By Simon Dresden
1/11/08
Studs / Rising
Milos Teodosic used the biggest stage to prove his talent. Starting against one of the best backcourts in Europe, he exploded for 20 points in Olympiaco’s upset of CSKA. He also had 3 boards and 4 dimes in 32 minutes in a big time showing. A performance like this certainly can make some scouts become believers.
Omri Casspi cracks the top ranking for the first time. The new coach for Maccabi gave him a chance and he responded big. In just 12 minutes he managed 11 points, a monstrous facial dunk and 6 boards to boot. He had quite a day and why his new coach didn’t use him some more will be his secret, since the game was in hand early. Anyway with the coaching shake up, he should now get more chances to showcase his skills.
Gasper Vidmar took full advantage of the situation Fenerbahce has with injuries to their young studs and used his 15 minutes for an impressive 10 points and 8 boards. An excellent performance like this makes one scratch their head why his coach isn’t using him more.
Even / Okay
Teams seem to be figuring out Nikola Pekovic. Get physical with him and then he gets foul prone and that totally takes him out of his game. Real did just that and besides limiting his playing time to 26 minutes, they held him to 6 points on poor field goal shooting. He had 7 boards to save his okay standing, as great talents overcome those kind adversities. He will need to make an adjustment to the way teams have begun to play him.
Omer Asik has been steady as they come. 9 points, 5 boards in 18 minutes is very nice to have and a good way to compliment yourself to the coach for more burn.
Danilo Gallinari also rebounded from his rather poor showing last week. He had 12 points but was 0/6 from three point range, he had his usual 2 boards, 3 dimes in 30 minutes which is okay but not enough to crack the top ranking.
Milenko Tepic bounced back from rather poor showing in his last couple games to get 10 points, 2 boards and 3 assists in 20+ minutes but it couldn’t keep his team from losing.
Nicolas Batum was back in action after sitting out last week but you could see he was still bothered by injury. He fouled out in just 15 minutes and had only 4 points and 5 boards. On the positive side, he was pretty effective during his time on the court.
Pietro Aradori stays up there with the more talented prospects. He used his 16 minutes for 4 points and 4 boards which is amazing for a player with his athletic shortcomings. Great showing.
Goran Dragic was also back in action but he was also hindered to perform to his usual talent level, he played only a half with 6 points and 2 boards. Not concerning when you come back from a break due to injury.
Tim Ohlbrecht was also back in action with his team and had 12 minutes with 3 points and 2 boards. He, like all the others who sat out last week, also was still off his top shape but he played solid and proved he has a bright future holding his position effortlessly against stud Erazem Lorbek and veteran Gregor Fucka.
Uros Tripkovic again was off from long distance going 0/5 but had 5 points in 20 minutes, which is not enough for a player who fashons himself to be a shooter.
Riccardo Moraschini was in action for the first time playing for Virtus VidiVici, and for a young player (born 91) just to be out there for 18 minutes is huge.
Jeremy LeLoup got surprising 7 minutes of exposure, in which he took 3 threes but didn’t make any. He stays okay because he was on the court much longer than Diot.
Jan Mocnik got 3 minutes of action but only had one assist and no shots at the basket.
Raphael Wilson had zero production in 2 minutes of action.
Andrey Vorontsevich was not with the team this week, as with: Paulo Prestes, Stevan Stojkov, Semih Erden, Ogus Savas, Michal Chlynski.
DNP-CD this week go out to: Baris Hersek, Marko Djurkovic, Sergio Llull, Pablo Aguilar, Albert Moncasi, Donatas Motiejunas, Mantas Kalnietis, Artem Zabelin, Alexey Shved, Stefano Gentile, Sandro Marelli, Martynas Gecevicius, Can Mutaf.
Duds / Falling
After playing so many minutes last week, Antoine Diot returned to the bench and only got 3 minutes in a close game with no production whatsoever.
Marc-Antoine Pellin seems to have caught a downward trend. He again went scoreless in 25 minutes and although he had 5 dimes and 2 boards, it is not enough after his big start into the season and considering his playing time.
Emir Preldzic got 9 minutes and had no impact on the game, zero points, zero rebounds, just 1 steal and 2 turnovers. For player that talented, this was clearly not enough, especially with Savas and Erden out of the lineup.
