Nemanja Bjelica was the third European player that got called in the Madison Square Garden on Thursday. The Serbian forward was some kind of late developer as he was not considered as a major talent a few years ago. But over the last two seasons, he played himself into the Serbian Senior National Team and the automatic eligible player has now been drafted.

Bjelica was a member of the different Partizan Belgrade Youth teams in his early days but he could never crack the rotation of the Senior Team back then. At the age of 19, he transferred to Austria where he played for Arkadia Traiskirchen which is the place where his agency Interperformances places lots of young players that need some playing time. Normally, the prospects that the agency sends there are not the top prospects in their portfolio as so far, none has really shined after the Austrian experience. Nemanja Bjelica however used his season in Traiskirchen where he averaged 8.5ppg, 3.5rpg and 1.2apg while shooting 41.5% from 3FGs at his best and came back as a better player. Luka Bassin, who is the youth coach of Olimpija Ljubljana in Slovenia followed his career and told us the following about Bjelica’s debuts.

His career is very strange and I always admired players with great character. He was member of Partizan Youth teams and after that, as a junior, he went to Austria and when he came back to Serbia (Crvena Zvezda), he  was a prospect. Before, he was even thinking about quitting basketball.

His first season back in Serbia for Crvena Zvezda was already promising but still far away from being a NBA consideration prospect by just looking at the stats. He played 24 games in the Adriatic League where he had 4.0ppg, 2.4rpg and 1.4apg at the age of 21 already. In general, the best Serbian prospects at this age are already major contributors on that level. But the word on him spread slowly around the globe and Jonathan Givony had the following on him when he travelled Europe back in November 2008.

Luck would have it though that we would be able to take in a short glimpse at what might be an intriguing prospect for down the road, Serbian Nemanja Bjelica. Surprisingly never having played for any of the various Serbian national teams, Bjelica is having somewhat of a breakout season, seeing solid playing time at a very high level of competition, in basically his first season of professional basketball.

Despite standing 6-10, Bjelica saw some minutes as a defacto point forward, being asked to bring the ball up the floor and get his team into their offense in this all-important road game in a fairly hostile environment. That should tell you a little bit about the confidence that Pesic has in this kid, and he couldn’t help but smile when asked about him afterwards in the press conference, noting that he is indeed a very intriguing prospect, while taking the politically correct approach to saying that they have many nice youngsters they are developing. He did throw out the obligatory Toni Kukoc comparison, which we heard from other sources as well.

Bjelica is a very long and skinny wing player, reasonably athletic, with a solid, yet underdeveloped frame, looking quite comfortable putting the ball on the floor with solid ball-handling skills and a nice first step, and even going into the paint to post up his matchup on one occasion. His decision making skills seemed a bit too erratic to fully trust at this level, and he was quickly benched after just a few minutes out on the floor. Defensively he has the length and footwork needed to compete on the perimeter, even if there is obviously work for him to do on this end of the floor. Still, he’s a guy to keep under the radar for now to see how he develops. He did show a very nice stroke from beyond the arc in warmups.

Out of this first season, Bjelica was selected to play for the Serbian team at the Universiade in Belgrade during the summer of 2009 and he averaged 7.0ppg and 5.7rpg to win the Gold Medal. This performance helped him to earn a first ever selection for the Serbian Senior National team.

With the National Team, Bjelica played an excellent Eurobasket in a specific role as defender but without scoring a lot. I covered the tournament in Poland and had the following on him after the impressive run of the Serbs.

Nemanja Bjelica is one of the most interesting prospects who played at the Eurobasket 2009. Being 2m09 tall, Bjelica can play the SF position and even if he never found his shooting rhythm during the tournament, he showed that he has all the tools to become a great player in the next years. Athletically, Bjelica has quite nice leaping ability, has good speed with the ball and also laterally on defense and he displays a nice wingspan. Everything is there to become a high class defender on the wing, the role that he saw the most minutes in with Serbia during the Eurobasket.

Due to his athletic skills, he is an above average shot blocker for his SF position and he is not afraid to go reject the big guys from the help side. He is highly active in the defensive rebound (he was the best Serbian rebounder of the tournament despite playing only 17 minutes per game and grabbing only 2 in the last two games combined).

Offensively, it was not the best days for Bjelica as his shot was not falling at all, but he never lost his confidence and took the open looks that he got. One play that I remember particularly well was an offensive situation where Bjelica missed a dunk on the drive, sprinted back on defense and on the next offensive situation immediately got the ball back in the corner to hit the big three pointer from there.

Bjelica is certainly a player that some NBA team will take a closer look at as he is one of these rare combinations of height, athleticism, shooting and overall basketball skills with a defensive presence. With Crvena Zvezda in Serbia, he will certainly get a lot of minutes this season in the Adriatic League as well as in the EuroCup and he should be able to get a look at in the 2nd round in 2010.

After the trip to Poland, Bjelica really improved his numbers with his Club Team as well as the 2009/2010 season that led him up the NBA Draft helped him to produce 8.5ppg, 5.8rpg and 2.0apg in the Eurocup. Draftexpress scouted him again in February 2010 and was still very high on him.

Bjelica’s biggest strengths revolve around his terrific ball-handling ability and passing skills. He can grab a rebound and take the ball coast to coast without the slightest bit of hesitation, and is extremely dangerous creating shot-opportunities for himself and others out of pick and roll situations. He does an excellent job of finding the open man in transition, and makes some extremely creative drive and dish passes thanks to his terrific court vision. Watching him play, it doesn’t take long to come to the conclusion that his feel for the game is obviously very good.

Players with his combination of size, skills and basketball IQ are quite rare, which is why many respected NBA scouts are very high on him, even if he has some glaring flaws to his game that must be addressed. Reportedly not being in a huge rush to make the jump to the NBA at this point, Bjelica is the type of player a team can draft and stash in Europe to see how he develops over the next few seasons, which makes him a solid candidate to hear his name called somewhere in the second round.

It comes clearly out of all these reports what makes Bjelica so special that the Timberwolves really wanted him: versatility, size  and athletic abilities; a real Swiss Army knife. The Wolves really wanted to get the most information on him as possible as the management travelled to Serbia to scout him in person. Even some late minute rumors about a potential deal with Benetton Treviso which has been denied in between did not prevent the team from Minneapolis to get him through a trade with Washington.

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Kevin Seraphin – #17 by the Bulls – most likely traded to the Wizards

Seeing the French Big Guy from Cholet in the first round is not really a surprise but he was not foreseen to be drafted that high as most observers saw him between 20 and 30. It will now be interesting to see if Seraphin will stay in France and play the Euroleague with Cholet or if he decides to come to the United States immediately. The PF/C is on the list of France for the upcoming World Championship in Turkey but on the other hand, the Wizards will most likely try to bring him over to play the Summer League as well which looks like a first conflict situation.

Bouna N’Diaye and his team have once again showed that they can place a player in the first round. The future will tell how Seraphin will adapt to the NBA where his skills and physical built are not as special as they are in Europe.

Tibor Pleiss – #31 by the Nets – traded to the Thunder

With the first Pick of the Euroleague players Draft, the Nets select Tibor Pleiss from Brose Baskets Bamberg. With Nikola Pekovic in 2008 and the German Center this year, the #31 spot is looking more and more to become the best place to get future high-level Euroleague talent as the top pick in the second round gives the team all possibilities in terms of salary to sign the player in the future. Pleiss has declared several times that he will not come over immediately and at least play one year in the Euroleague which he can do with his team next season.

Additionally, he will be a member of the German National Team this summer and play major minutes during the World Championships in Turkey. It would be a surprise for me if he comes over this Summer to do some workouts or Summer Leagues. The Oklahoma Thunder got what they wanted in Pleiss as the rumors were around that Sam Presti was really high on him and they even thought about bringing him in at #18. But at #31, they go their big guy that may end up as the better player than their #11 pick Cole Aldrich.

Nemanja Bjelica – #35 by the Wizards

With the rumors around his signing with Benetton Treviso being denied by the player himself, Bjelica looks to be very open in terms of possibilities for next season. The 2m09 tall forward found an NBA home with the Wizards now but it is not so sure about what he is going to do. Several European teams are chasing him as well and Bjelica will most likely be a member of the Serbian National Team for the World Championship which prevents him from participating to some Summer Leagues.

Bjelica has interesting tools for the NBA and seems to be a late developer as coach Luka Bassin explained in our Draft countdown. With Seraphin, he is the second European selected by the Wizards in this year’s Draft but he will most likely remain in Europe for some time. At least, everything else would be a surprise for me.

NB: Bjelica has been traded to the Wolves

Ryan Richards – #49 by the Spurs

The Brit got what he wanted, he is drafted by an NBA team. Even if he was announced “not falling lower than #33”, he ended up with the Spurs at #49. The team from San Antonio is known for drafting high-reward long-term prospects and Richards may be in the same mold. The fact that the British player wants to absolutely stay in the United States, most likely means that he will go to play for the Austin Toros, the Spurs NBDL team. With the rumors of the Spurs bringing Tiago Splitter over, the roster seems a bit stacked on the frontcourt and it would be a major surprise to me if Richards will crack the rotation immediately.

Pape Sy – #53 by the Hawks

The big surprise of the Draft from a European point of view is Pape Sy. He did exactly one workout, at least that is what we heard and he got selected by the Hawks that have seen him play in their facilities on the 16th June. Sy is a tall guard (1m97) that takes the PG spot during moments and is an interesting three point shooter. But still, this does not make him an NBA player nor do his stats: 5.2ppg and 1.3apg in the French League. But the Hawks must have seen something special in him as they were the only team inviting him for a workout and finally also drafted him. Maybe their scouts were present in France on the 27th February where Sy had his career game with 17pts, 7rebs and 4asts.

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With the NBA Draft 2010 being held this week, it is about time to check the current situation of the automatically eligible Europeans.

Miroslav Raduljica would probably be a mid to end-of-first round option if the Serbian Center would not have declared and shown that he has no real interest to play in the NBA. Raduljica did not attend the Adidas Eurocamp and cancelled a workout specifically setup for him. He did not work out either for any NBA Team so far and will probably move to a top-level Euroleague team next season. However, there are certainly NBA Franchises that will take a closer look at him when he is still available during the Draft ceremony because the number of skilled and physical seven-footers is always limited. Raduljica averaged 13.7ppg at 57.6% in the Adriatic League where he added 6.4rpg in 26 minutes. The absence of NBA caliber athletic abilities and poor shot blocking presence combined with his “no-NBA-attitude” are probably the reasons why in the end, he may not get drafted at all.

Current Mock Situation (20th June 2010): Draftexpress: #45 by Minnesota, NBADraft.net: undrafted

Alexey Shved has been a mystery on the Senior level for a lot of years as his talent level was uncontested but as he has been stashed on the CSKA Moscow bench over the last seasons, it was difficult to see what his real potential is especially as he lost several years of experience but not playing. But his move to Dynamo Moscow in December 2009 helped him to immediately get minutes on the highest level (Russian League and Eurocup) and show that he can play basketball against professionals. Shved should be able to play the PG spot in the NBA with his excellent size (1m96) and fundamentals and he has also the athletic abilities to compete. He finished his season in Russia with 10.3ppg at 55.7% 2FG together with 2.7rpg, 3.7apg and 0.8spg in 22 minutes on the court. He is probably the European played with the most potential upside of the 1988 born automatically eligible players.

Current Mock Situation (20th June 2010): Draftexpress: #49 by San Antonio, NBADraft.net: #58 by Los Angeles Lakers

Nemanja Bjelica is probably one of the most interesting players in this draft as the 2m09 tall Serbian forward is really a versatile player that probably impressed several teams during his workouts with his skills. He has been reported to not be the most regular player in terms of production which is underlined by his stats of the past season. However, the Crvena Zvezda player is a talent on its own and can be used in different positions on the court and could be a match-up creator with his great size when used on SF for example. Together with Shved, he is the only 88 born player currently considered by the two main Mock Draft websites, both having him in the second round where he probably will end up. The question remains if he would try to gain a roster spot this summer or stay in Europe. His presence in the United States for workouts shows however that the NBA is in his mind and a goal for him.

Current Mock Situation (20th June 2010): Draftexpress: #50 by Dallas, NBADraft.net: #40 by Indiana

Vladimir Dasic is another player that may have 1st round potential but the Montenegrin has shown serious mental problems over the last years that generate a lot of doubts about his professional career. After having signed a 3 year deal with Real Madrid last summer, Dasic could never fulfill the hopes that Madrid had in him and he moved away to Gran Canaria during to get ejected as well. He played only the first day of the Adidas Eurocamp because he was apparently injured and he did not appear in any NBA workouts over the last days. From the talent level alone, Dasic can be described as a physically strong wing who can score both from inside and outside. But the current situation implicates that the main topic for Dasic is to find a team whatsoever for next season.

Current Mock Situation (20th June 2010): Draftexpress: undrafted, NBADraft.net: undrafted

Ludovic Vaty has done a multitude of workouts for NBA Teams in preparation for the NBA Draft and he was also present at the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso. The French big guy did not impress though with any particular skills and remained in his rebounder role. He can score close to the basket but has no really go-to-move when playing in the low post. Vaty will probably remain undrafted as neither the talent level nor the athletic abilities are good enough to have a role in the NBA.

Current Mock Situation (20th June 2010): Draftexpress: undrafted, NBADraft.net: undrafted

Paulao Prestes played his first full ACB season in 2009-2010 with CB Murcia and is a player that has not really drawn a lot of interest by NBA teams or international media. Draftexpress had a long article on him a few weeks ago and we have never covered him so far which may be also due to his Brazilian nationality. His ankle injury from end of April put him out of the Adidas Eurocamp as well as unable to do some workouts with NBA teams previous to the Draft. If there are NBA franchises that have done their homework, they have scouted him in the ACB over the season and are aware of his potential. Draftexpress sees him in the second round.

Current Mock Situation (20th June 2010): Draftexpress: #44 by  Portland, NBADraft.net: undrafted

Stefan Markovic is a Serbian PG that is rumored to have signed already a two-years deal with Benetton Treviso this spring and not really considering the NBA as an option. He has not participated to the Adidas Eurocamp nor to any NBA workouts so far but several teams have certainly seen him play with Hemofarm this season and may consider him. However, Markovic is not really the prototype of the NBA Pointguard and it would be a major surprise if he gets selected on the 24th June.

Current Mock Situation (20th June 2010): Draftexpress: undrafted, NBADraft.net: undrafted

Boban Marjanovic is probably an option that some NBA teams are thinking about as the 2m22 tall Serbian Center has played a fairly correct season with Hemofarm. However, Marjanovic’s name has not been mentioned in any NBA Workouts so far. Marjanovic brings fantastic size with him and is quite a nice basketball player, even if he is a bit stiff and slow, even for his size. But there may be some teams that take some bet on him and draft the Serbian giant. Remember Slavko Vranes who has been drafted also? This player is certainly a bigger talent on the offensive end.

Current Mock Situation (20th June 2010): Draftexpress: undrafted, NBADraft.net: undrafted

Marko Keselj is yet another Serbian player that is automatically eligible in this year’s draft. Considered as a top-talent a few years ago, Keselj had made some choices in his early career that probably stopped his development when he saw no serious minutes with Girona. After a year in Germany, Keselj plays now an important role for Crvena Zvezda in Serbia where he averaged 9.1ppg in the Eurocup. The 2m09 tall wing was present in the United States for some workouts but we did not hear anything particular out of it and which teams may be interested in him. Keselj himself would like to play for the Los Angeles Lakers according to the presentation on his agent’s website.

Current Mock Situation (20th June 2010): Draftexpress: undrafted, NBADraft.net: undrafted

Artem Zabelin played at the Reebok Eurocamp in 2009 and is currently in the United States to do some workouts with NBA Teams. The 2m15 tall Russian has however never really seen important minutes on the Senior level with CSKA Moscow so that it is hard to judge his real value. From a strict talent level, he has everything you need as the 7 footer is mobile, can shoot the ball, run the floor but remains however a really thin player who prefers to play on the wing than battling in the post. Maybe some franchise likes his potential and will spend a second round pick on him.

Current Mock Situation (20th June 2010): Draftexpress: undrafted, NBADraft.net: undrafted

Tim Ohlbrecht has preferred to do his Draft preparations exclusively in the United States and did not participate to the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso. We did not hear anything particular on how this choice has impacted his Draft potential. Ohlbrecht comes of a good season after a disaster in the last year he was in Bamberg. He can have a role a shooting and shot-blocking big man on NBA level as he has the necessary athletic abilities to compete. However, Ohlbrecht has not really developed a serious back to the basket game yet but his progress curve has again turned upwards over the last months.

Current Mock Situation (20th June 2010): Draftexpress: undrafted, NBADraft.net: undrafted

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With the signing of Kim Tillie this Tuesday, the French team of ASVEL Lyon Villeurbanne has brought the next high-quality prospect to their team after having confirmed the arrival of Leo Westermann a few days ago. With the already under contract Bangaly Fofana, Paul Lacombe, Thomas Heurtel and Edwin Jackson and some interesting young players growing with the youth sections, it was time to take a closer look at all these interesting prospects that are being guided by Vincent Collet in the next years.

Collet spoke about his recruitment in an interview for the club’s homepage and here are the most interesting parts concerning the young players.

What can you tell us about Kim Tillie?

Kim is an athlete. He is very tall and can move very well which makes him a real potential to become a modern basketball player of high level. He is PF with energy, particularly on the rebound, and a good shot even if he did not have the possibility to show it that much with Utah where he was playing in a very strict system with very little personal initiative allowed. That’s mainly the principal challenge for him: the discovery of the professional world and its expectations and therefore the satisfaction of what we want him to achieve. The expectations will be high because we believe in the potential of somebody who has been European Champion and Bronze Medalist at the World Championships with his generation.

With Kim Tillie joining Paul Lacombe, Bangaly Fofana, Edwin Jackson and Leo Westermann, ASVEL is building a really young team. Is this done by conviction or because of lack of other possibilities?

We have announced that we are going to build a younger team. This is my philosophy. It is not in contrary with the expectation of results. All the files on which we advanced this spring turned in a positive way for us. That’s good for the future. We have now a group of players with high potential and which are all under contract for at least two years. And I don’t want to forget Thomas Heurtel who is still under contract with us for three more years. But Thomas does not want to accept a back-up role. As we can not guarantee him a starting job immediately, he will be loaned for another season. I expect from all these players that they will bring enthusiasm and freshness, values that we missed sometimes this season. Additionally, we fulfill future recruitment needs with having already now the necessary number of Home Grown Players. We have now all our back-ups and can start to build our “real” Starting Five in a very open market of American players.

Don’t you think that these young players will offer you some negative surprises?

We know three of the five players very well as they have played with us this season. We are not moving into unknown territory with them. Kim has shown good potential with the National Team and at Utah and we followed him over the last two years. For Leo, the situation is different. He is from the next generation only and we give him more time even if we are convinced that he can contribute quickly. We know exactly what are the forces and weaknesses of the guys so that our goal is to find five experienced players with complementary qualities to the five youngsters. We have of course no possibilities to take the wrong pieces for this puzzle in order to avoid putting the youngsters into difficult situations or urgency of result.

So far what Collet is saying about his young guns. Here is short recap on the five players that will be on the ASVEL roster for next season.

• Leo Westermann: will probably only play with the Espoirs team next season as he is recovering from a severe knee injury. His goal will be to become the leader of the team in the next years as the 92 born player is a real presence on the court and was a major piece of the French Silver Medal at the U18 European Championships last summer.
• Edwin Jackson: after a season with Rouen where the son of Skeeter Jackson played major minutes and could work on his scoring talent, the guard needs now to become a booster coming from the bench. Collet had him already in his preliminary group for the Senior National Team last summer and it seems that he is awaiting a lot from the athletic back-court player.
• Paul Lacombe: cracked the rotation a bit by surprise last season and played more minutes as the season went on. The versatile guard can play the PG position and should be used as a back-up to bring the necessary size and surprising athletic abilities to the back court. The 1990 born player is somebody to watch in 2010/2011.
• Kim Tillie: athletic wing with a nice shot from around the key, especially from the baseline. He is used to play a back-up role as he did it with the French Youth National Teams for years. The son of former professional volleyball playing parents has the necessary athletic abilities for the French league but may need some time to find his marks after four years in the United States.
• Bangaly Fofana: long and athletic center that had some impact this season already when given playing time, especially as a shot blocker and finisher close to the basket. He has entered his name to the NBA Draft pool this year and will probably play at the Adidas Eurocamp in June.

The situation of Thomas Heurtel remains the same than a few weeks ago when we had already a longer article on him. Collet is not sure about him being a starter for his team right now and as Heurtel does not want to be a back-up, he will not play for ASVEL in 2010/2011.

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With the year 2009 coming to an end, it is time to look back at what happened during the last months. The EuroCup season is quite shorter than the Euroleague but the teams playing here are stuffed with interesting talent. So it is time to take a quick look at those players that are emerging in the 2nd best European competition.

Antoine Diot is currently playing his best season of his career. The 1989 born French guard of Le Mans is doing a great job leading his team and could also improve his statistics consequently. I had a long report on him this summer which I can only recommend to read as it describes the progress he has made, especially in the reading of pick and roll situations and with his long distance shot.

Stats: 7.8ppg, 3.0rpg, 3.0apg

Stefan Markovic is another PG that has made a big step this summer playing with the National Team and being now the leader of a Eurocup team. However, Markovic still struggles with his long distance shot these days as he is turning just around 18% from behind the arc. His all-around presence through strong rebounding and good defense overcome his decreasing scoring average over the last two years.

Stats: 7.0ppg, 4.3rpg, 5.5apg

Milan Macvan had one big game in this season’s Eurocup against Le Mans where he finished with 14pts and 6rebs. The 1989 born forward is imposing himself as a key player for Hemofarm, even he could not yet reach the level he played on last season.

Stats: 8.0ppg, 3.0rpg

Boban Marjanovic is still the 2m22 giant in the middle who has a major impact on both sides of the court. He is automatically eligible for the NBA Draft in 2010 so we could see him being a interesting pick down the road for several teams looking for a real big guy. Having a pretty nice shooting touch and a huge frame, Marjanovic has all the tools but currently is not yet making the next step in his development

Stats: 7.0ppg, 4.3rpg, 1.3bpg

Mindaugas Kuzminskas is one of the major surprises of the beginning of the Eurocup season. Kuzminskas who signed a long term deal with Zalgiris this summer but was loaned back to Siauliai is doing a great job as starter for the Lithuanian team. Being present both as a scorer and rebounder, Kuzminskas is doing an all-around job in his second Eurocup season. The 2m05 tall and 1989 born player is currently hitting his three point shots with great accuracy. His shooting mechanics look excellent with a quick release. He understand the game pretty well and he can use his size to post up smaller defenders when playing SF. He is also very effective when driving to the basket as he attracts the help defense and knows how to dish the ball to his open team mates. Fundamentally, he is at a very high level and athletically, he is above average for European standards. On the downside, he looks to be kind of a soft player when it comes to contact, especially in the lower body. He loses his balance in the air easily when going for the layup against defense and struggles to convert his attempts then. However, he is one of the most promising players in the Eurocup this season and I won’t be surprised to see him playing Euroleague with Zalgiris in 2010.

Stats: 12.5ppg (63.6% 7/11 3FG), 3.5rpg

Deividas Gailius is the 2nd player of BC Siauliai in this report and the electric combo guard born in 1988 is doing a great job in his first season with the team. Gailius is a highly energetic guard that displays a relentless effort on the court. He is more of a scorer, that’s why Siauliai uses him a lot on the SG position, even if he is starting most of the times at PG. The 2m00 tall guard pushes the ball very hard on the break and tries to go for the score against anybody. He looks like being always at full effort, it is not sure if he can really slow the speed down. In general, he has all the tools to become a very good player, he can shoot the ball in catch-and-shoot situations or out of the dribble. He is not afraid to drive hard and tries to dunk the ball when possible.

Stats: 10.3ppg, 4.5rpg

David Jelinek saw some playing time in the beginning of this EuroCup campaign and he used the limited minutes to show his scoring talent. The Czech born forward from 1990 will probably have more impact in the coming years as the 2m03 tall player has the talent to become an interesting rotation on ACB and EuroCup level.

Stats: 5.5ppg, 2.5rpg

Pere Tomas is improving his numbers throughout the competition as the 2m01 tall forward gained the starting lineup position for the last two games. The versatile 1989 born player is showing his all-around talent combined with his athletic abilities make him a prospect that should fulfill all the promises during the next years.

Stats: 5.3ppg, 2.8rpg, 1.3apg

Tim Ohlbrecht has been featured in a very recent report here on the website so I suggest you to read that piece.

Dimitry Khvostov seems to be there for years, he was present with the Dynamo Moscow team back in 2006/2007 already with similar stats to today. For me it is difficult to say anything else on him as I did not see him play in EuroCup action for several years.

Stats: 4.0ppg, 2.5apg 2.3topg

Alexey Shved has made the move that finally will give him the playing time to showcase his talent. Coming to Dynamo Moscow during the season, he exploded immediately in the EuroCup behind 16pts and 8rebs. In the year of his automatic eligibility for the NBA Draft, it is important for him to put some numbers on the table that are in line with his incredible talent. Hopefully, we will have more on him later in the season.

Stats: 10.5ppg, 7.0rpg

Marko Keselj is doing a good job this year with Crvena Zvezda but still does not live up to the major hype that was built up around him several years ago. Being born in 1988, the long forward who excels from behind the three point line, is probably not on the board of a lot of NBA teams at the moment. The financial situation of his team though brought him in a situation where is looking for a different club as he has not received his salary since March.

Stats: 9.7ppg (5/11 3FG)

Elmedin Kikanovic has not been discussed that much recently but the Bosnian 2m10 Center is once again producing excellent numbers with Crvena Zvezda. Living mostly from his excellent jump shot, the 1988 born player is not a massive physical force which does not make him that interesting for NBA teams. However, Kikanovic will certainly be a major target for Euroleague teams in the future.

Stats: 14.3ppg, 3.3rpg

Nemanja Bjelica is more interesting in terms of NBA potential as the 2m09 tall forward is showing excellent athletic abilities and large versatility in his game. Bjelica is also an excellent defensive player and one of the best rebounders on the forward position. Bjelica is however struggling with his shot at the moment as he connects only 34% of his attempts.

Stats: 4.5ppg, 6.8rpg

Donatas Motiejunas raised some eyebrows this summer when he announced that he will sign with Benetton Treviso. But the move seems pretty clever right now as the Lithuanian top talent is having a good role in the rotation of the Italian team and plays around 20 minutes every game. After the Euroleague qualifiers, I had no opportunity to see him play in the Eurocup thus far, so I hope to get a bit more on him later on in the season.

Stats: 7.5ppg, 2.3rpg

Alessandro Gentile is probably the biggest surprise of the whole Eurocup as the 17 year old player has cracked the rotation of Benetton and is putting on a scoring show during the minutes he is on the court. He scored 16pts in just 21 minutes against Dynamo Moscow and did better than the highly regarded Shved on the same game. Gentile plays with the Benetton Junior Squad at the Stella Azzurra tournament these days, so I will get a more complete report on him in the next days when I am back from Rome.

Stats: 7.3ppg, 4.3rpg

Kevin Seraphin has been covered recently in a longer report which you can find here.

Stats: 7.0ppg, 6.3rpg, 1.3bpg

Carl Ona Embo is getting some back-up minutes at the PG in Biella. He is currently doing a correct job as his three point shot is falling in the Eurocup competition. Still, Ona Embo is not a real PG but more of a scoring combo guard combined with PG size which makes it quite difficult for him to find the right position for the future.

Stats: 4.3ppg, 1.8rpg, 1.5apg

Pietro Aradori is simply among the best players of the competition. I had a long report on him a few weeks ago which you can read here.

Stats: 16.7ppg (65% 2FG), 5.0rpg, 2.3apg

Karsten Tadda is probably the best example to see that hard work pays off. The defensive specialist has worked himself into the heavy rotation of Brose Baskets Bamberg during last season and has progressed ever since. Being used mainly as a defensive stopper, Tadda is able to hit the three pointer with ease when being open as shows his current percentages in the Eurocup where he is at an incredible 72.7% from behind the arc. Tadda is starting now for his team at SG and may also see minutes on the Point Guard in the next years. The 1m90 tall and 1988 born guard may be limited in terms of pure basketball talent but he is the perfect role player and shows this already now on the Eurocup level.

Stats: 8.5ppg (72.7% 3FG)

Tibor Pleiss has been covered this week in a long report.

Stats: 10.5ppg 6.3rpg 1.3bpg

Janis Strelnieks (Stats: 12.3ppg 4.0apg), Lauris Blaus (Stats: 2.5ppg 1.8rpg) and Dairis Bertans (Stats: 4.0ppg 2.0rpg 1.3apg) have been covered during the Euroleague qualifiers and confirm their talent level in the current Eurocup competition.

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Nicolas de Virieu is a French Documentary movie maker that has produced a lot of highly interesting movies about Basketball. Among them, you can find different portraits or coverage of the famous Slam Nation dunkers in their worldwide tours. For fans of young European basketball players, two films are highly recommended.

The first movie covers the NBA Draft preparation in 2008 of the two French players Nicolas Batum and Alexis Ajinca. You can see how they fly around the States to do their different workouts, how they get interviewed and how the “hype” is created by their agency in order to get them drafted by the “right” franchise. Even if the move is in French, all English dialogues are subtitled in French. See below the Trailer and watch the full movie at Nicolas’ Dailymotion account.

The second movie covers the U19 World Championship in Serbia of the French 1988 generation around Nicolas Batum, Alexis Ajinca and Antoine Diot. Watch the Trailer of the movie below and the full movie can be seen here.

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The weekend started with the ProB (3rd league) game between Licher Basketbären and Hertener Löwen. Both teams feature a mix of proven German players, nice upcoming talent and two US players. One of Herten’s US players did not play because of a small injury which gave their German players more responsibilities. And the least one could say is that one young man stepped up and played his best game of the season so far. Vincent Kittmann, a 1988 born and 1m99 tall forward finished the game with 22pts (10/13 FG), 7rebs, 5asts, 3stls and 1blk in 26 minutes. The athletic SF did a nice job attacking the basket and working hard on rebounding. He was focused on what he can do, avoiding difficult shots or plays. His shooting percentage of 66.7% over the season so far confirms this as well as well as the only 1.8 turnovers per game. Kittmann also had the play of the game with a big one-handed dunk in the break out of nothing. He developed regularly his game over the last years starting in Oberliga back in 2005 over 2nd Regionalliga and NBBL to ProB last season with Osnabrück. He finished his first season on the professional level with 4.9ppg and 1.7rpg and is currently improving his numbers to 13.2ppg and 4.5rpg with a contender for moving up to ProA. His limits on the three point shot may hurt him down the road but with the increasing number of German players in the Beko BBL, Kittmann can be a rotation guy in the next few years.

Another 1988 born player in the team from Herten is the 2m04 tall Joleik Schaffrath, a quite athletic Center player whose main role was to do the dirty job in the paint. He did not show a large area of inside moves, but is quite an interesting player with a scoring attitude for this level. His progress is similar to the one of Kittmann as he increased his numbers from 4.4ppg and 4.0rpg to 11.1ppg and 6.0rpg. The former U16 NT and Oldenburg player is certainly a interesting inside force for smaller teams in Germany in the next years, however I see a better potential in Kittmann. But please note that these impressions are only the result of one game I saw of these players.

On the team from Lich, the most interesting player was of course the 1992 born PG Falko Theilig who played with the German U18 National Team this summer at the European Championship in Metz. The 17 year old did not have a great game though, especially on defense where he got passed several times by the opposing guards. Theilig was really overmatched in this game on the defensive end and could never stop his guy on one-on-one situations. Offensively, he did a correct job for such a young player in a heavy defeat by his own team, taking his chance from long distance when open. However, he went for a long air-ball on one play where he caught the ball baseline and checked where the three point line was to take a step backwards to be behind the arc. His only bucket of the game was in the last minutes of the game when he played a drive where he got the bonus on the continuation play. He finished with 5 points and 3 turnovers.

The nice surprise for Lich though was the great game (in a disastrous team effort) for Mathias Perl. Matze, how he is called by his team mates, was known beforehand as a tough defender but a poor offensive player. But on Saturday,the 1m88 tall guard had a career game on the offensive end scoring 18pts at 7 out 9 shot attempts. He added 3 steals and 1 blocked shot. Perl scored two catch and shoot three pointers coming out of the screen and made his 5 two point shots on nice drives to the basket where he finished close to the rim. While this offensive outburst was a large surprise for all the observers, the defense is still where Perl excels. He displays excellent lateral quickness, great speed and is extremely active with his hands. Perl has a fantastic gift for recognizing where he can steal the ball, either in the passing lanes or out of the hand of his opponent. During his years in the NBBL, he set a record for the eternity in 2007 with 7.5spg over the 14 regular season games with a great ratio of 2.5 steals per foul. If Perl can develop his offensive game; his coach attests him to be a great worker in practice; he can earn a Bundesliga spot in the next years. His defensive presence is already now on Beko BBL level in my opinion and he has a big motor and an exemplary attitude (did you ever see a guy sprint up to mid-court, do a full speed close-out on lay-up lines during the warm-up?) that should bring him space on a Bundesliga roster as defensive specialist.

After the ProB game, I followed also the Bundesliga game between LTi Giessen 46ers and Paderborn Baskets. Falko Theilig was also present as 12th man on the Giessen roster but did not see any minutes. The same happened to the former U18 European Champion, the 1989 born Serbian forward Stevan Tapuskovic. 1989 born Victor Jakovic was not in the 12 player roster of Giessen because of the limited number of foreign players. Johannes Lischka still suffered from his hand injury, but he should be back within 2 weeks.

For Paderborn Baskets, Nicolai Simon started the game and the 1987 born German PG did a correct job in a poor team. The former player of ALBA Berlin was considered a major prospect a few years ago but a severe back injury stopped his progress. He is now fighting back after he was out for several months and had a “recuperation” season in ProB with his former team of Erdgas Ehingen in 2008/2009. Simon finished the game with 5pts and 3rbs focusing mostly on his role as team organizer than to score. It will probably be tough for him to come back at his initial level but he should be a correct Bundesliga PG for the next years.

Robert Oehle did only play 5 minutes despite having come up with some nice statistical efforts over the last games. Oehle, a 1988 born 2m09 tall Center, features a massive body in the paint going hard for rebounding and scoring close to the basket. However, with the arrival of  a new US center to supply an injured team mate, the playing time for Oehle will probably be reduced again.

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The Canarias Basketball Academy is probably the team that brought the most players to a Division 1 Scholarship this summer; there were 6. Here we go for a short video review on 5 of them and also present what the Canarias Basketball Academy is about.

Video Report from Basketball 24/7 about the CBA

Daniel Thompson (English – 1m93 – Guard – 1989) – Fordham

Jason Beharie (English – 2m04 – Forward – 1988) – Morehead State

Menelik Watson (English – 2m00 – Forward – 1988) – Marist College

Fahro Alihodzic (English – 2m07 – Center – 1989) – Fordham

Ben Daniels (English – 2m00 – Forward – 1989) – Houston Baptist University

Tomas Bruha (Czech – 2m13 – Center – 1988) – USF

no video footage available

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The website of the French Espoirs League has published recently an article about the 5 former Espoirs players to follow this season. I took the freedom to translate the article into English and tell you about the 5 players that want to confirm their potential this year.

Kevin Séraphin (2m05 – PF/C – 1989 – Cholet Basket)

Kevin Séraphin is without any doubt one of the most promising players of the French ProA League, he is the symbol of the 1989 generation that has won the Silver Medal this summer at the U20 European Championship in Greece. After having integrated Cholet Basket in 2006, Séraphin has improved every year and is now at the edge of having an impact on the professional level. He finished the Espoirs League with 15.8ppg and 8.3rpg last year and led them to the National Championship in his age category.

Séraphin has a tremendous physical presence for a player of his age. He knows how to use it and took profit out of in the different youth championships. However, when he will play against professional players, this advantage has gone. He needs to polish his inside game in order to have different scoring options. Right now, he mostly scores on jump hooks, coming of both hands. In the season opener for Cholet last weekend, Séraphin did not play though.

Steeve Ho You Fat (2mo1 – Forward – 1988 – Antibes)

Ho You Fat played together with Séraphin in Cholet last season but he decided to leave his team on loan to the ProB squad of Olympique Antibes. The athletic and versatile PF made this choice in order to get playing time, become stronger and to confirm his talent. He is an excellent shot blocker, has a good touch in the paint and can also score from mid range. He started his season nicely with an average of 21 minutes per game. During the time on the court, Ho You Fat managed to scored 8.0ppg and grab 3.7rpg so far.

Seidou N’Joya (1m89 – Guard – 1989 – SLUC Nancy)

The Espoirs League 1st team member Seidou N’Joya is now ready to make the next step and get minutes with SLUC Nancy. He has so far been blocked by his nationality as he occupied one of the foreigner spots being from Cameroon. But this season, the SLUC staff decided to bring him as 2nd PG of the team. He has dominated in the Espoirs League where he finished the season with 12.4ppg (65.2% FG), 5.9apg, 2.1spg and 6.6rpg which are huge statistics for a PG. His season opener with the professionals was however not crowned with success as N’Joya could not avoid the defeat at home and played only 7 minutes for 1 point.

Nobel Boungou-Colo (2m02 – Forward – 1988 – Hyères-Toulon)

Nobel Boungou-Colo was the reason why Orléans had a nice season in the Espoirs League and finished the Trophée du Futur at the second place. The highly athletic wing finished his season with 15.7ppg, 8.6rpg and a stunning 4.2spg. Boungou-Colo lives essentially from his physical abilities and his speed which gives him the possibility to beat his opponents on the drive and finish close to the basket. He absolutely needs to develop his outside shot to become a player on the professional level. But he has all the tools to become a high-level defender and the move to sign with HTV is certainly a good decision even if he had only 4 minutes in the opening game of the ProA League.

Bangaly Fofana  (2m12 – Center – 1989 – ASVEL)

Probably the biggest long-term potential of this group of players is the 2m12 tall Bangaly Fofana. Displaying extraordinary athletic abilities, Fofana will already earn minutes in the plethoric ASVEL roster this season and gain in experience for the future. His basketball technique is not yet developed because of his only recent integration of high level basketball but players with his combination of size and athleticism are rare and attract observers from all levels. He will play both Espoirs and professional team with ASVEL this season and after the excellent opening at the “Match des Champions” where he scored 10pts in 19 minutes, Fofana was calmer once the regular tipped off two weeks ago. However, he is the only one of all these five guys to play on the highest European level as he will be a member of the ASVEL Euroleague roster.

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The Eurobasket 2009 is history now and I take a look at the players that can be considered as the most interesting prospects of the tournament. The players featured in the article are those that are still potentially NBA Draft candidates, so all the players born in 1988 or earlier but not drafted yet.

Automatically eligible in 2010

Tim Ohlbrecht (2m10 – Center – 1988 – Germany – Telekom Baskets Bonn)

The German PF/C Tim Ohlbrecht is currently in a situation where he gets more playing time on Eurobasket level than with his former club team of Brose Baskets Bamberg. This situation should change next season as his new coach (former EL winner Mike Koch) and team (Telekom Baskets Bonn) foresees him as a Starter on the PF position for a EuroCup team.

Ohlbrecht needs absolutely to develop either a back to the basket game to play C or to improve his ball handling in order to be able to attack his defender from outside with the drive, something he should be able to go for with his speed. Basically, he scores right now out of dishes from his team mates, which he does pretty well and what he will improve next season with a pass-first PG (Jarred Jordan) and on offensive put backs. His athletic abilities help him a lot in this domain. Defensively, he needs to get better in terms of avoiding foul trouble. As he is an above average shot blocker, he tries sometime to go too much for the rejection and gets called a lot on cheap fouls in these situations. Right now, it was not a big problem as he did not play major minutes (or did he not play major minutes because of foul trouble) but for the next season, which will be determining for him as he is automatically eligible for the NBA Draft (NBAdraft.net foresees him right now at the end of the 2nd round), he needs to work on this point in order to go for more than being just a rotation guy.

Stats: 5.0ppg (9/17 2FG 9/13FT) 2.2rpg 0.4bpg

Nemanja Bjelica (2m09 – Forward – 1988 – Serbia – Crvena Zvezda Belgrade)

Nemanja Bjelica is one of the most interesting prospects who played at the Eurobasket 2009. Being 2m09 tall, Bjelica can play the SF position and even if he never found his shooting rhythm during the tournament, he showed that he has all the tools to become a great player in the next years. Athletically, Bjelica has quite nice leaping ability, has good speed with the ball and also laterally on defense and he displays a nice wingspan. Everything is there to become a high class defender on the wing, the role that he saw the most minutes in with Serbia during the Eurobasket.

Due to his athletic skills, he is an above average shot blocker for his SF position and he is not afraid to go reject the big guys from the help side. He is highly active in the defensive rebound (he was the best Serbian rebounder of the tournament despite playing only 17 minutes per game and grabbing only 2 in the last two games combined). Offensively, it was not the best days for Bjelica as his shot was not falling at all, but he never lost his confidence and took the open looks that he got. One play that I remember particularly well was an offensive situation where Bjelica missed a dunk on the drive, sprinted back on defense and on the next offensive situation immediately got the ball back in the corner to hit the big three pointer from there.

Bjelica is certainly a player that some NBA team will take a closer look at as he is one of these rare combinations of height, athleticism, shooting and overall basketball skills with a defensive presence. With Crvena Zvezda in Serbia, he will certainly get a lot of minutes this season in the Adriatic League as well as in the EuroCup and he should be able to get a look at in the 2nd round in 2010.

Stats: 2.6ppg (4/13 2FG 3/12 3FG) 5.1rpg 1.0spg 0.4bpg

Stefan Markovic (1m91 – Guard – 1988 – Serbia – Hemofarm Vrsac)

The Serbian PG had a tough role behind the scoring leader Milos Teodosic. But Markovic earned his minutes through big time defense and unlimited fighting spirit. He was very active on the court, finishing the tournament with a nice stat line except for his shooting percentages. I don’t know what happened to his long distance shot, even if he has never been a tremendous three point shooter, but in Poland, he was simply ice-cold. So with the time, he started to recognize that and you could see him follow his own misses pretty well to get offensive boards. With his club team, he will go back into a more offensively minded role as scoring PG and we will see how he develops over the upcoming season.

Stats: 1.8ppg (4/10 2FG 0/16 3FG) 3.0rpg 1.8apg 0.7spg

Miroslav Raduljica (2m13 – Center – 1988 – Serbia – FMP Zeleznik)

Miroslav Raduljica had only a limited role with the Serbian team despite being a Starter at times. With Nenad Krstic as clear inside leader and the improvements of Kosta Perovic during the tournament, the minutes for the young big remained limited and he could not show that much. With the two aforementioned and the unlimited number of new quality bigs coming out, Raduljica will be in a constant battle in order to secure his spot in the National Team for the upcoming years.

Stats: 3.3ppg (8/14 2FG) 0.9rpg

Baris Hersek (2m07 – Forward – 1988 – Turkey – Banvit)

The Turkish Power Forward got some minutes during this tournament when there was either no danger of losing the game (against Bulgaria) or after the injury of Ersan Ilyasova during the 5-8th place games. Hersek is a very active guy on the court with a lot of energy. When he gets the ball, he goes mostly in a head-down style of play where he tries to score with his physical presence. After a full season in the Turkish first league, he needs to confirm with Banvit in order to show if he is ready for the next step. Right now, he does not look like being a candidate, even for the 2nd round of the upcoming NBA Draft.

Stats: 2.7ppg 2.7rpg 0.8spg

Future potential NBA Draft picks

Robin Benzing (2m08 – Forward – 1989 – Germany – ratiopharm Ulm)

Coming out of the second division in Germany (ProA with TV Langen) to play the Eurobasket is not the easiest thing. But Robin Benzing showed that he is already now a serious rotation player on the European level and probably one of the most interesting SF prospects. Playing against Euroleague and NBA level players have certainly helped the young kid to develop and he should be able to play a major role in the Bundesliga next season.

Benzing is a 2m08 tall forward with a nice out side shot and an interesting drive. His three point shot is falling at a correct 35% right now (he scored 2 out 6 in Poland with a game winning three against Russia and went for 52/166 over the full last season) and he shots most of it in catch-and-shot fashion. The release is not the quickest one but this may be the result of his height. His drives look very energetic, especially of the left hand where he manages despite being not that physical to reach the rim most of the times and where he can finish it with both hands under pressure. His footwork on the drives gives him the possibility to go for very nice spin moves to pass his defenders as he did for example very nicely against Antonis Fotsis of Greece. Additionally, his drives give him a lot of foul calls and he connects it very well from the free throw line.

Because of his size, he can offer his team lots of mismatch situations as he is able to post up smaller guys and to finish with some basic back to the basket moves. Defensively, Benzing struggles of course against smaller and faster wings, but he did for example a nice job to guard Zoran Planinic against Croatia during the few moments he defended against the long guard. Benzing, who has signed a deal until 2011 with the German Bundesliga Team ratiopharm Ulm, needs now to confirm his status on a regular basis (he went for ups and downs in Poland: 0pts against France, game winner against Russia, 2pts against Latvia, 16pts against Greece). His first season on the highest German level will show where he might go in the next years.

Stats: 5.5ppg (8/15 2FG 2/6 3FG 11/12FT) 1.6rpg

Lucca Staiger (1m94 – Guard – 1988 – Germany – Iowa State)

The Iowa State player came up here in this Eurobasket with his first games on the European senior level and he showed quite some interesting moments on the court. After a more or less slow start, Staiger improved his game in the 2nd round of the tournament and having a great shooting night against FYROM where he made 14pts at 4/6 3 point shots, the two misses coming in the final minutes where he took difficult shots to come back in the game.

Staiger excels when coming of the screen for the catch and shoot three point shot. He does not look particularly quick when running but his shooting mechanics allow him to fire the ball up immediately after catching it, even out of a direction change or spin. But he can also hit the ball out of the dribble as he showed once or twice, especially with a nice fake, dribble step back three against Croatia. He nailed some clutch free throws in the final seconds against Russia in order to secure the only German win in the tournament. With his massive physical presence and good athletic abilities, Staiger is also able to become a high level defender in the next years. After yet another season with Iowa State, Staiger should be ready to take over the Starting SG job in the German National Team.

Stats: 5.0ppg (2/2 2FG 8/14 3FG) 1.2rpg

Elias Harris (2m01 – Forward – 1989 – Germany – Gonzaga)

Elias Harris was a major factor in the preparation games for the Eurobasket as well as during the 1st round. But since the game against Greece, his playing time was reduced (his PT went up steadily through the first 4 games from 11 to 23 minutes but then fall to 6 and then 4 minutes in the last two games). This was probably the result of the emergence of Lucca Staiger late in the Eurobasket as Coach Bauermann used Harris mainly as back-up on the SG position, the same spot that occupied Staiger.

The usage as SG backup was one of the big surprises that Bauermann created with this young German team as Harris was so far considered as a PF who may play SF one day if he improves his shot. The problem was that with his size (2m01), he is a bit short to guard European PF so that the German coaches decided to play him as defensive stopper against the opposing guards, something he did very well through his excellent physical and athletic abilities. Offensively though, he was not a real option with the team this year, maybe because he had to play a position that was unusual for him. When joining Gonzaga this fall, it will be interesting to see how the College coaches will use him and what will be the future position of Harris.

Stats: 2.2ppg 2.3rpg

Tibor Pleiss (2m15 – Center – 1989 – Germany – Brose Baskets Bamberg)

This Eurobasket was more of a learning process than a playing time outburst for the tall German C prospect. With limited minutes, Pleiss could not show his nice shooting touch and suffered from his physical deficits. With Brose Baskets, he will need to get stronger physically as he will arrive there as a successor of Tim Ohlbrecht in a role as back-up Center and will also face the more physical but younger Philipp Neumann to grab the minutes behind the Starter Elton Brown.

Stats: 1.3ppg 1.0rpg

Milan Macvan (2m03 – Forward – 1989 – Serbia – Hemofarm Vrsac)

After a strong start into the tournament, the impact of the youngest Serbian player of the tournament decreased in order to be a minor role player at the end. Macvan still displays a limited athletic ability combined with  nice basketball IQ, good positioning and an improving shooting. His three point percentages are improving over the years but his limited speed hurt him when attacking the basket. He can however overcome this weakness with his understanding of the game.

Stats: 2.8ppg (3/12 2FG 4/10 3FG) 1.9rpg 0.9apg

Antoine Diot (1m90 – Guard – 1989 – France – Le Mans)

The French Guard finished a dream-like summer on a very strong note. After a Silver Medal with the French U20 team, Diot got a call-up to play with the French senior team this summer, earned his rotation spot during the Additional Qualification Round and became a member of the 12-men roster for the Eurobasket 2009 where he finished strong on two great games with either 13 and 18pts. Antoine Diot is now a full member of the French Senior National Team.

Diot is currently playing a role as combo-guard with a tendency for being the backup of Tony Parker as the PG of the French National Team. His great improvements in terms of long-distance shooting helped him to be an asset that the French team is looking for, a reliable exterior threat. It was him who initiated the turn-around in the game for the fifth place by netting 4 FTs in a row after having opened the comeback run with a three point shot. His long-distance shots are especially effective when he can take them from the corner in catch-and-shoot fashion after receiving the pass out of drives from his team mates.

When positioned to play the PG, he likes the Pick-and-Roll situations where he has improved over the last season. He can drive to the basket and can also finish close to the rim as he is a correct athlete and pretty strong physically. On the defensive end, he can hold his own against big European guards and be very aggressive to harass the opposing PG bringing up the ball.

Stats: 5.1ppg (5/13 2FG 9/21 3FG) 1.9rpg 1.0apg

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