Stripes
American(s) who played terribly.
Dontaye Draper, Real Madrid: The Mad Man had a chance to make an impact with Rudy Fernandez out and all of Unicaja’s guards coming to town. Defensively he held his own against Earl Calloway and Marcus Williams, but his failure to bring anything to the party on the offensive end (0-of-3, no points, one assist in 13 minutes) makes it unlikely he’ll be trusted against higher-power playoff/Final Four foes.
Deon Thompson, Derrick Byars, Zach Morley, Je’Kel Foster & Dashaun Wood, Alba Berlin: You’ve got to play a well-roundedly atrocious game to put up just 58 points, and Berlin’s quintet of Americans was up to the task in their 82-58 loss at Panathinaikos. Morley, Foster and Thompson all managed just five points while Byars notched four, and Wood was the high man with 9. That’s 28 points between and nary a double-digit scorer out of five players that have averaged a combined 42 over the course of the season, and it’s the newest reason that Berlin has only one win through 11 Top 16 games. This week Berlin gets a shot at win number two against the team they’ve beaten already: their rivals from Bamberg, Deutschland.
Eurostash Files
Nemanja Bjelica, Caja Laboral (Minnesota Timberwolves): A league source told Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 Twin Cities that “it’ll be a shock if Wolves European prospect Nemanja Bjelica, a 6-foot-9 small forward, isn’t in the NBA next year.” Bjelica signed a five-year deal with Baskonia this offseason, but it included an NBA opt-out. Bjelica, despite coming off of his worst game of the Top 16 (1-of-5 for two points, one assist, one rebound in an 87-67 beatdown of Fenerbahce Ulker), has made steady improvements in each of his three Euroleague seasons so far.
2010-11: 13 games, 9 minutes, 1.2 points, 1.7 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.2 steals
2011-12: 10 games, 14 minutes, 4.8 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1 assist, 1.4 steals
2012-13: 19 games, 23 minutes, 10.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.1 steals
Bjelica has stepped into a similar role as the one Mirza Teletovic had perfected under Coach Dusko Ivanovic as a stretch four who can pull from anywhere. However, while Mirza still has the shooting edge, the Brooklyn role player can’t drive against the closeout like Nemanja can–it’s not even close–nor is Mirza’s vision near as honed as the 6-foot-10 Serb’s, who can do far more damage out of the triple threat than he can with his back to the basket at this point.
(Teletovic’s maturation process took about six years and 4,327 ill-advised jumpers with Baskonia before he bulked up and felt comfortable hunkered down in the post, only joining the all-around Euroleague elite in his 2011-12 season.)
Unlike Teletovic, Bjelica likely projects as an NBA small forward until he adds a little more muscle, but he enjoys his biggest mismatches when playing against slower fours that have half his range and a fraction of his ball skills. Nemanja warms up many of the same spots on the floor as Andrei Kirilenko and Derrick Williams, so if he comes to Minny with the current roster intact then it might be hard to find playing time immediately.
Also, Bjelica likely won’t have the luxury of wowing coaches in the Summer League, either, as Serbia is counting on him to play a semi-starring role this summer during EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia. But taking a summer off to play for the national team worked out all right for Nemanja’s potential teammate, rookie Alexey Shved, who won the bronze with Russia in London before playing his way into Rick Adelman’s starting line-up by mid-December.
One note on Shved before we say our goodbyes: some think Alexey’s hit a ‘rookie wall’ of late, dropping from 10.5 points before the All Star break to just 6.8 afterwards. Even if the stats have dipped, the ‘wall’ theory doesn’t stick for European prospects that played dozens of games between several leagues like Alexey: 21 Euroleague games, 23 games in the Russian PBL, and another 18 in the VTB United League add up to 62 from last season, and that’s before counting Europe’s notorious two-a-days in the midst of that grueling schedule and Olympics almost immediately thereafter.
It’s possible Shved might be wearing down physically and his numbers certainly are, but likening his stamina and experience to a draftee in his first professional season is a fruitless venture. Shved is no stranger to a full plate.
Nick Gibson, editor of EuroleagueAdventures.com, covers Euroleague and other international basketball developments for SheridanHoops.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
Nick, I have to ask, when you endlessly reap praise on Mirotic here, how come you never once ever mention when he has bad games? He has bad games all of the time and not even a mention of it.
Then when he has a good game the articles are singing his praises.
Thanks for reading as always, AP. And this was from my Mirotic piece that started our debate:
“…Mirotic had his worst game of the year this past week in a 76-70 loss to Cantu. He scored just two points on 1-of-5 shooting.”
I realize the man has his faults and definitely could work on consistency, but it doesn’t shake my belief that he’s the best young player in Europe. And honestly, the fact that his consistency even gets called to question as a 22-year-old shooting 60/30/90 in the Top 16 and averaging 12 and 6 for Europe’s deepest club is exceptional, is it not?
Who do you think–at his age or younger–projects as a better pro?
Thanks for the comment, AP.
At his age or younger project as a better “pro”? Several guys in Europe do…….
Like Hezonja, Abrines, Dubljevic of course there are plenty of others as well, but they are too young to get into the discussion. You overrate him. I just watched him get manhandled by an old washed up Kostas Tsartsaris for example. Maybe also Gentile and Karasev……..
Also don’t sleep on some guys that are “unheard of” because USA NBA hype machine has not put them into the hype machine (like they did with Mirotic) .
Adetokoubo brothers
Campazzo
Kavvadas
And the use of these NBA terms like “pro” is the problem here. You guys use terms like “pro” to refer to NBA players and imply that guys in Euroleague and other good European leagues are somehow not pros. Well, I am pretty sure they are pros also, considering they make enormous salaries.
So Mirotic is already a “pro” player. And as for Real Madrid, the “deepest team in Europe” has lost 4 straight home games. I think you are definitely overrating Mirotic and that whole team.
You are taking this idea of what Mirotic will be in the NBA, and claiming he is that in Euroleague. It’s two different things. It’s the same discussion about Rubio when he was in Euroleague. “He’s going to be a star in NBA, so he’s obviously the best player in Europe”.
Even though he pretty much sucked in Barca. Mirotic of course is a good player in Madrid, so it’s not the same level, but the point is that you can’t talk about a guy being best in Europe, just because you think he will be an NBA star.
Mirotic is a good player currently in Euroleague and nothing more than that. He might be an NBA star, but that should not somehow magically make him better now than he actually is.
If you really watch him play, he scores in two ways – free throws and wide open jump shots. That’s basically it. That’s his entire offense. And on defense, he’s barely even an average player.
Sure, he could be an NBA star (because no one plays any defense in NBA and I am sure he can put up numbers there), but in Euroleague, he’s not what you advertise him as.
Anyway, I like reading your articles Nick. Keep up the good work on helping to promote Euroleague in English speaking press. It needs it.
Kyle Hines has been officially measured at 199 cm or 6’6 ½” tall by Olympiacos. He’s not 6’5″ and that’s just an obvious error by Draftexpress.com – which has many, many such errors in their height listings of players.
Kyle Hines is 6’6″, not 6’5″, since players get listed in shoes these days.
Actually, just as an example on the same team of the BS height listings by Draftexpress – they claim Spanoulis at 6’3″ barefoot, when anyone can clearly see he’s more like 6’3″ in shoes.