European Prospects

News about Young European Basketball Prospects

Prospect of the month: October 2008

November 2nd, 2008 · 3 Comments

With the new seasons that have started, we also go again for the vote of Prospect of the month. This year, we consider the generations from 1987 to 1991. As it is always very tough to find the right first choice for every year, I had some choices that may look strange in the beginning, but I did them on purpose and just to follow my own preferences.

For the 1987 born’s, my choice went immediately to Sergio Llull. The Spanish guard has made his place now in the stacked Real Madrid roster and is the only prospect of the whole list that contributes in this way in the Euroleague. Llull can play both guard spots which is his advantage but also a problem as he won’t develop his still lacking PG skills. His role currently is more of an energizer coming from the bench. With his great speed and athleticism, Llull excels in the fastbreak and can score even on difficult drives.

Victor Claver is coming of an excellent start into the new season in the ACB. The highly athletic wing is putting up great numbers in the toughest national league of the continent. He showed great touch from behind the arc several times and pleases the crowd with some nice dunks. Still, he looks particularly skinny in comparison to other big guys so it is no wonder that he plays more SF than in the paint. He looks currently like one of the most promising players in Europe with his current production.

The problem remains in the 1989 generation where it is tough to find quality players that already play big minutes on the highest level. So my choice fell on Thomas Heurtel who I already presented a bit more in detail a few days ago. Heurtel still does not manage to make his team winning some games but his beginning of the season was particularly interesting on an individual way. Now he has to confirm as the other teams will wait for him and prepare on his playing style.

Donatas Motiejunas got critized heavily for moving away from Zalgiris Kaunas to play with Aisciai Atletas. But it looks like his choice was correct when it only comes to playing time. With 24.5 ppg in the Lithuanian league, the goal to play a lot has been reached but on a team that only won 1 game so far. If Motiejunas can continue with his current numbers over the whole year, he may have accumulated lots of confidence and he will be ready to play on the next level from 2009 on.

In the newly added 1991 category, the first choice goes to Nicolo Melli. The Italian forward continues where he played already last season with interesting performances for Trenkwalder Reggio Emilia in the Italian Lega Due. During last season’s playoffs, Nicolo showed his potential and now he has to continue to improve on this level.

3 responses so far ↓

  • 1 djordje // Nov 3, 2008 at 10:12 am

    What about Sarajlija (1991) of Union Olimpija. He played couple of good games in Adriatic league…

  • 2 Christophe // Nov 3, 2008 at 6:05 pm

    @djordje
    Of course Sarajlija was in the race but i chose Melli

  • 3 David // Nov 3, 2008 at 11:59 pm

    It’s interesting to keep an eye on Joan Tomàs (international Pere Tomàs’ brother) , who makes one’s debut with DKV Joventut at last ACB match against CB Granada.

    Born in 1992 (so out of this classification), is one of the most promising spanish prospects.

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