The trip started with the game in Crailsheim which featured the dominator of the German ProA Bayern Munich with their star-ensemble against the small-town team of the Merlins. The locals have with Femi Oladipo an interesting player in their roster that we talked already about a few weeks ago while Bayern has with the 1989 born Bastian Doreth a future Bundesliga PG. However, none of the two had a major impact on the game. While Oladipo only took one shot during the whole game, Doreth had a least three attempts from behind the arc to make one.

The 1990 born forward was totally cut of from the Merlins heavily US-based offense. The team’s 5 German players that get significant minutes only took 13 shots of the 63 attempts of the team which underlines the overall poor team play. And a team player like Oladipo looks a bit lost on offense where all of his actions where just about sharing the ball and creating opportunities for his team mates. Despite being listed as 1m99 tall power forward, it was him that came up with some nice passes and good court-vision while the normal playmakers looked more for their own shot. Oladipo did a good job on the defensive end where he guarded every position from 1-4 and this especially in stopping Steffen Hamann during stretches but he needs to remain focused on his presence once he gets passed by the offense. However, offensively, this game was not really a good one for Oladipo as he had no influence at all. After his nice start into the season, he seems to have lost his confidence on offense scoring only 5.0ppg over the last 9 games after having started the season with 9.4ppg.

Bastian Doreth did a good job by running the point during his minutes on the court. When coming from the bench, you did not really feel a difference compared to Senior NT player Hamann, even if both have a very different game. Being pretty short with only 1m82, Doreth can push the ball on the break and has a very nice three-point shot. He rarely attacks the rim and takes more than 75% of his shots from behind the arc and hits them with great precision (45.9%). Additionally, he is a fantastic free-throw shooter (95.5%) but has some trouble to defend on taller or more athletic guards. If Bayern München wants to play for the Championship next season, he might not be strong enough as Back-up for them but he can certainly do a good job for mid-level Bundesliga teams next season.

Check the full game in Video (not available in every country)

We continued our trip to Bayreuth where the local BBC played against the surprising TBB Trier team. Both squads feature one player that has been mentioned in our 5 players to follow this season in the Bundesliga. Simon Schmitz decided to play his best game of the season for Bayreuth on Sunday so that it was a great opportunity to get an update on the 1990 born German PG. Additionally, Maik Zirbes did a good job as well for the guests so that this game gave us a nice possibility to scout both of them.

So far, Simon Schmitz never played longer than 17 minutes but this all changed on Sunday as the 1m85 tall and officially 65kg guard saw 20 minutes of action for scoring 14pts and having the best +/- of the whole team. The game was highly important for his team that tries to avoid relegation and improved their record with an important win. Schmitz entered the court at the end of the 1st quarter when the offense of his team was not turning very well. With him on the floor, the team shared the ball and the different players got excellent open shots. Schmitz himself was not afraid to take his opportunities and knocked down a long-distance shot from the corner followed by a three-pointer. He added a second triple and finished his first half with a very difficult drive that he could connect after a spin-move in traffic.

Next to his offensive aggressiveness and great shot selection and accuracy, it was under Schmitz’ control that the team made the game-winning break in the second quarter as he managed to change the game speed and put his team in a more setup-oriented offense than relying on pure 1-on-1 skills. When he went back to the bench and the starting PG Danny Gibson came back to the court, the team fell back into its initial problems and the lead was reduced. During the second half, Schmitz came back an assured the lead of his team and even help to increase the gap again during the third quarter. After another period on the bench, head coach Andreas Wagner brought the young guard back for the last minutes of the game in order to control the game speed and bring home this important victory and keep the hope alive to stay in the league.

Next to his great offensive game, Schmitz showed good improvement in his defensive attitude where he was doing an excellent job on Dru Joyce. He was not afraid to challenge the US guard physically and was always hard on him without getting passed over. Despite being physically one of the least impressive players of the whole Bundesliga, Schmitz showed that he can handle the pressure and be a factor on the defensive end as well. After having grown step-by-step over the last seasons, he has now marked his territory in the BBL and he will be measured on his performance from last Sunday. Bayreuth knows that they have an alternative on the bench to take over and coach Wagner might go to the German guard more often in the last games of the season.

Maik Zirbes has been a great story so far this season for TBB Trier and his head coach Henrik Rödl. We had already a longer report on him a few weeks back and the game in Bayreuth underlined again his forces and weaknesses. Physically impressive, Zirbes is having a lot of Pick and Roll situations where he gets fed by PG Dru Joyce. Out of these situations he comes up with great positions where he can finish with the dunk. Additionally, he has good timing for the offensive rebound but once again missed the necessary aggressiveness to finish strong on a second jump. You could see him several times come up with a good offensive rebound but instead of using his power to go back up for the dunk, he tried some soft shots from close that he missed.

Simon Schmitz keeps the hope alive for Bayreuth is a post from: European Prospects
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Robin Benzing – 2m09 – 101kg – SF – 1989 – ratiopharm Ulm

Next to the already drafted Tibor Pleiss, Robin Benzing is of course the player to watch in terms of NBA potential of the talented 1989 born German generation. After an excellent first season on the highest level, a great Eurocamp in Treviso, Benzing needs to confirm now his status as top talent by pushing his team not only with his scoring but also by leading it to win more games. His limited impact on the National Team level this summer showed him that it is still a long way to go before being a regular contributor on the international scene and the lanky forward will have to work even harder this season.

The whole ratiopharm Ulm team is built around him as first offensive option and the number of NBA scouts coming to Ulm will certainly not decrease. Benzing needs to become a tougher player on defense where he still sees a lot of problems when getting posted up. Additionally, his rebound average is somehow subpar for a nearly seven-footer. On the offensive end, his lack of athleticism is one of the reasons why he may not dominate as expected but at 21, there is certainly a progress margin to overcome these deficits. The season will start on a tough note as Ulm will travel to the German champion Brose Baskets on Sunday and the opposition of a Euroleague team will immediately show what Benzing took out of this summer on the Beko-BBL level.

Michael Wenzl – 2m10 – 110kg – C – 1991 – ratiopharm Ulm

One of the surprises of the Pre-season is the young Michael Wenzl who is yet another member of the ratiopharm Ulm team. Having never seen him play, I checked with the Ulm head coach Mike Taylor to get a bit more information on a player who has never played in any Youth National Team but who made a steady progress over the last years in the different Ulm youth teams. Wenzl, who has a 2 years younger brother being as tall as him, plays also with the ProB cooperation team of SG Illertal where he scored 23pts and grabbed 7rebs in the first game of the season last weekend. So who is Michael Wenzl, coach Taylor?

Michel “Michi” Wenzl is a hardworking physical young post player. He is raw and very new to basketball so he is learning quickly about the game. He is benefitting from the presence of smart post players like Sean Sonderleiter, John Bryant and Coleman Collins who are helping him every day. We plan to use Michi as a backup post man and get him minutes every Bundesliga game this season. In our preseason, he picked up things quickly and contributed well. I believe he will help our team as an extra big man who can defend, rebound and execute our offense. He will have a role and we will work to develop him. Offensively, Michi has potential to be a very skilled player but right now he is learning how to use his body and create shots in the post effectively. He is an active rebounder but will learn to be even more aggressive as he develops his strength. Michi learns quickly and has picked up many details and applied them well. Defensively, he is physical and will bang. His size and true-five physical playing style make him an excellent prospect for the future and we are really excited about helping Michi make the next steps.

Maik Zirbes – 2m08 – 122kg – C – 1990 – TBB Trier

Big Maik was supposed to get some serious minutes already last season but it did not happen. With a new head coach (former Tar Heel and ALBA Berlin player Henrik Rödl) and a new concept, this can be the break-out year for the big guy. Zirbes is built like a bull but his game is a lot softer than his look. After being used one year as a PF under the previous coach, he is now back on the Center position and he may be even the starter right from the start in front of the veteran George Evans. Zirbes played an excellent pre-season, being even the top scorer of the team in some games. The 2m08 tall player is mainly scoring close to the basket on Pick-and-Roll or help situations but he is also doing a nice job on the offensive glass.

Zirbes has really improved on defense and is less foul-prone than we knew him from last season. An interesting U20 National Team summer and the intense practices with the new head coach helped him into this direction. In the recent season preview of the local newspaper, team-captain Dragan Dojcin underlined the potential of Zirbes with the following words:

His body is his capital. Maik is really tall and good in the paint. He lacks consistency in defense: sometimes he is good, sometimes he is bad. He needs to work on this and try to stay at the same high level.

Simon Schmitz – 1m85 – 71kg – PG – 1990 – BBC Bayreuth

Simon Schmitz climbs the ladder slowly but surely year after year. 2008-2009 he was a starter in the ProB, 2009-2010 he was a starter in the ProA and now for 2010-2011 he will play in the BEKO-BBL but most likely not as a starter. BBC Bayreuth signed the young German PG this summer after he was supposed to stay yet another season in Jena and get some minutes with their cooperation partner MBC on the Bundesliga level. Looking at the preseason, Schmitz will be used as a back-up PG with a team that will fight to remain in the league.

Schmitz is a scoring PG who understands the game pretty well and has a nice shot but lacks the physical presence. Therefore, it will be very interesting to see how he will do against the mostly US-guards dominated opponents in the league. Last season, Schmitz showed that he has the level of ProA without any problem on offense but the coaching staff at MBC did not use him on BBL level yet, probably because of his problems on defense against stronger guards.

Philipp Schwethelm – 2m00 – 94kg – SF/SG – 1989 – Eisbären Bremerhaven

Schwethelm goes already into his 4th full Bundesliga season this year after having spent two years with Cologne and one with Bremerhaven. The 2m00 tall wing started most of the games for the Icebears and is doing some good progress as a regular scorer from outside. His lack of athleticism is however preventing him from being a bigger potential but his feel for the scoring will probably give him bigger roles in the future on the German level. He should be able to move up among the top German scorers this season and become a fix spot for the National team in the future.

Author’s Pick: A special mention goes to Mathias Perl from the LTi Giessen 46ers. I spoke already about him and his tremendous defensive potential a year ago and it seems that Perl has made the next step as he is planned to be the back-up PG of the Bundesliga team this season. He even played several games as a Starter for Giessen in the pre-season before they signed Giorgi Gamqrelidze. We wish all the best to the 1989 born guard and hope he will earn his minutes on the court. It is always good to see how a player develops over the years by staying at the same team and without being hyped as so many others.

5 players to follow this season in the Beko-BBL is a post from: European Prospects
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Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann (2m07 – C – 1990)

The long Center player from Bonn won the MVP trophy in this game which is of course a nice award for the efforts of the still very raw player. Wohlfarth-Bottermann can still be considered as a long term prospect and the recognition as “NBA-talent” by Detlef Schrempf after the Albert Schweitzer Tournament will make him a target of lots of scouts.

In Mannheim, JWB showed his very interesting defensive possibilities as he finished the game with 4 block shots, and there could have been even more if the referees would have been All-Stars too. He has already nice boxing-out reflexes as he had to go against the massive Maik Zirbes. His great athletic abilities and skills to run the court make him an excellent transition player where he can follow the break as a trailer.

Offensively, he is still pretty raw. You could see glimpses of back to the basket moves but he struggled to score against Zirbes. However, he looks to have made a step forward when it comes to explosivity and overall power in his game. You could see him score on powerful dunks, often coming of two feet. He will probably gain a spot in the U20 National team this summer and his evolution is to be followed intensively.

Femi Oladipo (1m99 – PF – 1990)

The athletic forward was the MVP from a statistical point of view as he finished the game as best scorer and rebounder. With his unorthodox playing style, Oladipo managed to score a good number of easy baskets either on offensive rebounds or even by going for a coast-to-coast dunk in traffic.

Oladipo is very active on both sides of the court when it comes to rebounding. He needs to work there very hard, as his jump shot is still far from being reliable. He did not even try one outside shot during the game, relying more on his interesting left handed drive. However, his ball handling needs some improvement, as he always puts the ball up very high which is risky especially when driving.

His limits in terms of shot are hugely pointed out when he steps to the FT line where his mechanics look very strange and not regular at all. Additionally, his situation in Bremerhaven was not positive for either him and his team and he is currently on the transfer market.

Philipp Neumann (2m06 – PF/C – 1992)

The surprise of the day for me was the game of Philipp Neumann. The MVP of the U16 Division B from 2008 put already very impressive numbers to the table in the NBBL and gains also some minutes in the ProB so I really wanted to know more about this player. And he looks like a very promising player to me.

Being not skinny at all, even looking a bit out of shape, Neumann is a highly intense player. He has very interesting footwork and he was one of the few centers on the court that showed back to the basket moves. He has long arms and also a sweet shooting touch in the key. The more surprising part in his game is his athleticism as he does not look at first sight being a great leaper. However, he showed some impressive dunks during the game.

His coach describes him as a very mobile inside player who will develop long distance shooting qualities in the future. With his interesting defensive timing. he can become also a shot blocker and good rebounder.  If Neumann can slow down a bit and concentrate on the important things on the court, he has a very interesting potential for the future.

Maik Zirbes, who recently entered the Draftexpress 90s born Internationals Ranking, was not in his best day in Mannheim. The massive Center got well guarded by Wohlfarth-Bottermann but he impressed with a nice buzzer-beating three pointer. His above average athletic abilities are of course impressive on this level and he should develop well in Trier under coach Defraigne and having a sparring partner like George Evans.

Simon Schmitz was not in a scoring day but the PG, who I recently featured in a longer article, showed that he is able to control a game and its tempo. His sometimes hara-kiri like drives against the bigs look impressive but he seems to be more focused when playing a real game than in such a show event.-

Robert Hülsewede showed an interesting polyvalent game. The 2m00 tall player looks already very well built physically and his a very quick shot release in catch-and-shot plays. This is nothing new but what impressed me was the fact that he played the PG position during some stretches and he came up with some very nice looks in those situations.

NBBL All-Star game review is a post from: European Prospects
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Team North

Ole Wendt (Paderborn Baskets – 1992 – 1m83 – PG)

Either as a starter or as energizer coming of the bench, the young guard of Paderborn is always giving 100% in the offense and in defense.

Jusuf El Domiaty (NY Phantons Braunschweig – 1990 – 1m87 – PG)

Top scorer and assist player of Braunschweig, he also plays important minutes in the ProB and that’s why he had only 2 NBBL games so far.

Janek Schmidkunz (Central Hoops Berlin – 1990 – 1m81 – PG)

He led the surprising team to a 2nd place in the North-East division. He is the second best scorer of the team and plays 34 minutes per game.

Mathis Mönninghoff (Bayer Giants – 1992 – 1m98 – SG)

Mönninghoff has made a giant step this season and works a lot on his all-around skills. He has still two years to go in the NBBL.

Nico Adamczak (ALBA Berlin – 1990 – 1m92 – SG)

15ppg and 8.4rpg are the figures that characterize the player of the current vice-champions. He is an excellent long-distance shooter and gives always 100%.

Niels Giffey (ALBA Berlin – 1991 – 2m00 – SF)

The most important player of ALBA Berlin. He has grown particularly quick into the role as team leader this season and is the current top scorer of the team.

Robert Huelsewede (Paderborn Baskets – 1990 – 1m98 – SF)

The skinny forward shows the versatility of the Paderborn team. He can dominate in the paint but also score from outside.

Max Schulze-Pals (Phoenix Hagen – 1990 – 2m01 – PF)

Schulze-Pals is a big fighter and gives always his maximum, characteristics that always are the trademark of the Hagen team.

Femi Oladipo (Eisbären Bremerhaven – 1990 – 1m99 – PF)

An incredibly strong athlete who is barely unstoppable on his way to the basket. He is also a member of the professional roster of Bremerhaven.

Jonas Wohlfarth-Bottermann (Bonn/Rhöndorf – 1990 – 2m05 – C)

He does not play organized basketball for a long time and has made his way from the tiny team of BSV Roleber to the AST and NBBL Top4 in a very short time. Dirk Bauermann considers him as a legit future Senior NT player.

Team SOUTH

Simon Schmitz (BIS Speyer – 1990 – 1m88 – PG)

28.5ppg 6.5apg 7.5rpg – Schmitz has the whole package. Two times player of the day and big time minutes with Speyer in the ProB show how important Schmitz is to his team.

Daniel Schmidt (Breitengüssbach – 1990 – 1m86 – PG)

He is the head of the division leader and distributes 6.4 assists per game. Additionally, he scores 10.2 per game and has already been a member of the Brose Baskets roster.

Akeem Vargas (ALBA Urspring – 1990 – 1m93 – SG)

He is not the guy you see on the court, but he is even more effective. Vargas is known for his great defensive presence.

Kevin Bright (ALBA Urspring – 1992 – 1m98 – SF)

The NBBL Rookie of the Year shows already good maturity and excellent body control. He has already a huge impact on his team despite being one of the youngest players around.

Filmore Beck (Eintracht Frankfurt – 1991 – 1m89 – SF)

The 6th best scorer of the NBBL who likes to shot from downtown and hits with great accuracy. He might be the leader that bring Eintracht Frankfurt for the first time into the Playoffs.

Tobias Korndörfer (Bayern München – 1990 – 2m02 – PF)

He is a hard worker in the paint and had already three 30+ games this season. He is doing all the work to hold the Bayer Munich team in the playoff race.

Robin Christen (Giessen 46ers – 1991 – 1m98 – PF)

Christen delivers strong 18.1ppg and 7.8rpg and he is the main reason why the Giessen 46ers can still dream of reaching the Playoffs this season.

Alexander Heide (Ulm – 1991 – 2m04 – C)

Heide is the shooting star of the Division South. With his 13ppg and 8.4rpg, he has transformed Ulm into a team that is difficult to beat.

Maik Zirbes (Trier – 1990 – 2m05 – C)

Physically, he has nobody to match with in the whole NBBL. He averages a double-double (22.0ppg and 11.0rpg) and has already played minutes in the Bundesliga with TBB Trier.

Erik Land (Breitengüssbach – 1990 – 2m05 – C)

Erik Land averages a double-double too (16.2ppg 10.6rpg). He is the most important player of the Division leaders and has played already a NBBL Top4 last year where his team finished 3rd.

NB: All the scoutings have bee translated from German as they have been announced officially by the NBBL organization.

NBBL All-Star Teams published is a post from: European Prospects
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Elias Harris (2m00 – 1989 – Forward – BIS Speyer)

In a recent article by the German magazine Forward, the current German U18 National team coach Kay Blümel considers Elias Harris as the biggest German prospect right now. Nobody else has the same combination of athleticism and basketball skills in the youth categories. Harris is also a house-hold name for all the followers of European Youth competitions and the possibility to see him play in his daily setup of Speyer was very interesting.

Harris is still present on the floor through his great athletic and physical skills. He is currently in process of developing a Small Forward type of play, as he was always used to play more on the PF position. So you see him attack the basket from the top, in a face-to-the-basket style. He can go down low on the block if he has a smaller defender on him but most of his plays are currently energetic drives to the hoop in a special off two feet jumping style. He uses this technique in order to surround players and it helps him to turn his big physical presence into an advantage.

The main question in Harris’ game was and still is his shot. While his mechanics look already better, most of his jump shots in this game looked pretty short. From the outside, he seems to miss the necessary shooting touch. However, this is a work in progress and his nice accuracy from the FT line shows that he is on the right way. What can be added in his favor is that he saw that his shot was not falling in the first half and relied more on the drives in the 2nd period; drives that he often scored of with the additional foul.

On defense, Harris is very present in rebounding and has the necessary speed and athleticism to defend Small Forwards. In his particular match-up with the quick Christian Standhardinger, he effectively blocked the way to the basket and forced the Ehingen forward to take mid-distance jump shots. Harris has the timing to become an interesting shot blocker too. In the rebounding area, he is very present through his good positioning and physical force.

After a slow season start, Harris has now found his rhythm and plays nearly 40 minutes every game. It is well known that he wants to join the NCAA next season, but for the moment, nothing official has been published. He will in any case be one of the leaders of the very talented German U20 team for this summer’s European Championship.

Statistics after 10 games: 19.1ppg (52.5% 2FG 20.5% 3FG 77.4% FT), 8.2rpg

Simon Schmitz (1m88 – 1990 – Point Guard – BIS Speyer)

Simon Schmitz is one of the nice surprises for me this season. The 1990 born PG has nearly doubled all of his figures in his second full season on this level. Together with Elias Harris, he represents the a very nice talented combo for the team of Speyer. Schmitz is a regular member of the different German Youth National teams and it would be no surprise if he joins the U20 squad this summer despite being one year younger.

Being physically quite the opposite of Harris, Schmitz displays a good size but a very thin and fragile body. He gets banged around and has to take lots of off-balance shots in a league that features quite a number of very physical players. But he is not afraid and drives with nice speed and mostly of his right hand to the basket. He normally does not go until the rim but mostly finished of some kind of driving lay-up a bit off the basket in order to avoid the big guys.

He can also hit the jump shots out of the dribble without any problem and even nets them when getting fouled. He looks under control in what he does and is very good in avoiding turnovers. Even if he plays more than 33 minutes per game, he loses only 1.8 balls per game, quite a great figure for somebody touching the ball so often.

Simon Schmitz, who is a coach’s son, looks to me like one of the most promising PG prospects in Germany right now. His development since the last time I saw him is good, and his numbers are also improving big. Of course, he needs to work on his physical abilities in order to get stronger and resist better on the shocks in the game.

Statistics after 9 games: 15.8ppg (54.7% 2FG 41.2% 3FG 77.8% FT), 3.9rpg, 3.6apg

Christian Standhardinger (2m01 – 1989 – Forward – Erdgas Ehingen)

Christian Standhardinger is in his first season where he only plays for the ProB team of Ehingen after winning two times the NBBL championship with Urspring. His slashy style of the last two years was somehow limited so that he works hard in order to add some additional tools to his offensive game. The 2m01 tall forward is for the moment the second best scorer of the whole ProB and the game that I had the opportunity to see him was simply the best scoring game of his season so far with 41 units.

And Standhardinger started the game with a very nice 3 point shot coming of a multitude of screens he used over the baseline. It showed that he has worked a lot on his long distance shot as Speyer tried to control his drives and he answered with some very nice shots from behind the arc or jump shots out of the dribbling. His one dribble jump shot seems to connect now on a regular basis off both sides when driving.

Of course, his main weapon remains the right handed drive which he tries to use up until the rim and where he collects a lot of fouls. He shots a high percentage from the FT line (more than 90% in November – 40/44) which makes his play very effective. Additionally, he reads the defense well as he uses the help defense to dish out easy assists to his team mates. He came for example up with an 8 assist effort recently.

Defensively, he lacks of course the physicals in order to stop a guy like Elias Harris on the block. On the other hand, he is going for every rebound on both sides of the court and has good instincts to play the steal. In order to be considered as a great prospects, Standhardinger needs to improve his physical presence, especially get stronger in his legs. His future is surely on the SF position.

Having participated to the ALBA Berlin training camp in Slovenia this summer, it is highly likely that Standhardinger will join the NCAA this summer though. His scorer and winning mentality makes him a very promising player, even if his sometimes arrogant behavior is not liked by all the observers.

Statistics after 13 games: 22.0ppg (57.4% 2FG 32.6% 3FG 73.3% T), 8.5rpg, 2.5apg, 1.7spg

Nicolai Simon (1m91 – 1987 – Point Guard – Erdgas Ehingen)

Nicolai Simon was considered as the top Point Guard talent in Germany 2 years ago. But a very long-lasting back injury (he did not play for about 14 months) pushed him backwards in his development. At one moment, he was coming up with promising games for ALBA Berlin, he is now back in Ehingen where he played before signing with the German powerhouse.

Simon’s play is still characterized by a very good jump shot, control of the game and leader qualities on the floor. He lost a bit of his speed which is quite normal and he has now the time to regain his full physical form. He is not yet having a big impact in terms of scoring, but with his 21 years of age, he is one of the oldest players right now of Ehingen and has additional roles to fulfill. And with Standhardinger on the team, he does not need to score that much.

Nicolai Simon likes to to for the drive where he has no particular preference for one side. He can go for the score until the rim, and even nets in with the foul after a spin-move for example. His range is great and he can hit the three-pointer without any problem. However, his shot does not really fall for the moment but this will come back for sure.

This season is very important for him as he needs to play a full season without any physical problems in order to show himself that he is really back and gain in confidence. The coaching staff at Ehingen gives him this possibility and he plays big minutes. And he claims himself that right now he is 100% free of pain so that everything looks well for him to come back at his potential level.

Statistics after 12 games: 6.7ppg (40.4% 2FG 23.3& 3FG 81.3% FT) 2.5rpg, 3.2apg

Other players

The game between Speyer and Ehinger featured some other interesting players in Ehingen’s roster. I saw a particularly nice game of Cornelius Adler, a 1989 born forward who is doing really well in the last games. The 1m95 tall former Braunschweig player scored 15pts in just 17 minutes and showed a nice arsenal of offensive possibilities. He made a good score of a post-up move, finished a drive on his left hand and also netted one three pointer.

Maurice Stuckey had not his best day and he finished the game scoreless.

Thierno Agne was present in his typical defending rebounder style. Offensively, he was not very present as his shots did not fall.

German talent meeting in Speyer is a post from: European Prospects
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The favorites

If you consider the different tournaments that have been played so far this season, the main teams to win this year’s edition of the competition are Greece and Serbia. After the astonishing dominance in Mannheim, the Greek team around Nikos Pappas showed a great talent level despite missing some inside forces.

On the other hand, the Serbian team, that is build around the FMP Junior Team core of Andrija Milutinovic, Bojan Subotic and Dejan Musli. The non-consideration of Branislav Djekic or Lazar Radosavljevic may be a surprise for some people but still Serbia looks like a clear cut favorite to reach the Gold medal game.

The outsiders

Some other teams can be considered as potential Medal candidates, and those are the traditional teams like Spain, France or Lithuania. The Spanish guys, that will of course play without Ricky Rubio may lack of some size because they don’t have any player taller than 2m06 in their roster. So the paint has to be kept clean by guys like Toni Vicens or Alberto Jodar who either miss the necessary size or are no inside players. The least that one could say is that the Spanish backcourt of David Garcia, Alejandro Hernandez and Dani Perez is ready to face some tough opposition.

I also spoke with Luis from Draftexpress.com and here is his opinion on the Spanish U18 team.

I think Spain has a chance to reach the medals, although I think Serbia is just on an entire different level and no other team should be able to challenge them (perhaps not even Greece, although they are the other top candidate for the final).

Regarding Spain, I like the fact we have a heady PG in Dani Pérez, a skilled guard in Alex Hernández, aggressive and skilled wings in Jorge Santana or Marcos León, both capable of slash and shoot, an all-around physical freak in Alberto Jodar, and finally, we’ve added some size. You probably remember Toni Vicens, the undersized and over weighted hustler quite effective under the rim.

For France, their performance in Mannheim was really bad, but the uncommon practice methods of their coach seem to have some results. Les Bleus won their tournament in Douai behind a great team effort and playing without their supposed best player in person of Christophe Leonard who signed a pro-contract with Cholet recently. Ludovic Puigcerbier, who is following French youth basketball for basketsession.com gave us his thoughts on the chances for the French in Greece:

After a difficult preparation, the French U18 team could hurt more than one team during this year’s U18 competition. Despite some bad results in Mannheim, Euro-Essone and Manzanares, the French team has however beaten teams like Spain, Croatia or Lithuania during their preparation and has also won the tournament in Douai. The team has the necessary talent with players like Christophe Léonard, Andrew Albicy or Alexis Tanghe but we have to see how the team will play and behave during the tournament. But they have the possibilities to beat every team on any given night. On the other hand, the inside sector looks pretty weak though to be a contender for a medal. I think, they will finish between 5th and 7th place.

Lithuania is always present when it comes to Youth Championships. And this year, with super talent Donatas Motiejunas in the middle, Lithuania could eventually be considered as one of the main teams for a medal. But one player does not make them a Gold Medal team as they significantly miss some offensive quality in the back court. For the Lithuanian federation, the official goal is between 3 and 8 but the current results made some people think that this goal will be hard to reach especially if you take into consideration that Motiejunas was injured during two weeks and he is badly wanted by the U20 team to play with them. So eventually, he may leave after a few games if the U18 team can not reach a medal. Because of the lack of potential in the 1990 generation except Motiejunas and Tautvydas Slezas, the coaching staff added some interesting 1991 born guys where especially Gilvydas Biruta showed good talent so far.

Who else do we have?

Another team that has to be mentioned is of course Croatia and their impressive front court composed of Tomislav Zubcic, Mario Delas and Leon Radosevic. With the addition of Toni Prostran in the backcourt since the Albert-Schweitzer Tournament, the team is improving on the talent side but now remains the question if they can translate this into decisive games. The Croats, who should win their group will have their real opponents in the 2nd phase where they will play against France, Russia, Germany or Ukraine.All in all, this side of the table looks a lot easier to reach the semis than the other side where Serbia, Lithuania, Greece, Spain and Italy fight for the two spots most likely.

The Turkish team played also a interesting tournament in Mannheim and showed some stints of talent in Douai too. However, I have some doubts if they can go for it all in Greece as they seem to depend too much on their PF beat Deniz Kiligli who is not the most regular player in the world. They have some good scoring in the backcourt and feature 16yr old Enes Kanter who can dominate in the paint but it really looks like the left-handed hook machine from Fenerbahce is the guy that decides about the performance of the Turkish team. And one bad game may be enough to fall from 1-4th to 5-8th place.

Germany played an interesting tournament in Douai where they won the games they have to win. In their home event in Mannheim, they lost the game they had to win to qualify for the Top8. So Kay Blümel and his team know how good or how bad they can play, especially after the poor performances in Spain a few days ago. But the absence of some of the main players may be a reason for this as explains the German head coach:

After the very bad performance during the tournament in Spain, where we played without six of our first 10 players (Maurice Stuckey, Simon Schmitz, Robert Hülsewede, Femi Oladipo, Niels Giffey and Alexander Schrempf) and lost heavily against Spain, France and Croatia, the motivation of the team was really down low. We tried to improve this during our training camp these days. Unfortunately, we have to play without Oladipo (torn ankle) and Hülsewede (broken foot) during the Championships which lets a big hole on our SF position. Our goal is to reach the third place in our group first of all and avoid the relegation round.

The game against France in the beginning will be extremely important for us, because they have a team that we can beat.  Russia has improved and showed good games in the Moscow tournament and seems hard to beat. Ukraine is the unknown team in our group and it’s hard for me to predict how good they are right now. But as it will be our third game in the tournament, we have enough time to scout them during the Championship. If we reach our goal and qualify for the next phase, we will see how we continue. But we don’t want to become to high on ourselves and remain with both feet on earth. A place somewhere around 9th like last year would be very satisfying for us.

The Russian U18 team was very disappointing in Mannheim but has found a way back to be a serious outsider in Greece after their performances at the Petrenko Cup in Khimki. The squad has beaten Italy, and the Czech Republic while only failing shortly against the top favorites from Greece. Currently, no world class talent has emerged of the 1990 generation in Russia but the mixture of aggressive guards and long tall forwards that characterizes the Russian game is still present. So they are definitely a team to watch in Amaliada and Pyrgos.

Italy that played a correct tournament in Mannheim will see their top talent of the 1991 generation Nicolo Melli joining them. And with this addition on the wing, everything is possible for the Squadra. The young forward may be one of the best talents in Europe and if he can elevate his game to what he showed during the LegaDue semi-finals, he may be the leader that could help the Italians reach an unpredictable success in the tournament.

Fighting for relegation

Belgium went up to Division A in 2007 behind a great team effort and the nice games of Jorn Steinbach and Jean-Marc Mwema. But these two guys are born in 1989 and will not be available anymore. But some talent of the last year’s win is still on the roster and the addition of Yannick Moray should give the team of Fred Wilmot the necessary power in the back court. On the other hand, no real inside presence on this level will be tough to handle.

Israel, who plays Belgium in the group stage may be the team that can avoid relegation the easiest way in beating the before mentioned in their opener. The departure of Daniel Rom back to Russia lets a big whole in the middle of course but the typical fighting spirit and the athleticism of Carmel Bouchman may help them to stay in the league. This opener will be extremely important for both teams.

Estonia will feature one of the most interesting players to follow of the tournament with Siim-Sander Vene who played already a good tournament last season. Next to him, not too much talent is to be seen but maybe it is worth to take a closer look at the 1991 born Kristjan Rinaldo (yes, that’s his name) who put up some correct stats with the U16 last summer and plays for the Honka Academy in Finland.

Not much to say about the Ukrainian team as I barely know any player there and could not find any results or comments on them on the net. The main goal for the team is to stay in the Division as they have a pretty interesting 1991 generation that could compete next season on the highest level.

Lauris Blaus tries to lead his Latvian team to the necessary wins in their group to stay away from the Relegation round. He will hopefully get some support from the talented 1991 generation around Janis Antrops and Harijs Rubenis.

Bulgaria will be built around their back-court combo of Hristo Zahariev and Bozhidar Avramov. I have put them in this part of the preview one loss against Latvia could mean that the team has to play on relegation round. On the other hand, the team has the talent to pass against Croatia or Turkey but I don’t know how they could handle the inside presence of these two nations.

U18 European Championship Division A – Preview is a post from: European Prospects
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Andrew Albicy from France was the MVP of the Finals and got also elected to the All-Tournament team, a deserved recognition for the 1m70 tall PG from Paris-Levallois. Albicy is a scoring PG that lives a lot from his great shooting from behind the arc. Not incredibly fast for his size, he is driving but this is not his main offensive skill. He improved his three point percentage over the tournament after starting with a bad 0/6 in the first game.

After the poor showing of France in Mannheim and the request of the coaching stuff to find a PG leader, Albicy has really emerged and improved since Spring. He was the clear-cut go-to-guy in a less talented than the years before French team in general. With him on the court, the French team looked in confidence and went for an incredible 28-2 run during the semis.

He will probably suffer from his size in the future, but seeing the good games his countryman Marco Pellin had in the Euroleague, you can imagine a similar destiny in the future. However, Albicy has not developed the defensive mindset of Pellin so far, something that can still happen. At least, with Paris-Levallois down in ProB next season, Albicy should see lots of minutes with the professionals from this fall on.

Toni Prostran was also elected into the All-Tournament team, and this was even more deserved than Albicy’s selection as Prostran was one year younger than most of the competitors and he was probably among the top scorers of the tournament. The 91 born guard from KK Zadar showed a scoring talent that is rarely seen for a 1m83 small guard.

Prostran lives mostly from his super quick shot release from behind the arc where he can fire up threes at will, even with bigger defenders in his face. His shooting mechanics look super fluid but incomplete as he stops the move after releasing the ball immediately. Additionally, the ball turns sideways on his shot. This does not impeach him to score incredible shots from long distances.

When he gets defended hard on pick and roll, he has no problem to split between the defenders and go for great assists too. When he drives, he often scores tear drop shots or running floaters as he is not super athletic to go up against the big guys in the paint. He can be out of the game for stretches when he is defended by bigger players, but he can also on the other hand go for incredible scoring runs over short periods.

Maurice Stuckey did play a correct tournament in his role as scoring guard coming of the bench for Germany. With his speed and acceleration, he could drive till the basket lots of times as no defender was able to stop his right handed penetration. Stuckey is the ideal complement to the starting German PG Simon Schmitz who is more like an organizer on the court while Stuckey is the energizer.

Stuckey was not hot from the outside during the games I saw in Douai so he used his speed to drive in the lane and score with some running floaters or hanging lay-ups where he could use his nice athleticism. With his drives, he could also create some good opportunities for his team mates in the paint but he tried mostly to go for his own score.

He tried also some mid-distance shots out of the dribble, but he could not connect them in a regular fashion. He also managed to score sometimes of his left hand but his drives were nearly every time on his strong right hand. This was of course also the result of poor defense as they opened him his strong side lots of times. On defense, he put a lot of pressure on the opposing guards, especially when Germany played some kind of full court man-to-man defense.

Maxim Mutaf played some good games in Douai during the weekend. The scoring guard from Fenerbahce, who had a little injury on his hand, was the go-to-guy during moments for a Turkish team that was far away from its level it displayed in Mannheim.

Mutaf has a picture perfect shot from all distances which he can put up with ease against defenders too. He is always attacking his defender as soon as he gets the ball and tries to go for the scoring. When driving, he finished either with floaters of the glass or even when till the rim to score on nice finger rolls. He had also a very athletic back door lay up where he scored against two defenders with beauty.

For his long distance shot, he has no problem to create his own shot. He showed a variety of different shooting positions, coming off the screen or going for a step back three in his defenders face. Additionally, he showed surprising presence in offensive rebounding where he tried to go for every ball. Even his injured did not prevent him to jump into the chairs to get an lose ball. On the other hand, he put himself out of the game with 2 super stupid fouls in the last minutes. But he will learn how to avoid such errors in the future.

Melih Mahmutoglu was the other Turkish SG during this tournament and he came up with his beautiful game that we could already see in Mannheim this spring. With his perfect shooting mechanics, Mahmutoglu nearly netted every open position from behind the arc. Not much of a drive player, he often stops to go for the mid-distance jump shot out of the dribble.

Liran Moran was the top scorer for the Israeli team. He nearly scored only on three point shots, where he was pretty accurate. Moran is listed as 1m91 and I think that he can play the SG spot in the future in a very specific role as shooter. He showed sometimes a nice drive where he can go to the rim but mostly he is the guy receiving the ball from inside and netting the three-ball.

Gilvydas Biruta played only 1 quarter of basketball during the two days I was in Douai, but you could see that this guy has basketball talent. First of all, he is an outstanding athlete going for not less than 4 dunks in one quarter, two of these coming from highly spectacular alley-oop passes after a screen in the back (a play, that you could for example often see for Roanne’s Marc Salyers this season). He did not play in the last game of the tournament as his coach has probably seen enough of his scoring talent of the bench in the games before. One note on him is also that he is playing in the Gran Canaria basketball academy in Spain which is quite uncommon for a Lithuanian youngster.

Nic Wise was the clear leader of Team USA on the PG position and did hurt the opposing defenses a lot with his huge drives where he was not afraid to go against the big guys and even scored several times against them with the foul. With his great handles and speed changes, he was a tough match-up for any player that tried to guard him.

Mohamed Koita was the only guard on Team Africa, so he had to play 40 minutes per game. And he was mostly a scoring threat with a lot of turnovers in the setup of the game. Koita can hit a lot of threes despite a quite mechanical shooting way. His outstanding athleticism helps him on the drives but he lacks a bit of basketball understanding due to his limited playing on the highest level so far. He is currently at the Stoneridge Academy in the United States.

Douai Tournament 2008: the guards is a post from: European Prospects
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• The first game in the morning saw the nice victory of Lithuania against a tired Adidas Nations team Africa. The Baltic guys won it in the end 90-73 but their dominance was bigger than the result. For Lithuania, Donatas Motiejunas showed his huge skillset to finished with 30pts, 7rebs and 2 steals. Nobody could really stop him and he just hurt his three point percentage (1/6) in the end by overshooting from outside. He look in general a lot more motivated than yesterday. He got some nice support from the surprising Edvardas Pikalavicius with 13pts and 8rebs. For the Africans, we saw big scoring from Mohamed Koita who netted 35pts but lost 5 balls. Another good game in the tournament came from Bandja Sy who had 19pts.
• The game for the 5th place between Turkey and Israel was extremely close. When the time was running up, nobody could take the decisive lead and we went into overtime. Here, the Turkish depth helped to bring this one home and end at the 5th place after the 99-89 win after 45 minutes of game action. For the winners, Maxim Mutaf started great in the first half but his scoring lead was taken over by Melih Mahmutoglu in the second half. In the paint, Enes Kanter did not start the game and only played in the second half. In those 27 minutes, he was once again dominating every body with his force and scored 21 in just 27 minutes. For Israel, Liran Moran shot well from everywhere and finished the game with a team high 22. Ron Sabag did a good job on the point where he scored the big FTs in the money time of Q4 and dished out 11 assists additionally.
• The Bronze medal game of the 2008 edition of the Douai World Tournament saw Croatia beating Germany by 3 points. The Germans had the chance to go into overtime but the last attempt of Simon Schmitz from behind the arc went not in. It was a match-up of the big guys in the paint with Maik Zirbes (22/5) facing of against Mario Delas (15/12/4) and Leon Radosevic (25/5/3). Toni Prostran was defended well by the German guards but scored however 22pts at 8/18 attempts. For Germany, it was a huge difference with what they did yesterday against Team USA while Croatia that played without their most talented player in Tomislav Zubcic did a very nice job by reaching this third place, a huge improvement to their performances in Mannheim this spring.
• The Final game of the tournament saw Team USA playing against the home crowd favorites France. And it was the French team that finished with the Tournament victory in the end. After a very disappointing showing in Mannheim, the team from the Hexagon managed to win Douai despite having a world-class talent in his roster, something that was the case mostly in the last years. It was the Finals MVP Andrew Albicy that led France in the decisive minutes with his long distance shooting and drives. He finished the game with 19pts and 5asts. But it was the defense that made the French win who lack a great scorer.
• The All-Tournament team that has been elected is the following:
• PG Andrew Albicy (France)
• SG Toni Prostran (Croatia)
• SF Carmel Bouchman (Israel)
• PF Mamadou Samb (Adidas Nations Africa)
• C Kenny Frease (Adidas Nationas USA)
• If you are interested if Video material from the tournament, contact me via email and I can send you an offer for DVDs of the games (christophe.ney@europeanprospects.com)
• During the next days, I will post detailed reports on the different players that were present

Douai Tournament 2008: Sunday’s picks is a post from: European Prospects
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Tomislav Zubcic (2m08 – Forward – Croatia)

Zubcic was probably the biggest pure basketball talent of the whole tournament. Nearly seven foot tall, incredibly quick for his size and able to play both the forward positions as well as PG if necessary. In the only game of him where I was present, he showed all he can do in just one quarter. Post-ups against smaller guys, jump hooks, finger roll finishes after powerful drives, but also a very nice eye for his team mates and three point shots without any problem.

The Croatian was clearly also the go-to-guy of his team and he tried to play the big points. However he failed sometimes but also came up with nice plays. He still needs to improve his passing timing to become also a perfect passer even if he was the third best passer of the tournament. But his huge number of turnovers shows how often he has the ball in his hands. He is definitely one of the players to follow in the future. I did not agree on his selection in the All-Tournament team not because of a missing talent but of the poor results of the team.

Femi Oladipo (1m99 – Forward – Germany)

The German SF was probably one of the surprises of the tournament. With his athletic playing style, the Bremerhaven forward was the top scorer of the German team. He is a good offensive rebounder and scores a lot around the rim. He has 3pt range, but only took 2 shots from behind the arc, and he netted both of them. His shooting mechanics have to be improved, he has no fluid jump shot move to score. He can finish with both hands close to the basket and has good control of his body. 

Leon Radosevic (2m08 – Forward – Croatia)

Another interesting player from the very strong Croatian front-court. Radosevic showed a very good mid-distance shot and he rebounds strongly. He is not driving that much, relying more on his jump shot which he can also nail in the big moments of a game. Radosevic is highly athletic and is present on the shot blocking section as well. He was the top scorer of the Croatian team during the tournament with also very good shooting percentages.

Honorable Mentions

Other player that I noted were: the Russian forward Vladimir Ivlev, a 2m04 inside player who a nice defensive presence in the paint and also showed some interesting offensive moves. Pasquale Paolisso, an Italian forward who excelled in the rebounding and inside working section to score multiple free-throws. Maik Zirbes, the large German center who was the top rebounder of the team and showed some powerful moves around the basket. Simon Schmitz did a nice job as PG of the German team. He drives a lot to the basket and can control the game very well.

Albert Schweitzer Tournament 2008: the best of the rest is a post from: European Prospects
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The apparently the most uninteresting series before the start could have been the matchup between BBLZ Mittelhessen and Urspring. But the team from Giessen managed to go for a win against the academy team, the first ever loss of Urspring at home in the NBBL. With the return of Thierno Agne and Akeem Vargas and a lot of energy, Urspring destroyed Mittelhessen on Saturday behind an impressive performance of Christian Standhardinger who scored 37 and grabbed 22 rebounds (55 efficiency). Agne took care of the top scorer of the first game Benjamin Lischka and Maurice Stuckey added 15 points to the scoreboard.

The runner up of the Mitte Division MTV Kronberg had no problems to win against Basket-College Rhein Neckar in two games. The team around Jonathan Meshgna and Yannick Schicktanz that had the addition of Amil Klisura before the playoffs looks now like a serious contestant for the next round where they will probably play against Urspring.

BIS Speyer has to go to a decisive game at home against last year’s Final Four team Breitengüssbach. Elias Harris and Simon Schmitz came up with 22 respective 21 points but Erik Land looked like the king of the paint with 26 points and 12 rebounds. Land, who will play with the U18 National team in Mannheim is really improving this year and his performances in the NBBL and the ProB look promising. The shooters Daniel Leithner (5/7) and Stefan Dinkel (6/8) need to hit like that again next week in order to have a chance to qualify for the next round.

Favorite and Final Four organizer TV Langen cleared its series in two games against Bayern München. Robin Benzing is still playing in the cruising mode with 23pts in 29 minutes. Ruben Spoden helps out under the rim while Marco Völler missed along with the two PGs Kai and Nico Barth. With its complete roster, the team should be the favorite for the next round and qualify for its hometown Final Four competition.

NBBL: Play-off Update (South) is a post from: European Prospects
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