Nicolo Melli did not see a lot of minutes versus Panathinaikos on Thursday. The 1991 born forward had to play the four position and struggled during the 2 minutes he was on the court. He showed some good ball handling out of a defensive pressure situation on the wing and nice positioning on an offensive rebound where he got fouled. However, he missed the two free-throws he was awarded. In general, with his 2m05 and long built, Melli would probably be of a future SF use, but right now, AJ Milano prefers to use his size on the 4 to create some mismatches probably. On defense though, he has some problems to play against the more powerful inside players.

On Wednesday, it was the opening party for Christophe Leonard’s scoring numbers in the Euroleague as the 1990 born French forward had 7pts in the huge win of Cholet Basket over Fenerbahce Ülker. Coming on the court at the beginning of the second quarter, the forward got into the game with a foul but on his first offensive action, he hit a difficult three point shot from the corner with a lot of confidence. The long distance shot was considered as one of his weaknesses and he has not hit one shot from behind the arc so far this season. This basket gave him the necessary confidence combined with the good game from last weekend where he scored 8pts in twenty minutes. On the following possessions, Leonard remained in the flow of the game, he made a lay-up on the break and attacked the basket hard. He scored on a very difficult running jumper when attacking the basket with his left hand from the right side and scoring it totally out of balance with the defense on him. He tried to go for a similar move once again instead of taking the straight jump shot out of the drive and he missed it.

Defensively, Leonard showed a good presence on the rebound but struggled when he had to play on the 3-2 zone on the wing and got beaten regularly on the Turkish drives. He needs to be quicker on his feet in these situations and not get beat too easily when running out on his man. In general, it was a good game for him and he gave his coaches what they needed from him on the court. His minutes will probably continue to rise in the next weeks.

The surprise of the week came from the Brazilian Augusto Cesar Lima from Unicaja Malaga who finished with an impressive 14pts (7/10 FGs), 8rebs and 3blks performance. The Spanish team used him a lot in the second half of the game against Brose Baskets to outplay the German big guys with his quickness and athleticism. Lima did an excellent job playing the pick and rolls as he rolled with great speed to the basket where his guards found him several times for the easy bucket. He did also an excellent job on positioning as he scored several times on the Bamberg help-the-helper defense forgetting him. Lima uses his athletic abilities to score on nice two-handed dunks but was also a serious threat on the defense end to block shots. None of his baskets though came out of a back-to-the-basket or any kind of self-created move; all where the result of good efforts of his team mates creating the space for him or going hard for the offensive rebound. For the 2m06 tall and 1991 born player, this was a career night that he had tonight in Bamberg, but this does not mean that we will see him again in the same effect during the next games as the Unicaja rotation is deep enough to make these kind of particular adaptions when the game situations needs it.

Watch the Euroleague TV Highlight clip below and see some of the best plays of Lima and specifically his big time block followed by alley-oop in the last minutes. Lima wears #17 Green.

Some quick hits from the Euroleague is a post from: European Prospects
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The Georgian Center Giorgi Shermadini came to Ljubljana on loan from Panathinaikos for this season in order get some playing time. Even if his minutes in the first game of the season yesterday were limited to about 16, he showed that he can be an interesting factor for the Slovenian team as he finished with 11pts but also 4 fouls. The 2m16 tall and 1989 born player has good hands and can run the floor well without being overly athletic. Shermadini mainly finishes close to the basket on the dishes of his team mates as he has not a large arsenal of back to the basket moves. He needs to better take care of his fouls as he will be needed to play a lot of minutes in Ljubljana this season.

Sasu Salin came a bit surprisingly to Slovenia this summer from Finland and he is a shooter in the tradition of the former Ljubljana player Teemu Rannikko. Salin is used mainly as a SG where he has a scoring role coming of the bench. He did also a good job in the opener during his minutes in the overtime where he played defense against the Efes Pilsen guards not allowing them any easy scores. I had already a longer story on him a few weeks ago which I recommend to read to get more info about the 1991 born guard.

Dino Muric got already some interesting minutes with Ljubljana in the Adriatic League this year. However, as all the transfer players got cleared to play in the Euroleague, the minutes for Muric will however not be very important in the major competition.

The 1992 born Jan Span may get a chance in a few years to be a factor for Union Olimpija. Right now, he will probably be limited to some garbage time minutes only this season.

Panathinaikos Athens

Giorgos Bogris comes of a learning season with Panathinaikos and wants to see more minutes this year. The 1989 born big guy knows how to score when being close to the basket and he will most likely develop into one of those typical European big guys with a limited but effective skill set, physical play and being used to set a lot of tough screens. The minutes behind Aleks Maric will however be limited as Panathinaikos has several experienced Greek big guys on the roster as well.

Nick Calathes got drafted already in 2009 by the Minnesota Timberwolves but the 1989 born guard decided to sign a 3-year deal with Panathinaikos afterwards.

Armani Jeans Milano

Nicolo Melli is one of the most talented Italian players of the current generations. The 1991 born player had already some major impact in the second league and got chased by AJ Milano over a long period. He will be used as a back-up on both forward positions as his great size gives him the possibility to be present as well inside and outside. Melli is effective on both positions as he has good athletic abilities and understands the game quite well. He is not forcing his game too much but he needs to become more regular from behind the arc if he wants to be used fully on the SF position in the future. His first season on the highest Italian and European level will show what the future development for Melli could be.

Power Elec. Valencia

Jose Simeon came a bit out of nowhere last season for Valencia as the 1991 born guard has never been a major factor for the Spanish youth National Teams. But Simeon moved quickly into a role of back-up PG in the second part of the season by averaging 3.0ppg and only 6 TOs in the 29 games he played. At the beginning of this season, his minutes are again a bit more limited as he is only the third option behind Omar Cook and Nando de Colo on PG. He should however make his Euroleague debut tonight versus Panathinaikos.

Efes Pilsen Istanbul

Burak Yuksel is part of the Efes Pilsen Euroleague roster but the 1992 born forward will most likely be limited to some garbage minutes if any.

CSKA Moscow

No major prospects to follow

Euroleague 2010/2011 Preview: Group D is a post from: European Prospects
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For the 1987 born’s, my choice went immediately to Sergio Llull. The Spanish guard has made his place now in the stacked Real Madrid roster and is the only prospect of the whole list that contributes in this way in the Euroleague. Llull can play both guard spots which is his advantage but also a problem as he won’t develop his still lacking PG skills. His role currently is more of an energizer coming from the bench. With his great speed and athleticism, Llull excels in the fastbreak and can score even on difficult drives.

Victor Claver is coming of an excellent start into the new season in the ACB. The highly athletic wing is putting up great numbers in the toughest national league of the continent. He showed great touch from behind the arc several times and pleases the crowd with some nice dunks. Still, he looks particularly skinny in comparison to other big guys so it is no wonder that he plays more SF than in the paint. He looks currently like one of the most promising players in Europe with his current production.

The problem remains in the 1989 generation where it is tough to find quality players that already play big minutes on the highest level. So my choice fell on Thomas Heurtel who I already presented a bit more in detail a few days ago. Heurtel still does not manage to make his team winning some games but his beginning of the season was particularly interesting on an individual way. Now he has to confirm as the other teams will wait for him and prepare on his playing style.

Donatas Motiejunas got critized heavily for moving away from Zalgiris Kaunas to play with Aisciai Atletas. But it looks like his choice was correct when it only comes to playing time. With 24.5 ppg in the Lithuanian league, the goal to play a lot has been reached but on a team that only won 1 game so far. If Motiejunas can continue with his current numbers over the whole year, he may have accumulated lots of confidence and he will be ready to play on the next level from 2009 on.

In the newly added 1991 category, the first choice goes to Nicolo Melli. The Italian forward continues where he played already last season with interesting performances for Trenkwalder Reggio Emilia in the Italian Lega Due. During last season’s playoffs, Nicolo showed his potential and now he has to continue to improve on this level.

Prospect of the month: October 2008 is a post from: European Prospects
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Division A

• While Spain struggled one half to beat Belgium, the Greek team continued their arrogant play. After a superb start into the game and leading by around 20 points, they stopped to play and let Israel come back in the game. The Israeli even went ahead in the third quarter, but this was the alarm signal for Kosta Sloukas and his mates. They started a late rush to win the game with 22 points. While Nikos Pappas is still going very slow, it’s Kosta Sloukas who takes over the leader role of the team with his 23pts and 6asts. Vladimir Jankovic showed also his versatility and Zisis Sarikopoulos continues to score on his left handed hook shots.
• Serbia had no problem to win against Estonia while Lithuania beat Italy in a thriller. For the Italians, Nicolo Melli seems to start his European Championship a bit slower but he came up with 13pts yesterday. For his team, it looks like Pasquale Paolisso is the man that takes the responsibility while David Cournooh is still the main option from outside. For the Lithuanians, the 1991 born guard Augustas Peciukevicius excels with his aggressive play that brings him to the line often and puts the opponents under pressure. Tautvydas Slezas is doing his job in the middle with 22pts and 14rebs.
• Germany struggled again with the turnovers against Russia and have to play a Final against Ukraine today in order to advance to the next round. A Ukrainian team that had no chance against France that finally opened their defense box and allowed only 50 points. Chrislain Cairo improves and comes up with 12 and 9 while Alexis Tanghe led all scorers with 15 and 8.
• Another final will be played in the last group between Latvia and Bulgaria, both team have no wins so far. It was Toni Prostran that managed to hold of the Bulgarians in the final minutes with 4 late points to seal the deal. Turkey also needed the final seconds to win against Latvia to remain undefeated. Enes Kanter was once again dominant in the middle where nobody could stop him.

Division B

• The favorites Czech Republic and Slovenia had no problems to win their openers against the Netherlands and Sweden. Also Poland continued their winning streak and are now 2-0 after they defeated Belarus easily.
• The division also has already some surprises with the two Alpine countries Austria and Switzerland still being undefeated. Austria held off Montenegro and increased its chances to move to the Qualifying round while the Swiss also beat a former Yugoslavian country with Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Today’s picks (from the U18 European Championships) 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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Today’s picks is a post from: European Prospects
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At the age of 17 years, Melli is actually a regular contributor for Reggio Emilia. He uses the minutes he is on the court to excel especially on the defensive end where is very present in the rebound. He grabbed 6 boards during the 14 minutes of play Sunday evening. He did a very good job on boxing out, and even being physically still weaker than most of his opponents, he rarely got dominated in the paint.

On the offensive end, he was playing very calm, not forcing any shots. He scored his only basket after an offensive rebound but could have gone for more as his other two attempts were very close. He had especially a very nice bank shot where he released the shot perfectly with hard defense on his arm. When the opposing team was playing a zone, he did not shot the three ball, something he actually is not doing too often. With his excellent size of 2m04, he will very probably move into a SF role in the future, but he is actually used also on the PF position.

Still, this was only one game I saw, and you can not go for conclusions about the future, however, you see that this kid has great talent and seems to understand the game very well. He is definitely worth a closer look and I hope he will join the Italian squad for the Albert Schweitzer Turnier where he is actually not in the pre-selection roster.

A first look at Nicolo Melli is a post from: European Prospects
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