[McDunkin]

http://www.europeanprospects.com/1992-born/guard-1992-born/rannar-raap/rannar-raapthe-youngest-top-scorer-europe/#more-1994

When going over the scorer rankings in Europe, you mostly see either US-born or other experienced players at the top. Not so in Estonia were the local EMKL league is having the youngest top scorer of a first division in Europe with Rannar Raap. The 1992 born player from Parnu currently averages 19.9ppg after 8 games and leads his extremely young team (the oldest player being born in 1987) to a 2-6 record.Rannar Raap – 1m88 – SG/PG – 1992 – Parnu

We had the chance to follow Raap on tape during the U18 European Championship of Division B 2010 with the Estonian National Team. They finished at a good 5th place which meant however a non-qualification for the A Division. Rannar Raap finished that tournament with 14.1ppg (49.3% 2FGs – 38.5% 3FGs – 63.8% FTs), 4.4rpg, 2.6apg and 2.4spg playing however only 26.5 minutes per game and having had some ups and downs during the event.

Rannar Raap is an athletically and physically strong combo-guard who likes to attack the basket hard with either hand. He likes to go on his left hand but prefers to finish on his stronger right hand. He has a real scorer mentality and always tries to go hard for the basket. With his good athletic skills, he can also go for the dunk in traffic despite his although limited height with only 1m88. When attacking the basket, Raap needs to improve the finish with the left hand as he does not feel really secure doing this when attacking the rim. He prefers to finish with the right hand or with both handed-layups from the left side.

Out of the dribble, he can also come up with the mid-range jump shot but his overall shooting skills are another part of his game that he needs to develop. His game is not really based on the long-distance shot at the moment; he only took 10 shots from behind the arc compared to 93 two-point field goal attempts in the first 8 games of the season. In order to become more effective, Raap needs to improve his shot accuracy and his mechanics in order to become more regular. He remembers me a bit of the young Marko Milic who was “over-muscled” and had problems to shot the ball correctly. This is particularly important for his free-throw shooting which he should be able to improve especially as he goes to the line very often. He averages more than 8FT attempts this season so far but could only connect 66.7% of his shots from the charity stripe.

 

 

Despite playing against professionals in the Estonian league, Raap is very present in the defensive rebound where he uses his good physical built and leaping abilities to grab nearly 5 boards per game. On the defensive end, the Parnu player has quick hands and gets a good amount of steals on the man. He finishes the breaks with nice two handed dunks as well. With his current scoring in the Estonian league, he should probably get offers from a larger team for next season. The move to a Baltic League Club is certainly the next step for him.

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