[Anton123Participant]

First of all, my article on Dzanan Musa is up (big thanks to MickeyV for the help). What do you guys think of Musa and his projected range? He’s been low-key blowing up on the internet lately, being hyped as a lottery prospect.

Also, who has impressed you in the Eurobasket so far? I’ve got a couple observations on some NBA prospects based on what I’ve seen so far:

Isaiah Hartenstein — I still don’t understand why at least one team didn’t gamble on him earlier in the draft. He’s really raw, but he’s a 7’1” 250+lb 19 year old with a face up game. He came into the game against Lithuania and changed the whole dynamic for Germany by scoring, rebounding, and blocking shots. Kind of reminds me of a young Jusuf Nurkic, where he looks like a can’t miss prospect one minute and then completely useless the next. If he puts it all together, I think Hartenstein can be a very good starter in the NBA some day.

Arturas Gudaitis — he’s really grown into a huge human being. Not overly tall, but has really wide shoulders with a good deal of muscle, which makes him really stand out whenever he’s on the floor. Still seems a couple years away skill-wise though. His value right now is mosytly as a big who rebounds and hustles. He has some offensive moves and can pass, but often plays like a deer in the headlights, rushing shots or turning the ball over; on defense will sometimes commit unnecessary fouls and jump for fakes. Has been steadily improving though and might be one of those Euro guys that comes over to the NBA at around 27-28 and makes an instant impact.

Tonrike Shengalia — the Georgian forward is a jack of all trades master of none. He can shoot, but is extremely inconsistent; can post up, but doesn’t have any go-to moves (except for a little spin move to get away from his defender); can defend both forward spots, but isn’t elite in that field. Shengalia is a good passer and really excells at running the floor in transition, but I don’t think that’s enough to be an NBA player. He’s been terribly inconsistent at every level because he hasn’t figured out what kind of player he is. I know he’s just 25, but I have somewhat given up on him ever being an impact player in the NBA.

Hope these are interesting, will probably do some more write-ups on other guys I’ve watched later.

[Robb_CParticipant]

 Congrats! Good Write up.

[2quick4uParticipant]

personally i don’t agree at all with your thoughts on tornike shengelia, when you say he’s not an nba player; in fact i believe he’s one of the best euro prospects left that has more chances to get a contract sooner than later.

i do agree he is inconsistent with his 3 point shot, especially in this tournament, but still his overall FG% has been very good during his career, shooting an impressive FG 50% for the last 3 years in baskonia (spanish league), and +50% in 3P in the last 2 euroleagues.

Even in this tournament, as bad as he has shot from 3, he still has averaged 48.6% from the field which is pretty good considering he’s also averaged 19 pts/g. (also 8rb/3 ast/1 st).

i believe he has nba written all over his face and is ready to play 25 min for more than half teams in the league. At 6’9 and 240 pds with very good athleticism even for nba standarts the guy is so versatile he can start the offense, he is a very good passer, he can rebound, defend 3&4’s, score in many ways, he’s very dangerous in fastbreaks and transitions and is very very tough to stop in the post, if not ask kuzminskas or casspy..like you say he has that spin move when he attacks the baseline but has also delevoped the "dirk shot".

please watch these recent highlights against lithuania while being defended the whole game by kuzminskas and tell me he’s not an nba player: http://www.youtube.com/watch

aside from shengelia i think there are some players that could be interesting for nba teams:

– thanasis antetokounmpo: giannis older brother has had a very good year in andorra (spain) giving real madrid a very hard time in playoffs and has kept proving in this eurobasket that when given minutes, he’s a very interesting player.

at 6’7 he’s ultra athletic, more explosive than his brother and with unlimited energy, in fact he has to learn to control that energy; he can defend any player from 1 to 4 and is a great shot blocker for his size.

thanasis is like a 6’7 tony allen, so if an nba team needs a defensive stopper i wouldn’t hesitate to give him a chance, especially in today’s league where you have to defend players like lebron, durant, leonard, george or his brother.. He’s also been improving his 3p shot during the year.

he’s averaging 7’6 pts/2.6 rb/1.2 st/1.2 bl  in only 15 min/g.

– artem pustovyi: at 25 and 7’1 artem has had a slow development, but this year in obradoiro (spain) has made a big leap improving his numbers from 4.1 to 9.3 pts/g.

in this eurobasket he’s proving that same evolution and is averaging 17’6 pts/5’8 rb/1 st/ 1.6 bl + 73% FG/75% FT.

still a little raw and may be 2 years away from contributing to the nba, i think he’s a player to watch as he’s fastly improving now.

– adam hanga: he’s already 28, but i think after this year he’s ready to play 15-20 min for many teams in the league.

at 6’7 he’s a very tough defender and versatile G/F that only needs to be more consistent at the FT line.

he’s averaging 17’3 pts/3’8 rb/4’3 ast/1st/44% FG/2.5 3pm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Anton123Participant]

I don’t need to watch the highlights, I’ve watched that whole game. No question that game he was great, but then the next game he was 6/13 from the field and had 8 turnovers. That’s just what I was saying, when it’s all working for him — he looks great, but he can’t ever seem to put it together for more than 3 games in a row, and that goes for his play for Baskonia as well.

[Jr. ROXASParticipant]

Shengelia actually played for Brooklyn but that team was a dupster fire so I don’t think we saw his true NBA potential yet.

Anthony Randolph needs an NBA team. Playing in Europe erases a lot of bad habits for players from the US and I feel Randolph has really matured as a player playing for Real Madrid and Slovenia. Also in today’s NBA, he would fit right in as a small ball 4. He came in the NBA at the wrong time since tweeners were looked at so badly then.

Another player that needs another chance is Alexey Shved. I remember back then as a rookie for the Wolves he was tearing it up for a stretch, and was even being compared to Ginobili. He suddenley fell out of favor in Aldeman’s rotation the next year but from what I’ve seen, he can definitely ball in the NBA.

 

 

 

[Anton123Participant]

I don’t see anything special in Anthony Randolph, he doesn’t do a single thing very well and plays softly and lazily. He can be useful in Europe because of how much taller and quicker he is than eveybody there, but in the NBA he’ll be back to being the worst kind of tweener.

[OhCanada-Participant]

Lauri Markannen is proving all his haters (alot of them on this site) once again he is an elite talent. A few others would be Bogdan Bogdanovic, Bojan Bogdanovic, Adam Hanga and Cedi Osman.

I really hope Cedi Osman gets minutes in Cleveland but thats unlikely. Hopefully they trade him. 6’8 220 athletic, can shoot, pass, dribble defend. I really like him. Hes such an exciting player too watch. At the NBA I feel like he can play SG, SF and PF in the right situations.

Bogdan Bogdanovic is being slept on. This guy is a huge talent. I feel like hes Manu Ginobli 2.0. He will get a starting role with Sacramento immediatly and I expect him to average at least 13.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.5 apg his rookie year.

As for Bojan I never knew how good he really was until I watched him torch the Raps on Washington. He really is a complete player. Big body super skilled offensively. We may see him breakout with the Pacers this year.

 

 

 

 

[Robb_CParticipant]

 Lauri is just proving the talent level on the international level makes European prospects look ten times better, this kid played in college and was no where near as dominant.. you know why?! The defensive pressure and schemes were more complex.. Offensively he’s talented super quick shot but im waiting to see how he plays defense.. 

 

 

[GBeeParticipant]

 lol. thinking that college kids, still learning the game and fresh out of AAU ball play better defense than grown ass men, professionals. college defensive schemes aren’t more complex. they’re more gimmicky if anything, which can be gotten away with at lower levels bc kids dont really know how to play.

markkanen’s eurobasket run was impressive. big stage and he came up huge in pressurized situations. not only did he display the complimentary offensive skills of being able to shoot and having the ball skill to attack closeouts, but he also played with grit (some would argue borderline dirty) and effort defensively that people wouldn’t associate with euros.

as a bulls fan, he’s the only thing on the current roster i’m genuinely excited about.

 

[HitsterParticipant]

Bogdan will be interesting to watch with the Kings next season – ESPN have him listed as King’s 4th SG on depth chart but he’ll be higher than that or might even see minutes at SF perhaps.

We don’t know how the Kings will run their likely key backcourt rotation of Hill, Fox and Hield but I can see Bogdan getting a good 20mpg across the season. He may be an NBA rookie but he is 25 years old and far more experienced than the other younger Kings guys so I can see Dave Joerger giving him good playing time as a key bench guy.

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