Joaquin Colom (1m88 – Point Guard – 1988 – Spain)

Colom was the Spanish starting PG and was elected to the All-Tournament team. This was may be more the result of a tournament that lacked high-quality PGs that managed to bring their team to the Medal round. However, Colom is a quality player, but when you talk about upside, he is not the guy to look for at the moment.

Quino Colom is a good under control player that offensively is doing his job. He can hit the three pointer out of the dribble, also coming of a nice cross-over movement. With his drives, he attracts the defense and has no problem to go for kick-out passes to find his open team mates on the wing. With the plays, he arrived to be the top-assists player of the tournament and his all-around mature impression gave him the Tournament Team spot, which was deserved.

Martynas Gecevicius (1m93 – Shooting Guard – 1988 – Lithuania)

Gecevicius remains the best scorer of the guards of the whole tournament and earned a All-Tournament Team spot. The Lithuanian shooter can come up with long distance shots as well as with mid-distance jumpers. The shots out of the dribble are no problem for him at all. But his best shot is the three pointer in catch-and-shot fashion from the corner.

It was also him that took the game in his hands in the difficult moments to score the baskets his team needed. With some drives, he could create positions for his own mid-range shots but he does not go to the hole for a lot of times. His experience in the Euroleague is also to be seen as he knows how to create contacts and get the referee calls for him.

Zygimantas Janavicius (1m90 – Point Guard – 1989 – Lithuania)

The left handed Lithuanian Point Guard showed his well know strengths: good speed and nice left drives. His shooting is still some up and down, especially from behind the arc. His main offensive power remains however his drives where he can go until the rim and also score against the real big guys.

Still, his drive to the right is by far not as effective than when he can go to his strong left. He showed however some nice scores of his right hand too. On his drives, he has quite a good view for his team mates and goes for some interesting dishes. Something that bothers me a bit is his overreaction on every contact in order to get a foul call. He loses his own control sometimes with these moves.

Sarunas Vasiliauskas (1m88 – Guard – 1989 – Lithuania)

The first option coming from the bench in the Lithuanian back court, Vasiliauskas showed several times that he can be an energizer for the team over short periods. With his drives, he creates great options for himself which he finishes with high layups of the glass or tear-drop shots.

His three point shooting is not his main force on the offensive end, something he should develop this point because of his limited size to play on the SG position. His drives are mostly ending in scoring positions for himself as he is not really looking to go for the assist.

Dogus Balbay (1m82 – Point Guard – 1989 – Turkey)

For the Turkish guard, I could not see any real development over the last years, unfortunately. He is still the super athletic but short sized  PG that is very versatile. But neither his long distance shot has improved, nor did he show better maturity in his Point Guard skills.

But I don’t want to talk only about the problems that Balbay faces as he is still a very talented player. With his athleticism, he can go for difficult scores of the drive where he knows how to use his body and leaping abilities to score. He also tries to step up with some mid-range jumpers but they did not fall in Riga.

Sead Sehovic (2m00 – Guard – 1989 – Montenegro)

The Montenegrin guard, who also had to play on the SF spot during some stretches showed some very interesting potential in Riga. With great size for the guard spot and promising athleticism, Sehovic is a nice scoring option in a team that relied mostly on their top player Vladimir Dasic.

Sehovic has first of all a nice catch-and-shot jumper to score from everywhere, including three pointers. Additionally, he can go for drives which he concludes often very close to the basket where he uses his correct leaping ability.

Last, but not least, I want to give also a few words about the Serbian backcourt. In a team stuffed with insides forces, the guards were not the main attraction of course. But you have to mention the good job of guys like Dusan Katnic. Other players to mention at this level are for example the French SG Abdoulaye MBaye who came up with some big scoring efforts. Alexey Shved, who I could not see in Riga because of the schedules was however a disappointment to me as he did not manage to lift his team higher than a 9th place. Other names to be mentioned are of course Antoine Diot, Pietro Aradori or the Ukrainian sniper Sergiy Gladyr.

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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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