Today we continue our review of the players from the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso with a few additional names that we are thinking are worth to be mentioned.

Nihad Dedovic – SG – 1m97 – 1990

The Bosnian guard had one of the fastest shot releases of the whole camp. The release is so quick that it looks like he does not really prepare his shot. But he needs to fire the ball that quickly as he has the ball a bit before his face when taking the shot and therefore is always at risk of being blocked in his attempts. He likes to come of the screens and immediately fire the ball from any distance. Coming of the curl on the weak-side and receiving the diagonal pass is one of the situations in which Dedovic excels and scores with high percentages.

Additionally, he is very active on defense with his hands and steals quite a few balls. Dedovic is doing a nice job on the fast break as he can accelerate nicely and score the layup with the foul as he is a correct athlete. A first season on the ACB level with regular playing time behind him, the Bosnian will now make the next step forward and knowing that he came back from a injury recently, there are some nice things ahead for him in the next years. It may not be enough for NBA level but we should see him play on Euroleague level in a few years time.

Josep Franch – PG – 1m87 – 1991

Josep Franch played a very interesting camp and is considered already as the future PG of Joventut Badalona. The fast Spaniard broke the defenses on multiple occasion with his hesitation moves or accelerations and was not afraid at all to go against the big guys to score on a multitude of different underhand lay-ups. He looked to be more of a scoring guard in the camp as he did not particularly show amazing passing skills and mostly went for his own options.

Pietro Aradori – SG – 1m93 – Auto-Eligible – 1988

The Italian guard had an up-and-down camp and showed that he is not really NBA material at the moment. Aradori had some limits when it came to the NBA three-point line as his shot did not look regular when going for an attempt from that distance. Athletically, he is not quick enough to defend SGs despite correct leaping abilities for a European player. His skill set is a lot more adapted to European basketball and he will certainly do a lot of damage in the next years. With his scoring skills and understanding, Aradori will probably be among the major scorers for the next years in European basketball.

Dairis Bertans – PG/SG – 1m93 – 1989

The Latvian guard showed an interesting scoring talent in Treviso combined with good athletic abilities. More of a scoring guard than a pure play maker, Bertans has already some high-level experience due to the minutes he plays with Ventspils. Bertans’ main offensive options are his three point shot and driving hard to the rim. He is not afraid to dunk on the big guys and got some severe rejections during the camp that did not de-motivate him to try again. He likes to go for several cross-over moves to create the necessary space for his shot. The Latvian guard is able split defenses with his speed and is high-percentage long distance shooter.

David Jelinek – SG – 1m94 – 1990

One of the younger players that I really liked was David Jelinek. The Czech guard showed excellent athletic abilities and a real will to score the basketball. He has already NBA three point range in catch and shoot situations, which he executes particularly well. Jelinek can speed up the fast-break and finish on highlight-reel like dunks. He has already a nice arsenal of ball and pass fakes when driving that give him the opportunity to score the ball close the basket. He needs to develop his mid-range game a bit and probably get a bit stronger but the minutes he gets on ACB level are certainly helping him in his development.

Nikos Pappas – PG – 1m91 – 1990

The Greek guard looked improved this year compared to what we had in mind of him. Still not a NBA or European top-level athlete, Pappas has the feel for the game and he is far from losing it. His dominance from two years ago on U18 level is not there because he can not outsmart the players on every occasion anymore. But his passing skills are excellent even if he forced too much the highlight play in the camp which gave him a terrible amount of turnovers. As we heard, he did quite well in the Greek League this season on the Senior level so it will be interesting to see what is next for him.

Mindaugas Kuzminskas – SF/PF – 2m03 – Early Entry – 1989

The Lithuanian early entry candidate played a camp where you could barely see him, somehow similar to last year. But he has a very interesting arsenal of offensive moves and showed in Treviso that he has NBA three-point range as well. Kuzminskas can put the ball on the floor and finish with two-handed dunks against the defense when attacking the basket. He is doing also a lot of the dirty job that is not seen in the stats which is a bit different to his role he has with his team in Lithuania. This shows that he is a guy who can easily adapt to any situations.

Dejan Musli – C – 2m11 – 1991

The best Center in the camp was the Serbian Dejan Musli who looks better and better when it comes to his body structure. Still not a very explosive or elegant player, his moves look a bit smoother right now and he feels a lot more confident when putting the ball on the floor. During the camp, there was nearly anybody that could stop him once he has found his position in the low post and received the ball. He can finish here with either hand on the jump hook but most of his moves look a bit soft. His hands are great and he nearly catches all the passes he gets out of the Pick and Roll situations to finish.

Musli has clearly improved in his game when he needs or wants to dribble the ball. He can easily bring his man down to the low block when he receives the ball on the wing by backing him up with a few dribbles and moving closer to the basket. He is also not afraid to start the fast break with several dribbles, even if this is not really his role. As he is not the fastest player, it would also be a better decision making if he shares the ball on these moments and runs the break as a trailer option. He needs to finish stronger though when he is close to the basket to become a really dominant player on this level but being born in 1991, there is still a lot of progress margin left.

Ousmane Camara – C/PF – 2m04 – Early Entry – 1989

One of the more unknown players in the camp was the French Center Ousmane Camara. Even if he has only limited offensive skills because of poor hands, the player from Le Havre showed an extreme will and massive presence on the rebound. He worked very hard throughout the camp in this aspect of the game and nearly score all his baskets on offensive rebounds or after good passes of his team mates. His Free-throw shot looks very bad and underlines his current weaknesses. Camara can score the basketball only when being very close to the basket and the question is how much upside he has when it comes to his shooting touch. Physically, he has all the tools to become a high-level player, but he needs to work on his basketball skills and fundamentals if he wants to have an impact on the next level.

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Robin Benzing – SF/PF – 2m09 – 1989 – Early Entry

The German forward came to Treviso as one of the few NBA Draft prospects with legit 1st round possibilities either this or next year and after the three days in Italy, Benzing did really show what an interesting potential he is and that he is now quite a sure lock for the NBA Draft. Despite still being really thin compared to NBA standards, Benzing showed however great speed for somebody who has been measured at 2m12 with shoes, which is nearly 7-feet in the United States. Together with his excellent shot release and great movements without the ball, the German forward has certainly improved his stock and has drawn some major interest by at least one 1st round team according to his agent.

Benzing struggled a bit in the beginning of the camp as he approached the games like normal Basketball games and adjusting to the NBA three-point line. He found his rhythm however by taking some long twos (Euro 3s in fact) or by putting the ball on the floor. By doing so, Benzing created a lot of contacts with his defenders that ended often with a foul call but also some situations that put him totally out of balance. This is one of the points on which he needs to work as it looks like the slightest contact can put him in trouble. Once he can hold his own against this physical play, he will be probably step to the FT line a lot; an area where he excels as he did not miss one free-throw over the whole camp going for 11 hits out of 11 attempts.

Offensively, the Ulm forward has a large area of moves that he can use to score. Next to the classical catch and shoot on the kick out, where he will develop NBA three-point range in the coming years for sure, he can also put the ball on the floor when he has his defender on him. His above average speed and ball handling skills help him to beat the defense with either hand and to conclude with the mid-range floater, the pull-up jumper or by creating for himself the open layup after a spin move for example. It is however very rare to see Benzing finish his drives with a dunk and his floater looks a bit flat which risks to be rejected against NBA defense.

Another typical move of the German player is attacking the basket immediately after the curl on the wing. He puts the ball on the floor directly and is rarely called for the Travelling violation in those cases. He can finish these plays by a jump shot or by some kind of running hook. Benzing looks to be as well a nice transition offense player as he runs the court well and is absolutely able to put the ball on the floor on the break and go from coast to coast. He showed in the end of the camp that he is a good passer as well as he connected with a number of good passes from the high post but also out of the drives.

On the downside, we must admit that Robin Benzing is currently a terrible rebounder. He got pushed out of his positioning by even smaller players and he was never really able to go strong for the rebound on both ends of the court. This is not a major trouble as he mainly played on the SF position but when being used more on PF, he must absolutely improve in this area. Additionally, he may need to become more aggressive on offense in NBA game situations but as he remains another year in Europe (and most likely with ratiopharm Ulm where he is still under contract without an NBA-out), he should be able to become the uncontested team leader and scorer on Beko Bundesliga level and improve in this area as well.

Linos Chrysikopoulos – SF/PF – 2m03 – 1992

One of the new additions to the camp was the 1992 born Greek forward Linos Chrysikopoulos. After a somehow disappointing showing at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament a few months ago, the long wing player had an outstanding camp in my eyes and can certainly be considered as one of the next big prospects in Europe. On the first look, Chrysikopoulos may have done nothing exceptional; he averaged only 5.7ppg, 3.3rpg and 1.3apg over the three games of the camp; but what he showed during the days in Treviso was however impressive for such a young player.

Nicely athletic and with a good feeling for the rebound and the block shot, Chrysikopoulos had some interesting impact on the defensive end and stood out in this area in an environment not really favorable to it. You could see him often as the first guy back on defense despite battling for the offensive rebound and already being there to put the fast break in a difficult situation with his height.

On the offensive end, Chrysikopoulos needs to become more stable from three-point area as he can shot the brick followed by a nice swish from behind the (Euro)-arc. Being nicely explosive, he can use his good defensive reads to steal himself free in the back of the defense and finish on the powerful dunk. Putting the ball on the floor is another option for him and he can beat his defender of the dribble to either finish or go for the nice dish out of the full-speed drive. It will be interesting to see how Chrysikopoulos develops as he is the leader of a rather poor generation in Greece and will therefore need to develop also more scoring skills if he wants his Youth National Team to bring home some victories.

Edwin Jackson – SG/PG – 1m88 – Early Entry – 1989

The French Guard started the camp extremely impressive with great scoring efforts, and improved decision making and still above average athletic abilities. After a season with the low-level team of Rouen, where he averaged more than 26 minutes per game in the highest French League, Jackson has shown major progress in his game and seems now ready for the next step. He will be the SG back-up for a Euroleague-level team next season and is also in the first selection for the World Championships in Turkey this summer.

The main offensive weapon of Jackson remains his jump shot which he is taking at a great height and with extreme confidence coming of the screen or on catch and shoot situations. He has deep range and has no problems to net the ball from behind the NBA three-point arc. When he puts the ball on the floor, he has learned how to go around the big guys waiting to take the charge and to finish with the typical long European steps.

Jackson has really improved in the general approach to the game as he has become a real leader on the floor taking over the responsibility in the hot moments of the game. Being very vocal, encouraging his team mates through out the game, he was one of the few players that showed real will to win the games on every moment on the court. Unfortunately, Jackson stepped back a bit as long as the camp went on in his performance. But he was definitely one of the players that gave us the most satisfaction in his development over the last 12 months.

Thomas Heurtel – PG – 1m88 – Early Entry – 1989

The official Eurocamp MVP Thomas Heurtel did not totally convinced me throughout the three days in Treviso. Despite showing of course a great feel for the pass to the open man, Heurtel looked to me more like trying too much to go for the spectacular play or score instead of really playing the game. Of course, the setting of such a camp is not all about decision making, but this is what I am looking for with a PG. Additionally, Heurtel sometimes really over-dribbled the basketball instead of going immediately for the pass, especially on the fast break where he preferred to dribble up the ball instead of directly starting the break with a long pass.

But there were of course reasons why Heurtel got the MVP trophy. There is first of all his ability to beat nearly everyone of the dribble with either the big cross-over move or the quick first step. Out of the drives, he goes mostly for the dish that comes to him out of the help situations but he is not afraid to go as well for the difficult shot out of the movement. He passes really quickly when he is dribbling the ball but he needs sometimes a bit too much time to go for example for swing passes as he mostly uses a two-hand over-head pass for this kind of play.

Heurtel can hit the shot from nearly everywhere on the court but remains however streaky from behind the arc. He takes a lot of difficult attempts which does of course hurt his shooting percentages. This is however not the first question mark with him as he mainly needs to improve in his decision making. He is up to another season on loan to get a lot of minutes and work on this. We had an article on his specific case a few weeks ago which I highly recommend to read as it includes the thoughts of two of his coaches.

Tomas Satoransky – PG/SG – 1m99 – 1991

After taking over the 2009 camp by storm, there were a lot of high hopes on Tomas Satoransky this year. After a first season in the ACB earning about 7 minutes per game, Satoransky was expected to have improved. Playing the whole camp as PG, it seems like he is currently making the transition from being a swing man to a full-time PG. At the first look, this transition is far from being done as Satoransky did not really show anything really impressive over the three days in Treviso.

First of all, the Czech player has gained about 4 kilos of muscle over the year and even improved his numbers in vertical free jump compared to the last camp. He is slowly growing into his body as he remains still a very young player being born in 1991. With his re-positioning to the PG spot, he creates less on the offensive end for himself and is more occupied by organizing the offense than by slashing to the basket as he did last summer. Here comes the question mark if this is a good idea as he looked more intriguing when playing an off-guard role. Of course, with his excellent feel for the game and good court-vision, Satoransky may play the PG role but he looked however a bit out of position to us.

As you see, we do not really write a lot about what he actually did on the court in Treviso but this is the result of Satoransky showing barely any positive offensive plays that we are thinking are worth to mention compared to what we already knew of him. With his great athletic abilities and first step, he excels when attacking the basket and is able to convert all kind of attempts when attacking the rim with both hands. His shot remains not very consistent, especially from behind the three-point line. It will be interesting to see how his development will move on next season and what will be his future position.

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The German Early-Entry Candidate Robin Benzing is currently preparing for the Adidas Eurocamp with European coaching legend Svetislav Pesic in Berlin. The 2m08 tall Small Forward has been scouted regularly throughout the season by NBA franchises when he played with his club team ratiopharm Ulm.  Benzing will be one of the players followed particularly during the days in Treviso as he represents an interesting combination of size and skills. Check below for some short video takes from his workout with Pesic.

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One week ago, the Final 4 of the Adriatic League was in the Press for days because of the incredible finish where Partizan won the Final with an improbable Buzzer Beater. But this Final 4 was also a good opportunity to see two interesting NBA Draft prospects playing the Small Forward position. Let’s take a closer look at what happened in the Final game of the Adriatic League.

The two protagonists are of course Jan Vesely, who has been featured here several times over the last two years and Bojan Bogdanovic. The Cibona Zagreb forward, who has entered his name for the 2010 NBA Draft, has never been a hot topic (unfortunately) over the last years for this website but his move out of Spain for the Euroleague team of Cibona has put the spotlights on a player that has been scouted already by lots of teams at a very young age. Back in 2006, I had the opportunity to see him already twice at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament and during the Douai World Tournament. Here is what I had on him back then.

Bojan Bogdanovic looked like a big time talent, even if he did not score one basket on Saturday’s game at the AST. He scored although 9 points form the free-throw line before he left the court injured with a sprained ankle. He has very good body control and surprising shot blocking qualities. He goes to the rebound with ease and can post up his defenders. Unfortunately, I can not give you more details about his play as he only played 16 minutes.

Bojan Bogdanovic showed once again his versatile talent. This 2m02 guard has the whole package to become a very good international player. He is athletic enough to play against US boys, and he has great technique and ball handling. He goes to the rebound, and also has a very nice defensive positioning. He has very good basics and good footwork. He also showed that he can be dangerous from behind the arc. As I saw him against the Netherlands, which was a very weak team, his coach used Bogdanovic only during 18 minutes, but that was enough to score 18, grab 4 rebounds and have 2 steals and 2 assists.

Back in Douai, I also put together a short clip of Bogdanovic with his Croatian U18 National Team which you can see here.

In 2005, Bogdanovic signed a 5 year deal with Real Madrid and “disappeared” in the Spanish Minor Leagues without really breaking the rotation at the ACB part of Real Madrid. But his move back home to Croatia was the right thing at the right moment as the 2m02 tall player averaged 8.1ppg and 3.8rpg in the Euroleague this season.

Bogdanovic has found its place on the Small Forward position where he is used mainly as a 3rd scoring option behind Jamont Gordon and Marko Tomas. The main threat comes from outside with this team and while both Gordon and Tomas play the drive a lot, Bogdanovic is mainly focusing on the outside shot. Being defended most of the time by the taller Vesely, Bogdanovic could not really take his shot as he is used to and missed all of his attempts from behind the arc until the very last one. His speed was not good enough to beat an excellent defender like Vesely on the drive where the later one shows excellent lateral quickness for his size. However, the long arms of the Czech player help him to be a constant shot blocking threat as well as being a potentially good ball stealer.

In this game, you could also see once again why Vesely is so foul-prone. He is not afraid of defending his man full-court and try to go for steals or charges on every possession. As you can see in the video below, the foul calls on Vesely where always contested ones but of a kind that they are avoidable. The thin line between hustle and over-excitement is still one of the problems of the Partizan Belgrade forward. Vesely could on the offensive end never really use his size when being defended by Bogdanovic. Despite being about 10cms taller, he never went to the low block with the Croat to post him up but tried to score in his typical style with garbage points and the occasional set shot from behind the arc. The few drives he took ended mostly in turnovers.

Bogdanovic on the other hand showed good control when driving to the basket. He came up with some nice penetrations immediately out of catching the ball. He has the court-vision to kick the ball out but he can also go to the rim. Against the tall Partizan defense, he tried mostly the floaters where he missed the necessary touch to convert them in this game. On the defensive end, Bogdanovic needed to play an outside defender role when Cibona was back in a 2-3 zone. He struggled when he needed to stay in front of faster guards as his lateral speed is not top notch. He has correct athletic abilities and is able to come up with nice some dunks on the break but he does not use his jumping abilities for example for the jump shot which looks more like a set shot with however a quick release.

Take a look at the Video below with most of the plays of both players from the Final of the Adriatic League 2010.

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Today we check out the second part of the NBA Draft Early entrants from Europe. This list contains mainly those players where the presence for the NBA Draft 2010 has only been announced a few days before the early entry deadline.

Xavi Rabaseda – 1m99 – SG – FC Barcelona – 1989

A somehow surprising name here as Rabaseda has never been mentioned in any Draft related articles. It looked like he will play his career in Europe but with this presence, he shows to have NBA ambitions at least somewhere in his mind. The Barcelona player saw his minutes mainly for Cornella this season in LEB Gold and will most likely not be a name in the Draft in the end.

Prediction: withdraws

Stefan Bircevic – 2m09 – PF – Metalac – 1989

Unknown player to me that used this opportunity to get his name around and may be present at the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso. He saw some minutes in the Balkan League and the Serbian League this season but nothing really to hit the eyes from a statistical point of view.

Prediction: withdraws

Uros Lukovic – 2m12 – C – Radnicki – 1989

What counts for Bircevic is also the case for Lukovic: not very known so far but having played some minutes in the Serbian League and signed with the same agent. We will see what he is able to do in Treviso in June if he gets an invitation.

Prediction: withdraws

Bangaly Fofana – 2m12 – C – ASVEL – 1989

The French Center is certainly one of the main prospects when it comes to athletic and physical gifts. However, Fofana could so far not really crack the tough rotation of ASVEL on a regular basis. He showed sometimes that he can be a factor but still remains really raw. As ASVEL is out of reach for the French playoffs, it is highly likely to see him Treviso where he may impress some NBA teams with his potential.

Prediction: withdraws

Pablo Aguilar – 2m03 – SF/PF – Granada – 1989

Pablo Aguilar had a really nice showing last year in Treviso and there were certainly some NBA teams that have put his name in the books. This year he is back as an early entry candidate and it depends on the ACB playoffs where Granada is not sure to qualify if the forward will be in Treviso again or not. His fundamentally sound play is certainly very interesting for the highest European level but for NBA teams, Aguilar must play fully on the SF spot to be a factor.

Prediction: withdraws

Ousmane Camara – 2m04 – PF – Le Havre – 1989

Camara is a surprising presence here as the French Center could only crack the rotation of the weak Le Havre team late this season. His potential seems to be limited as well as he has neither the size for playing C nor the ball handling skills to move outside the paint. Treviso will be a good opportunity for him to showcase what he is able to do.

Prediction: withdraws

Miralem Halilovic – 2m06 – SF – Fenerbahce – 1991

The Bosnian forward was already last year in Treviso as a late addition and maybe did not get the most looks at as not everybody was aware of him. Still, Halilovic has a good combination of size and skills and can be an interesting player down the road once he gets regular playing time on a good level.

Prediction: withdraws

Dusan Korac – Centar BP – 1991

Totally unknown and no information available on him for me.

Prediction: withdraws

Luc Louves – 2m07 – PF – Maurienne – 1989

Louves has not been seen on courts in France for quite a long time. After leaving Orléans this summer for Aix-Maurienne in the second French division, he did not play one game there so far. 

Prediction: withdraws

Fernando Raposo – 2m06 – PF – Pau-Lacq-Orthez – 1989

The French-Portuguese Fernando Raposo comes of a season in the 2nd French division where he had lots of troubles to get into his rhythm because of injuries. And later on, he went through lots of ups and downs which certainly did not help his draft stock. He will probably be in Treviso and needs to have a better showing there than last summer where he did not really impress anyone.

Prediction: withdraws

Semen Shashkov – 2m00 – SF – Ural Ekaterinburg – 1989

It’s time for Shahskov to show something as the former top prospect is currently playing in the 2nd Russian League only. His potential is of course interesting but so far, he could never really impress anyone with results. Maybe Treviso 2010 will be his coming out party as at least he saw some minutes this season on a correct level.

Prediction: withdraws

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Today, the NBA released the official Early Entry Candidates List for the NBA Draft 2010. You can find the list of all the European players here. We will go through all of them and check where they will probably end up.

Kevin Serpahin – 2m05 – C – Cholet Basket – 1989

The French Center plays his first full season as a professional on the Starting Center position. Even if he had a lot of ups and downs in his performances, the Cholet-bound player is an interesting prospect in terms of NBA potential. Cholet is playing an excellent season and is about to qualify for the Euroleague which may influence the future of the 2m05 tall player. If Cholet runs deep in the French playoffs, Seraphin will mostly likely miss the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso. Additionally, the French Finals are played on the 14th of June which is the Early Entry Withdrawal date. In the case, Cholet goes to the Finals, Serpahin may have no possibility to do individual workouts for NBA Teams which can hurt his stock. In any case, Seraphin will probably stay another year in Europe to play in the Euroleague with either Cholet or a different team.

Prediction: stays in the Draft

Thomas Heurtel – 1m88 – PG – Strasbourg – 1989

The question that we have discussed earlier this year is to know if Thomas Heurtel has progressed. The opinions were diversified and there came even the question on his future position, PG or SG. Right now, Heurtel does not really look like an NBA prospect and he put his name in certainly to test the waters and see if there are NBA teams that show interest in him. He will most likely be at the Eurocamp which is an event where he probably will excel with his flashy play.

Prediction: withdraws

Antoine Diot – 1m91 – PG – Le Mans – 1989

Is Antoine Diot an NBA player or not? The French guard is currently progressing in nearly every domain and will certainly become a high-level Euroleague player in the future. He has already lots of experience at a young age and plays the typical European basketball. His limits in creativity and athleticism will probably hurt him in terms of NBA potential but you never know. He will probably miss the Eurocamp also because of the potential of Le Mans to go deep in the French playoffs.

Prediction: withdraws

Edwin Jackson – 1m91 – SG/PG – Rouen – 1989

Together with Thomas Heurtel, Jackson represents the group of ASVEL players loaned out to a different team in France. The player from Rouen has the athletic tools and mentality to play in the NBA but a limited size for the SG position and still underdeveloped PG skills will hurt him down the road. Jackson will certainly by a good competitor in the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso and he needs to use this opportunity to boost his stock.

Prediction: withdraws

Andrew Albicy – 1m78 – PG – Paris-Levallois – 1990

The name of Andrew Albicy was quite a surprise for me when it was announced as the tiny PG from Paris has never been hyped up in France as a potential NBA player. The force of the U20 National Team player is of course his defense and he will compete during the Adidas Eurocamp with the U20 French team as guest. He uses this Draft to put his name on the boards of the teams that did not know him but in the end, he will most likely not play in the NBA one day.

Prediction: withdraws

Robin Benzing – 2m08 – SF – ratiopharm Ulm – 1989

The German forward played an excellent first season on the Bundesliga level after having his break out event at the Eurobasket in Poland. Benzing has an excellent combination of skills, height and speed but had lots of trouble on the defensive end. He is a below average rebounder for his size and needs to gain in strength. He will be at Treviso for sure and will certainly be a player that gets a lot of looks by NBA teams before the withdrawal date. And depending on what he will hear, he may stay in the Draft.

Prediction: withdraws

Tomasz Nowakowski – 2m09 – PF – Luka Koper – 1990

The Polish player came into the Draft as a total unknown so the main goal of his early entry is already reached: people know his name and at least check out who he is. He will probably be in Treviso for the Eurocamp where all the teams can evaluate him.

Prediciton: withdraws

Ryan Richards – 2m06 – PF – BBC Monthey – 1991

The British player is one of the youngest players that has entered his name this spring and he is all about potential at the moment. After an odyssey throughout Europe over the last seasons, Richards has settled down in Switzerland but he has not played a game there since March. He will probably be at the Adidas Eurocamp in June.

Prediction: withdraws

Mindaugas Kuzminskas – 2m03 – SF/PF – BC Siauliai – 1989

The Lithuanian forward had a nice Treviso camp last summer and entered his name to the Early Entry list this spring. He played an excellent season both in Baltic League and Eurocup and may go back to Zalgiris this summer as return on the loan. Kuzminskas tests the water this year to see his value for the NBA Draft and may remain in the pool if he likes what NBA teams will tell him. The big time potential is however not there.

Predicition: withdraws

Bojan Bogdanovic – 2m02 – SG/SF – Cibona Zagreb – 1989

Finally, Bogdanovic plays on the highest level after travelling through lower Spanish divisions for several years. He boosted his stock in terms of an NBA future nicely this season but is he the type of player NBA teams are looking for. I have some doubts if he will be at the Eurocamp in a month but the NBA teams had enough possibilities to scout him in real conditions so that those teams that may want to draft him should be aware of his qualities.

Prediction: may stay in

Tibor Pleiß – 2m14 – C – Brose Baskets – 1989

The German Center made a big step forward this season as he is a starter for an ambitious Bundesliga team. His presence on the defensive end as shot blocker is excellent and he also made some progress in his physical presence. Offensively, he is developing and he has still a major potential upside. Being seven foot tall and far from being stiff, he is certainly one of the European players in this Draft getting the most attention. It is highly possible that he won’t be in Treviso because of the German playoffs.

Prediction: stays in

Donatas Motiejunas – 2m13 – PF/C – Benetton Treviso – 1990

With the absence of Jan Vesely, the Lithuanian forward is the biggest stock from Europe this year. Combining excellent basketball skills with great size, Motiejunas is one of the players that lots of teams like because he has no real counterpart in College Basketball. He may be at the Adidas Eurocamp, living just next door. He may end up being the only European in the 1st round if he stays in which seems to be not so sure according to different sources.

Prediciton: stays in

The 2nd part of the analysis will follow later.

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This week, the Lithuanian forward Mindaugas Kuzminskas announced that he will enter his name into the 2010 NBA Draft as an early entry candidate. I got a hand on a recent playoff game in the Lithuanian League LKL and put together a short reel about his major plays of that game against Techasas. This is far from being a real Video analysis of his skills but it gives a good indication.

Find the box-score of the game here.

Find below a report I had written on Kuzminskas at the beginning of the Eurocup season.

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.

Here are also my notes on him from the Reebok Eurocamp 2009.

The only Lithuanian player in the camp was Mindaugas Kuzminskas from Siauliai. The athletic wing player showed some interesting aspects, good fakes and a nice range, when he is open. He is working well in the offensive rebound despite not being that big or tall. His jumping abilities help him in that area though and his correct speed and ball handling are reason why his drive is one of his best options at the moment.

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March Madness is getting closer and closer and the hype gets higher as the players are looking to improve their game so their teams can get as far as they can in the tournament.

It’s always interesting when considering European prospects that may get into the NBA and who would make an impact like Dirk Nowitzki or Pau Gasol. But it’s more exciting when you choose an NCAA team in the tournament who has a European player in their roster that will win it for you in your college basketball picks.

If you have watched NCAA College basketball this season you should consider two specific players that have made a big scoring impact for their teams. I’m talking about the German forward Elias Harris from Gonzaga and the Swedish player Jeffery Taylor from Vanderbilt.

Both players have the ability to set the pace offensively for their teams; they are key top scoring players and should be considered NBA prospects sometime in the future. Draftexpress mentions both of them in their respective Mock Drafts for 2010 and 2011 as first round picks.

Elias leads his teams in rebounds with almost 8 per game and scores 15.3 points each night. He is explosive and a quick learner, which make him a risk in both the paint and at the perimeter. Whoever they play in the March Madness first round, I’ll bet the college basketball odds will make Gonzaga the favorite due to Elias Harris’ skills.

About his NBA future, Harris spoke recently to the German basketball magazine FIVE and said that he won’t probably declare himself eligible for this year’s NBA Draft. He sees himself ready in 2011 and prefers to stay another season in Spokane. However, if he feels the necessary interest from an NBA team and the guarantee to draft him in the first half of the 1st round, he can imagine himself being already declaring in 2010.

Taylor on the other hand is part of a great offensive unit at Vanderbilt. The Commodores average 77.7 points per game in which 14.2 are from Taylor. He can play both forward and guard position, the problem with him is that he hasn’t developed his three-point shot yet; it’s something he should look to improve. The highly athletic Swede marks the beginning of a large number of talented players from Sweden appearing on the basketball court in the future.

Jeffery Taylor and Vanderbilt will probably make it to the March Madness tournament as they are just behind Kentucky in the SEC; we just have to wait to see which team they will face.

Keep in mind neither of these two guys score the most points amongst the European players in the NCAA. The Bosnian Adnan Hozic from Lipscomb averages 21.9 points per game; he leads the Europeans in that category but his team won’t make it to March Madness.

This article is an external contribution by our today’s guest writer A.J. Riot.

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The first day saw the opposition between Power Elec Valencia and Asefa Estudiantes. For the team from the capital of Spain, the Uruguay born and Italian passport-holder Jayson Granger (1m85 – PG – 1989) showed a nice game in his typical athletic and powerful style. He finished with 7pts and 4asts but he could not help his team advance to the next round.

The second game of the day was not very interesting when it comes to pure NBA Draft 2010 coverage. Ricky Rubio has been drafted last year and the top prospect from Cajasol Sevilla is the 1991 born Czech PG Tomas Satoransky. The 1m99 tall player did a nice job defensively on Rubio and managed to go to the line once in the game where he netted one free-throw. But his impact on the game was (still) rather limited.

The first game of Friday action was not interesting for me, so I can not tell you anything about as I did not follow it at all.

However, the last game of the quarter-final round was a real nice one as DKV Joventut Badalona is not afraid to give big time minutes to even their youngest players. They could not overcome the talent loaded Real Madrid squad but it was very interesting to see young prospects like David Jelinek or Pere Tomas in action. The 1989 born Tomas started the game very well with a nice offensive rebound that he finished immediately by going upwards to take the short jump shot despite strong defense on him. He had another nice offensive play in the first minutes as he used his good first step to attack the basket over the baseline with his left hand and finish the play with a powerful two handed dunk. He had 2 fouls early so that he had to go back to the bench afterwards. When he came back in the game, he continued to attack the basket consistently with going either on his left or right hand. He finished it twice on finger rolls, once with his right and once with his left hand. Both moves looked really well as the finishes were quite tough especially the left handed one. Tomas finished the game with 8pts and 2rebs.

David Jelinek had probably his best game so far for this season as the Czech 1990 born guard had 8pts 2rebs in just 13 minutes of action. After a first appearance in the beginning of the game where he did nothing special, Jelinek was the energizer that helped Joventut come back into the game in the second half. He started though with some difficult shots like a short three pointer out of the dribble where he also was a bit too much in a fade away style or a missed jump shot out of transition where he could have played the pass for one of his team mates being in a better position. But he was so self-confident, and he also got the confidence of the coach who did not take him out after those plays,  that he continued to be very aggressive on the offensive end. He likes to attack the basket with his right hand where he is quite explosive on his first step. Sometimes he struggled to recognize the defensive help quick enough so that his passes lacked a bit of precision. He excels though in running the fast break where he literally storms up and down the court. His great speed helps to beat anyone of the dribble and his fundamentals allow him to finish even very difficult moves attacking the rim. In one play, he got the ball in transition and finished the play with two extra-long direction changing steps around the defender for an underhand layup with the foul. Following that move, he immediately hit a big three-pointer to cut the lead back to ten points after two or three dribbles. Afterwards, Jelinek had another very impressive move where he grabbed the defensive rebound and made a coast-to-coast that he finished with a nice layup. The 19-yr old player showed why he is considered as one of the most talented players of the continent and he will certainly increase his minutes on the court through out the season.

Josep Franch is holding a role as third PG on the team and he had a correct game. The 1991 born and 1m98 tall player shows good speed combined with excellent footwork and of course great size for a back court player. He tried to go for several scores but he could only connect for one basket on a left handed finish of a drive. His jump shot does not look super stable at the moment, he took some difficult takes out of the dribble though. On his drives, he looked sometimes a bit erratic losing the control of what he wanted to do. But being the youngest player on the court, he has the time to learn from this and gain experience.

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Today, ratiopharm Ulm, the team of Robin Benzing played on the road in Frankfurt in front of the cameras of DSF so that I had the chance to see the progress of the German prospect since my last report.

Robin Benzing entered the game on the SF position as a Starter and opened his game with a catch-and-shoot 3 pointer from 45 degrees. Afterwards, he did not show that much as he looked a bit lost in the offense of his team, not getting a lot of touches. He got two open shots from behind the arc, but missed them. He also went for one of his typical drives with very long steps and good control of the body and ball. However, he missed his long underhand layup with the left hand. Defensively, Benzing guarded SFs and had no trouble to do so as Frankfurt’s SFs are not the strongest or most athletic players in the Bundesliga.

Afterwards, Benzing went to the bench for some minutes and once he came back in the 2nd quarter, he was not in the game either, at least in terms of scoring. Out of his drives, he has improved in his court-vision as he tried several times the dish out of the dribbling. Those passes were mostly well timed and gave the inside players good positions. On the defensive end, he was late once on a rotation and fouled a three point shooter on a block attempt coming from the side.

During the second half, Robin Benzing showed though that he should be the uncontested leader of this team. It was him alone that held Ulm in the game during the third quarter where he started offensively on the PF position. On the first play, he immediately posted his defender up and tried a back to the basket move where he got pushed though and passed the ball out. Just in the next play, he came from the weak side, using a screen of a team mate to get a good position on the block. He got the ball immediately and finished the play after a fast turn around to the baseline with the foul.

After being back on his natural SF position, Benzing continued to beat his defenders, that are often about 10cm shorter than him, on the drive. He showed several more dishes out of these plays, something that I have not seen him do so much in the previous games. Nearly every offense that went through Benzing could be finished with a score either by himself or by one of his team mates. He ended this quarter with an excellent buzzer-beating three pointer of one foot from about 8 meters.

Ulm head coach Mike Taylor held Robin Benzing on the bench for the start of the last 10 minutes and his team immediately fell behind. When the 2m08 tall forward came back to the court, Ulm was trailing by about 10 points. But together with 1988 born PG Per Günther, Benzing cut the lead with yet another three point shot and a major steal in the defense where he reads the passing lanes pretty well. In the money time tough, Benzing could not take the game in his hands definitely as other team mates tried to win the game on their own plays.

He needs to gain in leadership and vocal presence on the court if he wants to make the next step which is to become a team leader on the Bundesliga level. Offensively, Robin Benzing has all the skills to develop into a dominant player on the wing as he has the tools to attack the rim, post up, shoot the ball and puts good decision making on the table. Being the youngest guy on the team, he is not the natural team leader but his skill set and confidence by the coaching staff should put him in this role sooner or later. Having signed for two years in Ulm, Benzing is definitely the player around which the team should be built next season to be successful.

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