Today we continue our review of the players from the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso with a few additional names that we are thinking are worth to be mentioned.
Nihad Dedovic – SG – 1m97 – 1990
The Bosnian guard had one of the fastest shot releases of the whole camp. The release is so quick that it looks like he does not really prepare his shot. But he needs to fire the ball that quickly as he has the ball a bit before his face when taking the shot and therefore is always at risk of being blocked in his attempts. He likes to come of the screens and immediately fire the ball from any distance. Coming of the curl on the weak-side and receiving the diagonal pass is one of the situations in which Dedovic excels and scores with high percentages.
Additionally, he is very active on defense with his hands and steals quite a few balls. Dedovic is doing a nice job on the fast break as he can accelerate nicely and score the layup with the foul as he is a correct athlete. A first season on the ACB level with regular playing time behind him, the Bosnian will now make the next step forward and knowing that he came back from a injury recently, there are some nice things ahead for him in the next years. It may not be enough for NBA level but we should see him play on Euroleague level in a few years time.
Josep Franch – PG – 1m87 – 1991
Josep Franch played a very interesting camp and is considered already as the future PG of Joventut Badalona. The fast Spaniard broke the defenses on multiple occasion with his hesitation moves or accelerations and was not afraid at all to go against the big guys to score on a multitude of different underhand lay-ups. He looked to be more of a scoring guard in the camp as he did not particularly show amazing passing skills and mostly went for his own options.
Pietro Aradori – SG – 1m93 – Auto-Eligible – 1988
The Italian guard had an up-and-down camp and showed that he is not really NBA material at the moment. Aradori had some limits when it came to the NBA three-point line as his shot did not look regular when going for an attempt from that distance. Athletically, he is not quick enough to defend SGs despite correct leaping abilities for a European player. His skill set is a lot more adapted to European basketball and he will certainly do a lot of damage in the next years. With his scoring skills and understanding, Aradori will probably be among the major scorers for the next years in European basketball.
Dairis Bertans – PG/SG – 1m93 – 1989
The Latvian guard showed an interesting scoring talent in Treviso combined with good athletic abilities. More of a scoring guard than a pure play maker, Bertans has already some high-level experience due to the minutes he plays with Ventspils. Bertans’ main offensive options are his three point shot and driving hard to the rim. He is not afraid to dunk on the big guys and got some severe rejections during the camp that did not de-motivate him to try again. He likes to go for several cross-over moves to create the necessary space for his shot. The Latvian guard is able split defenses with his speed and is high-percentage long distance shooter.
David Jelinek – SG – 1m94 – 1990
One of the younger players that I really liked was David Jelinek. The Czech guard showed excellent athletic abilities and a real will to score the basketball. He has already NBA three point range in catch and shoot situations, which he executes particularly well. Jelinek can speed up the fast-break and finish on highlight-reel like dunks. He has already a nice arsenal of ball and pass fakes when driving that give him the opportunity to score the ball close the basket. He needs to develop his mid-range game a bit and probably get a bit stronger but the minutes he gets on ACB level are certainly helping him in his development.
Nikos Pappas – PG – 1m91 – 1990
The Greek guard looked improved this year compared to what we had in mind of him. Still not a NBA or European top-level athlete, Pappas has the feel for the game and he is far from losing it. His dominance from two years ago on U18 level is not there because he can not outsmart the players on every occasion anymore. But his passing skills are excellent even if he forced too much the highlight play in the camp which gave him a terrible amount of turnovers. As we heard, he did quite well in the Greek League this season on the Senior level so it will be interesting to see what is next for him.
Mindaugas Kuzminskas – SF/PF – 2m03 – Early Entry – 1989
The Lithuanian early entry candidate played a camp where you could barely see him, somehow similar to last year. But he has a very interesting arsenal of offensive moves and showed in Treviso that he has NBA three-point range as well. Kuzminskas can put the ball on the floor and finish with two-handed dunks against the defense when attacking the basket. He is doing also a lot of the dirty job that is not seen in the stats which is a bit different to his role he has with his team in Lithuania. This shows that he is a guy who can easily adapt to any situations.
Dejan Musli – C – 2m11 – 1991
The best Center in the camp was the Serbian Dejan Musli who looks better and better when it comes to his body structure. Still not a very explosive or elegant player, his moves look a bit smoother right now and he feels a lot more confident when putting the ball on the floor. During the camp, there was nearly anybody that could stop him once he has found his position in the low post and received the ball. He can finish here with either hand on the jump hook but most of his moves look a bit soft. His hands are great and he nearly catches all the passes he gets out of the Pick and Roll situations to finish.
Musli has clearly improved in his game when he needs or wants to dribble the ball. He can easily bring his man down to the low block when he receives the ball on the wing by backing him up with a few dribbles and moving closer to the basket. He is also not afraid to start the fast break with several dribbles, even if this is not really his role. As he is not the fastest player, it would also be a better decision making if he shares the ball on these moments and runs the break as a trailer option. He needs to finish stronger though when he is close to the basket to become a really dominant player on this level but being born in 1991, there is still a lot of progress margin left.
Ousmane Camara – C/PF – 2m04 – Early Entry – 1989
One of the more unknown players in the camp was the French Center Ousmane Camara. Even if he has only limited offensive skills because of poor hands, the player from Le Havre showed an extreme will and massive presence on the rebound. He worked very hard throughout the camp in this aspect of the game and nearly score all his baskets on offensive rebounds or after good passes of his team mates. His Free-throw shot looks very bad and underlines his current weaknesses. Camara can score the basketball only when being very close to the basket and the question is how much upside he has when it comes to his shooting touch. Physically, he has all the tools to become a high-level player, but he needs to work on his basketball skills and fundamentals if he wants to have an impact on the next level.
3 responses so far ↓
1 can // Jun 12, 2010 at 9:50 am
you can watch U-14 turkish champ. final game (summary) altyapibasket no:1 !!!
http://www.altyapibasket.com/index.php?option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink&Itemid=18&id=199
2 Frank Jones // Jun 12, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Hi Christophe,
Congratulations for your excellent website.
One question: What are your comments on Vladimir Dasic? Could you see him playing (he only did it in the first day)?
For me he is just an amazing combination of physical and technical skills (potentially) with a huge lack of brain. Such a waste.
Thanks
Frank Jones
3 Christophe // Jun 12, 2010 at 8:18 pm
@Frank
nothing more to add, he missed the rest of the camp because he was apparently injured
He has talent and physical presence but a very strange approach to the game
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