Division A

• Croatia did not have too much problems to beat a Latvian team that won’t probably repeat their Bronze medal act from last year. Mario Delas was everywhere for the Croats with 24pts, 9rebs and 3asts.
• Germany beat France in a very important game already as this group looked pretty equal. The M&Ms were on fire with Maurice Stuckey scoring 20pts in 23 minutes and Maik Zirbes going for a double-double with 22pts and 11trebs.
• In the game of the night, Greece overcame Spain in a closer game than everyone thought in the beginning. The Greeks started quickly despite a calm game of Nikos Pappas. They increased their lead and used their inside players Leonidas Kaselakis and Zisis Sarikopoulos very well against a small Spanish team. In the 2nd half, when Spain was switching to a zone, the could come back behind some good defensive efforts and a few nice plays by Alejandro Hernandez. However, it was Vladimir Jankovic and Konstantinos Papanikolaou who sealed the game in the game and a last second three pointer from mid-court by the Spanish guard could not change the result.
• Serbia, who misses all their players of Crvena Zvezda because of injury, struggled badly in their opener of the tournament and lost 83-68 against a Lithuanian team that was lead by Tautvydas Slezas and his 16pts, 13rbs, 3asts and 2blks. For Serbia, it was especially Bojan Subotic who was far away from his normal level with 2/10 shooting and 0/3 FTs.
• Bulgaria had nearly the comeback of the day after trailing by 17 in the fourth quarter. But it was not enough against the 24pts and 9rebs of Enes Kanter for the Turkish team.
• ERT World Sat broadcasts the game of the Greek U18 team. You can follow the Live Stream here from tomorrow’s game Greece-Israel starting at 18h00 CET.

Division B

• Poland had a lot of trouble to win against a English team without Ryan Richards who is not with the team because of slight injuries. Behind the 30pts of 1991 born guard Sebastian Szymanski, the Polish team won despite having their top prospect Jakub Wojciechowski fouled out in just 16 minutes. England coach Andre Alleyne told me after the game that he wasn’t happy in the way we played defense in the first half. We picked it up in the second and if we transfer that to the Portugal game tomorrow, we will be in a better position. The goal of the team is to finish better than last year (18th) and everything below 10th place would be a failure in coach Alleyne’s mind.
• Austria had a nice win to start into the tournament and put some pressure on the Netherlands. Behind the great effort of Rasid Mahalbasic who scored 28pts and had 10rebs, the team of coach Robert Langer has now chances to go to the next round. It was a very intensive game. Our team has fought very well and we stuck together. We have overpowered the Dutch but we can improve, told the coach after the game to the press.
• Sweden managed to beat Bosnia-Herzegovina behind 21pts in 24 minutes of Omar Zaghden. The Swedish PF got some nice support from his outside scorers Andreas Person and Christopher Czerapowicz who both were in double figures. The Bosnian team relied a bit too much on Dino Hodzic who had to do it all.
• Finland outscored Hungary in the second quarter 30-14 to go for their first win. A surprising performance by the Kouvot SF Matti Nuutinen with 22pts and 10rebs and the awaited scoring efforts of Sasu Salin and Roopi Ahonen were enough to give the Hungarians their first loss.
• One of the tournament favorites Slovenia will start their run for Division A tomorrow when they will play against the other strong team of their group Sweden.

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Nikos Pappas (1m93 – Shooting Guard – Greece)

What a show by Nikos Pappas it was in Mannheim. The 1990 born guard, who was already with the U18 last summer to win the Silver Medal behind the incredible efforts of Kosta Koufos, was the absolute leader of the team and a well deserved MVP of the competition. With his basketball skills and his leadership, he become a crowd favorite from the first day of the tournament.

I had the possibility to see Nikos in two games during the tournament, unfortunately not his 39pts semi-final party where he scored 11pts in overtime to qualify the Greek team for the Finals. But what I saw was enough to describe you a bit his game. Pappas lives a lot from his drives, mostly on the left. He finishes them near the glass in a sort of fade-away style that draws a lot of fouls and gives him the possibility to go against taller guys. Due to his developed body, he is not bounced around and can handle physical pressure in the paint. Despite being right handed, he prefers the drive of the left, even if he finishes often with his right hand there.

Not being the quickest guy around, he uses a very good footwork and direction changes to get rid of the faster defenders. He reads the defense very well so that he is not dependant on a quick first step. For example, in the game against the USA in the first round, the US defense always let him on his favorite left side, he always recognized it and went to the rim. Due to his good fakes, he gets some open looks and also gets possibilities to pass to the cutters when the help comes.

Concerning his three point shot, the efficiency was ok, but it is not one of his main offensive weapons. Finishing the tournament with 12/40 from behind the arc and 41/56 from 2 point area shows however that he probably goes still a bit too much for the three point shot on which he has of course the range, but he is not a real shooter.

What is more interesting is his presence in the rebound area. 6.7rpg of which 2.85 were in the offense (team best and 6th best of the tournament) show that he is a real factor in this area. Most of the offensive rebounds came of his own (few) misses around the basket.

Pappas showed no real in-between game as he never really had to go for mid range jump shots because he created the situation for himself and went to the basket. He nearly never played the role of the through-the-screens running shooter. Defensively, he showed nothing particular as this was not his role with the team.

Konstantinos Papanikolaou (2m01 – Forward – Greece)

The young forward from Aris Salonici made the biggest step since the last U18 European Championship. Mostly playing the PF position, Papanikolaou will probably develop into a SF in the future. Some compare him with Dimitris Diamantidis and a future at the PG spot which is possible, but for the moment, he is mostly playing on the wing.

Papanikolaou showed good post up moves when he received the ball down low and he used them pretty well for scoring. He can also play facing the basket from the three point line where he can use his good athletic fundamentals. Being left handed helps him of course when it comes to attack the sometimes surprised defenders. He is present in defense where he goes for a good amount of steals and he can even go for some block shots due to his long arms.

His range is until the three point line from where he can hit big shots. With some more work in that area, he can become a very reliable player from more than 6m25 and make himself a very good promise for the SF spot.

Vladimir Jankovic (2m02 – Power Forward – Greece)

Here we have the defense minister of the Greek team. Jankovic, despite a very thin physical presence was everywhere on the court and did the dirty job in a spectacular fashion. Highly athletic, Jankovic often came up with above the rim block shots on help defense and it was him that set the athletic highlights in the game against the United States.

He also goes for scoring and has a already correct three point shot. But his presence in essentially in defense where he was the key man for Greece. A lot will depend on his physical built in the next years if he wants to play in the same register in the Euroleague one day. He has however all the tools to go for such a future in a Georgios Printezis or Panagiotis Vassilopoulos fashion.

Kostas Sloukas (1m92 – Guard – Greece)

Sloukas joined the team only after the two first days of competition but he became more and more important as the tournament went ahead. He had his probably best game at the right moment, in the Final. He took the game in his hands as Nikos Pappas was off the chart during the 2nd and 3rd quarter.

Sloukas showed some very interesting shooting skills, especially from behind the arc. Already physically very present, he uses his body to create spaces on his drives. He shared the guard spots with Pappas and the third rotation Evangelos Mantzaris whose contribution reduced with the improving play of Sloukas throughout the tournament.

Leonidas Kasselakis (1m98 – Center – Greece)

Kasselakis started the games for the Greek team at the Center spot despite being only 1m98 tall and not looking like the world’s best athlete. With his large body, he works a lot in the post but mostly goes for fade away jumpers instead of showing interesting post moves. Because of his size, he will be a very limited player as a Center and has to develop some other skills in order to move his game to the wing.

He has already a three point shot, of which he even sometimes abuses despite a limited accuracy. As he is not very fast nor highly athletic, he has probably the most limited potential of the here mentioned Greek players. But I have no problem if he proves me wrong in a few years.

All pictures are from the official website of the tournament

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