The German federation published on the official website of the Albert-Schweitzer Tournament the first preliminary rosters of several participating nations. I took a quick look at the already published European teams and give you some first indications concerning the quality of the rosters.

Germany U18

The German coaching staff has indicated the Top8 as goal for this year’s edition but to me, the goal of this highly talented German generation (#7 in our 1992 ranking) may even be the semi-finals as the higher ranked teams are either not present in Mannheim or are not in full force. The roster is of course built around the core of players that have been a major part of last year’s U18 National team already with the dominating Philipp Neumann in the middle. But with the emergence of players like Patrick Heckmann, Daniel Theis or Bill Borekambi, the German team has some serious depth on nearly all the positions and head coach Kay Blümel has probably one of the most talented German teams ever for the tournament.

Preliminary Roster

Germany U17

The German U17 team comes to the tournament with the main goal to prepare the U17 World Championship. The team of coach Frank Menz is undergoing a major preparation process for the summer event, so that a participation at the prestigious tournament is helping them a lot. The roster features some very interesting players like the recent Jordan Brand Classic MVP Malik Müller (born in 1994) but also the highly regarded Serbian-born Center Bogdan Radosavljevic who should be able to compete after long stretches without playing due to different injuries.

Preliminary roster

Greece

The Greek team features the highly talented 2m05 tall Linos Chrysikopoulos who already played an interesting U18 tournament last summer. The rest of the teams seems though a bit limited both in talent and in size. But this does not mean that much as the Greeks are known for their fighting spirit and are often overachievers on the junior level.

Preliminary roster

Israel

The Israeli team is built around the players from the Maccabi Tel Aviv team that finished 3rd at the recent NIJT Barking Abbey tournament in London. Tomer Bar Even is the clear leader of the group. The 1m94 tall PG is already pretty experienced and has a nice feel for the game. His leading skills will certainly help the team of coach Danny Franco to go for some wins during the days in Mannheim. He has the support of the athletic swingman Sean Labanowski and pass-first PG Tamir Simchony.

Preliminary roster

Italy

Italy will probably live and die with the presence of Alessandro Gentile. The highly talented guard saw regular minutes with the Benetton Treviso senior team before his injury but struggles to get back on the court on a regular basis since then. So it is not sure if Gentile will be on the Italian team or not. With him, Italy has probably one of the most dominating guards of the whole tournament. The rest of the team is less talented (“by farisssssssimo” as told by some Italian sources to me) but features some players to watch like Francesco Ramenghi or 2008 Jordan Brand Classic MVP Fabio Mian.

Preliminary roster

Croatia

The Croatian 1992 generation does not feature many outstanding talents but the preliminary roster has some other names that intrigue. The 1994 born Dario Saric and the 1993 born Marko Ramljak can be considered as the best talents of their respective age group in Croatia and having both of them in Mannheim can be very interesting. Boris Barac (brother of Stanko) is the leader of 92 born players and the recent MVP of the Croatian U18 championships. The talented US-born Croatians Marin Kukoc (son of Toni) and Dujan Dukan are not on the roster.

Preliminary roster

Turkey

The Turkish team comes with a very interesting mixture of 92, 93 and even 94 born players but the roster does not feature the 92 über-talent Enes Kanter. Safak Edge played a great U18 European Championship last summer and he will get the back-court support of Can Korkmaz. It will be interesting to see how the huge but raw Ramazan Tekin has developed since last summer and what is the value of 1994 born Burak Hacıismail.

Preliminary roster

The Turkish Zaman website published today the names of the 10 players that have been selected by the jury and that will play on the 17th April in New York:

• Tayfun Erülkü (Turkey) – 1m88 – Guard – Efes Pilsen
• Talat Altunbey (Turkey)
• Vasilije Micic (Serbia) – 1m93 – Point Guard – FMP
• Nikola Jankovic (Serbia) – 2m02 – Forward – FMP
• Charly Maraux (France) – 1m94 – Point Guard – INSEP
• Alexandre Chassang (France) – 1m99 – Forward – INSEP
• Marius Grigonis (Lithuania) – 1m96 – Forward – Sabonis Basketball School
• Francesco Candussi (Italy) – 2m02 – Forward – Isontina
• Kyprianos Maragkos (Greece) – 2m05 – Forward – Panathinaikos
• Malik Müller (Germany) – 1m88 – Guard – Urspringschule

One of the most talented 1994 born players, the Croatian Dario Saric did not participate to the camp. He stayed in Zagreb to play with KK Zagreb in an Adriatic League senior game where he saw 1min45 of garbage time.

Next to the defending champion FMP Belgrade, the tournament winners from Roma, L’Hospitalet, Belgrade and London are qualified. As FMP won the tournament in Belgrade, an additional free spot had to be distributed and 4 Wildcards have been handed out. And according to the Press Release of the French Federation, those Wildcard went to the Finalists of qualification tournaments with the exception of London where the 2nd placed USK Future Stars Prague did not get the Wildcard. Lietuvos Rytas was invited instead of the Czech team.

So the 8 participants are:

• FMP Belgrade (Defending Champion and Belgrade Tournament winner)
• Zalgiris Kaunas (Città di Roma Winner)
• Cajasol Sevilla (L’Hospitalet Winner)
• Union Olimpija Ljubljana (London Winner)
• Benetton Treviso (Città di Roma runner-up)
• Unicaja Malaga (L’Hospitalet runner-up)
• Centre Fédéral INSEP (Belgrade runner-up)
• Lietuvos Rytas (Wildcard)

The tournament will be played with two groups of 4 teams where the two group winners face each other in the Final. Group A features FMP, Lietuvos Rytas, Benetton Treviso and Unicaja while Group B features Ljubljana, Zalgiris Kaunas, INSEP and Cajasol Sevilla.

N.B.: Please note that the Euroleague has not officially confirmed these groups and participants yet.

The German U19 League NBBL playoffs will start this weekend and decide which 4 teams will qualify for the Top4 Tournament that will be played the 15th and 16th May in Bamberg. We take today a quick look at the different 1/8 final series and use this article to talk about the best players of the regular season.

NORTH DIVISIONS

ALBA Berlin – LTi 46ers Juniors

The 2008/09 champion ALBA Berlin comes of a perfect season as the team of coach Henrik Rödl finished the first phase unbeaten. Everything else than two wins in the Best of 3 series against the LTi Giessen 46ers would be a surprise. Even without Niels Giffey who missed the beginning of the season because of his mononucleosis, ALBA managed to win easily most of their games. The core of the championship team from last season is still there and the arrival of the shooter Malte Ziegenhagen as well as the emergence of Erik Müller compensated the age category losses of Steven Monse and Nico Adamczak. The roster of the team from the capital is particularly deep and ALBA looks like the main favorite for the championship again. The season for Giessen was marked by major ups and downs but finally a spot in the playoffs was the result despite a last game day loss against Hagen. The team is driven by U18 National team PG Falko Theilig and PF Robin Christen who both were supposed to play major minutes with the senior reserve team in Lich in the third German League. However, only Christen managed to earn regular minutes on that level after a hesitating start into the season. The surprise of the team is on the other hand Oliver Nützel who improved nicely over the season and is the second best scorer and rebounder of the team.

Bayer Leverkusen – Junior Phantoms Braunschweig

The series between Bayer Leverkusen and the Junior Phantoms from Braunschweig may be one of the most interesting ones as both teams played a rather successful regular season. Leverkusen is driven by their excellent duo of SF Martin Breunig and Mathis Mönninghoff who both will play the Albert Schweitzer Tournament in April. They get the support of U17 National Team Center Tim Unterluggauer who is putting up interesting numbers as a 1993 born player in a U19 league. The team may however suffer from its relatively short bench in the intensive games of the playoffs especially as they face a highly athletic Braunschweig team around U18 National Team center and shot blocker Daniel Theis. The long PF/C from the Phantoms plays an excellent season where he puts up amazing numbers as he scores 80.6% of his Field Goal attempts in the 2pt area. Together with 10.0rpg and 2.5bpg, he is by far the most effective player of his team. So the question remains if he can dominate Leverkusen nearly alone which is questionable if you know the talent level of the Starting Five from the Rhine city. This speaks in favor of the Bayer Leverkusen squad and they should normally advance to face ALBA in the quarter-finals.

Eisbären Bremerhaven – Phoenix Hagen Juniors

Bremerhaven is another team loaded with talent as they feature a large number of current and former U18 National team players. Next to the scoring guard Anthony Canty, you can find the NBBL All-Star Sadam Eco and the newly selected U18 NT player Bill Borekambi who had one of the most impressive statistical performances of the season with a 45 efficiency rating game. Together with the talented by still raw Maurice Pluskota, the team from the North Sea coast should dominate Phoenix Hagen and advance to the next round as the assembled talent seems too big for not winning this series. The former Top 4 team of Phoenix Hagen (in the opening season 2006/07) reached the playoffs as third placed team in the North-West division and it will probably be hard to advance to the next round. The team seems pretty balanced as 6 players scored more than 6.0 points per game but the outstanding talent may be missing and U17 NT player Fabian Bleck may need another year to blossom at this level.

Paderborn Baskets – Central Hoops

The finalists from last season were once again highly dominating their division as they lost only one game. Even the departure of the athletic SF Robert Hülsewede who finally gets his minutes on the Bundesliga level did not stop this a bit unorthodox team to become once again one of the favorites for the title. Behind the amazing back-court scoring talent of Lars Wendt and Ole Wendt, the organizer Dominik Malinowski came back from a slight injury and stabilizes the team with his versatility. The lack of any true inside offensive force did not hinder them last season to advance to the Top4 so anything than a domination against Central Hoops would be a major surprise. A Central Hoops team that lives and dies with the scoring of its PG Martin Bogdanov who comes out of a terrible shooting season where he connected only 16% (12/75) of his three point shots. The talent level of the rest of the team seems to be too limited to put Paderborn in any danger but you never know what can happen in a Play-off series.

SOUTH DIVISIONS

Team ALBA Urspring – Funkwerk Junior Baskets Jena

The team from the double NBBL champion Urspring nearly had a perfect regular season as they only suffered one defeat during the 14 games. And this was a close one (loss by one point against BBA Ludwigsburg) as the team missed several key players that day. The team of coach Felix Czerny is highly balanced this season and features several very interesting players. Justin Raffington, the future USF player, leads the team in scoring but probably the player to follow in these Play-offs is Julius Wolf as the 1993 born forward played a great NIJT with ALBA in L’Hospitalet and seems to be most versatile guy in the athletic team. Kevin Bright had a season marked by lots of ups and downs and his injury-proneness did not help him over the year. Jena comes with a highly talented but very young team that features the core of the German U17 National team and will probably be one of the teams to follow in the next two seasons. It is hardly imaginable that they can already advance further this year but players like NBBL All-Star Jakob Krumbeck, Paul Albrecht or Anselm Hartmann will gain some experience and they may create a surprise here by stealing at least one game of the series.

ASC Mainz – BBA Ludwigsburg

The series between ASC Mainz and BBA Ludwigsburg looked to be one of the most promising ones but the injury of Patrick Heckmann may hinder him from participating to all of the games of this duel. The NBBL All-Star exploded this season and led his team to an amazing 12-2 record as a newcomer in the league and he got the massive support of the athletic shooter Kevin Luyeye-Kuelusukina. Together with the other key players of the team that are all born in 1991, this year can be the right one for advancing to the Top4 but the potential absence of Heckmann may stop the big run the team had during the regular season where they came out of the pre-season qualification round. The team of BBA Ludwigsburg may be the strongest third-placed team of the Play-offs as they come from the very competitive South Division and were the only ones to have beaten Urspring this season. The team is led by the U17 NT member and NBBL All-Star Besnik Bekteshi who can win games all by himself. Together with his two years older brother and the valuable work of the roles players, Ludwigsburg may create the surprise here and advance to the next round. They showed that they are capable of winning big games already this season but they can also lose against weaker teams. This series is probably going over the full distance.

Basket-College Rhein-Neckar – Franken Hexer

The Basket-College Rhein-Neckar is featuring a highly interesting trio of players with the SG/SF Alexander Kuhn who leads the team in scoring, the massive center Max Bohrmann (2m08 – 120kg) who showed some good progress this season and the former U18 National Team player Danilo Barthel who is however currently injured. On the other side, you have a Franken Hexer team that lives a lot from their inside players Daniel Stawowski and NBBL All-Star Dennis Ogbe. Together with the 1993 born Johannes Richter, who plays an excellent season as third inside option, the team from Nürnberg has enough versatility to stop the Mannheim based Basket-College. The fact that the Top4 will be played in Bamberg may give the Hexer an additional motivation and help them to qualify for the next round.

TSV Breitengüssbach – Team Kurpfalz

Finally, we have a series that should be no problem for Breitengüssbach as the farm team of Brose Baskets is simply too loaded with talent. They feature one of the most dominant 1992 born players in Europe in Philipp Neumann and the Top4 should be the minimum for this team. Daniel Leither will certainly also play a more important role during the Play-offs as he did during the regular season where the 1991 born forward was mainly used in the ProB team. The team Kurpfalz lives a lot from the individual talent of Moritz Nägele but the 1m74 short guard will probably have trouble to shine against against the Bavarian giants. Anything than two crushing wins would be a major surprise in my eyes.

THE PLAY-DOWNS

The rest of the teams will fight in a Play-off like schedule to stay in the League. Among the players from those teams, it may be worth to mention the season of Michael Wenzl who finished the regular season with the 4th best efficiency ranking (1st Philipp Neumann, 2nd Daniel Theis, 3rd Bill Borekambi). The massive center from Ulm averaged 19.8ppg and 9.6rpg at an 65.8% shooting. Another honorable mention may be given to the NBBL All-Star Nico Barth from Langen who finished the season as third best scorer (1st Anthony Canty, 2nd Patrick Heckmann) with 22.0ppg.

TROPHIES

The official trophies will be distributed during the Top4 event in Bamberg but here are my favorites for the vote.

MVP: Philipp Neumann (TSV Breitengüssbach)

Defensive Player of the year: Daniel Theis (Junior Phantoms Braunschweig)

The Albert Schweitzer Tournament is just one month ahead, so it is time to go over a few interesting news around one of the most important tournaments in the U18 youth category.

• China will replace Canada during the 2010 edition of the tournament and will play in the group with Italy, New Zealand and the German U17 National Team. It is not sure yet if China will come with their U18 team or with their U17 team in order to prepare the upcoming World Championships to be played in Germany this summer.
• The Spanish U18 team has a new head coach since the beginning of February in the person of Ricard Casas. Spain will play in the group stage against Israel, Greece and Australia. The former head coach of Manresa, Pamesa Valencia and most recently Vive Menorca takes over the job of Alejandro Martinez.
• The German U18 head coach Kay Blümel selected 16 players for his preliminary roster for the Albert Schweitzer Tournament. The team will have a preparation camp from the 28th March to the 1st April. The roster features all the main prospects from the talented 92 generation like Philipp Neumann, Patrick Heckmann (currently injured but should be back for the camp), Kevin Bright, Mathis Mönninghoff, Jarelle Reischel (currently playing High School basketball at Point Pleasant Beach in the US) and the Wendt-twins. You can find the full roster here
• The Media and Scout accreditation procedure has started. The deadline is on the 20th March 2010. You can find your accreditation documents here
• This year, an international coaching clinic will be held during the Albert Schweitzer Tournament. The speakers will be Kostas Missas (head coach U20 Greece), Damian Cotter (Head Coach U18 Australia) and Dirk Bauermann (Head Coach German National Team)

Today, we will talk about a young player that was one of the surprise of the French Semaine des As played one week ago. Nicolas de Jong, a 1988 born and 2m09 tall center from Vichy, was recently featured in a nice article and interview on the new French website Catch-and-shoot. Europeanprospects.com will translate in the future the most interesting articles from this new website in order to share them with a worldwide audience.

Nicolas de Jong had his outing during the two games Vichy played last weekend during the Semaine des As. He used the playing time accorded to him after the injuries of Dounia Issa and Zoch Moss to produce more than his usual figures (9 minutes with 2pts and 2rebs versus Le Mans and 11 minutes with 5pts 1 reb 1ast versus Orléans). However, the potential of de Jong is beyond these simple numbers.

De Jong has not played in any Youth National team, not even on regional youth selection team. He has not even played in a Youth League as de Jong started to play Basketball in 2006 when he was 18. But today, he is there and plays on the French professional level in the ProA.

He was discovered two years ago in an amateur game of the 4th French division. De Jong only played some garbage minutes with the 4th division team and most of the times was playing with the reserve team on a regional level. However, after that season, he signed a three-year contract with Vichy during the summer of 2008; a contract that surprised him but also motivated him to go further. But when you think on him, you see great size (2m09) and good hands which should help him to integrate a development pool but he jumped the stages and is now in the rotation of the professional team. He played already some garbage minutes last season (7 games with about 4 minutes) but this season should be the break out.

After having practiced during 1 month and a half last summer together with some NBA players in Dallas, he started nicely into the season with 6pts and 5rebs in the first game. But he suffered a lower back vertebra fatigue fracture in the 2nd game of the season and he had to sit out until last weekend. So his performance during the tournament in Villeurbanne may show the direction in which de Jong may heading.

Original Article: Catch-and-shoot.com

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.

In the last part of our reports from the FMP City of Belgrade NIJT Qualification Tournament, we will speak about the big guys today. In this category, you could find probably the most dominating players of the tournament and in the end of the day maybe the only NBA prospects of the tournament.

Gide Noel (1m98 – 1993 – ASVEL Villeurbanne)

Let’s start with Gide Noel from ASVEL, certainly one of the most entertaining players of the tournament. When observing the warming up of his team, you could only hardly imagine what a gem this player is as he looks a bit overweight, too short to play inside and too slow to be a guard. But once he stepped on the court coming from the bench, he amazed everybody in the arena and while the spectators and the opponents watched him play in disbelief in the beginning, he emerged as probably one of the most talented players of the whole tournament. Noel has simply fantastic hands and an incredible feel for the game. The 1993 born and 1m98 tall left handed player started down low in the post where he powered through his defenders to conclude his moves with ease. He finished nice jump hooks of the glass or made perfect passes out of the post for the cutters. He has range up to the three point line from where he can also attack the basket not by beating his man with speed but through direction changes and smartness.

The Haiti native has fantastic court vision and excelled in the launch of fast breaks either with the quick and perfect outlet pass or the full court quarterback play. His handles look also nice for  a player of his size and he is not afraid to bring up the ball against defensive pressure. You can see him go for a behind the back dribble even to avoid the steal without any problem. Defensively, he lacks however the necessary lateral speed as he looks very clumsy when he needs to defend faster players. Even when defending in the low post, you can see him get beat easily also by slow post players as he lacks probably the necessary reaction time. With more experience, he may overcome this issues in the future though. However, his offensive talent and golden hands made him simply the most interesting player in the French team.

Stats: 15.0ppg (44.6% 2FG – 21.4% 3FG – 52.9% FT) 8.0rpg 3.5apg 13.5effpg

Philipp Neumann (2m06 – 1992 – Brose Baskets)

The German Philipp Neumann was simply the most dominating player in the whole tournament. He could not be virtually stopped by anyone else than himself and the referees. The sole game where he was not injured or in foul trouble, he finished with the monster performance of 52 efficiency ranking. What is however the most interesting that could be observed during the tournament is that Neumann is more and more becoming a better passer and team player. Having seen him about half-a-dozen times already before Belgrade, this was the first time that you could see him give the ball back out to his team mates on a regular basis. He still operates a lot in his head-down modus when playing in the low block but as confirmed us head coach Volker Stix, the passing is more a head thing than a technical one. Bamberg is working hard on this with Neumann in order that he understands better when to force it inside and when to give the ball back out. Because with his inside domination, he is able to create a lot of open space outside because of help defense.

Neumann is also developing more and more a PF game as he is often around the three point line where he can attack of the dribble his defenders. Despite being 2m06 tall, he shows a nice speed when putting the ball on the floor and with his long steps, he can pick up the ball early and strong to finish around the rim. He can attack with both hands but still has a preference to finish with his right hand. In one particular sequence, Neumann attacked the basket with his left hand and tried a left handed finger roll which he missed. In the next two offenses, he went again for the left handed drive but both times he went up as he would finish again with the left hand but switched hands in the last moment to score with his right hand. It looked a bit strange but he netted both attempts. He also added a good looking three point shot to his repertoire which he even can hit in series to bring his team back in the game. The next step would be to develop also some mid-range game finishing his drives with a jump shot from around the key.

Defensively, Neumann is highly present with extreme aggressiveness and shot blocking. He works hard on every defensive position and tries to go for every ball. He is an intimidator with his shot blocking presence and protects all the rebounds with his elbows. When defending smaller players on the perimeter, he lacks of course the lateral speed to match them but he can steal the ball out of the drives with his long arms. This is currently I would say the main question mark for a move to the PF spot in the future, if he can hold defensively smaller forwards. Offensively, he is slowing down the movement of his team when he has the ball as he holds it often very long before starting his moves.

Currently he is playing with the Brose Baskets Bamberg reserve team in Breitengüssbach and in the U19 NBBL team. But the coaching staff of Bamberg confirmed us that he will be a full member of the professional team right from this summer. He is already practicing with them on a regular basis and he will be integrated fully in the rotation from next season. He has all the physical tools to compete against grown men and it will certainly help his development. But the next step is the Albert-Schweitzer Tournament in April and then the U18 European Championship this summer. 

Stats: 25.3ppg (63.0% 2FG – 50% 3FG – 75.8% FT) 8.0rpg 2.0bpg 30.3effpg

Luka Mitrovic played a very interesting tournament for Hemofarm Vrsac. The 2m04 tall and 1993 born forward had a nice versatility in his game and will probably develop into an interesting PF prospect in the future. Right now, Mitrovic features already some nice post moves where he works a lot with fakes and correct footwork. His fundamentals are excellent and he can finish with both hands close to the basket. Out of the post he is also able to hit the turn around fade away jump shot. He will probably develop a nice three point shot down the road and combined with his nice speed and correct court-vision will help him to develop a full face-up game in the future.

Stats: 15.0ppg (64.2 2FG – 51.7% FT) 6.8rpg 20.6effpg

Livio Jean-Charles (1m97 – 1993 – INSEP)

Born in November 1993, Livio Jean-Charles has still a lot of room to improve in the next years. To feature him here in the big guys section may be a bit awkward as he is on the way to become a full wing player right now. Being used mainly as a PF with the U16 team last summer, Jean-Charles has developed a nice three point and mid-range shot since and with his athletic abilities and speed, he can become a very dangerous player when playing the SF position.

Jean-Charles had one of the most impressive plays of the whole tournament when he attacked the hoop on a baseline move and threw down a two-handed dunk over Philipp Neumann. He displayed there his excellent athletic abilities as he has great leaping potential but a also a very nice speed on the drive. Together with his good understanding of the game and his massive defensive presence, he looks to be one of the best potentials in the whole tournament. His presence on the defensive end is probably even more impressive than his offensive skill set. He grabs the rebounds with authority and his nice wingspan and lateral quickness help him to be present on every ball.

Stats: 10.2ppg (58.6% 2FG – 33.3% 3FG – 62.5% FT) 5.8rpg 8.2effpg

Nemanja Bezbradica continued where he started in the Stella Azzurra Tournament in Rome which means being the power pack in the paint for FMP. In Belgrade, you could see Bezbradica move out to the three point line on occasions and hit the long distance shot. But his game was mainly in the low post where he tried to score with his physical force and nice touch.

Stats: 10.6ppg (58.0% 2FG – 87.5% FT) 5.2rpg 1.6bpg 14.2effpg

For Nikola Siladi, it is about the same story than for Bezbradica which means that he did not show a lot different than what he did in Rome. He may have forced the three point shot even a bit more than in Italy. Defensively, he looked lost a bit on several occasions where he forgot to be on the helpline to avoid the drives. Offensively, he needs the dribble a lot in order to create for himself.

Stats: 13.4ppg (57.5% 2FG – 25.0% 3FG – 77.7% FT) 7.0rpg 2.0bpg 17.6effpg

Nikola Jankovic (2m02 – 1994 – FMP Belgrade)

One of the youngest players in the tournament, Nikola Jankovic came to Belgrade after having dominated with the Serbian U16 National Team in the Turk Telekom Tournament just before. The 2m02 tall forward played mainly the PF position as he has a great timing for the rebound, especially on the offensive end. Together with his timing, he has excellent positioning so that he gave the impression to be always on the right spot.

With his excellent fundamentals, Jankovic is already a threat from behind the 3pt line and can also attack the basket putting the ball on the floor. Out of these drives, he comes up with nice passes for the other big man on the floor, his court-vision looks interesting for such a young player. His future may be on the SF position but right now, he does not look particularly fast which may hinder him. On this level, he is a dominant force in the paint where he can score with both hands easily and also out of difficult spin moves for example.

Stats: 7.4ppg (59.0% 2FG- 57.1% FT) 4.6rpg 1.4apg 1.0bpg 10.2effpg

Luka Radovic is one of the players that I missed out a bit in my scouting as Buducnost was not the team I scouted the most and when I was present for one of their games, Radovic did really nothing special. However, in the end he finished the tournament with great statistical numbers as you can see below. The 1992 born forward looks to be a powerful and strong player with a decent back to the basket game and shooting range up to the three point lined. He is very present in rebounding.

Stats: 15.6ppg (54.0% 2FG – 44.4% 3FG – 73.6% FT) 12.2rpg 1.2bpg 23.0effpg

Nemanja Besovic (2m21 – 1992 – Partizan Belgrade)

Being 2m21 tall puts yourself always in the focus of all observers. This is also the case for Nemanja Besovic as the Serbian Center playing for Partizan was the tallest player of the tournament. Right now, his impact on this level is correct but his coaches think that he could be further in his development already. Because Besovic has a very nice shooting touch and can hit the shots or hooks with nice accuracy. He even showed some nicely looking turn around fade away jump shots out of the post.

However on the other hand, he looks to be incredibly soft, seeing his shots rejected or refusing to dunk on multiple occasions preferring the nice layback. Defensively, he is not a  shot blocking threat as he could be and his defensive rebounding does not go for more than being correct. On several occasion, he got the rebound taken away by smaller but more aggressive players. But still, Besovic turns only 18 in June this year. For players like him, being as tall, the development phase will last very long and his progress potential is of course huge. He is certainly more talented offensively as other Serbian giants like Slavko Vranes for example. With the necessary experience he will gain throughout the next years, Besovic may develop into a very interesting player down the road. To do so, he must however become a lot stronger both physically and in his head and lay down the softness he currently displays.

Stats: 11.8ppg (61.9% 2FG – 58.3% FT) 7.8rpg 1.2bpg 16.4effpg

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.

The review on the best players of the FMP City of Belgrade Tournament 2010 continues today with the wing players. The quality here was probably not as good as on the guard or inside positions, however there is some interesting talent that you can find right here.

Lambert Diacono (1m95 – 1992 – ASVEL)

Announced as born in 1994 in the official tournament booklet, Lambert Diacono turned out to be a 1992 born player. But still, he looks like a very interesting prospect as he combines a correct understanding of the game with a nice looking shot and above average athletic abilities. He was certainly among the most spectacular players of the tournament with several nice dunks.

Diacono can attack the basket very well as he has a nice first step and he can finish the drives with both hands, also with the foul. Being pretty physical and strong, he does not lose his balance when attacking the big guys in the paint. He has the scoring talent and wants to have the ball in the decisive moments. He can lead his team with making the big shots and the correct tournament of ASVEL was more or less his work. In general, his game is based on the drive where he has no problem to stop it and go for the jump shot or for the triple-thread position out of which he mainly goes for his own shot.

Diacono moves well without the ball and had several nice plays coming from the weak side using a good timing and knowledge how to use the screens. Out of these plays, he got a lot of open layups or dunks. He is nicely present on the offensive rebound where he fights for the ball, also on his own misses. Defensively, he has the tools to become a good player too, he is not afraid to take the charge against bigger guys. He is definitely a player to watch in the future and should settle on the SG position in the next years if he can work on his three point shot to get better percentages.

Stats: 18.2ppg (47.5% 2FG – 14.3% 3FG – 67.5% FT) 5.0rpg 13.0effpg

Adrien Coussy was “Mr. Everything” for Villeurbanne. With an excellent approach and fighting spirit, Coussy was the defensive leader of his team and he had no problem to chase guards all over the court and go for trap defense everywhere. He looked like the perfect team player and offensively, he had a correct impact too, mainly through hustle plays, fast breaks or open three point shots. He is certainly not an NBA talent, but he can develop into a perfect role player on the next level.

Stats: 10.8ppg (54.2% 2FG – 33.3% 3FG) 5.2rpg 2.4spg 2.0apg 1.4topg 11.0effpg

Jörg Dippold was the second best scoring option for Brose Baskets Bamberg next to the unmatched Philipp Neumann. Dippold was constantly attacking the basket and not afraid to get physical against the big guys in the paint. He is the type of player that you don’t see during the game but has filled the stat sheet in the end. His aggressiveness brings him on a regular basis to the free throw line where he nets the attempts with great accuracy. His three point shot forces the defense to come out on him so that he has enough offensive versatility in his game. However, next to the scoring, his impact is rather limited.

Stats: 14.0ppg (40.0% 2FG – 36.7% 3FG – 81.2% FT)

Nemanja Knezevic had a real up and down tournament like his team of Hemofarm Vrsac. Being the leader of the Serbian Junior league, a lot of observers had high hopes in Hemofarm but only a poor 5th place came out in the end. After a super strong opening game, Knezevic disappeared during long stretches of the other games played in Belgrade. I still however mention him as he is a player I like personally a lot. Not the most athletic or talented guy in the world, Knezevic understands the game pretty well and knows what he can do to be effective. He uses his strong body very well to score against the big guys and his major move is a very solid drive from the top of the key with either hand. He reminds me a bit of Predrag Suput in his playing style. The question is how much his current physical advantages in the youth categories are still worth in a few years.

Stats: 14.2ppg (51.1% 2FG – 30.8% 3FG) 3.8rpg

Nikola Pavlovic (1m95 – 1993 – FMP Belgrade)

Nikola Pavlovic played in my eyes a great tournament. I did not see the final where his stats did not look as great but before the last game, he had a 2pt FG percentage of more than 80% playing as a forward. Being one year younger than most of the players makes his performances even better. Pavlovic attacks the rim hard and can finish it with defense on him, also in difficult ways with tough up and under moves for example.

His fundamentals look to be excellent, he can attack and finish with either his left or his right hand when attacking the basket. His three point shot is not the most stable yet but the few he made look promising for the future as he can also net them very well out of the dribble. His effort on the court looks excellent, he is not afraid to dive for the ball even when his team is up by more than twenty points for example.

Pavlovic is quite a good athlete and can use his leaping ability to avoid the defense. He can also use the typical long European steps to attack the basket and avoid the defense by surrounding the last player. He may grow one or two centimeters still to have good size for playing SF. However, he may settle down as a SG on the professional level too as he has the the tools and versatility to play this position.

Stats: 11.8ppg (78.2% 2FG – 65.3% FT) 4.2rpg 15.0effpg

Stefan Popovski-Turanjanin is another FMP forward born in 1993 and looking to have an interesting feature. Being a bit taller than Pavlovic but showing a better three point shot, he looks to have a more interesting future in terms of scoring potential. Due to his size, he is able to go in the low post and play smaller defenders with his back to the basket. He dives and fights for the ball and has quite an interesting court-vision and understanding of the game. He can hit the three point shots in series, creating game deciding breaks on his own. However, his shot looks a lot better when taken in catch-and-shoot situations than when going for jump shots out of the dribbling.

Stats: 11.4ppg (72.2% 2FG – 60% 3FG) 2.4rpg 10.6effpg

Marko Josilo (2m01 – 1992 – Partizan Belgrade)

Marko Josilo may not be the most talented player in Serbia, but he has the will to improve and the fighting spirit to be a valuable member of a basketball team, also on the professional level. He loves to attack the basket with his right hand and go as close as possible for the score. He has a good feel for when to attack and how to finish against bigger guys. He is really present on the offensive glass where he can go for several rebounds at the time because he jumps pretty fast and creates himself an advantage out of this.

Josilo is also a surprising passer for a player of his size and playing style. He needs to become a more regular three point threat in the future if he wants to play fully on the Small Forward position. He can hit the occasional three point shot at the moment, he even hit a big one against INSEP in the money time. So he has the potential to be a scorer from long distance, but right now he mainly plays the drive and hustle plays to get his scoring.

Stats: 10.2ppg (54.5% 2FG – 33.3% 3FG – 45.0% FT) 5.8rpg 3.2apg 15.8effpg