By Aran Smith
6.8.08

Day Two began just like the first with morning drills. Unfortunately, today there was no one on one or two on two drills which was (explained by coach Jack Sikma) due to the fact that the drill is extremely exhaustive to the players. Instead players did individual shooting drills and some team half court stuff.

Particularly impressive in the morning shoot around was Polish youngster Jakub Wojciechowski. Also impressive was small 2-guard Edwin Jackson who flashed his considerable leaping ability going to the basket in traffic.

Turkish Duo Workout

After the morning session, a workout was held with the two intriguing Turkish talents (Semih Erden and Omer Asik) who are here but were not released by their Fenerbache team to participate in the actual camp.

Also working out with them were Henk Norel who sat out the morning drills to prepare for the workout) and Giorgi Shermadini. Two guards Goran Dragic and Rudy Mbemba also participated in the workout but were less featured.

Jay Triano ran the workout and had the four bigs do a number of post moves including cutting through the lane and catching the ball and driving the the basket for a dunk, as well as shooting jumpers off of both shoulders.

Erden was easily the most impressive of the bunch. His combination of size, strength and athleticism, plus his shooting touch makes him an intriguing prospect in the late first round. Unfortunately we won’t get a chance to see what they (Erden and Asik) can do in camp against the likes of Ibaka and Kravstov.

Both guys are absolute studs physically with nearly identical body size and shape, and were impressive in the workout. They ran the floor and finished with dunks at the end of the break.

Erden’s shooting ability is better than Asik’s as he displayed a soft touch hitting a solid percentage of his outside shots, while Asik struggled some. The two never went head to head unfortunately but looked strong making post moves on the two others.

Norel and Shermadini looked like kids going up against the two as they are both older and more mature physically. Norel did a solid job of fighting in the post against Erden, but when Erden made up his mind to move to the basket there wasn’t a great deal of resistance.

Norel appears to be a possible second rounder based on his potential to get stronger. His mid-range shot was the best of the bunch in the workout and he’s got a big frame to add weight in the future.

Shermadini looked completely overwhelmed by the Turkish duo and though he shot fairly well, doesn’t run the floor well and lacks great agility and explosiveness. He has little shot to be drafted and there’s a lot of speculation that he’s older than what he’s listed, 1989.

Team 5 (Orange) 78 – Team 1 (Powder Blue) 50

The game featured an intriguing match up of bigs Donatas Motiejunas and Serge Ibaka. The two guarded each other a number of times with ibaka stopping Motiejunas on a few occasions, including one major rejection.

Ibaka would win the statistical battle with 18 points on 6-9 shooting, but it was Motiejunas’ Orange squad which would cruise to the easy victory.

After not playing on day one, the Team 5 squad appears to be the most talented squad and will be hard to beat in the rest of the camp. With a backcourt consisting of Edwin Jackson, Mantas Kalnietis and talented forwards Vladimir Dasic, Luc Louves and Motiejunas, there is no shortage of talent on this team.

Although Ibaka started a little slow, he finished very strong. Despite the 28 point defeat, he continues to impress making a strong bid for the first round.

He scored using his terrific leaping ability to go right over defenders for dunks and even knocked down a 3 point shot, the only one in which he took.

While Motiejunas struggled some with the athleticism and length of Ibaka, he showed his excellent skill in the post making one fake followed by a jump hook that completely froze Ibaka. His offensive skill and understanding is really impressive considering his age.

Despite being outscored 18-12 by Ibaka, he made a strong showing in his own right displaying the strength and athleticism to match up with Ibaka, plus a higher level of skill inside. Motiejunas also knocked down 2-3 from 3 showing off his range.

Mantas Kalnietis had a solid showing statistically, (13 pts, 5-8 fg) but overall his stock has fallen a long ways from where he was a few years ago after starting for the Lithuanian National team in the World Championships in Japan. He is very athletic but struggles to make good decisions as a lead guard. It will be a big surprise to see him get drafted even with an outstanding camp.

Vladimir Dasic led the Orange squad in scoring and looks a lot better than he did a year ago. His ability to get out on the break as well as slash to the basket make him a nice SF prospect. His length and athleticism give him a great shot to be drafted over the next two years.

Game 4 Team 3 (Black) 72 – Team 2 (Red) 68

Anton Ponkrashov‘s nightmare camp continues. After struggling through the first day, his second day in camp got even worse. He is at the point where he’s thinking about his shot every time and it has gone colder than Siberia in December. He was 2-11 and single handedly cut short the Red squad’s comeback attempt.

Regardless if he ever makes it over to the NBA, he’s already making a reported half a million per year playing for CSKA. But he appears extremely frustrated and just can’t buy a basket which is effecting his overall play.

When he would leave the game, Alexey Shved would take over the offense and the team was able to play much better. Shved had an impressive 18 points on 7-12 shooting (2-5 3p).

Belgium’s 1988 born Yannick Driesen had a nice showing with 12 points and continues to impress with his size and decent agility for a 1988 kid.

For the black squad. Ukraine’s 1988 shooting guard Oleksandr Kolchenko who is a Sarunas Marciulonis type of player went off for a game high 22 points.

He is an excellent scorer who uses his body strength well to create separation from defenders and knocks down mid range and outside shots.

Nenad Mijatovic who is listed at 6’5 but appears closer to 6’4 looked better today, playing more under control and focusing on playing team ball as opposed to being flashy. His 3 pointer in the closing minute effectively won the game for his team.

CSKA teammates Artem Zabelin and Semen Shashkov were solid for the victors with 9 and 8 points respectively. Zabelin looked better in day one, but continues to be active and show some nice skills around the basket. Shashkov has a lot of potential due to his huge frame and perimeter skills, but seems to float at times and should focus on aggressiveness.

Game 5 Reebok All Stars 87 – U20 French National Team 61

Henk Norel was the game’s high scorer with 17. He continues to be impressive running the court and using his great determination to score around the basket. He shot 8-10 from the field displaying an array of offensive skills.

He still has some filling out to do and his footwork looks a little sloppy, but he appears to be a guy that has an excellent shot to be drafted with the thought of leaving in Europe to watch him develop.

Vladimir Dasic was once again impressive with 16 to go with his earlier 15 in the first game of the set. He’s playing with more focus and confidence, and showed good toughness to shake off a blow to the head which gave him a small black eye and continue to battle in the game.

Oleksandr Kolchenko continued to find the bottom of the net with 13 on 5-9 shooting.

Serge Ibaka had just 8 in this one, coming down some from his previous 2 games. But he was very efficient on 4-5 shooting and grabbed 6 boards as well.

Rudy Mbemba, nicknamed the flash, Rudy always has some terrific highlight plays, although no highlight jams over anyone like last year when he had Baron Davis up out of his seat. Rudy started the game well using his incredible speed to blow by the French defenders, but hit a wild spell where he tried to be fancy and made some unnecessary turnovers. He finished with 9 points and 3 assists.

Vyacheslav Kravtsov had just 2 points for the Reebok allstars.

The French squad played a very exciting scrappy brand of ball, battling back from an early hole to pull close to even (20-17) by the end of the first quarter. They’re lack of shooters cost them by the end though as the Reebok All Stars had too many quality scorers for them to match up with.

For the French team 6-5 shooting guard Rudy Jomby impressive with his athleticism and strength finishing with a team high 12 points.

Word from camp director Pete Philo is that Nicolas Batum and Goran Dragic will join the camp on Monday (Day 3) and participate in games.

Camp Roster

(*Draft Eligible)

*1984
Ryan Read SG/PZG Concordia University

*1986
Roland Hendlein 6’9 Hungary
Mantas Kalnietis 6’5 Lithuania
Nikita Kourbanov 6’8 Russia
Manuchar Markoishvili 6’5 Rep of Georgia
Dusan Mladjen 6’5 Serbia
Anton Ponkrashov 6’7 Russia
George Tsintadze 6’4 Georgia
Sam Van Rossom 6’2 Belgium

1987
Fabian Causer 6’3 France
*Sergey Ilin 7’5 Russia
*Jonas Jerebko 6’9 Sweden
Jaka Klobukar 6’7 Slovenia
*Maxym Korniyenko 6’7 Ukraine
Vyacheslav Kravtsov 6’11 Ukraine
Johannes Lischka 6’8 Germany
*Rudy Mbemba 5’11 Sweden
Nenad Mijatovic 6’4 Montenegro
*Henk Norel 6’11 Holland
Ivan Paunic 6’4 Serbia
*Maxim Sheleketo 6’8 Russia
Vladimir Stimac 6’9 Serbia
Dimitris Verginis 6’4 Greece
*Ronalds Zakis 6’9 Latvia

1988
Vladimir Dasic 6’9 Serbia
Yannick Driesen 7’1 Belgium
Baris Hersek 6’9 Turkey
Marko Keselj 6’9 Serbia
Oleksandr Kolchenko 6’6 Ukraine
Maxim Krivosheev 6’9 Russia
Adrien Moerman 6’9 France
Alexey Shved 6’6 Russia
*Maxsym Vilkhovetskyi 6’3 Ukraine
Artem Zabelin 7’1 Russia

1989
Giannopoulos Charalambos 6’7 Greece
*Serge Ibaka 6’10 Congo
Edwin Jackson 6’3 France
Dusan Katnic 6’4 Serbia
*Luc Louves 6’9 France
Phillip Schwethelm 6’7 Germany
Semen Shashkov 6’9 Russia
*Giorgi Shermadini 7’1 Republic of Georgia

1990
Donatas Motiejunas 7’0 Lithuania
Jan Vesely 6’11 Czech Republic
Jakub Wojciechowski 6’11 Poland

1991
Nicolo Melli 6’9 Italy

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