European Prospects

Turkey won the Gold Medal of the U16 European Championship of Division A 2012 in Vilnius. The very balanced team managed to overcome France in the Final. See below for a quick scouting report on the main players of the two Finalists.

The French team was lead by Etienne Ory, a tiny point guard who knows very well what is going on on the court. He controls the game speed nicely and reads the gaps to attack the basket. Ory, who is the son of U18 head coach Philippe Ory, likes to stop at mid-range for the jump shot but also to attract the help defense in order to create some openings. Ory needs to improve his free-throw shooting as he is not very regular in his mechanics from the line. He is really short (only 1m78) which will probably hinder him from becoming a interesting prospect for the highest level but he might have some growth left as he looks very young in his development.

Elie Fédensieu showed some interesting skills as well, even if his scoring and direct impact on the French team is limited. Fédensieu is really mobile for his size and he should normally move to the wing in the future. He can finish with his left hand out of Pick and Roll situations but takes some bad choices when he handles the ball. Right now, he mainly helped his team by rebounding and spreading the defense. He is a player to watch on the long term.

Antoine Wallez was the main scoring option through the tournament for the balanced French team as the 2m03 tall power forward showed some nice moves in the paint. Rarely stepping out to the three-point line, Wallez has good athletic abilities and can finish strong. He mainly operates in the low post where he can finish with the fluid turn around jump shot, even in fade away mode. Wallez struggles though against taller players that he can not outplay with his already quite developed body. He must work to get a better ball handling and develop an outside to be an option for the future.

Lenny Charles-Catherine is an amazing athlete who can run the court very well and play high above the rim. The 1m94 tall swingman was the fourth best scorer on the French team but his scoring was mainly driven by two games only. This shows some limits in his offensive potential at the moment but he can become a great factor on the defensive end. Offensively, he can shoot the ball from behind the arc but remains very streaky. Charles-Catherine had to sit out the Final because of an injury that he suffered from in the semi-final when he rejected a shot.

Cyrille Eliezer-Vanerot is a bit of a twin brother of Charles-Catherine as he has a similar athletic profile but being a better rebounder and also a bit more precise in his shooting even if his percentages remain low. The 1m96 tall forward has a good first step when attacking the basket and can also use his left hand to beat the defender. He is not afraid to dunk hard over the defense when driving to the hoop but he can also finish with the floater. Technically, Eliezer-Vanerot has still some work to do as he lacks understanding of passing angles, mid-range game or overall ball handling. Eliezer-Vanerot is a very raw offensive player right now but he has the physical profile to become a good future prospect.

Lucas Dussoulier was an important player for France as he was their most reliable shooter. The left handed SG showed some good technique from behind the three point line and has a quick release. However, his release point is not very high which puts him in trouble against taller defenders. Dussoulier can also put the ball on the floor with his left hand and is able to change the speed to get rid of the defender. For a country, that still lacks multiple shooting option, he will certainly see more youth national team selections in the future.

Finally, Salem Mana is eventually worth being mentioned as the long guard has a great feel for the game, reads the passing lanes pretty well and has good leaping abilities.

The MVP of the tournament was the 1997 born Turkish do-it-all forward Okben Ulubay. He has an excellent court-vision and finds his team mates even out of complicated situations. Ulubay was already present at the U16 European Championship last summer at the age of 14 as he is quite an early developer (he has not grown since according to the official measurements) and he plays a very mature basketball. Mainly operating from outside, the 2m00 tall forward can put the ball on the floor and split defenses or double-teams with quick direction changes. He sees the gaps and can use them to get to the basket where he is able to finish with contact. The Turkish prospect has a clear preference for using his stronger left hand when putting the ball on the floor. His three point shot looked a bit unstable but he has some good shooting touch as he underlined it with a tough baseline floater. Ulubay has another year to play at the U16 level and is probably the first player ever that can defend his MVP crown at such an event.

Egemen Güven was the main inside option for the Gold Medal winners from Turkey. He has very long arms and remains quite thin. The 2m06 tall Center is not very explosive but has a very good shooting touch around the rim where he prefers the soft floater over the defense than going for the normal layup with the backboard. With his length, Güven was one of the best shot-blockers of the tournament despite not being an amazing athlete. Even if his shooting mechanics are not perfect, especially from the free-throw line, Güven scored some difficult shots like the turn-around jump shot to the baseline from the low post.

Tolga Gecim was another extremely versatile player on the Turkish team. Listed as PG and being 2m02 tall, Gecim can pass, also out of the dribble, and runs the plays from outside. He attacks the basket when there are some openings and can finish with a difficult finger roll with his left hand. Gecim, who was a good presence in defensive rebounding also brought up the ball at moments and was able to find his team mate after a very quick spin move. If he develops a more regular scoring option; he made only 41% from 2 and 16% from 3, Gecim can develop into a highly interesting prospect in the next years.

The third best scorer of the Turkish team, Ogulcan Baykan was probably one of the best shooters of the tournament. The 1m94 tall guard shoots very well from behind the arc even if he does not have a high release point as he does not jump much when taking a shot. The long-range shots do not fall though on a very regular basis yet for him but with more work in the next years, Baykan might develop into a threatening scoring option from outside for Turkey.

Mehmet Alemdaroglu had his best game of the tournament in the Final where he finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds. The 2m02 tall forward is a good rebounding presence on both ends of the court. He has a quick jump and is able to tip the offensive rebound in order to get it under control. The right handed Alemdaroglu scored a nice left handed jump hook from the low post but he also showed some outside game. He tried one three-point shot and made a perfect back-door alley-oop pass for a cutting team mate. His shooting touch looks interesting as it was underlined by a tough floater from 45 degrees at the 24 seconds buzzer. Alemdaroglou is another member of this very versatile Turkish forward crop with several players around 2 meters and well-developed basketball skills.