Euroleague Review & Future Euro Wing Prospects #1

GROUP A

Gameday 6

Gameday 7

The first half of Euroleague regular season competition was a disappointing one for young Partizan Belgrade with the lowlight being Leo Westermann's season ending ACL injury. After just 1 win out of 6 games, Belgrade looked to face JSF Nanterre in France, the one team they beat in a massive blowout on game day 2. With a win, Partizan could have climbed back into the crucial 4th spot. However, Nanterre edged out a win on last second free throws and is two wins in advantage to Belgrade and Kiev with just three games to go.

Behind strong offense that allowed only 10 second quarter points, Nanterre went into halftime with a 6 point lead. Belgrade looked better out of break, allowing just 12 points themselves and tying the game at 47 with a last second Terrence Kinsey three pointer before the 4th. A three pointer by Bogdan Bogdanovic gave Belgrade the lead which went up to six after just three minutes. A pair of two and three pointers within seconds after a steal closed the gap again and a Will Daniels three put Nanterre ahead. A big three by Bogdanovic and layup by Dragan Milosaljevic gave Belgrade a lead of four with just 2 minutes to go. Will Daniels put Nanterre within 1 with a three again and just one minute of playing time. Belgrade had three opportunities to put the game away, but two turnovers, a missed shot and shooting foul with just five points to go for Trent Meacham doomed Belgrade. Meacham made both free throws, putting Nanterre ahead by one for the final score.

Darjus Lavrinovic - KIE (6 pts, 9 rebs, 5 assts, 1 stl)
Kyle Hines - CSKA (18 pts, 6 rebs, 1 asst, 1 stl, 1 blk)

FC Barcelona 94 - 81 Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul
Best performers:
Kostas Papanikolaou - BAR (18 pts, 6 rebs, 2 assts, 1 stl, 1 blk)
Bo McCalebb - IST (22 pts, 2 rebs, 2 stls, 1 asst)

Standings

	W	L	PTS	OPP PTS	ORTG	DRTG
Fenerbahce Istanbul	6	1	599	520	121	105
FC Barcelona	5	2	543	495	111	102
CSKA Moscow	5	2	506	471	104	96
JSF Nanterre	3	4	441	479	93	110
Partizan Belgrade	1	6	451	504	98	110,3
Budivelnik Kiev	1	6	502	573	98	112,6

GROUP B

Gameday 6

Best performers:
Ricardo Greer - STR (21 pts, 5 asst, 4 rebs, 1 stl)
Sharrod Ford - BAM (8 pts,  5 rebs, 1 blk)

Best performers:
Keith Langford - MIL (22 pts, 2 rebs, 1 asst)
Dusko Savanovic - AIST (14 pts, 3 asst, 2 rebs, 1 stl)

Gameday 7

Zalgiris Kaunas 73 - 71 EA7 Emporio Armani Milan

At 2 wins and four losses, Kaunas looked to close the gap to the group of Milan and Anadolu Istanbul, gaining seperation from Bamberg who is trying to save itself to the fourth spot. Milan surged back from a 10 point deficit before the fourth but the effort wasn't enough due to Justin Dentmon.

Zalgiris outscored the Italians 43-33 in the 2nd and 2rd quarters combined. Milan was mostly held in the game by the offense of Keith Langford who ended with 29 points on 18 shots. With six minutes to go, Milan was down 12. Six points by David Moss within a minute and a layup by young gun Alessandro Gentile put Milan within 6. But this was followed by a two minute long stretch without any scoring that was broken by Kaunas twice. With just two minutes to go and Kaunas up by ten again, the game seemed over. Keith Langford, however, bombed a three and two free throws consecutively,, followed by a Gentile three and another Langford free throw - all within just one minute. Up by two, Dentmon fouled C.J. Wallace who tied the game with free throws. Dentmon made up for his fouling with a shot that ended the game and gave Kaunas an important win.

Paulius Jankunas - ZAL (6 pts, 11 rebs, 3 stls, 2 blks)
Keith Langford - MIL (29 pts, 6 rebs, 3 assts, 1 stl)

Standings:

	W	L	PTS	OPP PTS	ORTG	DRTG
Real Madrid	7	0	646	454	125	87
Anadolu Istanbul	4	3	539	527	105	102
EA7 Milan	4	3	530	535	104	106
Zalgiris Kaunas	3	4	518	548	100	108
Brose Bamberg	2	5	514	593	104	117
Strasbourg	1	6	486	576	97	114

GROUP C

Gameday 6

At 4-2, Galatasaray looked to beat lowly Siena (just one win so far) to get some breathing room as the group's second best team in front of struggling Bayern Munich and Unicaja Malaga. It was a tough one that went to the last seconds, but Istanbul came out as the winner, sparked by an unstoppable Pops Mensah-Bonsu.

This game was far from beautiful. After three quarters, Istanbul had scored only 40 points compared to Siena's 38. While Siena was shooting miserably inside and couldn't draw fouls (just 33% 2FG% and 4 free throws all game long drawn by PG Daniel Hackett), Istanbul took way too many threes (and hit just 2-19), but got good looks inside and drew at least 10+ free throws. Also, they rebounded terrifically offensively, most noteworthy Mensah-Bonsu who had 8 of Galatasaray's 12 o-boards. The fourth quarter wasn't any better with the teams combining for 28 points. Siena came close, but the Turks always had an answer. Down two, Hackett could have won the game but he missed a three. Ugly win for Istanbul.

Pops Mensah-Bonsu - GIST (16 pts, 16 rebs, 1 blk)
Othello Hunter - SIE (4 pts, 13 rebs, 1 blk)

Best performers:
Earl Calloway - MAL (10 pts, 5 assts, 3 rebs, 1 stl)
Vassilis Spanoulis - PIR (21 pts, 4 assts, 1 reb, 5 to)

Gameday 7

Best performers:
Vladimir Dragicevic - GOR (13 pts, 6 rebs, 2 blks, 1 stl)
Nik Caner-Medley - MAL (18 pts, 6 rebs, 4 stls, 3 blks, 1 asst)

	W	L	POINTS+	POINTS-	ORTG	DRTG
Olympiacos Piraeus	7	0	538	478	108	96
Galatasaray Istanbul	4	3	478	510	101	110
Unicaja Malaga	3	4	545	500	111	102
FC Bayern Munich	3	4	555	541	109	106
Montepaschi Siena	2	5	479	505	101	105
Stelmet Zielona Gora	2	5	511	572	103	115

GROUP D

Gameday 6

PAO and Vitoria were tied at 3-3 before his game. With Crvena surprisingly with 2 wins already, both teams looked to shake off the Serbian trailer in the hunt for the playoffs.

Laboral started the game furiously with three consecutive three point bombs for a 9-0 lead. PAO tried to do what it could to make Vitoria go cold and while scoring a respectable 19 points in the first quarter, Vitoria scored 34 on 7 (!!! three pointers in the first 10 minutes. Holy cow. Athens cut the lead to 11 before the break and finally found tools to stop Vitoria. While scoring 56 points in the first half, Vitoria only scored 24 in the second. Pao came back massively, finding its own offense and cutting the lead to three before the 4th quarter. With five minutes to go, Thomas Heurtel hit another three for a decent nine point lead. Athens rallied again with threes from Diamantidis and a layup by Jonas Macilius. At 77-74, Roko Ukic had an unfortunate stretch for the guests, missing a lay-up and three pointer. After a longer scoring drought, Milko Bjelica hit free throws and a three by Antonios Fotsis came to late. Vitoria wins a thriller.
Milko Bjelica - VIT (17 pts, 6 rebs, 2 assts)
Jonas Macilius - ATH (19 pts, 8 rebs, 4 stls, 1 asst)

Standings:

	W	L	POINTS+	POINTS-	ORTG	DRTG
Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar	5	1	449	435	105	99
Maccabi Tel Aviv	4	2	465	436	108	101
Panathinaikos Athens	3	3	485	463	110	106
Laboral Kutxa Vitoria	3	3	460	462	112	108
Crvena Zvezda Belgrade	2	4	485	492	108	113
Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius	1	5	424	480	96	114

Best Campaign Watch

			ADVANCED											PER GAME								SHOOTING PER 28
Player	Team	Age	eFG%	TS%	PPP	FTR	ORB%	DRB%	AST%	TOV%	STL%	BLK%	USG%	MIN	PTS	ORB	DRB	AST	TOV	STL	BLK	FGA RIM	FGA 2	FGA 3	FTA	FG% RIM	FG% 2	FG% 3	FT%	ASD% RIM	ASD% 2	ASD% 3
Nikola Mirotic	Real Madrid	22	78,6	80,9	1,46	33,9	12,5	17,0	8,7	2,3	3,0	4,2	21,5	23,1	15,0	2,1	3,3	1,3	1,0	1,3	1,0	2,7	3,3	3,3	3,2	75,0	55,0	70,0	89,5	33,3	54,5	92,9
Bojan Bogdanovic	Fenerbahce Istanbul	24	59,9	63,6	1,19	24,2	1,7	5,9	9,6	1,8	1,5	1,2	23,7	31,7	18,4	0,4	1,7	1,9	1,0	0,9	0,4	4,6	3,0	3,9	2,8	61,1	54,2	41,9	90,9	59,1	7,7	84,6
Keith Langford	EA7 Milan	30	52,8	58,7	1,03	48,9	3,3	14,0	20,9	3,8	0,8	0,0	28,0	31,0	18,6	0,9	3,4	3,3	2,1	0,4	0,0	3,3	3,1	4,9	5,5	53,8	44,0	38,5	79,5	21,4	18,2	53,3
Derrick Brown	Lokomotiv Kuban	26	63,6	66,8	1,19	36,4	5,1	17,4	12,2	2,7	1,7	3,3	21,4	27,2	14,3	1,2	4,3	1,7	1,3	0,8	1,2	4,3	4,5	0,3	3,3	76,9	44,4	100,0	80,0	70,0	91,7	100,0
Ante Tomic	FC Barcelona	26	62,1	63,5	1,11	41,4	11,9	16,2	22,1	3,6	1,1	2,8	24,7	22,3	12,6	2,4	3,3	2,4	1,4	0,4	0,7	7,8	2,7	0,0	4,3	74,4	26,7	0,0	66,7	62,5	25,0	0,0

U-23 Best Campaign Watch

														PER GAME								SHOOTING PER 28
Player	Team	Age	eFG%	TS%	PPP	FTR	ORB%	DRB%	AST%	TOV%	STL%	BLK%	USG%	MIN	PTS	ORB	DRB	AST	TOV	STL	BLK	FGA RIM	FGA 2	FGA 3	FTA	FG% RIM	FG% 2	FG% 3	FT%	ASD% RIM	ASD% 2	ASD% 3
Joffrey Lauvergne	Partizan Belgrade	22	47,8	53,7	0,85	50,0	9,9	28,2	9,4	3,8	0,3	1,9	15,2	33,7	8,7	2,9	7,9	1,6	2,1	0,1	0,6	3,3	1,3	1,3	2,9	57,7	40,0	20,0	73,9	13,3	50,0	100,0
Nicolo Melli	EA7 Milan	22	54,7	58,8	1,02	18,6	10,9	21,9	7,9	2,3	2,6	3,7	15,4	23,6	7,9	2,3	4,7	1,0	1,0	1,1	1,0	2,8	2,3	2,0	1,3	82,4	35,7	25,0	100,0	21,4	40,0	100,0
Alessandro Gentile	EA7 Milan	21	51,4	53,7	0,88	26,0	3,1	8,9	20,4	5,2	1,7	0,9	25,4	27,1	12,6	0,7	2,0	2,9	2,6	0,9	0,3	4,5	3,1	3,1	2,8	61,3	38,1	33,3	68,4	10,5	12,5	57,1
Bogdan Bogdanovic	Partizan Belgrade	21	48,1	51,7	0,90	25,9	4,6	9,2	15,3	4,5	3,6	1,8	28,4	27,0	13,4	1,0	2,0	1,9	2,0	1,6	0,4	3,4	3,2	6,5	3,4	28,6	45,0	40,0	76,2	0,0	11,1	81,3
Kenan Sipahi	Fenerbahce Istanbul	18	65,8	66,5	1,27	31,6	0,0	6,7	14,3	0,5	2,9	0,8	9,6	16,7	4,1	0,0	0,9	1,7	0,1	0,9	0,1	1,7	1,7	1,2	1,5	71,4	42,9	60,0	66,7	20,0	0,0	66,7

EUROPEAN WING PROSPECTS #5-9

9. Adin Vrabac (Spars Sarajevo)

6'8" - born in 1994 - Bosnia
Small Forward

The Bosnian possesses an interesting potential skillset. At 6'8" with great wingspan and athleticism, he's really more a playmaking wing than a power forward. He is somewhat of a late bloomer, breaking onto the scene after a strong showing at the U18 Euro championship with 15.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 asstsand 1.4 steals per game. However, it was just the B-Division championship and Vrabac was was one of the oldest players in attendence. He already competed in the U18 B-Division championship two years prior and didn't see much playing time.

Vrabac is playing his first pro season for OKK Spars Sarajevo in the first division of Bosnia and is looking decent so far on a very young team for which he handles the ball a lot. He's averaging 11 pots, 3 rebounds and 3 assists on good shooting, but is also turning the ball over a lot. Last weekend, he handed out seven assists without a turnover in a win.

There are still significant red flags concerning him. He's a late bloomer with a great track record at the youth tournaments, he's unproven at the pro level and way too thin to even think about the NBA. He's just about to turn twenty though and should make the leap to a better team soon.

8. Oken Ulubay (Anadolu fes Istanbul)

6'7" - born in 1996 - Turkey
Small Forward

Okben's monster performance in Turkey's second division

Turkish basketball has not been spoiled with success internationally despite having great individual talent. Well, with talents Kenan Sipahi (profiled him last week) and Okben Ulubay, Turkey should be in competition the upcoming years too. As a potential volume scorer, Ulubay could be a a nice complement to pass-first pure point Sepahi.

Okben has played U16 and U18 A division championships ahead of his age group and despite not burning the house down, especially not as a scorer, he's been impressive and led Turkey to the gold medal, even being named MVP I think. Great results and all, but as so often in Turkish basketball, Okben (and his twin brother who is a big prospect too, yet not that big) who was considered born in '97 was found of falsifying his age - he was actually born in '96.

Even though he's not that godlike 15 year old figure people thought he was, he's still pretty damn good for a 16 year old. This is evidenced in his playing time and stats. He's currently playing for Anadolu Efes' second team in Turkey's 2nd division where he gets 30 minutes a night. He's had big time problems as a ballhandler so far, turning the ball over almost 4.5 times a game, but is producing well in the rebounds and steals column, but he's shown his potential to be a big time scorer. After a few underwhelming scoring outputs early this season, Okben scored 38 points on 20 shots, had 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals against Ankara (8-10 threes!!! - that would be just mid-range in the NBA though). In eight games, he's scored in double figures three times so far. Still very young, some bad vibe from the shabazzing of his age and not much of a track record yet, but he's definately a prospect to watch in the coming years.

7. Daniel Diez (Real Madrid)

6'8" - born in 1993 - Spain
Small Forward

Daniel Diez U20 All-Tournament Team highlights

At 6'8, Diez would likely be more Power then Small Forward but has developed his game on the wing well to not be doomed as an undersized big. Throughout his career with the Spanish youth squads, Diez has improved his scoring numbers and options. While scoring 'just' 12.2 points (with 10.4 rebounds) at the U18 tourney in 2011, Diez led all scorers at this year's U20 tourney with 18.7 points and 8.8 rebounds.

As a teen, Diez played mostly for Madrid's second team where he was one of the key guys. In 2011, Diez scored 16.9 pts and grabbed 5.4 rebounds (2.4 offensive) per game. To gain further experience albeit in a smaller role, Madrid loaned him to Lago Aro Gipuzkoa of the ACB in 2012. Danny D appeared in 31 games in which he logged 360 minutes in total. Diez has been somewhat of a streak shooter, shooting just 27% on 41 threes last year. In 2012, for Reall II, he shot 36% on a much larger sample size which shows that he has the talent to make shots.

This year, Diez is back with Real and playing for the senior team alongside guys like Nikola Mirotic and Rudy Fernandez. He has a similar role as with Gipuzkoa, seeing about a fourth of a game's playing time. At the age of 20, Diez is not the youngest prospect, but with the experience and tools he has, he still has enough time to improve his perimeter play to a point where NBA teams become intrigued. He possesses nice IQ and is tough to hold off the boards for his size and age but needs to stabilize his shooting and show improved passing mechanis before he fills the criteria for an NBA tweener.

Daniel Diez									PER GAME								PER 30
			Gms	2FG%	3FG%	FT%	eFG%	TS%	MIN	PTS	OREB	REB	ASST	STL	BLK	TO	2FGA	3FGA	FTA	PTS	OREB	REB	ASST	STL	BLK	TO
2013	Gipuzkoa	ESP	31	56,5%	26,8%	56,0%	39%	51%	11	3,8	0,6	1,6	0,1	0,3	0,0	0,3	5,1	3,4	2,1	10,4	1,6	4,4	0,3	0,8	0,0	0,8

6. Marius Grigonis (Pensa Huesca)

6'6" - born in 1994 - Lithuania
Point Forward/Shooting Guard

Marius Grigonis 2013 U19 Championship highlights

Marius Grigonis is another ball-dominant forward with great size. He broke into the scene in 2012 with solid performances at the national level with Zalgiris' second team and internationally at the U18 championship.

With his minutes rising significantly that year, Grigonis didn't disappoint and scored efficiently in league play. Grigonis scored 10 pts per game in 46 games (1000+ season minutes), shooting 33% on 124 threes and 79% on free throws. However, he is most dangerous with his drive. He converted 58% of his 2PT shots and assisted 2.2 assists per game. 2013 was a great year for the Lithuanian who showed improvement on many fronts. While playing similar minutes as the year before, Marius scored 13.9 points per game on terrific shooting (42% on 167 3PA & 86% on 123 FTA). Furthermore, the point forward improved his vision, handing out almost one assists per game more than in 2012 with no increase in turnovers.

Despite his stellar progression, Grigonis couldn't make Zalgiris pro roster that already features a few young prospects like Tomas Dimsa and Cizenis Vytauskas. Thus, Grigonis moved to Spain to play for 2nd division team Pensas Huesca. He's their 2nd leading scorer at 12.1 pts on great early shooting (48.5% on 33 3PA & 92% on 14 FTA). He's still struggling with turnovers, hasn't found a way to draw free throws consistently and is adjusting to playing off the ball more, but the way his play has transferred to the tougher second Spanish league is encouraging for Marius. He has some slick moves offensively.

Marius Grigonis									PER GAME								PER 30
			Gms	2FG%	3FG%	FT%	eFG%	TS%	MIN	PTS	OREB	REB	ASST	STL	BLK	TO	2FGA	3FGA	FTA	PTS	OREB	REB	ASST	STL	BLK	TO
2013	Zalgiris II	LTH 2	38	53,8%	41,9%	86,2%	58%	0,63	28,6	13,9	1,0	4,9	3,0	1,2	0,1	2,1	5,5	4,6	3,4	14,6	1,0	5,1	3,1	1,3	0,1	2,2
2012	Zalgiris II	LTH 2	46	58,7%	33,1%	79,2%	58%	0,63	23,3	11	0,7	3,6	2,2	0,9	0,1	2	6,1	3,5	3,6	13,5	0,9	4,6	2,8	1,2	0,1	2,7

5. Nedim Buza (Spars Sarajevo)

6'8" - born in 1995 - Bosnia
Small Forward

31 points against Unicaja Malaga youth at NIKE Invitational Tourney

Our second Bosnian from Spars Sarajajevo and just as hard to project. At the age of 18 (won't turn 1 before May 2014) it's too early to say what kind of upside he has, but the amount of tools he flashes in his big body at that early stage is remarkable.

Unlike Vrabac, Buza has been showing his potential early on and consistent. At the U16 B division championship in 2011, Buza presented himself as a player who was struggling with shooting (21% 3P, 54%FT), but who drew tons of fouls and could fill the statsheet. Through eight games, Buza had 16.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks. Buza confirmed his talent the next year as a relatively young player at the U18-division championship. Here, he scored 16 points in 30 minutes, grabbed 5 rebounds with 2.5 assists and 1.9 steals. His three point shooting was still off but at least, he stabilized his free throw shooting (20-25).

Now, Nedim is playing his first pro season along the other Bosnian hopeful, Adin Vrabach.The youngster is looking terrific so far, scoring 6.6 points in 15 minutes of play. Furthermore, his A+S+B numbers keep looking very promising. In his best game of the young season, Buza scored 16 points on a disappointing 15 shots, but also grabbed 8 rebounds, had 5 assists to just 1 turnover, blocked 2 shots and stole the ball once. He's basically a better version of Vrabach and has similar weaknesses, needs to bulk up significantly too. Should join a better club soon as well.

I have to say that all of those guys underwhelm me a. Buza has a shot to become something special I guess. Well look at 3.5 serious talents next week.