European Prospects

In the last part of our review of the Adidas Eurocamp 2012, we will take a look at those players that competed in the different national selections that were present in Treviso. Unfortunately, Dmitry Kulagin got injured so that he could not fully play during all the games. Therefore, he is not in our reports. For Australia, we also did not cover Emmett Naar and Dane Pineau who have already been featured in our reports on the Albert Schweitzer Tournament a few weeks ago.

Rudy Gobert – 2m13 – C – 1992 – France

The main story of the Adidas Eurocamp was a player who actually was not even in the camp but just a guest with the French U20 National Team. Next to having been measured with extraordinary numbers, Gobert did also show during the games that he is a tremendous prospect. Because of his great size and enormous wingspan, Gobert is a fantastic target in the paint in Pick and Roll situations. It is easy to send him the lob pass as he can go high above the rim for the catch and the finish. He is very explosive and tries to dunk everything that is possible despite being still not too physical. Out of the low post, his game remains raw as he has not too many moves and many lives from his athleticism and speed. He can run the floor quite well and is a great player as a trailer option on the fast break.

So far, he does not have a real jump shot but can finish on some basic jump hooks in the paint. His arm movements are sometimes a bit slow but he can come up with surprising moves to throw it down with either hand. Next to his still raw offensive game, Gobert is a great prospect on the defensive end. Not only that he is a great shot blocker with good timing and his tremendous length, he has already quite a good game understanding on that side of the court to position well and change shots of the opponents. With his good speed, he can also flash out on defense to steal the ball in the passing lanes or against the post-up players.

In rebounding, he tips the ball nicely to the spot where he can grab it in a second attempt as he gets moved around in the paint still by stronger players. He is in the right environment right now with Cholet where he can develop his offensive game with more minutes next season. The question remains who will be the coach over there as the Turkish Erman Kunter has left but it should not be a problem as Cholet will also play on the international scene again which brings a lot of opportunities to Gobert to progress. A tremendous prospect in the making.

Valentin Bigote – 1m94 – SG – 1992 – France

Valentin Bigote is an interesting player for the French team as the very fundamental and elegant guard gives them a good impact from the bench. Bigote reads well what the defense gives him and understands the game well enough to make a lot of good choices. He can shoot the ball and has correct athletic abilities which allow him also to attack the basket from time to time. The 1992 born player can put the ball on the floor with either hand and sees also the pass on the drive. He looks to be a good prospect for the French market for the future without being a top class talent though. It will be interesting to see how he develops as he decided to move down to ProB to get more playing time next season.

Livio Jean-Charles – 2m03 – PF – 1993 – France

The years go on and Jean-Charles is still around doing the same stuff and still doing it very well on any level that he plays. He has settled definitely to the PF position now and does a great job in doing the dirty work like rebounding, hustling and setting screens. There is not much to add on his game what has not yet been said before but it is good to know that he can play this role throughout the years with the same intensity but on an increasing basketball level. Next season, he should be a real rotation with ASVEL and develop his game even more.

Leo Westermann – 1m98 – PG – 1992 – France

The same counts for Westermann who is steadily moving up the ranks without making too much noise. The tall PG who is more of a Euroleague type of player than NBA showed once again how well he can run a team on this level.  He found Gobert easily in Pick and Roll situations but showed also his own scoring potential. Westermann is also a true clutch player, an asset that he was not able to show in a setting like the Eurocamp. He is not quite sure about his future destination as he is said to eventually leave ASVEL for another club. He was rumored to move to Lietuvos Rytas at one moment but this door seems to be closed with the arrival of Nemanja Nedovic.

Vladislav Trushkin – 2m00 – SF/PF – 1993 – Russia

With Kulagin out because of an injury, the whole Russian offense was on the shoulders of Vladislav Trushkin. The forward, who is slowly establishing himself as a true Small Forward, showed once again his great scoring talent. His shooting mechanics have become more fluid and he seems to be more regular from behind the arc right now. He recognizes well what kind of defender he plays against and sees when to put the ball on the floor to attack the basket. He takes the right shots at the right moments even if all the offensive burden is on his shoulders. Trushkin scored in a great variety of ways, from mid-range, close to the basket or on the fast-break. It is a pity that Kulagin and Sergey Karasev will miss the U20 European Championship because with them and Trushkin, Russia would probably have been a medal contender.

Owen Odigie – 1m97 – SF/SG – 1993 – Australia

The Australian forward has made a tremendous step forward since we saw him with the U17 National Team two years ago in Hamburg. His game has really oriented to the outside positions which was still only a project back then. Odigie is a great athlete who is not shying that much away anymore from the contact and he got a lot stronger physically. He can also now shoot the ball from behind the arc even if he is not yet very regular in this exercise. Odigie likes to push the ball, also on the fast break and improved his ball handling a lot as he can uses both hands for the drive now. To what we hear, he will stay in Australia and not chose the NCAA way but try to make an impact as a professional in the future.