9. Klemen Prepelic – Slovenia
6-3 PG, 1993, Union Olimpija Ljubljana
Euroleague: 22.3 MPG, 8.8 PPG, 1.6 REB, 2 AST, 1.5 TO, 35.7% 2PT, 33.3% 3PT, 80.8% FT
Adriatic League: 25.1 MPG, 12 PPG, 2.4 REB, 2.3 AST, 2.2 TO, 1.3 STL, 52.4% 2PT, 32.2% 3PT, 77.8% FT
After having a breakout season last year, in which he thrived in the Adriatic league, Prepelic has had to change his role drastically with Union Olimpija Ljubljana. So far on the season, he has taken 56 2-point shots and 175 3-pointers, becoming more of a spot-up shooter on a higher level team.
While Prepelic hasn’t been showing the same dominance as last season – or with the junior national team – he has shown that he can hang with a big club. It probably would be wise for him to sit out this year’s draft as he could be a possible 2014 first-rounder if he breaks out next season. However, he could warrant a late second-round pick based solely on his potential.
10. Bar Timor – Israel
6-3 PG, 1992, Hapoel Tel-Aviv (Israel)
Israeli League: 26.8 MPG, 8.6 PPG, 3.3 REB, 3.6 AST, 1.2 STL, 1.9 TO, 61.2% 2PT, 37.9% 3PT, 69.2% FT
After a standout summer with the U20 national team, Timor has been surprisingly effective this season. Thrust into the starting five due to Hapoel’s inability to find an American guard that will stick on the team, Timor has shown he can hold his own against top level American competition.
RELATED: Kotoch’s top shooting guard prospects
While he has great quickness, he is very ineffective shooting off the dribble and frankly is not an NBA prospect if he can’t demonstrate that he can shoot it off the bounce. There are rumblings in Israeli basketball circles that he is considering entering the 2013 draft. While he is not currently on anyone’s radar, a strong second half of the season may catch the attention of some teams.
HONORABLE MENTION
Raul Neto – Brazil
6-1 PG, 1992, Lagun Aro BC (Spain)
Spanish ACB League: 26.2 MPG, 10 PPG, 2.7 REB, 3.3 AST, 2.4 TO, 1.4 STL, 48.1% 2PT, 38.7% 3PT, 84% FT
Daniel Theis – Germany
6-8 PF, 1992, Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany)
Eurocup: 17.2 MPG, 6.6 PPG, 3.3 REB, 1.1 AST, 2.2 PF, 60.6% 2PT, 73.1% FT
German Bundesliga: 13.4 MPG, 5.6 PPG, 4 REB, 1 TO, 45.5% 2PT, 25% 3PT, 67.9% FT
Joffrey Lauvergne – France
6-11 C, 1991, Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
Adriatic League, Spain, France, Eurocup, Euroleague combined: 13 MPG, 5.8 PPG, 3.3 REB, 52% 2PT, 42% 3PT, 72% FT
Mouhammadou Jaiteh – France
6-9 PF, 1994, Boulogne (France)
France Pro B: 27.4 MPG, 15.1 PPG, 9.9 REB, 1.7 TO, 62.2% 2PT, 68.9% FT
Lucas Nogueira – Brazil
7-0 C, 1993, Asefa Estudiantes (Spain)
Spanish ACB League: 11.5 MPG, 4.7 PPG, 2.8 REB, 1.2 BLK, 1.8 PF, 72.9% 2PT, 60.9% FT
AJ Mitnick is an American currently living in Israel and working for Maccabi Rishon Lezion of the Israeli Basketball Super League. A recent graduate of IDC Herzliya, Mitnick also maintains a basketball blog, http://mindlessdribble.net, and is pursuing a professional basketball coaching license from the Wingate Institute in Israel. Follow him on Twitter.
When I originally commented I appear to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and
from now on each time a comment is added I get
four emails with the same comment. Is there a means you can remove me from
that service? Kudos!
Giannis Adetokunbo is on the first round mock draft for draftexpress.com after they saw like ONE practice of the guy.
His brother will definitely get drafted also if he goes to any draft camps. So yeah, leaving them out makes it look like a bias against Greek players.
As for the first division in Greece, the coaches of Panathinaikos, Olympiacos, and Panionios have all said that this year the league is more competitive than it was last year. Are they lying?
Besides this isn’t even pertinent, since the Adetokunbo brothers don’t play in that league.
Greek players always get overlooked in these rankings. There is no way that Antetokoumpo brothers cannot be at or at least near the top of a true ranking though.
For whatever reason, there is a clear bias against Greek players though.
Where are the Greek players?
Vasileios Kavvadas
Dimitrios Katsivelis
Andreas Kanonidis
Thanasis Adetokunbo
Giannis Adetokunbo
Are you really trying to say that not a single Greek player deserves draft consideration? The NBA scouts are flocking to Athens and drooling, just so you know.
Maybe the NBA scouts have been flocking to Greece, but in watching the Greek league this year, I have found the league to be much weaker than in recent years. Add that to the relatively low percentage of Greek guys who actually are interested to play in the NBA, since the past eras starts all skipped out on the league, makes me a bit skeptical on the Greeks.