The FIBA U19 World Championships have started this week in New Zealand and we had not that many surprises so far as all the big teams from Europe and the Americas have qualified for the next round. So I chose to take a closer look at one of the intruders to the Final round that was a total unknown to me before: Kazakhstan. So far, Anton Ponomarev was the only player I knew from that country as he played an interesting Reebok Eurocamp in Treviso. He was not a member of the team in New Zealand as he was born in 1988 and this tournament was setup for the 1990 and younger players.

The first name that you want to check of course is the one of Alexandr Zhigulin who is the youngest player of the tournament. Zhigulin, who already has a Jordan Brand Classic participation in his resume is born on the 26th of April 1994 which makes him 4 years young than the competition. And when you see his face, you know that this date is not fake, this kid is really that young. However, you may be surprised how he acts on the court as he looks already pretty mature in his decision making and a major part of his game is based on positioning. He has been officially listed at 2m02 but he looks a bit taller on the court as he shows an interesting wingspan and a still very thin body which is of course a sign of his youth.

Offensively, he lives a lot from pick-and-roll or high-low situations as he plays most of the minutes on the PF position while his future probably is more as a SF. He has very good hands and he can develop an interesting 3pt shot in the future. He takes most of his offensive plays in the paint right now but he takes the occasional three when open. When you consider that he is 4 years younger than the rest of the team, you really don’t see it when he is on the court. He is so far the team’s third best scorer with 11.6ppg and 5.3rpg at great shooting percentages of 52.2%.

The most consistent player of the Kazakh team right now is the SF Alexandr Tyutyunik. The 1m98 tall player is the top scorer of Kazakhstan and the third best scorer of the tournament so far. Additionally, Tyutyunik is probably the best three point shooter of the tournament. He can fire the ball easily from three point land and has range up to 1.5m approximately behind the arc. His best shot is the catch-and-shoot like from 45 degrees on the wing. When he gets the ball and has the necessary space, he nets it with good percentages.

He can also create his own shot out of the dribble despite not being the fastest or the most athletic guy on the court. He looks pretty under control in what he does even if he sometimes tries too much to create for himself. He can drive with the basketball and prefers to go to the left where he can stop hard and go up for a perfect jump shot.

On the other hand, Tyutyunik has some trouble when it comes to play defense. He is pretty slow laterally when he tries to defend his opponent and you can see him get beat quite often. He does not look like being in perfect shape and there is probably some improvement possible on the physical part of his game. However, his feet look pretty slow and there is probably his biggest weakness when it comes to upside in his game. What is more surprising though is that he is a decent shot blocker for a player of his size. His stats so far after the first three games: 21.3ppg (46.3% FG 55.6% 3FG 100% FT), 7.3rpg, 3.0topg and 1.6bpg.

The third player I want to mention is Anton Arsenyev. He had his best game of the tournament when it was the most important; against the host in order to qualify for the next round. The 1m95 tall guard scored 27pts at 69% going for some very difficult shots and making them. Born in 1991, Arsenyev had not a great tournament until that game so his outcome against New Zealand is difficult to consider as you don’t know if this was a one-shot or if his two previous games were just mediocre.

In this game against New Zealand, Arsenyev displayed great scoring skills, especially from behind the arc. He netted some open threes in the beginning and gained the necessary confidence to try more difficult shot which he made too. You could see him go for a tough three pointer out of the dribble or cross over dribble that opened him completely to get a mid range Jumper. His shot is a bit in front of his face so that he struggles to shot over a defender despite having a really quick release. His confidence level was so high that he went for some fancy stuff too like a nice behind the back no look pass in the break that gave his team mate an open dunk.

His decision making is a bit questionable at this moment but this can be considered as the result of his great game. The thing was that despite taking some bad choices on offense, all of them turned into a basket and the negative effect of it was not there. I speak here of difficult passes or quick shots in the crunch time. It will be interesting to see how he plays the next games as the opposition will get stronger and we will see if he can continue on this level or if his game is just suited to play against smaller teams like New Zealand.

Highlights of the Kazakh Games:

against New Zealand

against Argentina

After having discussed the NBA prospects in Treviso, I take a closer look at the other players present in Treviso that may be NBA candidates in the next years or stay in Europe.

Let’s start this report with Pablo Aguilar, not only because he was one of the best players in the tournament but because he is the first one in the alphabetical order. After having seen him several times in the ACB this season, I was however quite surprised how well he did in this setting, being more of a hard working player. First of all, you recognize a very interesting body structure with a nice wingspan (216cm versus 203cm size) and a large shoulders.

The main offensive weapon of Aguilar is his great jump shot which he can hit from around the key pretty well. His baseline shot looks very easy and he has range up to the NBA three point line. He has also a good presence in the rebound and is not afraid to dribble out and go coast to coast. He recognizes the game very well and knows how to get his team mates open with pass fakes for example. He knows what he does on court and looks like playing always under control. His season in Granada helped him to develop into a very interesting prospect. He should stay one more year with his current team in order to gain even more playing time on the ACB level before he can start to be a contributor in the Euroleague

One of the players that I really wanted to see was the Hungarian G/F Adam Hanga. Hanga showed an interesting combination of speed, athletic abilities and basketball skills. Being pretty aggressive on the court, Hanga can handle the ball pretty well and likes to drive to the basket. During stretches, he took the ball to play PG for his team which he did quite well. His great speed helps him to beat shorter players on the drive where he can go for the dunk over the defense or finish for example with a floater, also over taller players.

The main problem is however his jump shot which needs some development. His relatively slow mechanics and a shooting setup with the ball in front of his face don’t give him the possibility right now to arm his shot against aggressive defenders. It will be interesting to see what is Hanga up to next year, if he stays in Hungary or not. First of all, he will try to give some good impressions during the U20 European Championship B Division in Skopje this summer.

The only Lithuanian player in the camp was Mindaugas Kuzminskas from Siauliai. The athletic wing player showed some interesting aspects, good fakes and a nice range, when he is open. He is working well in the offensive rebound despite not being that big or tall. His jumping abilities help him in that area though and his correct speed and ball handling are reason why his drive is one of his best options at the moment.

Carl Ona Embo showed some nice flashes of his offensive scoring talent. Being not that tall with only 1m83, Ona Embo needs to become a better play maker if he wants to have role going further than the scoring guard. He can hit the three pointer in series, also out of the dribble but he struggles in his passing technique as you could see him several times going for too high or too low dishes out of his drives.

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Nikos Pappas was definitely not in his best days in Treviso. You could not see any improvement in his most to be improved parts of the game, athleticism and ball handling under pressure. However, you still have here a player with a terrific understanding of the game. He can drive pretty well despite looking very slow. Out of these penetrations, he can score on the layup correctly but he is more active in creating spaces for his team mates or drawing fouls to go to the line.

Another player that drew a lot of attention was the Kazakh PF/C Anton Ponomarev. The probably best player ever coming from Astana struggled a bit in the beginning to adjust his game to a level that he has never played against. Ponomarev showed a very good jump shot for a guy of his size (2m09) and also displayed an interesting but still to be developed back to the basket game. His court vision and understanding is overdeveloped and you could see him check around what the current game situation is.

His jump shot is at the moment his strongest asset, nailing with high accuracy around the key but also a potential good three point threat. He is very aggressive on the court, fights a lot and is on every hot situation to dive for the ball or to tip the ball away. With his move to Hyères-Toulon where he signed a four year contract, he should develop pretty well over the next years as the level of competition he faces will be a lot higher than in his current situation.

Tomas Satoransky was clearly one of the most talented players in the whole camp. The Czech forward, that can also play guard and even Point Guard, showed an incredible feel for the game, great athletic abilities and an above average scoring will. Even if his shot is a bit unstable which is probably the result of an underdeveloped body at the moment, Satoransky can hit the ball from all around the court when he is open. When he gets defended harder, his shooting mechanics are not that great anymore and his shot looks more like throwing the ball to the rim.

However, Satoransky was really impressive when driving to the basket as he could finish extremely well when being close to the basket. He showed great jumping abilities and hammered down one of the best dunks of the three days with a huge put back against the whole defense. Satoransky ran the show for the team he played and his big time talent was one of the major discussion points during the camp. It is not a big surprise that Cajasol Sevilla signed him according to several reports and he is supposed to make an immediate impact in the ACB right from next year.

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Alexey Shved is already a regular participant to the Reebok Eurocamp, but he did not show that much of a development since last year. However, his upper body looked a lot stronger. He is a great scorer when his shot is falling and his jump shot looks so easy and nice from any distance. Shved should finally get playing time with CSKA next season and after that, it will be interesting to see what level he can reach. He seems to recognize now better when to stop shooting and switching in his role to be a PG, a problem that was present the previous years. He is still one of the most interesting players in Europe right now.

To finish the report, let’s take a look at the Russian Center Artem Zabelin. He gained more than 10kg this season which was totally lost for him because of a severe injury. In general, Zabelin did not look like he has lost anything in his basketball talent, his jump shots look impressive for a player of his size and in defense, he excels in shot blocking. On the other hand, he is not that explosive as a player and he did not really showed polished move in the low post.

With the NBA Draft in the books, the excitement will continue throughout the summer with the different European Youth Championships. Europeanprospects.com will be present in Metz for the U18 Division A tournament as well as in Kaunas for the U16 Division A competition. Here we go for a first preview on the U20 and the U18 European championships to be played in July.

U20 European Championships

The A Division Tournament will be played in Rhodos from 16th to 26th July. So it is just enough time to bring in the most talented players of the U19 World Championship that is played in New Zealand from 2nd to 12th of July. A team that is probably hurt by the absence of these players the most is Lithuania as major players of the U20 preliminary squad also compete in New Zealand: Donatas Motiejunas, Vytenis Cizauskas and Tautvydas Slezas. The main competition the Lithuanians will face in their qualification group will probably by Turkey. The Turkish team is led by the US bound Dogus Balbay (Texas) and Deniz Kiliçli (West Virginia) and will get the necessary scoring support of Melih Mahmutoglu.

Spain is as always considered as a medal contender because they can built strongly on the core of last year’s team, except top player Victor Claver of course. But the emergence of players like Pablo Aguilar or the newly added Spanish passport player Mamadou Samb give the team of coach Aranzana an interesting front court. The main opposition in their group comes probably from Russia that have won the prestigious Domegge tournament last week. PG Dimitry Khvostov and SF Semen Shashkov may the most prominent names but scoring guard Maxim Grigoryev had some interesting games in Italy and may be one of the surprises in Greece.

Group B will be very interesting with Greece, Italy and France in it. Greece will miss their most interesting players as they compete in NZ with the U19 team.  Italy has a competitive team without an outstanding star in this generation while France is probably really competitive as they  have a very interesting core of players in the 1989 generation around Thomas Heurtel, Antoine Diot or Kevin Seraphin. Another interesting player in their preliminary squad is Wyoming-bound  Amath M’Baye who raised some eyebrows during the Douai tournament 2008 with the Adidas Nations Africa Team.

Probably one of the strongest groups is D with Serbia, Croatia, Ukraine and Germany. While Serbia will be built around Milan Macvan, Dusan Katnic and Stefan Stojacic and is probably a serious title contender, the surprise may come from Germany that will be in Rhodos with their highly talented 1989 generation around Tibor Pleiss, Elias Harris and Robin Benzing. For Croatia, it will depend which players from the 1990 generation will join the team after the WC in New Zealand.

In the B division, that will be played in Skopje, the most interesting teams will be most likely Georgia around Giorgi Shermadini and Nika Metreveli or the Czech Republic with Jan Vesely.

U18 European Championships

The Division A will be played in Metz/France from 23rd July to the 2nd August. The tournament looks really interesting with a high number of talented players. Group A immediately has some very talented squads like the Czech Republic around Tomas Satoransky, a Serbian team that will be led by Center Dejan Musli and France that will try to use the home advantage to win a medal. The French team just came of three wins against Germany in their preparation phase and will try to confirm their strong tournament in Vilagarcia in April. Finally Slovenia will feature their scoring guard Mirza Sarajlija but will probably lack the necessary inside guys to be competitive.

In the 2nd group, Spain looks like the strongest team displaying some promising players like Alberto Jodar or the 1992 born Joan Tomas or Miguel Servera. They can check their current playing level against Germany as both teams meet in Spain for a double test next weekend. Germany looks interesting in this group too despite the absence of Niels Giffey because of a Mononucleosis. The team will probably be very young with several 1992 born players around the massive Philipp Neumann. Croatia will also compete for the top position in this group with Toni Prostran or Ivan Batur being the leaders of the team. Ukraine will feature Andriy Lebedintsev as defensive and scoring leader.

Turkey will bring a real title contender to France this year with Enes Kanter, Maxim Can Mutaf or Furkan Aldemir to name just some of the players. They showed their playing level recently by winning the Baltic Cup in Latvia and beating the hosts, Estonia and Lithuania. They will play Latvia again in France but will also meet Greece and Bulgaria.While Bulgaria showed in the two recent defeats against Israel that they probably won’t be too big of a contender, Greece and Latvia will probably fight for the 2nd spot in the group.

The last group is composed of Israel, Italy, Lithuania and Russia. The Lithuanians will be built around their aggressive back court players Augustas Peciukevicius, Mantas Kadzevicius and wings Osvaldas Matulionis while the inside play will be done by Jonas Valanciunas. Despite their defeats in the Baltic Cup against Turkey and more badly Estonia, Lithuania should be able to reach the medal round this July. But they need first to overcome an Italian team featuring some interesting talent like Alessandro Gentile, Riccardo Moraschini or Simone Centanni. Italy will however miss two of their best players in Nicolo Melli and Tommaso Ingrosso due to injuries. Russia is more or less unknown to me.

The B Division tournament will be played in Sarajevo. Estonia made some statements in the preparation by beating Latvia and Lithuania with their very balance squad around Martin Dorbek and 1992 born Rannar Raap. Georgia is always interesting to see especially if they bring Toko Shengelia.Bosnia Herzegovina will be another team to follow because of Miralem Halilovic who showed his talent in Treviso one month ago. Switzerland may win some more games this year as their strongest players are from the talented 1992 born generation around Stefan Petkovic and Jonathan Kazadi while a nice surprise may come from Iceland that dominated the recent Nordic Championships behind Haukur Palsson performances.

With the NBA Draft being held at the Madison Square Garden this Thursday, I go for a quick check of the most interesting European Draft candidates for the year 2009.

Christian Eyenga (1m95 – G – 1989 – DKV Joventut Badalona)

Eyenga did not see that much minutes with DKV Joventut Badalona through out the season. So at a first look, his presence here may be a surprise. The move behind this is however that Eyenga wants to go either undrafted or for a 2nd round spot which would give him more opportunities when being able to move to the NBA one day. First of all, he needs to crack the rotation of Joventut though.

Current mocks: Draftexpress #56 – NBA Draft.net undrafted

Rodrigue Beaubois (1m86 – G – 1988 – Cholet Basket)

Beaubois showed his great combination of athleticism and basketball skills at the Reebok Eurocamp. His shooting remains however a bit suspect at the moment even he has made a great move forward in that area this season. He has definitely nice upside but I have some doubts about his abilities to turn into a PG in the future. The team that will draft him will get a scoring guard with great athletic abilities.

Draftexpress #30 – NBA Draft.net #50

Nando de Colo (1m94 – G – 1987 – Cholet Basket)

Still being listed at more than 2m by some outlets, the guard from Cholet has been officially measured at 1m94 without shoes in Treviso. This does not take away from him his great creativity and passing skills that make him on of the most interesting PG prospects in Europe. He has already signed a deal with Pamesa Valencia according to different reports so that there is the possibility to park for a year or two in Europe. Lacks the athletic potential of Beaubois but has a great shot out of the dribble with a quick release.

Draftexpress #54 – NBA Draft.net undrafted

Omri Casspi (2m04 – F – 1988 – Maccabi Tel Aviv)

The Israeli forward has impressed quite a lot of people during his workouts with his toughness. He got used to play physically by getting lots of minutes with a Euroleague powerhouse. His good speed helped him to beat his man of the dribble in Europe but is this enough for the NBA when his shot does not fall? He looks currently as one of the most promising wings of the draft and he may be the first Israeli player to get drafted and actually play in the NBA.

Draftexpress #26 – NBA Draft.net #23

Henk Norel (2m12 – F/C – 1987 – DKV Joventut Badalona)

Norel was hyped a lot more one year ago and several minor injuries have slowed down his development this year. You have here a hard working big guy who can run the floor extremely well and is a fighter in the paint. He has a very nice shot from outside which he does not use that much for the moment but that gives him interesting offensive potential. Despite showing good athletic abilities, he needs to gain some weight in order to have an impact in the NBA.

Draftexpress #55 – NBA Draft.net undrafted

Milenko Tepic (1m98 – G – 1987 – Partizan Belgrade/Panathinaikos Athens)

The Serbian guard is not what you call a typical NBA prospect. Still he remains eligible due to his age but I doubt that any team will go after him especially as he has signed a deal with Panathinaikos Athens a few weeks ago. Tepic is a tall guard who can play all the 1-2-3 positions. He is a correct athlete but his main asset is his versatility and he has become a correct shooter from behind the three point line.

Draftexpress undrafted – NBA Draft.net #57

Emir Preldzic (2m06 – F – 1987 – Fenerbahce Ülker Istanbul)

The SF from Fenerbahce had a nice run in the middle of the season for his team. He displays excellent ball handling skills and creativity for a player of his size, something that made his coach play him as a PG during stretches. Currently, he is not really considered as a NBA prospect as his game and physical abilities translate more into the Euroleague type of basketball.

Draftexpress undrafted – NBA Draft.net undrafted

Gasper Vidmar (2m10 – C – 1987 – Fenerbahce Ülker Istanbul)

Vidmar has not seen the same development than Preldzic with Fenerbahce. Vidmar plays the Center position and his statistical progression has stopped this year in the Euroleague. This has of course not helped him to improve his draft stock and most of the observers don’t see a future for him in the NBA right now.

Draftexpress undrafted – NBA Draft.net undrafted

Victor Claver (2m04 – F – 1988 – Pamesa Valencia)

The Spanish forward had his season shortened by a broken leg but he is however in the Draft this year. His newly signed deal with Pamesa Valencia indicates also why he has chosen this option, getting drafted below the first round in order to be able to sign an open deal with a NBA team when he ever joins the league. He has the tools to do so but the next season in Spain will show how strong he can come back after this year.

Draftexpress #33 – NBA Draft.net #24

Sergio Llull (1m90 – G – 1987 – Real Madrid)

The Spanish guard showed a great season this year and he may end up in the Draft this week. Llull has tremendous speed and leaping abilities for a European player and his three point shot has made some interesting breaks for Real Madrid this season. His is very present in defense and offensively can create a lot of scoring in shots stretches. He may become a very interesting role player for a NBA team that creates the right situation for him.

Draftexpress #42 – NBA Draft.net #44

Ricky Rubio (1m92 – G – 1990 – DKV Joventut Badalona)

The top European talent in this Draft and even for the whole decade is Ricky Rubio. Everything has been said about the Spanish phenomenon already; great defensive instincts, fantastic drive and creativity and difficulties to shot out of the dribble. The question that remains is if Rubio will be able to lead a NBA team at his young age.

Draftexpress #4 – NBA Draft.net #2

Jonas Jerebko (2m06 – F – 1987 – Angelico Biella)

The Swedish forward has developed into a very interesting player over the last years. Being 2m06 tall and playing the SF, he has all the tools to be successful in the NBA. He has grown step by step by concentrating on his role, long distance shooting and aggressiveness attacking the basket. Jerebko may stay another year in Europe though to progress with a Euroleague team before joining the NBA.

Draftexpress #29 – NBA Draft.net #28

Rudy Mbemba (1m81 – G – 1987 – Vanoli Soresina)

The tiny PG is the second Swedish player that is available for the NBA Draft this year. He has been a player observed for years now and still the doubts remain if he can ever develop enough to be a player to be asked to run the PG. His outstanding athletic abilities are a major asset for him in Europe but don’t make him that special in the United States.  His decision making and shooting selection has improved this year but is it enough to see a team make a gamble on him?

Draftexpress undrafted – NBA Draft.net undrafted

Sergiy Gladyr (1m96 – G – 1988 – Mykolaiv)

The Ukrainian sharp shooter had one of the better showing during the Reebok Eurocamp which probably was the reason for him to stay in the Draft. Being represented by Comsport as agency is probably another reason as the team around Bouna N’Diaye is known for getting players in the right light to be drafted. Gladyr is a great scoring guard with interesting athletic capabilities but who has currently a certain lack of experience of high level basketball as he only played for a medium-level Ukrainian team.

Draftexpress #49 – NBA Draft.net #48

Vyacheslav “Slava” Kravtsov (2m12 – C – 1987 – BC Kyiv)

The Ukrainian Center may have a decent chance to hear his name called on Thursday as he offers a good physical built and jumping abilities to play as a role player in the NBA. He can make the difference with his rebound and shot blocking on the defense end while his offensive game is still improving.

Draftexpress #60 – NBA Draft.net #52

Here we go for the second part of Hippo’s review on the Nordic Championships 2009 with the report on the U16 tournament.

Absolutely the best team in Nordic U16 championship tournament was the host, Sweden. Swedes manhandled their opponents with an average margin of +24,8 points. The only close game for Sweden in the whole tournament was their 66-61 escape over Finland.

It seems that Swedish age group of 1993 has the potential to produce some quality players in the future. Sweden plays disciplined team basketball to go with several tricky trap defenses, and they both have the role players and the potential stars to take this age group very far away in the youth championship games to follow. Tobias Borg (179 cm, 1993, Södertälje Kings) does steady job at the point guard position, not doing anything flashy but getting the ball right where he wants it to be and organizing the team offence vocally pretty well. Center William Asplund (203 cm, 1993, Södertälje Kings) had pretty much of a roller coaster tournament, but nobody failed to notice he moves well for a big man and he had a nice touch from the inside. Marcus Eriksson (191 cm, 1993, Uppsala) played the role of the pure shooter and he seemed to sink a dozen long range bombs in a row when he got it going, including his 6-of-11 3pt shooting against Finland. Big man Nicholas Spires (205 cm, 1994, Södertälje Kings) looked raw but everybody could tell he has serious upside; even though his stat lines weren’t anything special, he had some moments of brilliance.

By far the best and most promising player in the tournament was Sweden’s Jonathan Person (189 cm, 1993, Uppsala). Person was able to play both guard positions as well as small forward, and if he keeps growing, we might have a Scottie Pippen case here. Person seems to have it all; scoring, good timing, basketball IQ, strength and even defense when it was most needed (although in blowout victories against Norway, Denmark and Iceland it seemed that Person didn’t really care about D). Person managed to fill stat sheets in nearly every game, like his 21-point, 10-rebound, 8-assist night against Iceland, 28-point, 6-rebound, 5-assist, 3-block performance against Denmark and whopping 20 points, 8 rebounds and 15 (!!!) assists in the tournament final. The best thing about Person is that he seems to be a fellow with good head on his shoulders, always willing to learn more and learn from his mistakes. I wouldn’t wonder if some colleges would already be after him.

Denmark lost to Sweden twice in the tournament and the final wasn’t even close, but silver medals were a good reward for this hard-working team. It’s hard to name dominant individuals from the Danish team, but point guard Christian Benzon (187 cm, 1993, SISU) has the most ready game at this level. Benzon is a prototype scoring guard, willing to drive the lane and take the contact. At his best, Benzon seemed unstoppable, but with good defenses surrounding him, he tended to get frustrated after just two or three misses. Most important names in the supporting cast for Danes were forwards Frederik Rungby (196 cm, 1993, Horsens) and Kevin R. Larsen (201 cm, 1993, Stevnsgade). These guys weren’t exactly oozing with potential, but they played fairly good fundamental basketball and finished from inside with good percentages. Rungby is very developed for a big guy his age and he had a field day, 22 points and 13 rebounds, against Finnish interior defense and he seemed to snatch a rebound whenever he wanted. Larsen was more of an old-school pivot who scored his baskets after Benzon forced Larsen’s defenders to help or after offensive rebounds.

Bronze medals went to team Iceland. It’s pretty early to say anything about this group of Iceland players, since at times it seemed that the court was filled with 185 cm tall guys who play fundamental team defense and shoot as many three pointers as possible. Team offence was orchestrated by tiny point guard Valur Orri Valsson (178 cm, 1994, Njardvik), who was excellent handling the ball and finding open shooters, even though he was also a bit too willing to take his own shot. The most impressive player in team Iceland was Kristofer Acox (194 cm, 1993, KR), son of an American basketball player, who dropped some jaws with his athleticism. Acox ran the floor very well, set some vicious picks and slammed down some thunderous dunks from fast breaks. Acox also showed his rebounding potential by dragging down nine rebounds in the first quarter against Finland. Acox has a lot of room to improve, though; his offensive arsenal was very limited, his strength and physicality forced him to foul trouble and for some periods he just seemed to wait for a fast break to happen instead of focusing on defense. Despite that, Acox could become a good professional player some day.

Team Finland finished fourth, although the team is much better than their positioning shows. Finns were pretty much one minute away from beating Sweden and their bronze game against Iceland was their third game in 24 hours. There were no clear stars in Team Finland in this age group. Slick floor general Mikko Jämsä (180 cm, 1993, JKS) was the heart and soul of his team, point forward Ilari Seppälä (188 cm, 1993, Kouvot) impressed with his all around game, Kalle Naapi (187 cm, 1993, Honka) filled the scorer’s role and old school pivot man Daniel Dolenc (202 cm, 1993, EBT) played well whenever not in foul trouble. The two most interesting names in Finnish roster were big men Joonas Caven (203 cm, 1993, Pyrintö) and Mikael Herbert (200 cm, 1993, Korihait), the son of pro coach Gordon Herbert. Caven is physically extremely raw and he struggled mightily trying to defend more developed big men in other teams, but his array of spin moves, pump fakes and drives make him one of the most talented offensive big men from Finland in ages. Herbert, on the other hand, has played organized basketball for less than six months, but everybody could see that his timing and the way he reads the game were special.

Dead last in the five-team competition was Norway. Norwegians didn’t have much of a chance against any team and naming any pro prospects in this team is difficult. Stat-wise, Adrian Schonning (188 cm, 1993, Froya) was the most effective player in his team and Chris-Ebou Ndow (191 cm, 1993, Gimle) rebounded well and blocked some shots, but this team does have a long way to go.

And just to remind you, the first Scandinavian to ever play in the NBA was indeed Norwegian – 206 cm Torgeir Bryn played three games with the LA Clippers in 1989/1990. Bryn retired after playing for Aris Thessaloniki in 1999/2000. Bryn played some games in the Norwegian league for Ammerud Basket in 2007/2008.

written by Hippo

Official All-Tournament team
Christian Benzon (Denmark)
Mikko Jämsä (Finland)
Jonathan Persson (Sweden)
Kristofer Acox (Iceland)
William Asplund (Sweden)

Hippo has sent us a great report on the Nordic Championships that have been played nearly a month ago in Solna, Sweden. Enjoy the read and get the info on the most talented players coming from Scandinavia.

Hundreds of three points shots, speedy guards, rail-thin centers, lack of physical play and some undeniable talent was the recipe for the 2009 Nordic Games in Solna, Sweden. Best young players of Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Norway gathered to the home arena of Swedish league runner-up, Solna Vikings, to battle for Nordic championship. Even though Nordic Countries rarely develop world-class talent, guys such as Jon Stefansson, Petteri Koponen, Rudy Mbemba, Jonas Jerebko and Christian Drejer have shown that some talent comes out of North occasionally. Here’s a brief recap of Nordic Games, including standings, key stats and some brief scouting. Yours truly didn’t have the chance to focus purely on scouting, but these notes should give you a glimpse.

U18 Boys (1991-1992)

1. Iceland
2. Finland
3. Norway
4. Sweden
5. Denmark

Even though Finland and Sweden played the tournament without their most potential future pros (Sasu Salin, FIN and Andreas Person, SWE), it can be stated without hesitation that Iceland was indeed the ultimately best TEAM in the Nordic Games. Iceland played mature team basketball. Iceland ran a good array of set plays arranged by their pint-sized, but good-headed point guard Aegir Thor Steinarsson (176 cm, 1991, Fjölni). Iceland sank their three point shots with unbelievable percentages at times and while their opponents had to concentrate on covering jump shooters like Haukur Oskarsson (193 cm, 1991, Haukar) and Tomas Tomasson (188 cm, 1991, Haukar), center Sigurdur Thorarinsson (200 cm, 1991) and slasher Haukur Helgi Palsson (198 cm, 1992, Fjölnir) were able to get to the basket. Iceland’s style of play warmed the heart of an old basketball purist.

By far the most promising player in this tournament was afore-mentioned Haukur Helgi Palsson, a 1992 born, athletic point guard, who played small forward in the national team rotation. He was a nightmare for the opponents in both ends of the court, with enough explosiveness to get past his defenders, very good ball handling skills for someone his size and age and some good timing to go with physical strength to finish in the paint and snatch rebounds. Even though Palsson can still become a better defender and shooter, he averaged tournament-best 18,5 points and 11 rebounds in five tournament games to go with around 3 steals and 3 assists a game. Palsson has "potential" written all over him. Another interesting player in Iceland U18 rotation was Ragnar Natanelsson (1991, Hamar). Even though Natanelsson played only around four minutes a game, he has 218 reasons (centimeters) to be a basketball player. He finished the tournament with only a handful of rebounds and several personal fouls, but when you’re 18 years old and 218 cm tall, there always is a coach interested in you somewhere.

While Sasu Salin (187 cm, 1991, Honka Playboys) was out, Finland backcourt was lead by point guard Antto Nikkarinen (185 cm, 1991, Kouvot) and January’s Baltic Sea Cup MVP, Villematti Kopio (180 cm, 1992, Honka Playboys). Nikkarinen is a basic point guard who excels in creating opportunities for others and Kopio is a cold-blooded scorer. Their lack of size might become a major obstacle for them, but it is certain that both guys will have a bright future in Finnish basketball scene. Talent-wise, versatile forward Samuli Vanttaja (206 cm, 1991, Honka Playboys) has the goods to become a useful player for elite European ballclubs – he can play three, maybe four positions and he can handle the ball very well for someone his size, but he has yet to find a steady performance level. Out of all big guys of Finland (five players over 200cm), Lauri Toivonen (200 cm, 1991, Honka Playboys) has grown into his body very well and even though he’s unselfish to death, his body control, defense and rebounding make him stand out.

While point guard Andreas Person was missing, it seemed like team Sweden never really had the opportunity to play in full effect. Forward Daniel Persson (195 cm, 1991, Solna Vikings) showed nice court vision and steady defence, but the most interesting names in Swedish roster were shooting guard Christopher Czerapowicz (197 cm, 1991, Sanda BG) and another tall guard, Alexander Lindqvist (202 cm, 1991, Solna Vikings). While Person is out, Lindqvist is probably the most heralded player in team Sweden. Lindqvist’s basketball IQ, size and speed have made him an interesting prospect, and now it seems that as he is maturing and adding some bulk, he’s becoming a constant double-double threat (18/11 vs. Iceland, 13/14 vs. Norway), reminiscent of NBA Draft hopeful Jonas Jerebko. I had never heard of Czerapowicz before, but I have to admit I was awestruck when he came back after two poor performances to punish Iceland with 24 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists in Iceland’s only loss in the Nordic Games. Pretty much alike Lindqvist, Czerapowicz’ versatility and size make him an interesting prospect, even though he doesn’t seem to have the killer instinct Lindqvist seems to possess.

Norway surprised pretty much everyone defeating Sweden in the beginning of the games. Stian Emil Berg (186 cm, 1991, 3B) was undeniably the backbone of his team with his patience and ability to create situations. Lanky forward Karamo Jawara (198 cm, 1991, Froya) had a field day against Denmark (18 points, 10 rebounds), but since his game was pretty much built around beating 1-on-1 situations, he struggled against teams against better help defense. Henry McCarthy (203 cm, 1991, Honefoss) also had his moments in the low post, but his lack of speed and offensive tools doesn’t make him an A class talent.

Team Denmark’s lone stars were forwards Jonas Zohore Bergstedt (205 cm, 1991, Horsholm) and Jonathan Gilling (201 cm, 1991, Horsholm). Even though both guys shined in a game or two, it’s pretty difficult to evaluate their talent since Denmark didn’t really play as a team, but a bunch of individuals. Point guard Alexander Bak (190 cm, 1991, Horsholm) handled and shot the ball pretty well and his future in domestic level could be bright.

written by Hippo

Official All-Tournament Team
Stian Emil Berg (Norway)
Thor Steinarson (Iceland)
Karama Jawaro (Norway)
Haukur Palson (Iceland)
Jonas Zohore Bergstedt (Denmark)

After the in-detail reports about Lithuania and France, I will take a closer look at the players that stood out in my eyes with the four other non-European participants in Douai. The reports on these players will not be as detailed of course as they are not in the focus of this website.

Let’s start with the MVP of the tournament that went to the Canadian forward Kelly Olynyk. The 2m11 tall forward showed excellent versatility for a player of his size. Being used mostly at the SF spot, Olynyk showed great speed at most of his plays came of drives, often with his left hand. He had one very spectacular play with a left handed drive finished of a powerful two handed dunk. He has also three point range and together with Elias Harris, he should form a very interesting forward duo at Gonzaga next season.

To stay with Gonzaga Canadians, Mangisto Arop had only a limited tournament due to his knee injury; a problem that is probably not that important as you could see him go for two handed dunks of two feet in the fast break. Arop looks like he has gained some weight since I saw him last spring in Mannheim during the Albert Schweitzer Tournament. He showed still his trademark slow looking long steps drives attacking the rim baseline. He recognizes well his defender and sees how to beat him, either on penetration but also going down low to post him up.

It is very difficult to take one player out of the Australian team that was probably the most homogenous of the whole tournament with equal talent going from position 1 to 12 in the rotation. It was a bit sad to see Jorden Page absent because of an injury and only being present to tape the team’s games. I took out Cody Ellis of the roster as he is a player that I did not really remember from the AST last year. He does not look pretty amazing as a basketball player but he knows how to score the basketball. He has a nice spin move and combined with good handles, he excels on the drive. His catch and shoot mechanics look very good even if most of his plays come from penetration or close to the hoop plays. Together with Christian Salecich, he should be a very nice addition for the St. Louis Billikens the next season.

Mike Rosario was clearly the main scorer when it comes to Puerto Rico. Playing the 2 guard or even sometimes on the SF position, Rosario was not afraid to take every open look that he could get. Long distance three, tear drop on the penetration play or especially the defensive plays on the passing lane made him on of the best scoring talents of the tournament. A thing that surprised me though is that Rosario is not really the quickest guy around nor the most explosive one.

On the US team, Jordan McRae was the player that impressed me the most. Displaying fantastic athletic abilities, the Liberty County High School player showed also great touch from behind the three point line.

Today, I will talk about the second European team to have played in this year’s edition of the Douai World Tournament: Lithuania. A team that was composed of 1990 and 1992 born players missing all their talented 91 guard players. This came up to a situation having a team dominated by inside players and totally missing the talented guard play as the 92 born players are still a bit green when it comes to play against 2 years older guys.

The main talent on the Lithuanian team is of course Donatas Motiejunas. The combination of talent, size, coordination and skills is rare in European basketball and the 2m15 tall player was clearly the reason why the NBA scouts have made the trip to Northern France. But I don’t think that they go home with any additional information on the Lithuanian. He still has potential written all over him but the doubts on his mental approach to the game have been intensified. Being in the middle of a brawl of the Lithuanian – Puerto Rico game and showing frustration throughout full games on the court is probably not the best way to improve the opinion people have on you. Whatever…

Motiejunas showed in Douai that he is more and more becoming a player that really plays inside. His three point attempts are going down and he tries to play in the low post. You can see him going for several different moves, fade away jump shots or left handed jump hooks. His hook shots look a bit strange though as he is shooting them in a bit of a throwing forward move instead of releasing the ball on its highest point. This may be a reason why his shots are always contested one despite being the tallest guy on the court.

Motiejunas needs to work on his mental approach to the game

Another position where you could see Motiejunas a lot is on the high post. He can create from that spot as he is capable of beating his opponents easily of the dribble, and this coming with either left or right hand. He finishes his drives a lot on some kind of floater and does not go that hard to the rim. He has however also the possibility to nail the jump shot from mid range or go for lightning quick passes to the back door cutters.

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It is important to see how he develops in terms of mental approach to basketball. You could see him arguing with the referees throughout the games and getting frustrated pretty easily when he does not get the calls he wants. This approach relates to his defensive game where his opponents had often open shooting possibilities as Motiejunas did not even raise the hand to defend their open looks.

Stats: 13.8ppg (41.5% FG 84.6% FT) 3.6rpg 2.8topg

A player that was quite a nice surprise for the Lithuanian team was the SF Gediminas Orelikas. By far the largest player of the squad, the forward from Pakruojis showed a very nice shooting exhibition throughout the tournament and had also quite a big impact when it came to defensive rebounding. Reports from Lithuania describe him as a bit of a lazy guy which could of course explain his devastating physical shape. He will probably never become a great athlete but he seemed to understand the game pretty well.

Orelikas reached the Final of the three point contest on Saturday

The main offensive weapon of Orelikas is his three point shot. He likes to go for some quick release from behind the arc, especially coming of a simple post screen to open him up. Not running that fast through the different screens, Orelikas knows how to get open using his body and he does not need that much of space to shoot. As he does not take the ball down before his release, he can also shoot when he has defenders running after him without the risk of getting stolen the ball. On the other hand, his deficit in athleticism prevent him from creating much of his own drive. You won’t see him going for a one dribble jump shot or playing the drive until the rim.

Orelikas did help his team a lot in defense though where he was really present in the rebound where he could use his strength to protect the ball and help his Center players in that area. Sometimes, Orelikas looks however not really concerned or too nonchalant which confirms what we heard on him from Lithuania. He came of an interesting season in NKL where he averaged 15.6ppg and 5.5rpg so that it would not be a surprise to see him next year with a bigger team in Lithuania.

Stats: 16.2ppg (55.1% FG 43.8% 3FG 13/13 FT) 4.6rpg

A player that should have been a major factor against this competition was Tautvydas Slezas. However, the Lietuvos Rytas Center could never really take over the game and saw relatively limited playing time during the tournament. He showed sparks of his talent though as he scored in different fashion, going for a powerful dunk from a high post drive or netting some kind of running hook shot. However, his limited speed handicapped him in defense and he had always some foul trouble.

A player that showed some interesting things on Sunday’s game was Tadas Padegimas. The 2m01 tall forward scored 9 points in the final quarter on good reads of the defense. He moves pretty well on the court but seems to be more of an up and down player in terms of performances when you check his stats throughout the tournament. He displays an interesting frame but looks however still pretty weak physically.

The youngest player of the Lithuanian team Dovydas Redikas had a fantastic game against the United States where he scored 31 points. He looks very elegant in what he does on the court and lots of his points come of fast breaks where he was always one of the first players to have crossed the court. He started most of the games for his team despite being born only in December 1992 and being virtually 2 and a half year younger than the rest of the team.

Redikas scored 11 out 14 against Team USA

Vytenis Cizauskas got also lots of minutes as a back-up point guard where he did a good job in setting up the team and creating open positions for his team mates through drive and dish plays most of the time. He is still pretty limited when it comes to his physical attributes but he may have a good future as a European style PG in the next years. It would not surprise me if he takes over the starting job with the U19 team this summer on the PG spot.

To start the in-depth reports about the Douai World Tournament, I will take a closer look to the third placed French team. Being only one point short of the Final victory, the team looks a bit undersized compared to the different other teams in the competition and also the typical hyper athletic inside player is not present in this generation.

The French team is based on two players, PG and last year’s MVP Andrew Albicy and the athletic wing Christophe Leonard. While the first one earned once again an All-Tournament team spot, Leonard had more of an up and down tournament which he crowned however with a great individual performance on the last day, but it was not enough to secure the first place for his team.

The first thing that I was thinking when seeing Christophe Leonard is that he got larger in his upper body. He seems to work pretty hard in that area and that will be of great help for the French team as he had to play the PF positions for several minutes as the inside players on this generation look less talented than the years before. However being listed at only 1m99, he has of course limits to play on this position but currently, his long distance shot (10% 3FG, 26% long 2s) does not give him a serious future on the SF. This is the main point where Leonard needs to focus on during the next years.

Christophe Leonard had a tournament high 34 points on Sunday

And because of that underdeveloped shot so far, his shot selection look a bit hazardous over the two days I saw him playing in Douai. As long as the defenses let him open on the wing as did Australia, Leonard is not a serious offensive threat anymore. Coming of a poor 2/8 against the Aussies, Leonard could use his strong drive to create a bit for his team mates though and not insisting too much on his shot (0/3 3FG that game). That strong drive gives him first of all several scoring possibilities as he displays great speed and explosivity going to the rim. His large body helps him to protect the ball pretty well and his good body control in the air opens him possibility to score even out of difficult positions.

Leonard will most likely earn more minutes with Cholet Basket next season where he only had limited playing time this year and walk in the footsteps of current NBA Draft prospects Rodrigue Beaubois and Nando de Colo. However, he should really work hard on his shot in order to add this scoring possibility to his skill set. Right now, he is no reliable enough from behind the arc or even mid-range jump shots despite having nailed a real big three in the Overtime on Sunday. The most of his scoring came from inside the paint where he used his good touch for the ball and showed some nice back to the basket plays even. On one play, he scored a very difficult left handed underhand layup after having passed his defender over the right shoulder.

Stats: 16.6ppg (46% FG 55.8% FT 6.6rpg)

Andrew Albicy is clearly the head of the French U19 team. The PG from Paris-Levallois earned his All-Tournament team spot more or less because of the absence of any other quality PG in the tournament but Albicy showed that he has a future on the professional level despite being only listed at 1m70. France is in fact becoming more and more of a league that features a high number of pocket-size PGs (Marc-Antoine Pellin or Aldo Curti to just name two other young French examples). And it looks like Albicy is developing more and more in the same direction as defensively minded pass-first PG.

Andrew Albicy averaged 6 assists per game

Because currently, Albicy is not a big scored. He can hit the three pointer in catch and shoot fashion and tries sometimes the long distance jump shoot out of full speed on the break, his scoring possibilities are more in the fast break or on quick drives. He is currently improving in his intermediary game though which you could see on some plays where he went for the mid-distance jump shot out of the drive; he nailed a big baseline jump shot in the money time in that way against USA on Sunday for example. He struggles a bit though when he tries to take the ball to the rim as he needs always to go for very tough layers if he can not put the defense out of balance with his direction changes. He is capable of making the lay-ups of both hands in traffic though even he missed the game winner of his left hand against the US from pretty close.

With his very low dribbles, he is not getting stolen the ball that often as his handles look decent too. However, Albicy was very turnover prone in Douai which may be explained by the fact that he only arrived late with the team as he was still in charge with his pro team in the Playoffs. Because he likes to create out of his drives that always attract pretty much of defensive help and he can dish it out to the wings or his cutters for open possibilities. Defensively, he reads the passing lanes pretty well as he excels in stealing the ball there more than being a player that creates that much of defensive pressure to force the ball handling turnover. Being pretty athletic, Albicy is present in the defensive rebound where he takes advantage of the boxing out of his team mates to grab the rebound and start the fast break immediately.

Stats: 10.7ppg (33.3% FG 11.1% 3FG 90.0%FT) 3.7rpg 6.0apg 4.0spg 5.3topg

Alexis Tanghe is player where not much of a development has been seen since last year. He struggled to impose himself in a French inside sector that is stacked with extraordinary talent at the moment. His game looks pretty polished though but on the other, it looks also pretty soft. He tries most of his scores coming from jump shots and besides a turn around jump shot, not much of a back to the basket game can be seen coming from the 2m07 tall forward. And as he is not used at all at the SF spot because of a probably limited ball handling, it is not clear right now how he will move on during the next years.

Alexis Tanghe struggled to impose himself in the paint

A player that I personally like but who did not see much of playing time with the French team is the ASVEL Villeurbanne SG/SF Paul Lacombe. He displays a pretty interesting physical built around a nice wingspan and good speed for a player of his size. His shoot looks pretty well and he can net the long distance basket in catch and shoot fashion. Lacombe is also able to go for powerful drives where you can see him holding the ball pretty strong to not get it ripped away. Why his playing time was limited to only about 15 minutes was more of mystery to me as he managed to be pretty aggressive during these short stretches going for 7.8ppg and 3.0rpg while hitting 40% of his shots and having nearly 4 fouls shots per game.

The inside sector around the massive Tanguy Ramassamy needs to display more of an offensive game if France wants to be a medal team in New Zealand in July. The Pau PF is still looking pretty big but not that explosive enough to be a intimidating force in the paint. He is however really needed on the defensive end where he closes the gaps in the rebounding and working hard on the screens.

The final day in Douai was marked by the still very open possibilities for the final results.

• In the first game of the day, Canada managed to overcome a Lithuanian team that looked a bit tired after the five day effort. Donatas Motiejunas was once again not in his best day and did not look really motivated throughout the game. The Lithuanians stayed in the game behind the first half three pointers of Gediminas Orelikas but Canada and their 11 men rotation used the Lithuanians that aligned several different players than on Saturday. Mangisto Arop being out because of his knee injury, it was Kelly Olynyk that took over the game with his nice drives and good shooting from around the key and the three point line. He finished with 17pts, 7rebs, 4asts and 3stls. The top scorer for Canada though was sharp-shooter Laurent Rivard who nailed 8 out of his 13 attempts to score 20pts. Canada finally beat Lithuania 86-78.
• Puerto Rico continued to make good impression in the tournament as they defeated an Australian that still looks like having the most polished team play but some limits in terms of individualities. With the absence of Jorden Page, there is no real regular scoring impact coming from the guards while the inside players live more from their hustle than from individual class. Puerto Rico is getting pumped up by their aggressive guard duo Mike Rosario and Jio Fontan while Kevin “Josh Childress” Young was doing some damage inside with his athleticism and jumping timing.
• In the final game of the tournament, France had a chance to win it all but no could not handle the USA 2K Sports team in overtime. It was a magnificent back-door alley-oop against the 1-3-1 zone that the American coaching staff had prepared for the decisive play; and it worked. Andrew Albicy could not create the decisive play to give France the win on the buzzer. Christophe Leonard had a good second half to help France stay in a game where they did not really look good against the athletic US boys that were doing massive damage in the French paint fouling out 3 players.
• With the loss of France in the decisive game, the 1st place went finally to Canada that earned this spot in front of Puerto Rico and France. USA 2K Sports went fourth, while Lithuania took the 5th place just in front of Australia finishing last.
• The All-Tournament team has been the following:
  PG Andrew Albicy (France)
  SG Mike Rosario (Puerto Rico)
  SF Jordan McRae (USA)
  PF Kelly Olynyk (Canada)
  C Donatas Motiejunas (Lithuania)
  The Canadian forward and future Gonzaga Bulldog Kelly Olynyk won the MVP trophy of the tournament.
• If you are interested in getting game tape of the tournament, you can refer to Images B-Ball that recorded the whole tournament and DVDs of every game are available at their website.
• The game between Puerto Rico and Lithuania from Saturday may have another episode before the FIBA Committee during the next days. The word in Douai was that Puerto Rico wants the Lithuanian player disqualified on Saturday to be suspended for at least one game during the upcoming U19 World Championship. Even if they had 4 guys disqualified themselves, this would be much more of a problem for Lithuania as Donatas Motiejunas was the player that was the most heavily involved in the brawl. The opening game of the World Championship will additionally be Puerto Rico versus Lithuania
• In-detail scouting reports on the two European teams and more info on the 4 other teams will come online in the next days