European Prospects

Day 1 of the Adidas Eurocamp 2011 is in the books. The day featured three games of which two have been played with a regular clock and one with running time. There have been some additional drop-outs in relation with the published lists and there is not even one European first round projection of 2011 active in the game situations. It looks like the top prospects decided to skip the camp either completely or just go for some individual workouts avoiding the direct competition.

Because of the complicated transport situation with a closed airport in Treviso, I missed the first half of the first game of the camp so that it is difficult to say much about the morning sessions. Robin Benzing started very well in that second half with a good drive and a three-point shot. Additionally, you could see him do things that you barely ever see him doing in a regular game like a hard dive on the floor in order to save a ball. However, that was more or less it for the German prospect in that first game and it was Tomas Satoransky who took over. The Czech guard played very well, showed his great athletic abilities and scoring potential. Additionally, you could see that he has grown a bit bigger over the year (even if his measured weight did not change much). Another player who showed a nice game was the Greek Linos Chrysikopoulos with 11pts but also Nicolo Melli who run the Point Guard position during certain moments.

The first game was followed by an interesting speech of Sergio Scariolo. The Italian coach explained some basics of inside-outside situations which both post and guard players have to observe in order to involve the big guys in a more effective way. After this clinic, an individual workout of Bismack Biyombo followed that I skipped as well as the group work out of the three French players Abdoulaye Loum, Frejus Zerbo and Sarra Camara.

The second game of the day was marked by the shooting performance of Andrija Milutinovic. The Serbian forward shot 8/10 FGs with a stand-out 3 three pointers in a row in a couple of minutes. Edwin Jackson showed again that he can excel in this kind of situations as the French guard scored 13pts, stole 4 balls and dished out 3 assists. The Latvian Janis Strelnieks was the best scorer for the other team as he scored 11pts in just 14 minutes. Lucas Nogueira showed why he is considered as a good prospect but only on the long term. The Brazilian had several block shots where he showed great timing but his offensive execution was not really great. He finished the game with 1/6 field goals but had 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. Dogus Balbay impressed quite a few people in attendance with his playmaking skills. The Turkish guard finished the game with 10pts, 6asts and 5stls but it was even more his overall presence on the court that was good to see.

The day came to an end with a game between a Camp All-Star selection and the Serbian U19 national team. For the Serbian team, we expected something from the two guards Nenad Miljenovic and Aleksandar Cvetkovic but both had no major impact on the game as even Cvetkovic did not play at all. The game was close until the last minutes and it finally were the All-Stars that won it as the Serbian looked to be at the very beginning of their preparation. Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Siladi were the main scorers for the Serbian team without doing something special. On the All-Star side, Lucas Nogueira Bebe did a better finishing job than in the games before and netted 11 points Tomislav Zubcic showed his great versatility.

After the game, there was a final workout of the Lithuanian power forward Donatas Motiejunas. However, we skipped it.