stays in (Lottery)

Davis Bertans (LAT) – 2m08 – Forward – Olimpija Ljubljana (SLO) – 1992

The Latvian shooter, who grew a few centimeters over the last year, is one of the players in this draft with the best combination of size and shooting skills. He was the leader for the U18 team last summer that won the Bronze Medal at the European Championship. Bertans is a correct athlete but not a really physical player. He moved to a Euroleague team during the season and he should be able to play serious minutes for Union Olimpija Ljubljana next season.

Prediction: stays in (1st round)

Lucas Riva Nogueira “Bebe” (BRA) – 2m11 – Center – Estudiantes Madrid – 1992

The Brazilian player from Estudiantes Madrid is one of the biggest projects of this Draft. The 1992 born; the same age than Biyombo; is far from being on the same level than the Congolese at the moment but Bebe has more pure talent to build upon. But on the other hand, despite a great wingspan, Nogueira is not a very physical player at the moment and he is years away from being able to contribute on the NBA level. The team that drafts him will invest into a project than can be rewarded nicely, or not at all.

Prediction: stays in (end 1st-2nd round)

Jonas Valanciunas (LIT) – 2m10 – Center – Lietuvos Rytas (LIT) – 1992

The Lithuanian big guy is another potential Lottery candidate from Europe for this year’s Draft. Valanciunas plays on the highest European level and is an important factor. He has a great body and concentrates on what he is doing best, scoring close to the basket, rebounding and shot blocking. You will not see him develop into a face-forward one day, he will play in the low post and set screens for the Pick and Roll. He might be able to contribute right from the start on NBA level.

Prediction: stays in (Lottery)

Nikola Mirotic (MNG-ESP) – 2m08 – Forward – Real Madrid (ESP) – 1991

One of the few players who is still active this season in international competitions is Nikola Mirotic as the Spanish forward will play the Euroleague Final Four in one week. Mirotic has made a huge step forward this season and has become even one of the more clutch players of his team Real Madrid. He is a real face-forward who can shoot the ball and understands the game well. However, the NBA does not seem to be a priority for him as he extended his contract until 2016 which might hurt his stock and put him in the 2nd round in a Nikola Pekovic way.

Prediction: stays in (mid-1st round)

Femi Oladipo (GER) – 1m99 – Forward – Crailsheim Merlins (GER) – 1990

A more unknown player coming from Germany is the athletic forward Femi Oladipo. He played with the German U18 National Team in 2008 at the Albert-Schweitzer Tournament where he had his best international outing so far. He moved to the 2nd division team Crailsheim where he improved over the last two seasons to be an important player on that level. His main forces are on the defensive end as he can guard players over several positions. Offensively, he remains a pretty raw prospect concerning his shot but he has undeniable qualities as a passer and slasher.

Prediction: withdraws

Nihad Dedovic (BIH) – 1m96 – Guard – Lottomatica Roma (ITA) – 1990

The Bosnian guard looks to be there for years but he still is not in his automatically eligible draft year. He is a regular scorer on a Euroleague team and has improved physically over the last season. Dedovic needs to become more accurate from behind the arc though as his slashing qualities are only average at best on NBA level. However, he has no problems attacking the basket on European level because of a good first step.

Prediction: stays in (2nd round)

Emanouil Koukoulas (GRE) – 2m11 – Center – Ilysiakos (GRE) – 1991

Emanouil “Manolis” Koukoulas is an unknown player to me. He played 9.1 minutes in the Greek League.

Prediction: withdraws

Joffrey Lauvergne (FRA) – 2m09 – Forward – Elan Chalon (FRA) – 1991

The French Power Forward is constantly progressing since he has left INSEP during the 2008/2009 season. He is playing nearly twenty minutes per game on the highest French level for a Playoff-team. Lauvergne is not your typical French prospect with outstanding athletic abilities and he has not played for any Youth National Team since 2007 which put him a bit out of the international focus and hype. But right now, he is among the best prospects in the ProA and he is learning quickly on the professional level.

Prediction: stays in (2nd round)

Leon Radosevic (CRO) – 2m08 – Power Forward – Cibona Zagreb (CRO) – 1990

Radosevic is maybe not the most talented guy but he looks to be a very hard worker with a great motor to run the floor. The Croatian big guy has good size and correct athletic abilities and mainly scores on the 5m jump shot or close to the basket. He does not put the ball on the floor that much but he can do it if necessary. Radosevic should excel as a back-up on NBA level when playing together with a good Pick-and-Roll guard as he can either finish on the Roll or the Pop-out.

Prediction: stays in (2nd round)

Tornike Shengelia (GEO) – 2m05 – Forward – Verviers-Pepinster (BEL) – 1991

The Georgian forward is a prospect that is there for several years already and playing for different teams but still has two years of eligibility left. This season, he was active in the Belgian League in order to get regular playing time but he remained relatively low key with just 16 minutes on the floor. Shengelia has no real quality in which he excels particularly but he is an interesting forward that can both shoot the ball and put it on the floor to attack the basket combined with good size for the Small Forward position.

Prediction: withdraws

Abdel Kader Sylla (SEY) – 2m05 – Center – SLUC Nancy (FRA) – 1990

The Seychelles born player dominates the French Espoirs League with great numbers and showed his potential in the few times he got minutes with the professional team. However, he remains undersized for the Center and he needs to find a team where he can play big minutes on the Senior level next season.

Prediction: withdraws

Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann (GER) – 2m10 – Forward/Center – Rhöndorf/Telekom Baskets Bonn (GER) – 1990

The 2nd German player in this Early-Entry class comes as well from the 2nd League. However, Wohlfarth-Bottermann is a member of Telekom Baskets Bonn that loaned him to their co-operation partner Rhöndorf in order to get playing time. WoBo is an athletic player with great size and runs the floor very well while he has shooting range up to the three point line. He is an excellent shot blocker and has learned quite some back-to-the-basket moves over the last two years. He only started with Basketball at the age of 15.

Prediction: withdraws

Tomislav Zubcic (CRO) – 2m14 – Forward – Cibona Zagreb (CRO) – 1990

Zubcic was considered a major talent for several years but he needed some time before becoming a player who could contribute on the highest European level. This season was his first where he saw regular minutes with the Senior team of Cibona and his numbers have grown dramatically. Zubcic has excellent size, can handle the ball, is a good athlete and can play on the Small Forward position. He might be one of the players that will do really well in workouts because of his large skill set.

Prediction: stays in (2nd round)

NBA Draft 2011–Early Entrants Analysis is a post from: European Prospects
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Several NBA teams (Nuggets, Trailblazers with 3 persons, Pacers, Spurs,…) had made to trip to Lower Saxony to follow mainly the Lithuanian Power Forward who will most likely enter the NBA Draft this spring. However it was the 2 years younger Alessandro Gentile who was the man of the match for the Italian team. Having followed Gentile during the NIJT in Roma in 2009 and during the U18 European Championship, the son of the former Italian NT player Nando Gentile had not the best image acting very cocky and ego-centric on the court during previous events. This has totally changed at least during this game as Alessandro appeared totally concentrated on his game and not getting frustrated easily as before. The guard had a big impact on the game and on his team mates whom he gave lots of instructions and good directions during the game.

The main offensive option for Gentile is his shot. He can create his own options out of the dribble or through good positioning off the ball. When Gentile puts the ball on the floor, which he can do with either hand, he uses a good first step to go for the jump shot from mid range after the dribble but he can also use a nice step back to come up with the three point attempt.  His shooting mechanics look perfect and with improved athleticism and better body shape, Gentile had not a problem to do this against the very athletic guards from Göttingen. When going up for the shot, he does it sometimes in a little fall back style but without losing his balance in the air. He is a lot more effective when he can take the shot in catch-and-shoot situations after a kick out pass or out of his own dribble than when he has to run through the screens and go for the immediate shot after the lateral pass.

One of the main points where we could see some progress with Gentile is his athleticism and overall physical fitness. Having been a bit “round” during the last years, the 1m96 tall Italian is currently developing more and more into a well built player. Using his good reads of the defense, he even came up with a very surprising two-handed back door dunk over the German Defense (you can see it in this short TV report of the game). Additionally, Gentile did an immense job on the rebound where he was very present and grabbed even a decisive offensive board in the final seconds of the game to get another offense.

Another point that has to be mentioned is his overall attitude and shot selection; two points that we heavily criticized in some of our previous reports. Gentile did not force one shot and only took those opportunities that the game situation offered him. With his shots falling, his confidence grew so that he created more of his own opportunities without forcing it though. After having made an important three pointer from the corner, he did not take the shot on the next offense when he had the opportunity but shared the ball with one of his more open team mates.

The defensive problems that are known about Gentile were not really an issue for him during this game. He defended a lot on the not very athletic Kulawick who rarely takes a drive. His lateral quickness limits were not really an issue in this match-up but they will most likely be on the next level. He came up with the occasional steal in the passing lane when he was reading what the offense wanted to do. As mentioned above, he had a huge impact on the defensive glass where he did an excellent job using his good body and timing to grab the ball. Gentile has to confirm this during the next weeks and he should be able to be the full team leader of Treviso by next season. On Wednesday, he showed that he has the talent and mentality to do so but remains a very young player with all the related unsteadiness and imperfections. But this game may have been a huge step forward in his development showing that he is ready to compete when it counts the most.

When Gentile used the game in Göttingen and presence of multiple NBA persons to have his best game of the season, Donatas Motiejunas came up with a so-so performance falling a lot into some problems that we knew about him already before. First of all, Motiejunas looks to have worked on his body but looked a bit exhausted by the game speed during moments. We do not know if he was ill during the days before, but the Lithuanian did not look like being in perfect shape. Together with not being really lucky on his shot attempts (2/7 2FGs – 0/3 3FGs – 5/8 FTs), the forward showed a mediocre body language often having his head down or looking frustrated. Additionally, he seemed to be a bit aggressive but not in his playing style but by going really hard against opponents risking too many fouls.

Motiejunas mainly operated out of the low post in the beginning of the game which was probably because of the short size of the German inside players. He did not use his size well though in these situations as he mostly went for his typical jump hooks with the left hand. The Lithuanian seven-footer uses his right hand to put the ball on the floor with his back to the basket and trying to push his defender backwards and then turn quickly over his right shoulder for the left handed jump hook. This jump hook is though not a real “jump” hook but more of a arm extension finger roll move without a very high release point. But he can get the open look on these because of his gret speed when doing the move. Additionally, he came up once with the play the other way around going back wards with his left hand on the dribble and doing the spin on his left shoulder and taking the jump hook with the right hand (You can see it in the above mentioned clip). But he was not very lucky and missed most of these attempts because he got easily put out of balance on these plays but the physical defense of the Göttingen players that went for the little pushes around his hips.

Instead of trying to go against this physical defense with using his strength and power, Motiejunas tried to beat the the defenders by his speed. He put the ball on the floor mainly with his left hand from the top but was not very successful in doing so and even was lucky in one situation not getting called for an offensive and 3rd foul in the middle of the second quarter when he went for a shoulder-down move along the baseline. Because he put himself into foul trouble as well by getting some cheap calls on poor reach-ins or pushes on the offensive post-up, he never found his rhythm in this game offensively. The left handed also tried to take out his defenders to the three-point line but he was not successful with his attempts from behind the arc. He bricked his first shot badly from the 6m75 distance and underlined his overall poor shooting performance with 2 missed free-throws out of a time out.

On the defensive end, Motiejunas showed correct lateral speed against the faster inside players of Göttingen. He tried to keep them in front him which he did well most of the times. He was present on the defensive rebound and came up with 3 block shots. But the overall impression that I got on this game of Motiejunas was more negatives than positives. We do not know how the NBA personnel in attendance analyzed the game but for the teams that saw him on Wednesday, he might have fallen down a bit on their Draft boards.

Alessandro Gentile stars against Göttingen is a post from: European Prospects
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Kevin Serpahin – 2m05 – C – Cholet Basket – 1989

The French Center plays his first full season as a professional on the Starting Center position. Even if he had a lot of ups and downs in his performances, the Cholet-bound player is an interesting prospect in terms of NBA potential. Cholet is playing an excellent season and is about to qualify for the Euroleague which may influence the future of the 2m05 tall player. If Cholet runs deep in the French playoffs, Seraphin will mostly likely miss the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso. Additionally, the French Finals are played on the 14th of June which is the Early Entry Withdrawal date. In the case, Cholet goes to the Finals, Serpahin may have no possibility to do individual workouts for NBA Teams which can hurt his stock. In any case, Seraphin will probably stay another year in Europe to play in the Euroleague with either Cholet or a different team.

Prediction: stays in the Draft

Thomas Heurtel – 1m88 – PG – Strasbourg – 1989

The question that we have discussed earlier this year is to know if Thomas Heurtel has progressed. The opinions were diversified and there came even the question on his future position, PG or SG. Right now, Heurtel does not really look like an NBA prospect and he put his name in certainly to test the waters and see if there are NBA teams that show interest in him. He will most likely be at the Eurocamp which is an event where he probably will excel with his flashy play.

Prediction: withdraws

Antoine Diot – 1m91 – PG – Le Mans – 1989

Is Antoine Diot an NBA player or not? The French guard is currently progressing in nearly every domain and will certainly become a high-level Euroleague player in the future. He has already lots of experience at a young age and plays the typical European basketball. His limits in creativity and athleticism will probably hurt him in terms of NBA potential but you never know. He will probably miss the Eurocamp also because of the potential of Le Mans to go deep in the French playoffs.

Prediction: withdraws

Edwin Jackson – 1m91 – SG/PG – Rouen – 1989

Together with Thomas Heurtel, Jackson represents the group of ASVEL players loaned out to a different team in France. The player from Rouen has the athletic tools and mentality to play in the NBA but a limited size for the SG position and still underdeveloped PG skills will hurt him down the road. Jackson will certainly by a good competitor in the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso and he needs to use this opportunity to boost his stock.

Prediction: withdraws

Andrew Albicy – 1m78 – PG – Paris-Levallois – 1990

The name of Andrew Albicy was quite a surprise for me when it was announced as the tiny PG from Paris has never been hyped up in France as a potential NBA player. The force of the U20 National Team player is of course his defense and he will compete during the Adidas Eurocamp with the U20 French team as guest. He uses this Draft to put his name on the boards of the teams that did not know him but in the end, he will most likely not play in the NBA one day.

Prediction: withdraws

Robin Benzing – 2m08 – SF – ratiopharm Ulm – 1989

The German forward played an excellent first season on the Bundesliga level after having his break out event at the Eurobasket in Poland. Benzing has an excellent combination of skills, height and speed but had lots of trouble on the defensive end. He is a below average rebounder for his size and needs to gain in strength. He will be at Treviso for sure and will certainly be a player that gets a lot of looks by NBA teams before the withdrawal date. And depending on what he will hear, he may stay in the Draft.

Prediction: withdraws

Tomasz Nowakowski – 2m09 – PF – Luka Koper – 1990

The Polish player came into the Draft as a total unknown so the main goal of his early entry is already reached: people know his name and at least check out who he is. He will probably be in Treviso for the Eurocamp where all the teams can evaluate him.

Prediciton: withdraws

Ryan Richards – 2m06 – PF – BBC Monthey – 1991

The British player is one of the youngest players that has entered his name this spring and he is all about potential at the moment. After an odyssey throughout Europe over the last seasons, Richards has settled down in Switzerland but he has not played a game there since March. He will probably be at the Adidas Eurocamp in June.

Prediction: withdraws

Mindaugas Kuzminskas – 2m03 – SF/PF – BC Siauliai – 1989

The Lithuanian forward had a nice Treviso camp last summer and entered his name to the Early Entry list this spring. He played an excellent season both in Baltic League and Eurocup and may go back to Zalgiris this summer as return on the loan. Kuzminskas tests the water this year to see his value for the NBA Draft and may remain in the pool if he likes what NBA teams will tell him. The big time potential is however not there.

Predicition: withdraws

Bojan Bogdanovic – 2m02 – SG/SF – Cibona Zagreb – 1989

Finally, Bogdanovic plays on the highest level after travelling through lower Spanish divisions for several years. He boosted his stock in terms of an NBA future nicely this season but is he the type of player NBA teams are looking for. I have some doubts if he will be at the Eurocamp in a month but the NBA teams had enough possibilities to scout him in real conditions so that those teams that may want to draft him should be aware of his qualities.

Prediction: may stay in

Tibor Pleiß – 2m14 – C – Brose Baskets – 1989

The German Center made a big step forward this season as he is a starter for an ambitious Bundesliga team. His presence on the defensive end as shot blocker is excellent and he also made some progress in his physical presence. Offensively, he is developing and he has still a major potential upside. Being seven foot tall and far from being stiff, he is certainly one of the European players in this Draft getting the most attention. It is highly possible that he won’t be in Treviso because of the German playoffs.

Prediction: stays in

Donatas Motiejunas – 2m13 – PF/C – Benetton Treviso – 1990

With the absence of Jan Vesely, the Lithuanian forward is the biggest stock from Europe this year. Combining excellent basketball skills with great size, Motiejunas is one of the players that lots of teams like because he has no real counterpart in College Basketball. He may be at the Adidas Eurocamp, living just next door. He may end up being the only European in the 1st round if he stays in which seems to be not so sure according to different sources.

Prediciton: stays in

The 2nd part of the analysis will follow later.

NBA Draft 2010 European Early Entries Analysis (Pt. 1) is a post from: European Prospects
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Antoine Diot is currently playing his best season of his career. The 1989 born French guard of Le Mans is doing a great job leading his team and could also improve his statistics consequently. I had a long report on him this summer which I can only recommend to read as it describes the progress he has made, especially in the reading of pick and roll situations and with his long distance shot.

Stats: 7.8ppg, 3.0rpg, 3.0apg

Stefan Markovic is another PG that has made a big step this summer playing with the National Team and being now the leader of a Eurocup team. However, Markovic still struggles with his long distance shot these days as he is turning just around 18% from behind the arc. His all-around presence through strong rebounding and good defense overcome his decreasing scoring average over the last two years.

Stats: 7.0ppg, 4.3rpg, 5.5apg

Milan Macvan had one big game in this season’s Eurocup against Le Mans where he finished with 14pts and 6rebs. The 1989 born forward is imposing himself as a key player for Hemofarm, even he could not yet reach the level he played on last season.

Stats: 8.0ppg, 3.0rpg

Boban Marjanovic is still the 2m22 giant in the middle who has a major impact on both sides of the court. He is automatically eligible for the NBA Draft in 2010 so we could see him being a interesting pick down the road for several teams looking for a real big guy. Having a pretty nice shooting touch and a huge frame, Marjanovic has all the tools but currently is not yet making the next step in his development

Stats: 7.0ppg, 4.3rpg, 1.3bpg

Mindaugas Kuzminskas is one of the major surprises of the beginning of the Eurocup season. Kuzminskas who signed a long term deal with Zalgiris this summer but was loaned back to Siauliai is doing a great job as starter for the Lithuanian team. Being present both as a scorer and rebounder, Kuzminskas is doing an all-around job in his second Eurocup season. The 2m05 tall and 1989 born player is currently hitting his three point shots with great accuracy. His shooting mechanics look excellent with a quick release. He understand the game pretty well and he can use his size to post up smaller defenders when playing SF. He is also very effective when driving to the basket as he attracts the help defense and knows how to dish the ball to his open team mates. Fundamentally, he is at a very high level and athletically, he is above average for European standards. On the downside, he looks to be kind of a soft player when it comes to contact, especially in the lower body. He loses his balance in the air easily when going for the layup against defense and struggles to convert his attempts then. However, he is one of the most promising players in the Eurocup this season and I won’t be surprised to see him playing Euroleague with Zalgiris in 2010.

Stats: 12.5ppg (63.6% 7/11 3FG), 3.5rpg

Deividas Gailius is the 2nd player of BC Siauliai in this report and the electric combo guard born in 1988 is doing a great job in his first season with the team. Gailius is a highly energetic guard that displays a relentless effort on the court. He is more of a scorer, that’s why Siauliai uses him a lot on the SG position, even if he is starting most of the times at PG. The 2m00 tall guard pushes the ball very hard on the break and tries to go for the score against anybody. He looks like being always at full effort, it is not sure if he can really slow the speed down. In general, he has all the tools to become a very good player, he can shoot the ball in catch-and-shoot situations or out of the dribble. He is not afraid to drive hard and tries to dunk the ball when possible.

Stats: 10.3ppg, 4.5rpg

David Jelinek saw some playing time in the beginning of this EuroCup campaign and he used the limited minutes to show his scoring talent. The Czech born forward from 1990 will probably have more impact in the coming years as the 2m03 tall player has the talent to become an interesting rotation on ACB and EuroCup level.

Stats: 5.5ppg, 2.5rpg

Pere Tomas is improving his numbers throughout the competition as the 2m01 tall forward gained the starting lineup position for the last two games. The versatile 1989 born player is showing his all-around talent combined with his athletic abilities make him a prospect that should fulfill all the promises during the next years.

Stats: 5.3ppg, 2.8rpg, 1.3apg

Tim Ohlbrecht has been featured in a very recent report here on the website so I suggest you to read that piece.

Dimitry Khvostov seems to be there for years, he was present with the Dynamo Moscow team back in 2006/2007 already with similar stats to today. For me it is difficult to say anything else on him as I did not see him play in EuroCup action for several years.

Stats: 4.0ppg, 2.5apg 2.3topg

Alexey Shved has made the move that finally will give him the playing time to showcase his talent. Coming to Dynamo Moscow during the season, he exploded immediately in the EuroCup behind 16pts and 8rebs. In the year of his automatic eligibility for the NBA Draft, it is important for him to put some numbers on the table that are in line with his incredible talent. Hopefully, we will have more on him later in the season.

Stats: 10.5ppg, 7.0rpg

Marko Keselj is doing a good job this year with Crvena Zvezda but still does not live up to the major hype that was built up around him several years ago. Being born in 1988, the long forward who excels from behind the three point line, is probably not on the board of a lot of NBA teams at the moment. The financial situation of his team though brought him in a situation where is looking for a different club as he has not received his salary since March.

Stats: 9.7ppg (5/11 3FG)

Elmedin Kikanovic has not been discussed that much recently but the Bosnian 2m10 Center is once again producing excellent numbers with Crvena Zvezda. Living mostly from his excellent jump shot, the 1988 born player is not a massive physical force which does not make him that interesting for NBA teams. However, Kikanovic will certainly be a major target for Euroleague teams in the future.

Stats: 14.3ppg, 3.3rpg

Nemanja Bjelica is more interesting in terms of NBA potential as the 2m09 tall forward is showing excellent athletic abilities and large versatility in his game. Bjelica is also an excellent defensive player and one of the best rebounders on the forward position. Bjelica is however struggling with his shot at the moment as he connects only 34% of his attempts.

Stats: 4.5ppg, 6.8rpg

Donatas Motiejunas raised some eyebrows this summer when he announced that he will sign with Benetton Treviso. But the move seems pretty clever right now as the Lithuanian top talent is having a good role in the rotation of the Italian team and plays around 20 minutes every game. After the Euroleague qualifiers, I had no opportunity to see him play in the Eurocup thus far, so I hope to get a bit more on him later on in the season.

Stats: 7.5ppg, 2.3rpg

Alessandro Gentile is probably the biggest surprise of the whole Eurocup as the 17 year old player has cracked the rotation of Benetton and is putting on a scoring show during the minutes he is on the court. He scored 16pts in just 21 minutes against Dynamo Moscow and did better than the highly regarded Shved on the same game. Gentile plays with the Benetton Junior Squad at the Stella Azzurra tournament these days, so I will get a more complete report on him in the next days when I am back from Rome.

Stats: 7.3ppg, 4.3rpg

Kevin Seraphin has been covered recently in a longer report which you can find here.

Stats: 7.0ppg, 6.3rpg, 1.3bpg

Carl Ona Embo is getting some back-up minutes at the PG in Biella. He is currently doing a correct job as his three point shot is falling in the Eurocup competition. Still, Ona Embo is not a real PG but more of a scoring combo guard combined with PG size which makes it quite difficult for him to find the right position for the future.

Stats: 4.3ppg, 1.8rpg, 1.5apg

Pietro Aradori is simply among the best players of the competition. I had a long report on him a few weeks ago which you can read here.

Stats: 16.7ppg (65% 2FG), 5.0rpg, 2.3apg

Karsten Tadda is probably the best example to see that hard work pays off. The defensive specialist has worked himself into the heavy rotation of Brose Baskets Bamberg during last season and has progressed ever since. Being used mainly as a defensive stopper, Tadda is able to hit the three pointer with ease when being open as shows his current percentages in the Eurocup where he is at an incredible 72.7% from behind the arc. Tadda is starting now for his team at SG and may also see minutes on the Point Guard in the next years. The 1m90 tall and 1988 born guard may be limited in terms of pure basketball talent but he is the perfect role player and shows this already now on the Eurocup level.

Stats: 8.5ppg (72.7% 3FG)

Tibor Pleiss has been covered this week in a long report.

Stats: 10.5ppg 6.3rpg 1.3bpg

Janis Strelnieks (Stats: 12.3ppg 4.0apg), Lauris Blaus (Stats: 2.5ppg 1.8rpg) and Dairis Bertans (Stats: 4.0ppg 2.0rpg 1.3apg) have been covered during the Euroleague qualifiers and confirm their talent level in the current Eurocup competition.

Quick review on the ongoing EuroCup season is a post from: European Prospects
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The main talent on the Lithuanian team is of course Donatas Motiejunas. The combination of talent, size, coordination and skills is rare in European basketball and the 2m15 tall player was clearly the reason why the NBA scouts have made the trip to Northern France. But I don’t think that they go home with any additional information on the Lithuanian. He still has potential written all over him but the doubts on his mental approach to the game have been intensified. Being in the middle of a brawl of the Lithuanian – Puerto Rico game and showing frustration throughout full games on the court is probably not the best way to improve the opinion people have on you. Whatever…

Motiejunas showed in Douai that he is more and more becoming a player that really plays inside. His three point attempts are going down and he tries to play in the low post. You can see him going for several different moves, fade away jump shots or left handed jump hooks. His hook shots look a bit strange though as he is shooting them in a bit of a throwing forward move instead of releasing the ball on its highest point. This may be a reason why his shots are always contested one despite being the tallest guy on the court.

Motiejunas needs to work on his mental approach to the game

Another position where you could see Motiejunas a lot is on the high post. He can create from that spot as he is capable of beating his opponents easily of the dribble, and this coming with either left or right hand. He finishes his drives a lot on some kind of floater and does not go that hard to the rim. He has however also the possibility to nail the jump shot from mid range or go for lightning quick passes to the back door cutters.

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It is important to see how he develops in terms of mental approach to basketball. You could see him arguing with the referees throughout the games and getting frustrated pretty easily when he does not get the calls he wants. This approach relates to his defensive game where his opponents had often open shooting possibilities as Motiejunas did not even raise the hand to defend their open looks.

Stats: 13.8ppg (41.5% FG 84.6% FT) 3.6rpg 2.8topg

A player that was quite a nice surprise for the Lithuanian team was the SF Gediminas Orelikas. By far the largest player of the squad, the forward from Pakruojis showed a very nice shooting exhibition throughout the tournament and had also quite a big impact when it came to defensive rebounding. Reports from Lithuania describe him as a bit of a lazy guy which could of course explain his devastating physical shape. He will probably never become a great athlete but he seemed to understand the game pretty well.

Orelikas reached the Final of the three point contest on Saturday

The main offensive weapon of Orelikas is his three point shot. He likes to go for some quick release from behind the arc, especially coming of a simple post screen to open him up. Not running that fast through the different screens, Orelikas knows how to get open using his body and he does not need that much of space to shoot. As he does not take the ball down before his release, he can also shoot when he has defenders running after him without the risk of getting stolen the ball. On the other hand, his deficit in athleticism prevent him from creating much of his own drive. You won’t see him going for a one dribble jump shot or playing the drive until the rim.

Orelikas did help his team a lot in defense though where he was really present in the rebound where he could use his strength to protect the ball and help his Center players in that area. Sometimes, Orelikas looks however not really concerned or too nonchalant which confirms what we heard on him from Lithuania. He came of an interesting season in NKL where he averaged 15.6ppg and 5.5rpg so that it would not be a surprise to see him next year with a bigger team in Lithuania.

Stats: 16.2ppg (55.1% FG 43.8% 3FG 13/13 FT) 4.6rpg

A player that should have been a major factor against this competition was Tautvydas Slezas. However, the Lietuvos Rytas Center could never really take over the game and saw relatively limited playing time during the tournament. He showed sparks of his talent though as he scored in different fashion, going for a powerful dunk from a high post drive or netting some kind of running hook shot. However, his limited speed handicapped him in defense and he had always some foul trouble.

A player that showed some interesting things on Sunday’s game was Tadas Padegimas. The 2m01 tall forward scored 9 points in the final quarter on good reads of the defense. He moves pretty well on the court but seems to be more of an up and down player in terms of performances when you check his stats throughout the tournament. He displays an interesting frame but looks however still pretty weak physically.

The youngest player of the Lithuanian team Dovydas Redikas had a fantastic game against the United States where he scored 31 points. He looks very elegant in what he does on the court and lots of his points come of fast breaks where he was always one of the first players to have crossed the court. He started most of the games for his team despite being born only in December 1992 and being virtually 2 and a half year younger than the rest of the team.

Redikas scored 11 out 14 against Team USA

Vytenis Cizauskas got also lots of minutes as a back-up point guard where he did a good job in setting up the team and creating open positions for his team mates through drive and dish plays most of the time. He is still pretty limited when it comes to his physical attributes but he may have a good future as a European style PG in the next years. It would not surprise me if he takes over the starting job with the U19 team this summer on the PG spot.

Douai 2009: Lithuania Review is a post from: European Prospects
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Milan Macvan (Serbia – 2m06 – PF – 1989) 23pts 14rebs 6asts

If there was one player that was supposed to struggle in this type of competition because of his lack of athletic abilities, it was Milan Macvan. But what a show he put on the floor in Portland, displaying that basketball is all about fundamentals, shooting and knowledge of the game. He outsmarted the whole US frontcourt with fakes and a massive presence on the offensive glass and you could easily see that he is the player that is currently active on the highest competition level  (EuroCup) of all the present guys.

Macvan, despite being undersized and slower than his opponents, showed a nice arsenal of offensive weapons that nobody could really respond. He excels in pick-and-roll or pop situations where his massive screens put the US team several times in trouble because they could not read his offensive positioning. As Macvan has deep range, he hit one shot in the money time to seal the game a good meter behind the NBA three point line, it is very difficult to defend him because he is not afraid of driving where he can protect the ball very well.

Out of these drive situations, he has a great court-vision to dish the ball to his open team mates. Defensively, Macvan tries to play more with his basketball understanding than with athletic abilities and speed. Laterally, you see him struggle when being attacked of the dribble but a faster opponent. This lack of athleticism may prevent him from being a real NBA prospect, but for the European level, he has every tool to become a dominant PF in a near future.

Donatas Motiejunas (Lithuania – 2m15 – PF – 1990) 21pts 8rebs

Donatas is one of these incredibly talented 1990 born Bigs with the combination of size and pure basketball talent. Together with Jan Vesely and Tomislav Zubcic, they represent the future of European basketball of this age category, not to speak of Ricky Rubio. Motiejunas came to Portland fully motivated despite missing the Final Four of the Baltic Challenge Cup with his home team. And right from the start of the game, you could see the talent level of Motiejunas is tough to be matched.

He started the game with two nice drives of his left hand where no defender had a chance to stop him. Out of these drives, he can go for a perfect kick out pass for the open shooter or finish of some kind of running hook shot, a shot that he handles also with his right hand. When posting up, he often goes for some kind of turn around jump shot, which he executes on both sides and that he knocks down even when being fouled.

In this game, Motiejunas was not highly present on rebounding, but his size and mobility give him the possibility to grab a nice amount of missed shots. His current position is being the PF but depending on the matchups, he can play either the SF or the C position during stretches. He is now back to Lithuania and will discuss the possibility to enter the NBA Draft with his parents and agent. He is certainly not ready yet to play on that level right now as he is physically only average at the moment. And the question how he develops when gaining weight has still to be answered.

Tomislav Zubcic (Croatia – 2m11 – PF – 1990) 17pts 5rebs 2blks

The Croatian forward has a really nice showing in this game despite playing a lot on the SF position because of the somehow strange selection of the World Squad that had no real SF on his roster. But Zubcic showed his nice versatility and ability to handle the ball. In certain press situations, he even took over the PG job to bring the ball up and use his size to pass the ball above the shorter US guards that were setting up the defense.

Zubcic used his size and timing to be very present on the offensive glass where he managed to capture several offensive rebounds and either finishing them with a layup or giving a nice pass to his team mate bigs. He had several strong drives of the baseline where he finished despite being fouled pretty hard at times. His nice execution speed helps him to gain advantage when he is guarded by a bigger player.

Nikos Pappas (Greece – 1m93 – PG – 1990) 10pts 3asts 3stls

After having put on a big show at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Mannheim one year ago, it was time again for Pappas to shine a little bit on the international scene. The Greek guard that plays currently in Spain showed that he is a nice scoring talent and can hit the three ball without any problem in catch and shoot fashion. To create a clean shot against the more athletic US guards is however not his strength and you could see Pappas sometimes go for some difficult running floaters, which he can hit even when jumping of the wrong foot.

I don’t know if it is because it is on TV, but to me, Pappas looked a bit faster on his drives where he beat the defense several times to finish of a layup. He can create for his team mates when driving to the hoop but he struggled sometimes to bring up the ball against the highly aggressive defense and needed the help of Zubcic to come over mid-court. Far away from being a NBA prospect right now, Pappas will probably move into the direction of becoming a solid Euroleague player in the next years and a constant member of the Greek national team once the current generation has retired.

Kevin Seraphin (France – 2m06 – C – 1989) 8pts 9rebs 4blks

Being only used during limited minutes in Cholet, the event in Portland was a bit of a coming out party on the highest level for the French Center. Displaying great athleticism and very big hands, Kevin Seraphin showed a big presence on the rebound on both ends of the court. You could see his arm raise several times out of the paint to get the ball far above the rim. He also had several blocked shots coming on help situations or as a second row goalkeeper.

Offensively though, Seraphin has still a lot of progress before as he is not very accurate when it comes to jump shots. Close to the rim, he finishes with dunks or layups but missed a couple of close shots around the basket. He has already a big body and knows how to use in order to gain a favorable position over the defenders. He should see a lot more minutes from next season on in the French championship and it will be interesting to see at what level he will be after a full season of professional basketball.

Watch here below the highlights of the game. (Courtesy of OregonLive)

Nike Hoop Summit 2009 review is a post from: European Prospects
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I will start my roundup with the players that will or may enter the 2009 NBA Draft as early entrants. They can declare until April 26th if they want to put their name on the Early-Entrants list in order to test their value for the upcoming Draft. Then, the can withdraw their name until the 15th of June if they are not happy. As an international player, you can withdraw twice from the Early Entrants list, when entering your name for a third year, you are automatically in the NBA Draft.

Player having declared officially for the 2009 NBA Draft

The only International player that has officially declared so far is the French-German-Portuguese forward Fernando Raposo as reports jump-shot.net from France. The 2m06 tall and 1989 born PF, who plays his first full professional season with Elan Béarnais in France this year had some interesting games in a tough sportive situation. Having signed with agent Kenny Grant this season, Raposo is probably just testing the waters to see his value and put his name on the list of the different scouts that did not know him so far. Without going for some huge workouts or a mind-blowing Reebok EuroCamp, Raposo will most likely withdraw before the dead-line.

Brandon Jennings is a specific case as he is the first US born player to join a European professional team right out of High School. This makes him automatically a NBA Draft candidate according to a rule of the NBA Players collective bargaining agreement. His year in Italy has put him under different spotlights than the typical NCAA Freshman and gave the NBA scouts a possibility to evaluate him under professional circumstances.

Omri Casspi has declared to be officially eligible for the 2009 NBA Draft in different reports in the Israeli press. I consider the chances for him to stay in the Draft are pretty high, but he may not want to get drafted in the first round except if he becomes a Lottery pick which is highly unlikely. Casspi certainly can sign a more lucrative contract in Europe so a low first round pick is not that interesting for him. We will see how his situation evolves.

Players declaring highly likely during the next days

Rodrigue Beaubois will declare officially that he is in the Draft during the next days. His agent announced it already to Draftexpress, so it is pretty obvious that he will enter the early-entrants list for the third and will be in for good. Beaubois got quite some buzz over the last days and weeks due to his great play during March. If he can continue on that level, he will have good chances to see a very interesting Draft spot coming up.

More and more rumors say that Ricky Rubio will declare for this year’s Draft. The Spanish PG comes however from a season where his progress was a bit handicapped by a hand injury in the beginning of the 2008/2009 exercise. Still, he is considered as a top lottery pick and could even go as high as the Top3 according to the different Mocks.

Several sources indicate that Vladimir Dasic will enter his name to the NBA Draft 2009 during the next days. The SF from Montenegro has played a great U20 European Championship last summer but struggled a bit to put up regular performances throughout the season in the Adriatic League. He finished the season strong though with several big scoring performances but still not being accurate from behind the arc.

Testing the waters

Draftexpress also reports that Roger Zaki may enter his name this year in order to test the waters. Zaki comes of a season where he saw some minutes on the Euroleague level, but he showed that he is currently far away from being a factor on that level, especially defensively where he gets pushed around at will. He needs to find a team first where he can earn some minutes, and being born in 1988, he needs to do that quickly if his goal is to being drafted. Still, the potential is there, but is that enough?

Giorgi Shermadini is probably exactly the opposite case. The Georgian big man destroyed everything in his home league and moved to Panathinaikos in November 2008 and played only 4 league games since then.

Possible entrants

A player that may enter the NBA Draft after his recent performances at the Nike Hoop Summit (I will talk about that in a later post) is the Lithuanian Forward/Center Donatas Motiejunas. The seven footer with the great touch played a correct for a small team in Lithuania and managed to qualify the to the Challenge Final Four of the Baltic League.

Players that could have been ready this year for an early entrance but got kicked back by injuries or poor play are Victor Claver (broken leg) or Tim Ohlbrecht (limited playing time and multiple injuries). They may try to put their name back on the board of the NBA scouts by entering early and withdrawing before the deadline.

Ludo Vaty from Pau-Orthez is also a possible entrant according to several sources. The French PF played a good season and improved every season since he is with the former French powerhouse. He may have a future as a hard working rebounder and hustle guy in the big league.

Automatically eligible

On the list of players that are automatically eligible, being born in 1987, you will find also some interesting names.  Inside players like Henk Norel or Slava Kravtsov may get a shot somewhere in the second round. These type of players can boost their stock with a good performance during the Reebok Eurocamp in June.

A multi-task player like Emir Preldzic may be interesting for some franchises, something that counts also for Milenko Tepic. For both of these guys, the future will however be probably in Europe as they lack some NBA typical characteristics. Jonas Jerebko is another player that may have some NBA potential due to his interesting combination of size and shooting skills.

Finally, you have two guards that may get a pick this year as they played both some interesting seasons in the past. Sergio Llull had his breakout party this year and boosted the Real Madrid play during stretches with his athletic and speedy drives or three point bombs. While Nando de Colo had a great last season, he slowed down a bit this year but he may be picked down the road somewhere late in the second round.

A first look at the upcoming 2009 NBA Draft is a post from: European Prospects
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• The main event may be the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland. The World team is this team made of mainly European players and it features some of the most prolific prospects around. While the US eyes will probably be mostly on Donatas Motiejunas, the roster features some future Euroleague players like Milan Macvan or Nikos Pappas. Draftexpress is covering the event live from Portland and has a first look at some of the major Europeans (Motiejunas, Macvan, Jackson) in the event. The excellent Blazer’s Edge is also covering the days as the event is happening at their home base in Oregon. They cover Motiejunas too in their first article about the world team but give also a first look at Mamadou Samb. The main sponsor of the event has of course also big coverage from Portland and gives the writing pen to some of the players of the event. Read here what Donatas Motiejunas (again him) tells us about his first time in United States and also what the French Edwin Jackson has to report
• The second place to be these days is Vilagarcia in Spain where one of the biggest U18 tournaments is played these days. Spain, Angola, Russia, Germany, Italy, France, New Zealand and the Czech Republic are playing here to see who has the best cards for the upcoming Summer Championships. Next to the official website, our Spanish friend Jaime Martinez Lafargue at Solobasket gives a great coverage of the Tournament, unfortunately only in Spanish. Read his scouting report of the first day right here.
• Eurobasket.com reports briefly about the Final tournament of Serbian U17 teams in Belgrade
• It has been last weekend already, but Serbia has won the prestigious Bellegarde tournament for U16 teams in France. Second place was for Greece while Turkey finished third and France on the last place. This weekend, Serbia plays in Ragusa (Italy) another U16 tournament against Spain, Russia and the home team of Italy. The opening game of the tournament saw Spain beat Italy 77-63.
• To stay in Italy, the 5th edition of the Memorial Graziano Barila is taking place these days and feature a couple of interesting teams. Team Ohio, the Sabonis Basketball School or Olimpija Ljubljana are the most notable names coming to the tournament to fight against the local youth teams from Italy. You can follow the results and check the rosters right here.
• The Cholet Mondial Basket Tournament will start today in Western France and will feature some very interesting teams too. Despite the withdrawals of some teams before the tournament for different reasons, the organization has managed to bring in such talented squads like Real Madrid (without Nikola Mirotic though), BCM Ostrava or Stella Azzurra Roma next to the traditional French professional Farm teams. Follow the tournament on the official website
• Finally, the German U19 league is looking for its last Final Four participants this weekend after the qualification of ALBA Berlin and Paderborn Baskets. In a highly anticipated (some considered it as a potential Final) game between Trier and Urspring, the team around Maik Zirbes tries to go for a decisive game after having lost the opener of the series one week ago and Maurice Stuckey’s team. The other quarter-final should see TSV Tröster Breitengüssbach qualify against Bayern Munich.

Heavy weekend picks is a post from: European Prospects
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