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The youth tournament season ended, 1 silver from U17 WC, 2 bronzes from U20 and U16 ECs. Unfortunately, we couldn't watch our U18 team whom are considered as the biggest favorite of the tournament, we would get the gold easily if the tournament wouldn't be postponed. We watched approximately 30-35 different players in these 3 youth NTs, as few of the guys from U17 team have also played for the U16 one. Some of the prospects met the expectations and some of them even exceeded the expectations when few of them failed the class. By predicating on their performances, here is my in and out list for this summer:
IN
- Ragıp Berke Atar ('99, C, 2.09): Impressive performance in U17 team, has improved some aspects of his game in comparison with last year, playing with senior team in second league has surely made contribution to his game, he is now tougher and stronger, more comfortable around rim at finishing the possessions. That's his signature weakness during the tournament last year, however he averaged 58,5% from 2PTs this time. Improvement is there, he varied his post-up options. For me his biggest asset is his great frame, it is open to development, he will be able to add some muscle pounds on his upper and lower body. He was the most mobile center prospect of the tournament, rolling great on PnRs, being active during the sets no matter he is the primary option or not. He is arguably a NBA prospect, needs to improve the typical eternal Turkish C FT problem immediately, shouldn't stop to diversify his offensive arsenal and working on his body tools. It is hard to find a mobile and strong center, in today's basketball the combination of these two things make a lot of differences.
- Yiğit Arslan ('96, SG, 1.94): He was the greatest surprise for me. I thought that he was going to make a good impact on team by being a role player, but even me didn't expect this kind of a all-around contribution. In the previous seasons, Arslan was a typical youth tournament player who was living and dying with his 3-PT shots, he was rarely getting responsibilities at the other dimensions of game, however starting with U19 team last year in WC, he had been the transition game initiator and defensive enthusing performer. Despite having more various skillset, he was still too far away from being considered as a high profile prospect. However, he has gotten great chances in Tofaş after his promising run with U19 NT and he joined the team as being the most ready player both physically and mentally. His defensive and offensive balance was great, his anticipation, which is referring his senior level experience, did help a lot to him on defense so that he had great steal numbers. Arslan has great cuts through basket, it is all about having the high basketball IQ and knowing the importance of being an effective player even though you don't own the ball. That's one of the problems with Turkish players who don't know how to be effective when they don't own the ball, they can watch Arslan's off the ball movements and cuts from this tournament. I believe that he is going to get convincing minutes in Tofaş this season, if the things go at his sweet will, he is between one of my candidates for Eurobasket roster.
- Eray Akyüz ('00, PG, 1.88): Definitely in. He has always been a good prospect for my taste, however he couldn't have convinced most of the youth tournament followers until this U16 EC. He has showed his scorer face, shot great beyond the arc (%42 except one bad shooting game), showed how skilled he is by exemplifying his various lay-ups and mid-range shots. He can score for sure, he can play his teammates when he is surrounded with some quality names and most importantly, he has great confidence and not fragile mentally. That's an important feature while evaluating a PG prospect. Specific to the last tournament, Akyüz made a lot of crucial shots. My concerns regarding him are his general defensive positioning knowledge and carelessness. His AS/TO ratio doesn't look bright, because of the fact that he is sometimes trying too much. He will learn to control his turnovers in progress of time hopefully, on defense, the main need is that being more eager. Good prospect and he has made a good move this season. Banvit is producing great talents recently.
OUT
- Onuralp Bitim ('99, SG/SF, 1.97): Big potential, however out for this summer. US highschool choice seems a big mistake, I have watched some of his games and the way he has been used there is really ridiculous. His clueless coach tried to create a SF/PF from Bitim, I couldn't believe my eyes when Bitim was the side who was rolling during rarely existing PnR positions.
They strengthened him in a short time, in parallel with that he lost his explosiveness, agility, pace and shooting form due to the coordination problem that we generally see after the overcharging the body tools. Bitim will find his level, I have no doubt about it, but he really has to work on his shooting form, since he is changing it frequently. A high level prospect would have already formed his mechanism, that's the problem with Bitim. This US journey didn't do his game a heap of good, since the problems related with his game wouldn't be solved with American basketball mentality. His game has became more wild, however wasting a season doesn't take anything from the potential, he is still the number 1 Turkish prospect in my eyes. Of course, this doesn't change the reality he couldn't meet the expectations although he didn't play that bad.
- Egemen Güven ('96, C, 2.09): Soft, too soft. Maybe the softest player of his generation. Never ever initiates the contact both on defense and offense. He is super talented with high finger sensitivity, soft hands, passing skills, mid range jumpers and those footworks, however as long as he abstains himself from contact, it is too hard to say that he is able to take good roles on senior level. He is physically gifted actually, however he hasn't bulked up a little bit since the day he had been hyped. Okay, he seemed a little bit stronger in this tournament since he has spent some time in US with some individual development coaches, nevertheless nothing has changed when it comes to physical contention. He even didn't try post-up moves much, tried to find score by depending upon his skilled hands. No need to backbite him, he did, he helped the team on offense and averaged a good PPG stat but as I have said, if he wants to make his dreams real, he needs to overcome the softness issue first in his mind. Since he pegs this problem as a drawback, he won't reflect some toughness on floor even though he is probably capable of doing it. He is going to be given an important role in KSK this year, his last chance if you ask me, he needs to benefit from this opportunity. If he can't make an impact, '98 born Görkem Doğan will be there to take his place. We will see.
- Okben Ulubay ('96, SF, 2.00): Had a very good and promising season with Pertevniyal jersey, the expectations were so high on him as usual with U20 NT, however as per usual, one more below expectations performance from him. Nobody can deny he is talented, the thing which is wrong with him is his inactive game understanding. I mentioned above, Yiğit Arslan is relentless with a high motor, Ulubay is the total opposite of this guy. He likes to be the brain and leader of team, when such role isn't given him, he doesn't care what is going around him, just waiting at corners to ball fall into his hands. He ain't a team player, the ego needs to be rasped. His court vision and passing skills are insane, totally an unpredictable player who can score 15 points in one quarter without even sweating off. That's him, however senior level basketball is unmerciful. He will play in Giresun this season, a good place to fully concentrate on basketball. You can only play basketball and eat handfuls of nuts there. It is still early to cross his name out, hopefully he will learn how to be a good team player in Giresun, most probably he will. Besides that, he is still the decadent of this summer.
IN
- Ragıp Berke Atar ('99, C, 2.09): Impressive performance in U17 team, has improved some aspects of his game in comparison with last year, playing with senior team in second league has surely made contribution to his game, he is now tougher and stronger, more comfortable around rim at finishing the possessions. That's his signature weakness during the tournament last year, however he averaged 58,5% from 2PTs this time. Improvement is there, he varied his post-up options. For me his biggest asset is his great frame, it is open to development, he will be able to add some muscle pounds on his upper and lower body. He was the most mobile center prospect of the tournament, rolling great on PnRs, being active during the sets no matter he is the primary option or not. He is arguably a NBA prospect, needs to improve the typical eternal Turkish C FT problem immediately, shouldn't stop to diversify his offensive arsenal and working on his body tools. It is hard to find a mobile and strong center, in today's basketball the combination of these two things make a lot of differences.
- Yiğit Arslan ('96, SG, 1.94): He was the greatest surprise for me. I thought that he was going to make a good impact on team by being a role player, but even me didn't expect this kind of a all-around contribution. In the previous seasons, Arslan was a typical youth tournament player who was living and dying with his 3-PT shots, he was rarely getting responsibilities at the other dimensions of game, however starting with U19 team last year in WC, he had been the transition game initiator and defensive enthusing performer. Despite having more various skillset, he was still too far away from being considered as a high profile prospect. However, he has gotten great chances in Tofaş after his promising run with U19 NT and he joined the team as being the most ready player both physically and mentally. His defensive and offensive balance was great, his anticipation, which is referring his senior level experience, did help a lot to him on defense so that he had great steal numbers. Arslan has great cuts through basket, it is all about having the high basketball IQ and knowing the importance of being an effective player even though you don't own the ball. That's one of the problems with Turkish players who don't know how to be effective when they don't own the ball, they can watch Arslan's off the ball movements and cuts from this tournament. I believe that he is going to get convincing minutes in Tofaş this season, if the things go at his sweet will, he is between one of my candidates for Eurobasket roster.
- Eray Akyüz ('00, PG, 1.88): Definitely in. He has always been a good prospect for my taste, however he couldn't have convinced most of the youth tournament followers until this U16 EC. He has showed his scorer face, shot great beyond the arc (%42 except one bad shooting game), showed how skilled he is by exemplifying his various lay-ups and mid-range shots. He can score for sure, he can play his teammates when he is surrounded with some quality names and most importantly, he has great confidence and not fragile mentally. That's an important feature while evaluating a PG prospect. Specific to the last tournament, Akyüz made a lot of crucial shots. My concerns regarding him are his general defensive positioning knowledge and carelessness. His AS/TO ratio doesn't look bright, because of the fact that he is sometimes trying too much. He will learn to control his turnovers in progress of time hopefully, on defense, the main need is that being more eager. Good prospect and he has made a good move this season. Banvit is producing great talents recently.
OUT
- Onuralp Bitim ('99, SG/SF, 1.97): Big potential, however out for this summer. US highschool choice seems a big mistake, I have watched some of his games and the way he has been used there is really ridiculous. His clueless coach tried to create a SF/PF from Bitim, I couldn't believe my eyes when Bitim was the side who was rolling during rarely existing PnR positions.
They strengthened him in a short time, in parallel with that he lost his explosiveness, agility, pace and shooting form due to the coordination problem that we generally see after the overcharging the body tools. Bitim will find his level, I have no doubt about it, but he really has to work on his shooting form, since he is changing it frequently. A high level prospect would have already formed his mechanism, that's the problem with Bitim. This US journey didn't do his game a heap of good, since the problems related with his game wouldn't be solved with American basketball mentality. His game has became more wild, however wasting a season doesn't take anything from the potential, he is still the number 1 Turkish prospect in my eyes. Of course, this doesn't change the reality he couldn't meet the expectations although he didn't play that bad. - Egemen Güven ('96, C, 2.09): Soft, too soft. Maybe the softest player of his generation. Never ever initiates the contact both on defense and offense. He is super talented with high finger sensitivity, soft hands, passing skills, mid range jumpers and those footworks, however as long as he abstains himself from contact, it is too hard to say that he is able to take good roles on senior level. He is physically gifted actually, however he hasn't bulked up a little bit since the day he had been hyped. Okay, he seemed a little bit stronger in this tournament since he has spent some time in US with some individual development coaches, nevertheless nothing has changed when it comes to physical contention. He even didn't try post-up moves much, tried to find score by depending upon his skilled hands. No need to backbite him, he did, he helped the team on offense and averaged a good PPG stat but as I have said, if he wants to make his dreams real, he needs to overcome the softness issue first in his mind. Since he pegs this problem as a drawback, he won't reflect some toughness on floor even though he is probably capable of doing it. He is going to be given an important role in KSK this year, his last chance if you ask me, he needs to benefit from this opportunity. If he can't make an impact, '98 born Görkem Doğan will be there to take his place. We will see.
- Okben Ulubay ('96, SF, 2.00): Had a very good and promising season with Pertevniyal jersey, the expectations were so high on him as usual with U20 NT, however as per usual, one more below expectations performance from him. Nobody can deny he is talented, the thing which is wrong with him is his inactive game understanding. I mentioned above, Yiğit Arslan is relentless with a high motor, Ulubay is the total opposite of this guy. He likes to be the brain and leader of team, when such role isn't given him, he doesn't care what is going around him, just waiting at corners to ball fall into his hands. He ain't a team player, the ego needs to be rasped. His court vision and passing skills are insane, totally an unpredictable player who can score 15 points in one quarter without even sweating off. That's him, however senior level basketball is unmerciful. He will play in Giresun this season, a good place to fully concentrate on basketball. You can only play basketball and eat handfuls of nuts there.
It is still early to cross his name out, hopefully he will learn how to be a good team player in Giresun, most probably he will. Besides that, he is still the decadent of this summer.
I am quite content with the performance of Akyüz this season and one average U-Tournament performance doesn't take anything from this consideration, since this guy already proved very valuable things in TBL as you said. He at least had 10 great games where he signalized his game against experienced players in league at the age of 16. If he eventually can improve his consistency, then he will be a great acquisition for us, is going to slip on the NT jersey for years. There are some decisive career stages in front of him, needs to advance all these stages singly without being misdirected. He is the main candidate who may put an end to the eternal Turkish PG problem, already the projected player of the federation as well. As long as, he turns the combination of regular playing time at senior level and good coaching into an opportunity, he will keep on going in the right direction. It is a big luxury and opportunity to have convincing minutes in a competitive league in where the teams are filling their guard rotations with foreign and more-senior level ready players. He is already the youngest player of TBL among players who have made notable contributions through season.
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