Eurohoops: Top 2015 Draft prospects, Mario Herzonja and Aleksandar Vezenkov

This past week, the first stage of the major European competitions, the Euroleague, Eurocup and Eurochallenge group stages, came to a close.

The final week of the Euroleague finished with a bang, with Unics Kazan failing to reach the top 16 despite having a high-budget roster featuring Keith Langford, after being upset by fellow Russian squad Nizhny Novgorod, who were playing without their star guard Taylor Rochestie.

Although most of the European basketball community may be focusing on Europe’s top competitions, NBA scouts would be best to focus on the outstanding play of a pair of 19 year olds, Mario Herzonja and Aleksandar Vezenkov, whose names are sure to heat up as we draw closer to the 2015 NBA draft in June.

Herzonja has been highly regarded by scouts for quite some time, dominating International Junior tournaments in the summer of 2011, drawing the interest of Spanish powerhouse Regal Barcelona, who scooped up the young swingman at 17 years old.

Since 2012, Herzonja has been developing quietly during the season, seeing very little time in his first two seasons with Barca, aside from a stint in 2012-2013 playing with their minor league affiliate, with scouts getting little opportunity to see Herzonja play in competitive situations. This past summer, Herzonja suited up for the Senior Croatian team at the World Cup, opting to ride the bench of the Senior team instead of dominating at the U20 level, or opting to play in both like Enes Kanter once did.

Going into the season, it seemed that Herzonja would be in a similar situation as Dante Exum was in this past year’s draft, with scouts remembering his brilliance from the Junior tournaments, and hearing all the rumors of his work ethic and understanding his athleticism, but without any real top level competition to get a more accurate gauge on his development.

With New Year’s just ahead, it looks safe to say that those questions have been answered. Barcelona has been able to give some extra opportunities in Euroleague to Herzonja, with the team having comfortably clinched the Top 16 round, and the results have been exciting. Herzonja has been showing off his brilliant athleticism, running the floor, throwing down sick backdoor alley oops, and showing the type of energy and poise that is very rare for a 19 year old playing at the top level of Europe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbDzsCkw450

Just over the past week, Herzonja had his career best game in the Spanish league, scoring 14 points on 4/5 from 2PT and 2/5 from 3PT, to go along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists, and followed it up with a few brilliant plays in a 9 point outing against Panathinaikos in Euroleague. These numbers may not seem so gaudy when compared to the stars of Kentucky and Duke, but playing for Barcelona is a completely different animal than college basketball, and being able to see the floor for a team like Barcelona at 19 is an outstanding accomplishment.

Herzonja will need to prove a lot over the next 6 months to prove he is truly worthy of a top 5 pick, since he likely will be stashed in Barcelona for another year or two, but he certainly is showing the signs of life that NBA teams have been waiting for. He may not be the franchise savior many are hoping Jahlil Okafor will be, but Herzonja is a quality prospect whose name sportscasters in the US should start getting comfortable with.

Aleksander Vezenkov, on the other hand, may be the best player in this season’s draft that nobody is talking about. Vezenkov has stepped up his game this season, averaging career highs across the board, with 16.8 points on 55.2% 2PT and 48.4% 3PT, and 8.6 rebounds. While Vezenkov’s main weapon is his spot up jump shot, the lefty forward has become almost unstoppable when driving left. Vezenkov does a great job at building momentum on his way to the basket, and when he gets a step or has the ball in transition, he is very tough to stop without fouling.

At 6’9” Vezenkov has the size and skill level to play both forward spots, although his lack of lateral quickness will probably limit him to defending 4’s exclusively at the NBA level. While Herzonja is a lottery prospect playing a bench role on a powerhouse team, Vezenkov, the son of former Bulgarian basketball star Sasha Verznkoz, is starring for Aris Thessaloniki, where he is in his 6th season with the club after leaving his home country Bulgaria to join their junior team at 14 years old.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2EaCNR7PUs

Aris is one of the more unique clubs in Europe, and it actually may have been the most ideal place for a player like Vezenkov to develop. Aris was once one of the top teams in Greece, with a rich tradition in the Greek league, and a regular competitor in the Euroleague or Eurocup competitions, before the European financial crisis crippled the team. Over the last several years, Aris has been more known for their debts and FIBA sanctions than they have been for their play on the floor.

However, despite having sanctions from FIBA that prevented the team from signing new foreigners, Aris was able to stay competitive in both the Greek League and Greek Cup behind the strength of their local players, giving Vezenkov an opportunity to grow into “the man” that he may not have become if the team had been able to sign a few top American players in recent years.

Even more so, Aris is a club with borderline psychotic fans that make the Cameron Crazies look like a bunch of sissies, who not only fuel their team to unlikely home victories with their intense energy, but also force their players to give everything they have out of fear of what the fans may do if they don’t feel the players are giving their maximum.

Greek fans, especially Aris supporters, are far different from American basketball fans. While a typical American fan comes to a game to see the stars, dunks, highlights and buzzer beaters, Aris fans want to see competitiveness, aggressiveness, grittiness and high IQ basketball. If the crowd thinks you’re being lazy, or that you’re a stupid player, they will be sure to let you know, possibly by pelting a battery at your head. To put it short, if you play for Aris, you have no choice but to leave everything out on the floor, because it simply will not end well for you if you don’t.

Not only has Vezenkov gotten to star for his Greek league team, he also starred this past summer for both Bulgaria’s Senior National team in the Eurobasket qualifications, and the U20 team in the European Championships. While Vezenkov dominated in the U20 tournament, leading the tournament in both points and rebounds, with 19.1 PT and 11.2 REB, his play with the senior team was perhaps even more impressive. With the senior team Vezenkov averaged a team leading 17.3 points and 6.3 rebounds, including going off for 29 points and 13 rebounds against Israel, and emerging as the leader of Bulgaria’s senior national team for the foreseeable future.

Vezenkov may not have the elite athleticism to make himself a blue chip prospect; there is no denying the incredible accomplishments he has made through his opportunities in his young career. Despite his perceived athletic shortcomings, Vezenkov plays with the spirit and competitiveness of a true winner, which oftentimes is the unknown variable in a prospect that determines whether a player will reach his true potential, or ends up being Tim Thomas.

If Vezenkov were to not enter the draft, and produce at this level next season with one of the Greek powerhouses Olympiacos or Panathinaikos, or were to head to Turkey to one of their high budget teams, Vezenkov could be a likely lottery pick in 2016.

However, if Vezenkov enters the draft this summer, there could be a team at the end of the first round or early in the second round, who could find themselves sitting on the next Eurosteal.

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AJ Mitnick is an American living in Israel and working as an assistant coach in the Israeli Basketball Winner League. A graduate of IDC Herzliya, Mitnick is an assistant coach with Bnei Herzliya, following three seasons with Maccabi Rishon-Lezion. Follow him on Twitter.