European Prospects

After a bucket full of talented guards, the prospects on the wing positions were rather limited. We picked out only four players that were worth of being talked about with two hard workers in the main focus: Nikola Cvorovic and Sinisa Cvetanovic.

Nikola Cvorovic – 1m99 – SF – 1994 – Crvena Zvezda

The starting small forward for the tournament winners showed good all-around skills on both ends of the court. Pretty athletic by European standards, Cvorovic has been used mainly as a facilitator and executor of the dirty work. During some moments, we even had the impression that he was a bit too collective on offense and did not really look for his own scoring opportunities. Defensively, he was very present and knew how to use his physicality and athleticism to be a stopper on the wing. The 1m99 tall forward goes hard to the rebound and was a major factor for his team in this area.

Offensively, Cvorovic showed a perfect looking three-point shot in catch and shoot situations but he can also put the ball on the floor to attack the basket. He is doing a good job off the ball in order to flash into the zone from the weakside in order to get the pass for the easy score. Cvorovic is also able to find the open man, even when he is guarded hard or running with full speed. He has the overall package as he is physically also very developed and athletically at the height. I expect a lot more to come from him in the next years.

Sinisa Cvetanovic – 2m00 – SF – 1994 – Hemofarm Vrsac

Cvetanovic is a bit a similar case than Cvorovic. The Hemofarm forward has a fantastic frame, great athletic abilities, is a hard nosed defender and hustle player. He is the perfect glue guy of a team who has no problem if he does not score on offense as long as he can put anything else on the court to help his team win a basketball game. He makes no mistakes at all nearly and should be able to become a factor on the professional level pretty soon. But next to his great body structure and athleticism, Cvetanovic showed also during moments that he is able to be a factor on the offensive end.

His shooting mechanics are looking good first of all. Cvetanovic shot several three-point shots and they looked like he can make them on a regular basis. Next to that, the forward also put the ball on the floor with his right hand and that drive looked very nice. He finished it with a power step where he got fouled though and went to the line. The 2m00 tall guy also goes hard to the offensive rebound where he has a good and quick second jump and can finish with either hand. Cvetanovic has probably no major individual talent but the way he looked on the court and his team spirit could help him to become a factor on the professional level.

Nikola Majic – 2m01 – PF/SF – 1994 – Partizan Belgrade

Next to Nikola Radicevic, Nikola Majic was the second major offensive factor for the Partizan Belgrade team in the tournament. Majic played mainly on the PF position but has the size of a SF only. But the lack of real inside players in the Partizan roster forced him to play that role which he did very well on this level. He likes to attack the taller players of the dribble and concluded mostly close to the basket. This was also because his long distance shot did not really look good or regular. He has a real feeling for rebounding the ball on both ends of the floor, tipping the basketball to the right spots and having quick jumps. Out of the drive, he can also find the cutter or the better positioned player and showed also a few interesting back to the basket moves. But Majic needs to work on his shot as he probably can not play the PF position on the professional level. For the moment, he lacks the skills to be a SF but this can still come in the future.

Erjon Kastrati – 1m98 – SF/SG – 1994 – Union Olimpija

The SF from Union Olimpija was somehow a disappointment in this tournament. Having played already minutes in the Euroleague, you could expect that he will help his team in order to win several games. However, he had no real link to his team mates as he barely practiced with them before. He showed nothing really new about his repertoire. Mainly scoring from outside with a sometimes questionable shot selection, Kastrati did well when he put the ball on the floor to attack the basket. In crucial moments of the games, you could see that he has already more experience than his team mates as he made a couple of shots. But overall, you can consider his tournament as nothing special.