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Day two of the 2011 adidas Eurocamp was another long, eventful day. Add Chris Wallace to the list of GMs (Kevin O’Connor, Bryan Colangelo, RC Buford, Darryl Morray, Masai Ujiri, John Hammond, Dell Demps, and David Kahn) making what has to be a camp record 9 GMs that came over for the event. Larry Bird and Indiana cancelled due to rain delays.

A Star is Born

I’ve gotten a chance to see Mario Hezonja at three different events now in the past couple months (Jordan All American Classic, Final Four juniors in Barcelona and now here). And I will say he is probably the best 2-guard prospect to come out of Europe since Drazen Petrovic. Rudy Fernandez and Marco Belinelli weren’t even close to the talent or polished players that he is at 16 years of age. He’s certainly the most talented European guard prospect that I have seen in the 10 years I’ve been doing this. He’s playing against kids 3 years older than himself and making it look easy.

He began the game against the Under 19 Serbian Team with a quick three pointer and followed that up with a dunk on the break. He also made a nifty up and under move and stroked another pretty outside shot finishing with 17 points on 7-10 shooting. So much for jitters with 50 NBA scouts watching.

We’ll get a chance to see him again tomorrow but it appears he has eclipsed fellow Croatian wonder 6-10 small forward Dario Saric as the top European prospect of the next generation. 1992 has Jonas Valanciunas, but it doesn’t appear there is a better pro prospect in the years in between.

He can handle the ball, shoot from distance, plays with great intensity and is extremely athletic. If he were in the USA, he would be going into just his sophomore year and would easily be a top 3-5 player in his class. He’s that good. I’ll write more about him tomorrow.

Davis Bertans Workout

Davis Bertans agent had a much better strategy having him workout along with two other players, his brother Dairis Bertans and Janis Strelnieks. It allowed him to be less nervous with all of the scouts eyes not solely on him, as well as giving him time to recover after each dunk or jumpshot. He had a pretty good showing in the workout although I’m sure he would tell you he shot horribly. He started a little slow but eventually found a groove.

One assistant GM sitting next to me commented that he’s got "stiff hips" which is actually very accurate. He’s not a great athlete with slow feet and doesn’t run well but he has great length and can get off the floor and his bread and butter and what will likely give him a good chance to play in the NBA someday is his outside shooting, which ran hot and cold today but there’s no mistaking his tremendous form.

Bertans workout may not have really been all that much better than Biyombo and Motiejunas’ but there were a number of factors that made it seem that way. First, the guy who worked him out Kenny Atkinson had much better energy throughout the workout, being very vocal. The three players working out at once allowed Bertans to be less nervous and also spilt the attention. Bertans older brother Darjus (who actually shot even better than Davis) took some of the attention away from Davis’ missed shots.

Bertans then played in the camp all star game where he had a rough showing. He looked slow, didn’t shoot the ball well 0-6 from 3 and 3-13 overall. He got his shot blocked a few times and overall did not impress. He came in late and the long travel getting here may have had an affect on his performance. He had a few nice plays towards the end with a transition dunk and but based on this performance and his workout it appears highly unlikely that he will get any type of promise in the first round. Look for him to pull his name out and attempt to improve his draft stock in the future.

Day Two Impressions

Dwight Howard showed up with the [New Zealand] rugby team and did the All Blacks Haka war dance for the players and crowd at mid-court creating a huge buzz and a lot of entertainment. This guy is an ambassador for basketball and great energy! Absolutely one of the most charismatic superstars in any sport today. Howard is here and will be the guest speaker tomorrow.

Tomas Satoransky has established himself as the star of this year’s Eurocamp after two days. Although he struggled in the All Star game with just 4 points. He was extremely impressive the first day and in the morning game where he scored 18 points on 7-8 shooting, including 2-2 from 3 and 6 boards.

Augusto Lima has shown solid improvement from last year and has been one of the camp’s top players. He had 20 and 12 in the All Star game showing a solid blue collar type of post game.

Adam Hanga is a very solid athlete and showed his excellent body control converting on two impressive "and 1" plays where he finsihed after contact. He had an impressive showing in the all star game with 16 points including 2-4 from 3. He also had a game high 16 in the earlier game but shot just 5-13.

Boris Barac a 6-9 small forward on the Croatian team had 32 points in impressive fashion. He was one of the most athletic players on the floor and showed the ability to score in a variety of ways. He proved deadly from the 3 point arch knocking down a perfect 6-6 and 13-19 overall.

Bogdan Bogdanovic who was in the camp last year appeared to be the top prospect from the Serbian National team. He’s born in 1992 and shows good length and athleticism and put up solid numbers with 11 and 9 in their low scoring games. He had one impressive dunk going through the lane.

2 Years in a Row?

Last year after day two I predicted that not one player in the camp would be drafted in 2010, and that turned out to be correct. (Kevin Seraphin was drafted [18th by Washington] but he only came in for measurements and interviews and was not actually part of the camp).

Well, I’m going to go there again and say that I don’t think any of the kids that participated in the camp will be drafted in 2011. That is going out on a limb because if either Lucas Noguera or Bertans (who played today) stay in the draft, they will surely be selected. But I think pretty much all of the underclassmen participating here (Bertans, Lucas, Lavergne, Radosevic, Zubcic, Albicy) will end up pulling out of the draft tomorrow. The 1989 group likely won’t have a player drafted, with only Benzing, Hanga, Jackson and Kuzminskas drawing some interest.

It seems that the evaluation for NBA prospects at this camp has become more workout oriented or analyzing prospects for future years plus players coming in with their National teams (Mario Hezonja for example).

2011 adidas EUROCAMP Early Entry and Draft Eligible Participants

NAMEHEIGHTPOSITIONHOME COUNTRYTEAM 
Andrew Albicy5’10Point GuardFranceLEVALLOIS PARIS1990
Furkan Aldemir6’9ForwardTurkeyP. KARSIYAKA1991
Dogus Balbay6’1Point GuardTurkeyTEXAS (USA)1989
Robin Benzing6’10ForwardGermanyULM1989
Dairis Bertans6’4GuardLatviaVEF RIGA1989
Sarra Camara6’9CenterFranceLE HAVRE1989
Antonie Diot6’3Point GuardFranceLE MANS1989
Bangaly Fofana7’0CenterFranceASVEL VILLEURBANNE1989
Angel Garcia6’11CenterPuerto RicoUNICAJA MALAGA1989
Adam Hanga6’7ForwardHungaryALBACOMP1989
Edwin Jackson6’3GuardFranceASVEL VILLEURBANNE1989
Dimitry Khvostov6’3Point GuardRussiaDYNAMO MOSCOW1989
Manolis Koukoulas6’11CenterGreeceILISIAKOS1991
Mindaugas Kuzminskas6’8ForwardLithuaniaZALGIRIS KAUNAS1989
Denys Lukashov6’3GuardUkraineBUDIVELNYK1989
Joffrey Lauvergne6’10ForwardFranceCHALON1990
Lucas Nogueira7’0CenterBrazilESTUDIANTES MADRID1992
Leon Radosevic6’11CenterCroatiaCIBONA ZAGREB1990
Janis Strelnieks6’3GuardLatviaVENTSPILS1989
Abdel Kader Sylla6’9CenterSeychelloisNANCY1990
Tomislav Zubcic6’10ForwardCroatiaCIBONA ZAGREB1990


2011 adidas EUROCAMP Next Generation Participants

NAMEHEIGHT]POSITIONHOME COUNTRYTEAM 
Dusan Cantekin7’4CenterTurkeyMEGA VIZURA BELGRADE1990
Linos Chrysikopoulos6’9ForwardGreeceARIS THESSALONIKI1992
Samuel Deguara7’4CenterMaltaBENETTON TREVISO1991
Branislav Djekic6’9ForwardSerbiaMEGA VIZURA BELGRADE1991
Joseph Franch6’5Point GuardSpainDKV JOVENTUT1991
Alessandro Gentile6’5GuardItalyBENETTON TREVISO1992
Patrick Heckmann6’5GuardGermanyLANGEN1992
David Jelinek6’5GuardCzech RepublicDKV JOVENTUT1990
Alberto Jodar6’9ForwardSpainREAL MADRID1991
Ilkan Karaman6’9ForwardTurkeyTOFAS BURSA1990
Paul Lacombe6’5GuardFranceASVEL VILLEURBANNE1990
Rasmus Larsen7’0ForwardDenmarkVAERLOSE1994
Augusto Lima6’10CenterSpainUNICAJA MALAGA1991
Rasid Mahalbasic6’11CenterAustriaFENERBAHCE ULKER ISTANBUL1990
Andreja Milutinovic6’7GuardSerbiaFMP BELGRADE1990
Dejan Musli7’0CenterSerbiaCAJA LABORAL VITORIA1991
Nemanja Nedovic6’4Point GuardSerbiaRED STAR BELGRADE1991
Raul Neto6’1Point GuardBrazilPITAGORAS/MINAS1992
Phillip Neumann6’11CenterGermanyBROSE BAMBERG1992
Nikos Pappas6’4Point GuardGreeceKOLOSSOS RHODOS1990
Sertac Sanli6’10CenterTurkeyGALATASARAY1991
Joan Sastre6’7ForwardSpainCAJASOL SEVILLE1991
Tomas Satoransky6’5Point GuardCzech RepublicCAJASOL SEVILLE1991
Kostantinos Sloukas6’5Point GuardGreeceARIS THESSALONIKI1990
Leo Westermann6’6Point GuardFranceASVEL VILLEURBANNE1992


Workout/Interviews Only

Bismack Biyombo6’9CenterRepublic of CongoFUENLABRADA1992
Nihad Djedovic6’6Shooting GuardBosnia & HerzegovinaBENETTON TREVISO1990
Donatas Motiejunas6’11ForwardLithuaniaBENETTON TREVISO1990
Jonas Valanciunas6’11CenterLithuaniaRYTAS1992

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11 Comments

  1. Settle down Aran

     Mario is definitely a temendous talent, but after 1 game you already put him ahead of Darijo Saric?.  Lets not forget Mario is a streak shooter and needs the ball in his hands to be successful.  Darijo can play with in the "team" game and still be quite effective.  He reminds me of a younger Toni Kukoc.  Lets not forget that Mario recently put up this gem of a game about 2 weeks ago…http://www.crohoops.com/?p=1637…26pts 22rebs is a heck of a game, no question, but 0-16 from 3 point range is down right dreadful not to mention he needed almost 50 shots to get his points.

    • It hasn’t been just 1 game

      Paradigmn is English your first language?  He clearly states that he has seen Mario several times here:

      I’ve gotten a chance to see Mario Hezonja at three different events now in the past couple months (Jordan All American Classic, Final Four juniors in Barcelona and now here).

      In addition Saric was part of the Final Four Juniors in Barcelona and the Nike Hoop Summit.  So he obviously has seen both play more than 1 game.

      Now your opinon that Saric is better than Mario may be valid but for you to imply he has only seen him play once makes me wonder if English is your second language.

  2. lol…THAT DUDE

     He saw three games…seems like the third game is the charm for the evaluation of MARIO as the best European prospect out there…my point was there are some games people DONT know about thus the 0-16 game from 3 point range….and English is my second language….ADIOS BENDEJO!!!

  3. Zubcic, Lucas N. and

     Zubcic, Lucas N. and Laveurgne are all worth picks in this years draft.  Especially Zubcic and Laveurgne who are extremelly underrated prospects.  While neither should get a first round promise both should no doubt get a second round promise from smart teams.

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