Here we go for quick recap of the action I was able to catch from the Reebok Eurocamp in Treviso so far. A camp that has representatives from all the 30 NBA teams in attendance in addition to a long list of Agents and representatives from European teams as well.

This report has been written Sunday at noon but is online posted right now due to Internet connection problems. More on the Reebok Eurocamp will follow later this week.

• The first game of the camp has been played on Saturday morning where I only arrived so I could not watch it. However, players that impressed were Stefan Markovic who run the PG job very well. Jaka Klobucar did what I like him for apparently. That means, a good shot from behind the arc and his typical left handed passes out of his wrist. Alexey Shved also showed again all his talent.
• In the 2nd game of the camp, Boban Marjanovic finished with an impressive 26 evaluation. The Serbian giant, one of the only Serbians allowed to play here, showed his incredible large game and scored with his typical post up move, some kind of jump hook. He did a good job from the free-throw line and was a big force in the defensive rebound. On the other side, Rodrigue Beaubois showed his nice combination of athleticism and skills but his shot was not falling and he got a little injury that took him out of the morning game of Day 2. Pablo Aguilar showed a good game, something he confirmed this morning. The 1989 born forward has an all-in-control type of play, going for both SF and PF positions. His range goes out to the NBA three point line, but despite not hitting that many shots you could see that he will improve in that area in the next years. The Czech youngster Tomas Satoransky impressed lots of people in the attendance with his great feel for the game and the possibility to see him run the PG in the next years.
• Nando de Colo showed his great court vision on Day 1 with a multitude of high light passes. Next to all these plays, there was one play that impressed me really while seeing him play. In fact, after a lazy behind the back pass by himself, he came back into the game immediately and stole the ball on midcourt to dish an easy assist for one of his team mates. This day was also a good opportunity to get a first impression of the Kazakh player Anton Ponomarev who definitely lacks of high-quality basketball experience and ball handling skills, but showed great will in the rebound and good scoring touch. The French guard Abdoulaye Mbaye showed his scoring talent on the 2-guard position but having a player like de Colo in his team, he had never to handle the ball on the 1 so that his potential on the PG could not be determined.
• On the downside of Day 1 were the disappointing play of guys like Vladimir Dasic, who still seems to have some concentration problems, Nikos Pappas, who struggles to bring up the ball against aggressive defense despite a great understanding in the half court offense or Roger Aboubakar Zaki who insists on shooting from behind the arc with a mediocre result.

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Adriatic region

Milenko Tepic, the guard for Partizan Belgrade who was rumored to move to Real this summer must take over a bigger role this season in the Euroleague. The transfers of Milt Palacio and Nikola Pekovic will free a lot of shots which the polyvalent guard can take. With his multi-skill play, Tepic could be one of the candidates for the Euroleague Youngster of the season award.

Milos Teodosic is another Serbian guard that could win the title this season. He comes from surprising season with Olympiacos in Greece where he played lots of minutes on the highest level. His minutes he gets with the Serbian NT at the moment are also positive to him and he can learn a lot from Papaloukas next season with Olympiacos. On the other hand, in terms of NBA potential, he may be a little limited when it comes to his athleticism but we should see as a possible top European PG for the next decade.

Vladimir Stimac comes from a great season in Latvia and tries now to continue with Crvena Zvezda in Serbia. The very large Center with unlimited will should develop in a team that plays on a better level and especially with a well-known coach in Svetislav Pesic. For him, the NBA is of course not a goal as he lacks the necessary explosiveness and athleticism to defend against the US big guys. However, he is one of the players that I personally really like because he does the best out of his skills.

Jaka Klobucar is another player that is a personal favorite and I am pretty excited to see how the left-handed guard can play in the Euroleague. His versatile skills allow him to play everything from 1-3 and his nice shooting touch is a great addition on the Euroleague level. However, it will still be his first season on this level and we should not await too much from him.

Emir Preldzic is one of the Slovenians currently under contract with Fenerbahce in Turkey. The long forward who can also help on the guard positions is one of the most interesting combinations of size and skill in the Euroleague. His extended minutes this season should be a good basis but he needs to become more precise in his shooting this year.

Gasper Vidmar is the second Slovenian 1987 born player with Boscia Tanjevic’s team. The injury of Omer Asik could give the 2m10 tall PF/C lots of minutes in the beginning of the season. Despite his limited minutes in the Euroleague last season, Vidmar averaged 5.2ppg and 3.0rpg and these numbers should be his benchmark for the next weeks.

Baltic-Russia region

Ernests Kalve needs finally a come-out season after his multiple knee injuries. And this one could be the good one. He is currently with the Latvian Senior NT to grab some garbage minutes and this should give him the necessary speed to start into the new season with ASK Riga.

Maxim Sheleketo has moved back to Russia after an interesting season in the Baltic League with however a poor team (VEF Riga). The athletic wing will now try to gain some minutes in a stronger team (Rostov) but he should have the possibility to see extended minutes especially because of the specific Russian rules.

Slava Kravtsov is a very interesting player to follow as he sees already some interesting minutes in one of the strongest rosters of the continent at BC Kyiv. He is currently seeing some backup minutes with the Ukrainian NT. The team in the Ukraine has however not changed that much on the Center spot where he will remain the backup of Ryan Stack.

Povilas Butkevicius is most likely to play with BC Kaunas next season and should see lots of minutes with the LKL team. After a season where put up some big numbers in the Challenge round of the Baltic League, he has to develop his game now to become a serious starter for a good Lithuanian team in the next years.

Andrei Vorontsevich is on the jump to become a interesting rotation player for CSKA Moscow this season. After he participated with the Senior team at the Olympics, he is now in full preparation with CSKA and should see some minutes during the season. But still, the heavily loaded Russian roster will not open big gaps on his position though.

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Oleksandr Kolchenko (1m96 – Shooting Guard – 1988 – Khimik)

The Ukrainian Guard did a good job during the days in Treviso and showed why he is considered as one of the best pure shooters in Europe. With his picture perfect shot from behind the arc, he came up with solid performances throughout the camp and exploded with one 22pts performance where he hit 5 out 7 3pt attempts. He has already a very well developed upper body and big arms. He can hit multiple threes in a row and has long range. Due to correct athleticism, he can also shoot over bigger guys if needed.

Kolchenko also showed several drives to the basket where he mostly tried to come until the rim. He never really showed some in-between game or any kind of out of the dribble mid-distance jump shot. But his big scoring capabilities from behind the arc and his still young age make him a sure bet for a good Euroleague role player with his shooting skills.

Mantas Kalnietis (1m96 – Point Guard – 1986 – Zalgiris Kaunas)

Kalnietis started the camp a bit shaky with some bad decisions and bad shooting. But with the days going on, the days became better for the Lithuanian PG who is automatically eligible for the NBA Draft this year. Easily one of the best athletes in his generation, Kalnietis excels in the drives to the basket where he can score in traffic with his great leaping ability and dish it of when the help comes. Still, he sometimes struggles to make the correct choice in the right moment. When he goes to the basket, he can score with both hands with good touch of the glass.

Kalnietis started to take better shots the last days of the camp and also knocked them down. His game will however remain more penetration-driven than being a huge threat from outside. Another thing to add is that Kalnietis did not display real leader skills, something he should acquire and use in such situations where he is one of the most experienced players.

Alexey Shved (1m95 – Guard – 1988 – CSKA Moscow)

Alexey Shved was once again amazing and show his incredible feel for the game of basketball. With his sweet shooting touch, he came up with several impressive games and saved the best for last and a 8/15 effort from behind the arc. He can hit the threes in every way, out of the dribble or catch and shot are no problems for him. Despite a still very thin and underdeveloped body, Shved can drive and score against the big guys using a good leaping ability. He can even go for some surprising dunks in the traffic.

What Shved is still missing is the experience. After one season on the bench for CSKA, next year Alexey needs finally to get some serious playing time on a good level in order to develop his excellent skills and fulfill his potential. A loan to another Russian team like for Ponkrashov could help Alexey to develop. But also some changes will be made in CSKA rosters so that Shved’s role could increase during the next season.

Anton Ponkrashov (2m00 – Point Guard – 1986 – Khimky Moscow)

Another player that started the camp badly was Anton Ponkrashov who forced a lot of plays. Is it some pressure he puts on himself in order to impress the NBA scouts or has his game changed that much over the season in Khimky? Because his court-vision and passing skills were nowhere to be seen and the Russian guard relied mainly on his scoring skills during the games.

Because he has excellent playmaking skills, and he knows how to use, but unfortunately, he only showed them in a few rare moments. The other time he tried to impose a game that seems not to be his instead of playing what he really excels in. You could also see him several times being very loud on the court and talking aggressively to his team mates when they did not catch a pass or did something wrong.

Jaka Klobucar (1m98 – Shooting Guard – 1987 – Geoplin Slovan)

Klobucar is a favorite of the author for several years now but that is not the only reason why I mention him here. The Slovenian guard showed once again his excellent basketball fundamentals which means nice left handed long distance shot and great court-vision and passing skills. Klobucar is perfect when he comes off screens and receives the ball from his left to catch, turn and shoot the three pointer even with a defender in his face.

Because of his great size, he has a pretty good court-vision and can go for nice two handed passes for cutters or the big guys. Neither the fastest, nor the most athletic guy in the camp, his all around physicals are great. Klobucar will probably move to a bigger team next season despite still being under contract with Geoplin Slovan in Slovenia since his youngest days.

Dusan Mladjan (1m98 – Shooting Guard – 1986 – Lugano Tigers)

One of the big surprises in the camp to me was the Swiss-Serbian guard Dusan Mladjan. Having never heard anything about him before, Mladjan showed a nice arsenal of scoring skills with 3pt range, mid range jumpers and fast breaks. On the downside, Mladjan has some problems in the ball handling area which makes him limited when it comes to drives. Still, it was a good showing by him in Treviso in general and he could be interesting for some bigger teams than his actual Swiss squad.

Rudy Mbemba (1m81 – Point Guard – 1987 – Solna Vikings)

The years go by and Rudy Mbemba is still in Treviso. And the problem is that you don’t see any real progression in Rudy’s game. Still, he is extremely athletic and has incredible speed. But what about some game control, improved shooting or playmaking duties. Mbemba will probably remain an athletic phenomenon if he does not work on his game. Because he has the tools to develop into an excellent player as he has the handles to play the point. But he needs to use his quickness in a more effective way in order to reach anywhere the potential he is.

Goran Dragic is also worth to be mentioned but he did only play one day in the camp. The game he was on the floor, he showed all what we knew from him before. Excellence in running the fast break, huge athletic skills and a long distance shot that is still not his force. However, he can be considered as having showed the best performances of the camp in the guard area together with Alexey Shved.

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• The top statistical performers from the last day of the Reebok Eurocamp were Artem Zabelin with a 20pts, 7rebs game, Henk Norel who had 14pts and 4rebs while going 2/2 from behind the arc, the surprising Swiss guard Dusan Mladjan who had another nice 17pts 3rebs and 5asts game for his team. Jaka Klobucar finished his all-in-all very good camp with 15pts 4rebs and 3asts while Jonas Jerebko did a good job with 14pts and 9rebs in the last regular game of the camp.
• Talking about Jonas Jerebko, you can see him in action here during the morning sessions where he was showing his three-point shooting skills.
• The very last game of the camp was another apparition of the Reebok Camp All-Stars where it was all Russian yesterday. Alexey Shved showed once again his excellent shooting skills (8/15 3FG) to finished with a game high 26pts with additional 5asts and 4rebs. Semen Shashkov showed in that game too why a lot of people are very high on him. The 2m06 tall forward came up with 14pts 6rebs and 5stls.
• Alexey Shved was unfortunately not that hot in the morning sessions where I followed him during his three point shootout.
• The lecture in the morning by Bob Hurley was not that interesting as the one of Ettore Messina the day before. When asking him about the possibility to get these drills and daily workout routine to use it with his team, a coach got the following answer: just check out Steve Nash’s DVD, it is all from there.
• A final video clip with most of the participants of the camp in another morning shooting exercise.

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In the Adriatic League match-up between East and West in Ljubljana, two of the most interesting 1986 born prospects led their East team to an easy win 136-113. Of course, such games don’t mean a lot in terms of talent scouting, I just wanted to mention some performances that show somehow the importance of these players in regards to the Adriatic league. I speak of Nikola Pekovic and Tadija Dragicevic. While the first one showed once again his dominating position in the paint with his typical numbers (26pts at 81% and 8rebs), Dragicevic came up with a nice scoring effort too (22pts at 9/14) and also won the Three-point shootout. Other notable presences were Milenko Tepic with 17pts for the East and Jaka Klobucar, Damjan Rudez as well as Ante Tomic for the West All-Stars.

You can also mention the presence of some other 1986 born or younger players during the game with Jure Lalic, Andrija Stipanović and Nemanja Gordić. The big absent was of course Goran Dragic who got injured on Saturday.

For the French All-Star game on Saturday, you will see a Starting line-up for the French selection composed of three of the most promising players of the Hexagon. While Nicolas Batum and Marc-Antoine Pellin already get a lot of attention because of their Euroleague presence, the player to discover for some observers will be Nando de Colo from Cholet. The 1987 born guard is playing a very interesting season so far and is excelling also in the FIBA Euro Cup. In the French Pro A, de Colo is actually averaging 13.2ppg, 2.2rpg, 4.1apg and 1.8spg in 27 minutes of action while his EuroCup numbers look good too with 17.0ppg, 3.8rpg and 2.5apg.

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