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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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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Today, I will talk about the second European team to have played in this year’s edition of the Douai World Tournament: Lithuania. A team that was composed of 1990 and 1992 born players missing all their talented 91 guard players. This came up to a situation having a team dominated by inside players and totally missing the talented guard play as the 92 born players are still a bit green when it comes to play against 2 years older guys.

The main talent on the Lithuanian team is of course Donatas Motiejunas. The combination of talent, size, coordination and skills is rare in European basketball and the 2m15 tall player was clearly the reason why the NBA scouts have made the trip to Northern France. But I don’t think that they go home with any additional information on the Lithuanian. He still has potential written all over him but the doubts on his mental approach to the game have been intensified. Being in the middle of a brawl of the Lithuanian – Puerto Rico game and showing frustration throughout full games on the court is probably not the best way to improve the opinion people have on you. Whatever…

Motiejunas showed in Douai that he is more and more becoming a player that really plays inside. His three point attempts are going down and he tries to play in the low post. You can see him going for several different moves, fade away jump shots or left handed jump hooks. His hook shots look a bit strange though as he is shooting them in a bit of a throwing forward move instead of releasing the ball on its highest point. This may be a reason why his shots are always contested one despite being the tallest guy on the court.

Motiejunas needs to work on his mental approach to the game

Another position where you could see Motiejunas a lot is on the high post. He can create from that spot as he is capable of beating his opponents easily of the dribble, and this coming with either left or right hand. He finishes his drives a lot on some kind of floater and does not go that hard to the rim. He has however also the possibility to nail the jump shot from mid range or go for lightning quick passes to the back door cutters.

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It is important to see how he develops in terms of mental approach to basketball. You could see him arguing with the referees throughout the games and getting frustrated pretty easily when he does not get the calls he wants. This approach relates to his defensive game where his opponents had often open shooting possibilities as Motiejunas did not even raise the hand to defend their open looks.

Stats: 13.8ppg (41.5% FG 84.6% FT) 3.6rpg 2.8topg

A player that was quite a nice surprise for the Lithuanian team was the SF Gediminas Orelikas. By far the largest player of the squad, the forward from Pakruojis showed a very nice shooting exhibition throughout the tournament and had also quite a big impact when it came to defensive rebounding. Reports from Lithuania describe him as a bit of a lazy guy which could of course explain his devastating physical shape. He will probably never become a great athlete but he seemed to understand the game pretty well.

Orelikas reached the Final of the three point contest on Saturday

The main offensive weapon of Orelikas is his three point shot. He likes to go for some quick release from behind the arc, especially coming of a simple post screen to open him up. Not running that fast through the different screens, Orelikas knows how to get open using his body and he does not need that much of space to shoot. As he does not take the ball down before his release, he can also shoot when he has defenders running after him without the risk of getting stolen the ball. On the other hand, his deficit in athleticism prevent him from creating much of his own drive. You won’t see him going for a one dribble jump shot or playing the drive until the rim.

Orelikas did help his team a lot in defense though where he was really present in the rebound where he could use his strength to protect the ball and help his Center players in that area. Sometimes, Orelikas looks however not really concerned or too nonchalant which confirms what we heard on him from Lithuania. He came of an interesting season in NKL where he averaged 15.6ppg and 5.5rpg so that it would not be a surprise to see him next year with a bigger team in Lithuania.

Stats: 16.2ppg (55.1% FG 43.8% 3FG 13/13 FT) 4.6rpg

A player that should have been a major factor against this competition was Tautvydas Slezas. However, the Lietuvos Rytas Center could never really take over the game and saw relatively limited playing time during the tournament. He showed sparks of his talent though as he scored in different fashion, going for a powerful dunk from a high post drive or netting some kind of running hook shot. However, his limited speed handicapped him in defense and he had always some foul trouble.

A player that showed some interesting things on Sunday’s game was Tadas Padegimas. The 2m01 tall forward scored 9 points in the final quarter on good reads of the defense. He moves pretty well on the court but seems to be more of an up and down player in terms of performances when you check his stats throughout the tournament. He displays an interesting frame but looks however still pretty weak physically.

The youngest player of the Lithuanian team Dovydas Redikas had a fantastic game against the United States where he scored 31 points. He looks very elegant in what he does on the court and lots of his points come of fast breaks where he was always one of the first players to have crossed the court. He started most of the games for his team despite being born only in December 1992 and being virtually 2 and a half year younger than the rest of the team.

Redikas scored 11 out 14 against Team USA

Vytenis Cizauskas got also lots of minutes as a back-up point guard where he did a good job in setting up the team and creating open positions for his team mates through drive and dish plays most of the time. He is still pretty limited when it comes to his physical attributes but he may have a good future as a European style PG in the next years. It would not surprise me if he takes over the starting job with the U19 team this summer on the PG spot.

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The Nike Hoop Summit 2009 has seen the first victory of the World Select team since Dirk Nowitzki in 1998. The team of coach Rob Beveridge took over the lead in the final minutes of the game despite being athletically far behind the more spectacular US kids. Being more limited in that are was not a big surprise but the more intelligent and clutch play in the last quarter secured this big win. Beveridge said after the game that it was the most intelligent group of big guys he has coached in his 5 year experience of the Hoop Summit. Let’s talk a look at the players that used the event to boost their stock.

Milan Macvan (Serbia – 2m06 – PF – 1989) 23pts 14rebs 6asts

If there was one player that was supposed to struggle in this type of competition because of his lack of athletic abilities, it was Milan Macvan. But what a show he put on the floor in Portland, displaying that basketball is all about fundamentals, shooting and knowledge of the game. He outsmarted the whole US frontcourt with fakes and a massive presence on the offensive glass and you could easily see that he is the player that is currently active on the highest competition level  (EuroCup) of all the present guys.

Macvan, despite being undersized and slower than his opponents, showed a nice arsenal of offensive weapons that nobody could really respond. He excels in pick-and-roll or pop situations where his massive screens put the US team several times in trouble because they could not read his offensive positioning. As Macvan has deep range, he hit one shot in the money time to seal the game a good meter behind the NBA three point line, it is very difficult to defend him because he is not afraid of driving where he can protect the ball very well.

Out of these drive situations, he has a great court-vision to dish the ball to his open team mates. Defensively, Macvan tries to play more with his basketball understanding than with athletic abilities and speed. Laterally, you see him struggle when being attacked of the dribble but a faster opponent. This lack of athleticism may prevent him from being a real NBA prospect, but for the European level, he has every tool to become a dominant PF in a near future.

Donatas Motiejunas (Lithuania – 2m15 – PF – 1990) 21pts 8rebs

Donatas is one of these incredibly talented 1990 born Bigs with the combination of size and pure basketball talent. Together with Jan Vesely and Tomislav Zubcic, they represent the future of European basketball of this age category, not to speak of Ricky Rubio. Motiejunas came to Portland fully motivated despite missing the Final Four of the Baltic Challenge Cup with his home team. And right from the start of the game, you could see the talent level of Motiejunas is tough to be matched.

He started the game with two nice drives of his left hand where no defender had a chance to stop him. Out of these drives, he can go for a perfect kick out pass for the open shooter or finish of some kind of running hook shot, a shot that he handles also with his right hand. When posting up, he often goes for some kind of turn around jump shot, which he executes on both sides and that he knocks down even when being fouled.

In this game, Motiejunas was not highly present on rebounding, but his size and mobility give him the possibility to grab a nice amount of missed shots. His current position is being the PF but depending on the matchups, he can play either the SF or the C position during stretches. He is now back to Lithuania and will discuss the possibility to enter the NBA Draft with his parents and agent. He is certainly not ready yet to play on that level right now as he is physically only average at the moment. And the question how he develops when gaining weight has still to be answered.

Tomislav Zubcic (Croatia – 2m11 – PF – 1990) 17pts 5rebs 2blks

The Croatian forward has a really nice showing in this game despite playing a lot on the SF position because of the somehow strange selection of the World Squad that had no real SF on his roster. But Zubcic showed his nice versatility and ability to handle the ball. In certain press situations, he even took over the PG job to bring the ball up and use his size to pass the ball above the shorter US guards that were setting up the defense.

Zubcic used his size and timing to be very present on the offensive glass where he managed to capture several offensive rebounds and either finishing them with a layup or giving a nice pass to his team mate bigs. He had several strong drives of the baseline where he finished despite being fouled pretty hard at times. His nice execution speed helps him to gain advantage when he is guarded by a bigger player.

Nikos Pappas (Greece – 1m93 – PG – 1990) 10pts 3asts 3stls

After having put on a big show at the Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Mannheim one year ago, it was time again for Pappas to shine a little bit on the international scene. The Greek guard that plays currently in Spain showed that he is a nice scoring talent and can hit the three ball without any problem in catch and shoot fashion. To create a clean shot against the more athletic US guards is however not his strength and you could see Pappas sometimes go for some difficult running floaters, which he can hit even when jumping of the wrong foot.

I don’t know if it is because it is on TV, but to me, Pappas looked a bit faster on his drives where he beat the defense several times to finish of a layup. He can create for his team mates when driving to the hoop but he struggled sometimes to bring up the ball against the highly aggressive defense and needed the help of Zubcic to come over mid-court. Far away from being a NBA prospect right now, Pappas will probably move into the direction of becoming a solid Euroleague player in the next years and a constant member of the Greek national team once the current generation has retired.

Kevin Seraphin (France – 2m06 – C – 1989) 8pts 9rebs 4blks

Being only used during limited minutes in Cholet, the event in Portland was a bit of a coming out party on the highest level for the French Center. Displaying great athleticism and very big hands, Kevin Seraphin showed a big presence on the rebound on both ends of the court. You could see his arm raise several times out of the paint to get the ball far above the rim. He also had several blocked shots coming on help situations or as a second row goalkeeper.

Offensively though, Seraphin has still a lot of progress before as he is not very accurate when it comes to jump shots. Close to the rim, he finishes with dunks or layups but missed a couple of close shots around the basket. He has already a big body and knows how to use in order to gain a favorable position over the defenders. He should see a lot more minutes from next season on in the French championship and it will be interesting to see at what level he will be after a full season of professional basketball.

Watch here below the highlights of the game. (Courtesy of OregonLive)

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Today, I took a first look at the upcoming NBA Draft from a European perspective. I will check who are the players that have already declared to enter the draft and who is supposed to do so in the next days. Who are the players that are automatically eligible?

I will start my roundup with the players that will or may enter the 2009 NBA Draft as early entrants. They can declare until April 26th if they want to put their name on the Early-Entrants list in order to test their value for the upcoming Draft. Then, the can withdraw their name until the 15th of June if they are not happy. As an international player, you can withdraw twice from the Early Entrants list, when entering your name for a third year, you are automatically in the NBA Draft.

Player having declared officially for the 2009 NBA Draft

The only International player that has officially declared so far is the French-German-Portuguese forward Fernando Raposo as reports jump-shot.net from France. The 2m06 tall and 1989 born PF, who plays his first full professional season with Elan Béarnais in France this year had some interesting games in a tough sportive situation. Having signed with agent Kenny Grant this season, Raposo is probably just testing the waters to see his value and put his name on the list of the different scouts that did not know him so far. Without going for some huge workouts or a mind-blowing Reebok EuroCamp, Raposo will most likely withdraw before the dead-line.

Brandon Jennings is a specific case as he is the first US born player to join a European professional team right out of High School. This makes him automatically a NBA Draft candidate according to a rule of the NBA Players collective bargaining agreement. His year in Italy has put him under different spotlights than the typical NCAA Freshman and gave the NBA scouts a possibility to evaluate him under professional circumstances.

Omri Casspi has declared to be officially eligible for the 2009 NBA Draft in different reports in the Israeli press. I consider the chances for him to stay in the Draft are pretty high, but he may not want to get drafted in the first round except if he becomes a Lottery pick which is highly unlikely. Casspi certainly can sign a more lucrative contract in Europe so a low first round pick is not that interesting for him. We will see how his situation evolves.

Players declaring highly likely during the next days

Rodrigue Beaubois will declare officially that he is in the Draft during the next days. His agent announced it already to Draftexpress, so it is pretty obvious that he will enter the early-entrants list for the third and will be in for good. Beaubois got quite some buzz over the last days and weeks due to his great play during March. If he can continue on that level, he will have good chances to see a very interesting Draft spot coming up.

More and more rumors say that Ricky Rubio will declare for this year’s Draft. The Spanish PG comes however from a season where his progress was a bit handicapped by a hand injury in the beginning of the 2008/2009 exercise. Still, he is considered as a top lottery pick and could even go as high as the Top3 according to the different Mocks.

Several sources indicate that Vladimir Dasic will enter his name to the NBA Draft 2009 during the next days. The SF from Montenegro has played a great U20 European Championship last summer but struggled a bit to put up regular performances throughout the season in the Adriatic League. He finished the season strong though with several big scoring performances but still not being accurate from behind the arc.

Testing the waters

Draftexpress also reports that Roger Zaki may enter his name this year in order to test the waters. Zaki comes of a season where he saw some minutes on the Euroleague level, but he showed that he is currently far away from being a factor on that level, especially defensively where he gets pushed around at will. He needs to find a team first where he can earn some minutes, and being born in 1988, he needs to do that quickly if his goal is to being drafted. Still, the potential is there, but is that enough?

Giorgi Shermadini is probably exactly the opposite case. The Georgian big man destroyed everything in his home league and moved to Panathinaikos in November 2008 and played only 4 league games since then.

Possible entrants

A player that may enter the NBA Draft after his recent performances at the Nike Hoop Summit (I will talk about that in a later post) is the Lithuanian Forward/Center Donatas Motiejunas. The seven footer with the great touch played a correct for a small team in Lithuania and managed to qualify the to the Challenge Final Four of the Baltic League.

Players that could have been ready this year for an early entrance but got kicked back by injuries or poor play are Victor Claver (broken leg) or Tim Ohlbrecht (limited playing time and multiple injuries). They may try to put their name back on the board of the NBA scouts by entering early and withdrawing before the deadline.

Ludo Vaty from Pau-Orthez is also a possible entrant according to several sources. The French PF played a good season and improved every season since he is with the former French powerhouse. He may have a future as a hard working rebounder and hustle guy in the big league.

Automatically eligible

On the list of players that are automatically eligible, being born in 1987, you will find also some interesting names.  Inside players like Henk Norel or Slava Kravtsov may get a shot somewhere in the second round. These type of players can boost their stock with a good performance during the Reebok Eurocamp in June.

A multi-task player like Emir Preldzic may be interesting for some franchises, something that counts also for Milenko Tepic. For both of these guys, the future will however be probably in Europe as they lack some NBA typical characteristics. Jonas Jerebko is another player that may have some NBA potential due to his interesting combination of size and shooting skills.

Finally, you have two guards that may get a pick this year as they played both some interesting seasons in the past. Sergio Llull had his breakout party this year and boosted the Real Madrid play during stretches with his athletic and speedy drives or three point bombs. While Nando de Colo had a great last season, he slowed down a bit this year but he may be picked down the road somewhere late in the second round.

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This Easter weekend is once again packed with interesting tournaments and events around European Youth basketball. I try to give a short preview about all the stuff that you can follow throughout the net over the upcoming days.

• The main event may be the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland. The World team is this team made of mainly European players and it features some of the most prolific prospects around. While the US eyes will probably be mostly on Donatas Motiejunas, the roster features some future Euroleague players like Milan Macvan or Nikos Pappas. Draftexpress is covering the event live from Portland and has a first look at some of the major Europeans (Motiejunas, Macvan, Jackson) in the event. The excellent Blazer’s Edge is also covering the days as the event is happening at their home base in Oregon. They cover Motiejunas too in their first article about the world team but give also a first look at Mamadou Samb. The main sponsor of the event has of course also big coverage from Portland and gives the writing pen to some of the players of the event. Read here what Donatas Motiejunas (again him) tells us about his first time in United States and also what the French Edwin Jackson has to report
• The second place to be these days is Vilagarcia in Spain where one of the biggest U18 tournaments is played these days. Spain, Angola, Russia, Germany, Italy, France, New Zealand and the Czech Republic are playing here to see who has the best cards for the upcoming Summer Championships. Next to the official website, our Spanish friend Jaime Martinez Lafargue at Solobasket gives a great coverage of the Tournament, unfortunately only in Spanish. Read his scouting report of the first day right here.
• Eurobasket.com reports briefly about the Final tournament of Serbian U17 teams in Belgrade
• It has been last weekend already, but Serbia has won the prestigious Bellegarde tournament for U16 teams in France. Second place was for Greece while Turkey finished third and France on the last place. This weekend, Serbia plays in Ragusa (Italy) another U16 tournament against Spain, Russia and the home team of Italy. The opening game of the tournament saw Spain beat Italy 77-63.
• To stay in Italy, the 5th edition of the Memorial Graziano Barila is taking place these days and feature a couple of interesting teams. Team Ohio, the Sabonis Basketball School or Olimpija Ljubljana are the most notable names coming to the tournament to fight against the local youth teams from Italy. You can follow the results and check the rosters right here.
• The Cholet Mondial Basket Tournament will start today in Western France and will feature some very interesting teams too. Despite the withdrawals of some teams before the tournament for different reasons, the organization has managed to bring in such talented squads like Real Madrid (without Nikola Mirotic though), BCM Ostrava or Stella Azzurra Roma next to the traditional French professional Farm teams. Follow the tournament on the official website
• Finally, the German U19 league is looking for its last Final Four participants this weekend after the qualification of ALBA Berlin and Paderborn Baskets. In a highly anticipated (some considered it as a potential Final) game between Trier and Urspring, the team around Maik Zirbes tries to go for a decisive game after having lost the opener of the series one week ago and Maurice Stuckey’s team. The other quarter-final should see TSV Tröster Breitengüssbach qualify against Bayern Munich.

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The International team of the 2009 edition of the Nike Hoops Summit has been published.

Mamadou Samb (FC Barcelona)
Matias Nocedal (TAU Vitoria)
Nikos Pappas (Real Madrid)
Edwin Jackson (Nanterre)
Mateo Gaynor (Benetton Treviso)
Tomislav Zubcic (Cibona Zagreb)
Milan Macvan (Hemofarm Vrsac)
Kevin Seraphin (Cholet Basket)
Donatas Motiejunas (Aisciai Kaunas)
Zhang Dayu (Zhejiang Wanma)

The squad looks very promising with a massive inside game around Motiejunas, Macvan, Seraphin, Samb and Zubcic.

The Nike Hoop Summit will be played in Portland on the 11th April 2009.

Source: El Mundo Deportivo

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• Two more German players will join the NCAA next season. Christian Standhardinger will move from Ehingen to the Big12 team of Nebraska while Elias Harris will join Gonzaga. Both 1989 born forwards are members of the German U20 National team and play great seasons with their respective teams in the ProB. Standhardinger has been elected Player of the month while Harris was Youngster of the month for January.
• Jeffery Taylor from Sweden is currently doing an excellent job with the Vanderbilt Commodores as a freshman
• The Dutch Center Roeland Schaftenaar has been elected Pac10 Player of the week at the end of January
• The Turk Telekom U16 Tournament will start next Saturday. The games from the Turkish NT can be followed on Live Stream right here
• Luis Fernandez discusses the value of Donatas Motiejunas numbers in the Lithuanian championship
• Watch a highlight clip of Fernando Raposo who steps up big in the French LNB this year

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With the new seasons that have started, we also go again for the vote of Prospect of the month. This year, we consider the generations from 1987 to 1991. As it is always very tough to find the right first choice for every year, I had some choices that may look strange in the beginning, but I did them on purpose and just to follow my own preferences.

For the 1987 born’s, my choice went immediately to Sergio Llull. The Spanish guard has made his place now in the stacked Real Madrid roster and is the only prospect of the whole list that contributes in this way in the Euroleague. Llull can play both guard spots which is his advantage but also a problem as he won’t develop his still lacking PG skills. His role currently is more of an energizer coming from the bench. With his great speed and athleticism, Llull excels in the fastbreak and can score even on difficult drives.

Victor Claver is coming of an excellent start into the new season in the ACB. The highly athletic wing is putting up great numbers in the toughest national league of the continent. He showed great touch from behind the arc several times and pleases the crowd with some nice dunks. Still, he looks particularly skinny in comparison to other big guys so it is no wonder that he plays more SF than in the paint. He looks currently like one of the most promising players in Europe with his current production.

The problem remains in the 1989 generation where it is tough to find quality players that already play big minutes on the highest level. So my choice fell on Thomas Heurtel who I already presented a bit more in detail a few days ago. Heurtel still does not manage to make his team winning some games but his beginning of the season was particularly interesting on an individual way. Now he has to confirm as the other teams will wait for him and prepare on his playing style.

Donatas Motiejunas got critized heavily for moving away from Zalgiris Kaunas to play with Aisciai Atletas. But it looks like his choice was correct when it only comes to playing time. With 24.5 ppg in the Lithuanian league, the goal to play a lot has been reached but on a team that only won 1 game so far. If Motiejunas can continue with his current numbers over the whole year, he may have accumulated lots of confidence and he will be ready to play on the next level from 2009 on.

In the newly added 1991 category, the first choice goes to Nicolo Melli. The Italian forward continues where he played already last season with interesting performances for Trenkwalder Reggio Emilia in the Italian Lega Due. During last season’s playoffs, Nicolo showed his potential and now he has to continue to improve on this level.

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On of the most surprising stories is the move of Enes Kanter to the United States. The 16 year old Center that played both U18 and U16 Championships will play on the high school level next season (Winchendon HS). The goal of the Turkish Basketball federation is to “transform” Kanter into a SF and have him operational on the Senior level for the World Championship 2010. I have some serious doubts about this move as Kanter did not show anything that would make him a possible wing in the future. Additionally, brining him to a High School in the United States is probably not the right decision to go into this direction. He would most likely dominate physically and use his force inside. The Turkish federation looks like not knowing exactly what they do as they give away one of their most talented players to the United States instead of forming him themselves in Istanbul.

Nikos Pappas, the guard that led the Greek U18 team to Gold in the European Championship signed a five-year deal with Bilbao in Spain. He will not play there however the first season and will be loaned to Real Madrid Reserve team in LEB Bronze. For me, this is another strange move as apparently no Greek team signed him. Bilbao on the other hand may have put one hand on one of the future top guards in Europe.

Another surprising move is the decision of Donatas Motiejunas to leave Zalgiris and sign most likely with Aisciai, one of the weakest teams in the LKL. Being linked to BC Kaunas, the second team of Zalgiris, at first, the latest rumors send him to the Atletas-Aisciai. The look for minutes is understandable but why he leaves the Zalgiris building instead and playing in BC Kaunas is quite a strange decision to me.

Fortitudo Bologna is trying out some youngsters these days by bringing over to Italy Filip Sepa from Serbia and Hristo Zahariev from Bulgaria. Nothing has been signed so far however. Another team that was active by bringing in new talent was Real Madrid who signed Dusan Bogdanovic, a 2m06 tall Forward born in 1993. Talking about 1993 born kids (UPDATE: Bogdanovic’s home team Vukovar denied the transfer of the player). Union Olimpija added Djordje Micic to their Senior team roster. The 2m00 tall forward played with the Bosnia-Herzegovina National team during the U16 European Championship. In France, the most interesting transfer may be the signings of Christophe Leonard by Cholet and Alexis Tanghe in Dijon. Finally, Robin Benzing will go back to his former team TV Langen after the NCAA did not accept him to play for Michigan.

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