European Prospects

A new article series on Europeanprospects.com starts today with the Generation Rankings. These rankings have been established including the results of the specific generation in the different youth tournaments and championships as well as the current level of its players. Additionally, I took into account how the generation performed in relation with the general level of the country in Youth Basketball. These rankings will of course be updated in the future, especially those of the younger generations. Today, we start with the 1988 born generation of players, which are those normally atomically eligible for the 2010 NBA Draft, unless they have been drafted already.

1. France
   France has clearly produced the most talented generation of players born in 1988. Two Gold Medals in U18 and U16 as well as a 1st place in the 2006 edition of the Albert-Schweitzer Tournament and a Bronze Medal at the U19 World Championship underline this. However, the generation has not yet reached major results on the Senior level despite players like Nicolas Batum or Ludovic Vaty stepping up lately. The race was close, but France is first because of the better results of the generation in the younger years.
2. Serbia
   Serbia was a tough match for the 1st place as the generation around Miroslav Raduljica, Stefan Markovic and Marko Keselj improved over the years to play right now on a higher level than France. Coming back from a 9th spot at the U16 level, most of the players are right now already a major part of the Senior level national team and it looks like this generation will take over European basketball in the next years together with the talented bunch of 87s and 89s.
3. Lithuania
   An average Lithuanian generation only in general but it was boosted by one extraordinary player in Martynas Gecevicius who is playing at his best in the Euroleague this season. He lifted the team to two Silver Medals in U18 and U20 European Championships though which makes it the third best generation in Europe of this age group.
4. Spain
   The Spanish 1988 players around Victor Claver ended up with 2 Bronze Medals in U18 and U20 and therefore end this ranking on the 4th place. None except the before mentioned Claver has reached high European level so far and the overall talent level seems only mediocre for Spanish standards.
5. Turkey
   Turkey had some great results with its 1988 born generation, but it was mainly the results of the efforts of Baris Hersek and the 1989 born Dogus Balbay. A 2nd place at the 2006 Albert-Schweitzer Tournament and a Bronze Medal at the U16 level show the good results of this age group.
6. Italy
   Two great players in Danilo Gallinari and Pietro Aradori were not enough for Italy to reach better than 6th place and it was not enough for them to make good results with this team. The best moment were 6th places in different major competitions.
7. Russia
   Alexey Shved may be an extraordinary talent but he could not lift Russia higher than rank 7.
8. Montenegro
   One participation only (5th) in the 2008 U20 European Championship and Montenegro can earn the 8th spot behind its top player Vladimir Dasic.
9. Israel
   Omri Casspi may play in the NBA but he could not help Israel to reach anything better than average results.
10. Germany
    The 1988  generation marks the return of Germany among the top 10 of European nations with Tim Ohlbrecht and Lucca Staiger as their  leaders.
11. Croatia
    One of the very Croatian generations that showed nothing outstanding except a surprising 4th place at the 2006 AST.
12. Latvia
    Rihards Kuksiks shot Latvia to a nice 12th place in the ranking despite no extraordinary results for the Baltic nation.
13. Ukraine
    The 1988 born generation from Ukraine is growing nicely throughout the years.
14. Greece
    A good start for this generation but since then, not a lot of interesting players came out.
15. Bulgaria
    A great tournament by Chavdar Kostov at the U18 level was enough to bring this Bulgarian generation a 15th spot.
16. Slovenia
    One of the poorer Slovenian generations that lacked outstanding talent.
17. Belgium
    For Belgium, 1988 means a bunch of good players for their level like Yannick Driesen or Thomas Dreesen. A Silver Medal during the U20 B Division in 2008 was the result.
18. Estonia
    Estonia showed good results with this generation on the U18 level where the team managed to earn a Silver Medal in the B Division with players like Timo Eichfuss and Tanel Kurbas.
19. Romania
    A Gold Medal during the U18 B Division in 2006 helped the team around Titus Nicoara and Vlad Moldoveanu gain the 19th spot of this ranking. They could not confirm though since then.
20. Iceland
    A move up to Division A where they created the major surprise to beat France back in the U18 EC 2006 were the standouts for this talented generation from the Nordic Island.