European Prospects

In the third part of our player analysis of the Adidas Eurocamp 2012, we will look at some players that might develop into to prospects in the next years. You can do some Sportsbook Review in order to see how to bet on their future but here is a first analysis on their potential. The last part of the review will take care of the members of the different invited teams to the event.

Bojan Dubljevic – PF – 2m04 – Montenegro – 1991

The Montenegrin power forward is not the type of player who can excel in a setting like the Adidas Eurocamp. Not overly athletic or fast, he will not come up with outstanding plays but with solid fundamental basketball. In a way, he stands out by doing so as he concentrates on what he is capable of doing and he does it well. Playing mainly on the floor without much leaping, Dubljevic is physically strong and has good positioning in the paint to create the necessary space for the finish. He can also step out for the Pick and Pop play and hit the three point shot but his first step is not fast enough to beat good defenders by his speed. However, he knows how to use his assets and can beat his defender with direction and speed changes when he puts the ball on the floor. The NBA does not seem to be the right option for him in the future but he certainly will have some good years in the Europe in the next decade.

Oleksandr Lypovyy – PG/SG – 1m99 – Ukraine – 1991

The Ukrainian guard was one of the major surprises of the camp as most of the observers did not really know him beforehand. In the end, he won the MVP trophy of the camp and he really increased his stock on the European market. Great size for playing both guard positions, Lypovyy jumped between PG and SG at will and depending on the situation. With his nice wingspan and good legs, the 1m99 tall player offers a good first step that allows him to speed past defenders. On the drives, he mainly goes for the own score and he is not afraid to go hard to the rim. He finished one drive with a dunk plus the foul after two long steps from outside the paint. That move looked really impressive as you could not really expect him coming up with something like that.

From outside, Lypovyy has a very nice looking shot with fluid mechanics and and a good release point. He can nail the three-pointer either in catch and shoot situations or by creating it out of the dribble. His range is good, the NBA distance seems to be not a major problem for him when shooting the ball. He reads well what the defense gives him and acts accordingly. On the defensive end, he showed a lot of promise as well. With his long segments he put Evan Fournier in problems because he could nicely cut his penetration by being laterally quite quick and doing a good job with his arms in order to complicate the passing angles. Overall, Lypovyy looks like a highly interesting prospect who did not see many minutes though with his team last season. This could be an issue for his further development especially if this continues next season. He could develop eventually into a less athletic version of Alexey Shved in the next years.

Riccardo Moraschini – SG – 1m94 – Italy – 1991

The powerful Italian guard had some nice moments during the Eurocamp this year. Athletic and strong, Moraschini always attacked the basket hard and was not afraid to dunk quite explosively with two hands when he had the opportunity to do so. More oriented to the drive than the shoot, Moraschini has a good first step and can create opportunities when putting the ball on the floor. Strong enough to finish with the foul, the Italian guard likes to finish from close but can also come up with the mid-range jump shot even if he has some development to do in this part of his game. He can also score with the running hook shot when attacking from the side where his athletic abilities allow him to generate the contact even against taller players. Moraschini needs to work on his shot in order to make the next step but he looks to have the necessary physical skills set to have a career on the professional level.

Louis Labeyrie – PF/C – 2m06 – France – 1992

The French inside player comes from a more atypical career in his home country so far and showed in Treviso why he played good minutes with HTV this year. The verticality of the Labeyrie was very impressive but his thin frame might become a problem for him in the future as he does not look like being able to add a lot of weight. But still, with his great shot blocking timing, the 2m06 tall player is an excellent presence on the defensive end, especially on the help side where he can always come from and explode high above the rim. On the offensive end, Labeyrie mainly scored through dunks but also made a couple of difficult baseline jump shots or jump hooks. But his game does look more based on instincts than having specific go-to-moves. However, he is still very young and has a lot of room to improve. If he can add some ball handling skills, he can move to the Power Forward position in the future where he is probably more interesting because of his speed and lack of physical presence.

Daniel Diez – SF/PF – 2m00 – Spain – 1993

Daniel Diez was simply one of the best players in the camp. The Spanish forward is one the way to become a full-time Small Forward and in Treviso he showed that he is on the right track. Playing with the biggest effort of all participants, Diez was simply everywhere when he was on the court: rebounding, driving, hustling, jumping, diving, he did a bit of everything. This is a characteristic that we knew already about him from previous events but he has clearly made a step forward as he could play a major role against players being 2-3 years older than him.

The main point why this worked is because he has now a quite regular three-point shot that is falling even from NBA 3 point range. The mechanics are very fluid even if not super fast yet but Diez feels comfortable in shooting from long range. This makes him so dangerous as his first step, especially with his left hand, is quite good. Out of the drive, he can finish in a variety of ways by either going for the floater, the stop and pull-up jumper or the running hook shot with either hand. His footwork looks very good in these situations as he is capable of changing directions in full speed to pass a help defender and still finish athletically enough close to the rim. Diez looks very close to become already an option on the ACB level for next season and if he continues to make such big steps forward, he can become a future NBA prospect in the next years.

Devon van Oostrum – PG – 1m87 – United Kingdom – 1993

The English guard who plays in Spain had only a mediocre camp but he remains one of the top prospects of his generation. Tested at some of the best athletic results of the whole camp, van Oostrum is a fantastic athlete who is still in the process of understanding the game and his ceiling. He can run the point guard spot with great speed but loses the control too easily by taking wrong decisions or running into the paint without the necessary space. His hangtime though allows him to save some plays by either finishing from close or doing the last-second pass but overall, his decision making was poor during the camp. However, I consider him as a really interesting prospect to follow on the long term as he has qualities that not many European guards have.

Nikola Ivanovic – PG – 1m87 – Montenegro – 1994

A bit of an opposite to van Oostrum was the Montenegrin PG Nikola Ivanovic. Already built like a grown-up, Ivanovic excelled through great decision making and mid range game while not being really athletic. His jump shot is one of the quickest seen in the Adidas Eurocamp 2012 and he can make it from long distance both in catch and shoot and out of the dribble situations. Ivanovic controls the game speed very well and reads exactly what the defense gives him in order to do the right choice afterwards. The 1m87 tall guard rarely goes fully to the hoop and is one of the few players who showed something in the 4-6 meters range around the key. Not overly creative, Ivanovic can find his players on backdoors but looked more like a scoring Point Guard during the camp. He looks like a future Euroleague player already right now and his development seems to be going into the right direction.

Artem Klimenko – C – 2m12 – Russia – 1994

One of the youngest but also one of the biggest prospects in the camp was the Russian center Artem Klimenko. The 2m12 tall big guy who was more or less an unknown because he never played for the Russian Youth National Teams so far. But in Treviso, he could show that he has the potential to go very far if he is developed well which is not too sure at the moment. Coming from Ukraine originally, Klimenko has been discovered and brought to Saratov in order to develop his basketball skills. He runs the floor really well and likes to follow the shots for the offensive rebound. His own shot looks quite polished and developed and he can hit it nicely from around the key despite having slow mechanics. He is quite explosive for his size and showed terrific defensive reads in order to steal or reject the ball. With his size, he is of course a major prospect for the future and with the correct next steps, Klimenko can become a top level prospect in the next years.