Now that the regular season is over in the Euroleague and Euro Cup competitions, let’s take a look at the potential draft picks.
Potential first and second rounders:
The top young performer of the Euroleague’s regular season was Lietuvos Rytas shooting guard Martynas Gecevicius and it was not even close. In 10 games, 10 starts, he averaged 33 minutes, 14,5 points, 3 rebounds, 3+ assists, 1+ steals, all on excellent shooting numbers.
What was considered to be a streak at the beginning of the season turned out to be just the opposite. This kid picked exactly the right moment to play his best ball. Yes he is no PG, and he is not big enough by NBA standards and not athletic or quick, but he gets the job done. His team is out of the competition with a 4-6 record so unfortunately we will not be able to see much more of him. Is he a first round pick? No, because his deficiencies in certain areas are too huge, but with the season he had, it is not out of the question for him to be picked up on a second round flier. He will be a sought after free agent in Europe nonetheless and should earn a substantial paycheck.
Jan Vesely has had an up and down season so far. He expanded his game adding a three point threat to his arsenal hitting 50 % on the 10 shots taken, but he is still a lackluster 55% free throw shooter. A good shooter, or at least someone who is comfortable taking outside shots should be able to knock down the freebies from the line. He is again great on shots taken inside the lane, where he connects on 62% of his shots which is outstanding, But his shots mainly come on hustle plays, follow ups or dunks. A post up game is not part of his arsenal at this point. 6.4 points in nearly 20 minutes at his age is great, also solid are his 3.2 rebounds, but with the exit of Novica Velickovic, Milenko Tepic and Uros Tripkovic from last years group, we had expected much more evolution as there were a lot of shots to be redistributed. Anyway he is still young and has some more years to win GMs over. His body is not yet ready to take on the PFs of the NBA, so he would be ill-advised to leave this year. His buyout situation has to be factored in, as Partizan is known for developing young studs, but also asking for a return on their investment. Are they willing to let him go this year? Partizan is still in the competition, so Jan has still some chances to impress.
Ludovic Vaty chose the right stage and time to present himself. He proved finally that he can be the talent that everyone envisioned him to be some years before. He has the body to fill a natural position in the league right away. He is a hard working inside man, who knows his limitations. He works hard on the boards, has some decent and efficient post game, while being an excellent FT shooter this leaves the option for him to become at least a mid-range shooter, maybe even with three point range. He averaged 7 points and 5 boards on good percentages in just 16 minutes. Vaty is an earthbound role player, who will do all the dirty work. Becoming a first round pick is out of the question, but his body may give him a shot in the late second round.
Georgi Shermandini (Panathinaikos) had a decent season for a young center talent in Greece. He averaged 8 minutes per contest with 4 points and 2 boards on one of the best and deepest teams around. You can see development, as he grows stronger and takes advantage of practicing with Pekovic and Batiste, two of the best bigman overseas. To take his game to the NBA this year would be a killer for his development and career, as he is nowhere close to being able to contribute in any form right now. He will probably test the market and withdraw, as we can not see a team spending a pick on him this year. With some more grooming, he can become a hot commodity as Jannis Boroussis is right now. But he has to become a veteran first. Look at how many years it took Bouroussis. Bigs are precious and rare, so nobody knows.
Borderline second rounder:
Artem Zabelin (CSKA Moscow) shouldn’t be a draft candidate this year based on how he is not even close to getting any garbage minutes on the CSKA team. Injuries have taken their toll on the youngster and right now it seems that his career could be over before it even began. Spending a second rounder on him is frivolous, as he will never be able to take the rigors of an NBA season, let alone speak about having the game or body to compete. Appears to be another wasted talent.
Vladimir Dasic (Real Madrid) Has had a difficult time adjusting to being part of an elite team. It’s been tough for him to get playing time at Real, be it in the ACB or in the Euroleague. His contract situation makes him a lock to not be a first rounder and his average performance has made him a borderline second rounder. While he teases you with length, athleticism and potential, he just has not shown the ability to put it together. He has in our view no natural position in the league, and to make it as a tweener you have to be special in a certain area, which he isn’t.
Already drafted:
Ricky Rubio is already drafted but still he is worth mentioning here, being so young it’s impressive what he did this year. He is the full time starter at PG for a mighty favorite to win the whole thing. He led Barca to a perfect regular season, leading the way with 6 points 3 rebounds and 5 assists in just 20 minutes. In comparison we don’t think a Brandon Jennings or a Johnny Fynn could do the same if given the opportunity today. Rubio is a special talent, he sees things before they happen on the floor. He is just a natural talent wise, you can’t teach this. Rubio will shine whenever he decides to take his game to the NBA. No he won’t score 50+ as Jennings did, but he will make the team he plays for better, as well as his teammates. Players like him are extremely rare.
Here are some Euroleague players with potential for the future:
Augusto Lima (Malaga)
Branislav Dekic (Partizan)
Kostas Papanikolaou (Olympiacos)
Bojan Bogdanovic (Cibona)
Leon Radosevic (Cibona)
Tomislav Zubcic (Cibona)
Bangaly Fofana (Asvel)
