2019 U18 European Championship

[CoachZ]

Watching Serbia - Turkey game. Pokusevski trying to do too much by himself from the start and kids seemed nervous. Pazin is shooting way too much this tournament so I hope he can stay under control and have better shot selection. Vasic needs to have a solid game and Pokusevski needs to stretch the court more.

On the other side, No. 1 in Turkey, Ilyasoglu is probably the softest and lowest IQ player I have seen in the tournament so far. If he was on the bench, Turkey should be up by 10.

EDIT: Read the number wrong. It was No. 1, not 7.

[haribi]

With Haltali and Sengün out there it's like we're playing with two Enes Kanter's. You can't have two players out there at the same time who can't defend the PnR to save their lives

[CoachZ]

Solid win versus Turkey, which basically has no solutions if you spread them, like I mentioned at the beginning of the game. Some late game heroics from Gorener brought Turkey back into the game, but once again we prevailed. A deserved win but some points:

- Pokusevski needs to work on his penetration game. Either go full face-up and use length and speed to get to the rim, drawing out bigger guys or settle for a more static game in the post with jumpshots and quickfootwork. This inbetween shit is limiting him offensively. Otherwise excellent contribution on the both sides of the floor. Rare statline like his.
- Pazin once again has trouble with shot selection. The kid also needs the ball in his hands more.
- Big game from Langovic, who looked quite limited in the first 2 games, now he showed a more diverse skillset.

Overall the kids have solid shooting potential and can score in a variety of ways and let Pokusevski clean everything up, make Pazin work more with the ball and off-the-ball for better shots and we might have a solid run.

[Toruko]

We neglected to use the paint more. Stupid shot selections. Gave the serbs at least 5 seconds for taking the shot. Contested poorly midranger. Pick and Roll Defense was with Haltali and Sengün impossible. They took sengün partly with 3 man but we couldnt create space.

Main Issue. Our play maker are too skinny they need to bulk up at first and need to work on scoring. Bona is as expected clumsy in set offense and has his impact on D despite being newly 16. Göreners role is also restricted because of being skinny. Same goes for Kurtuldum who is more ready. And it was a mistake to add Kücük later. Sezgün again with his hookshot the same stupid choise last year which costed us the wc participation.

[Levenspiel]

I give you just similarities. And you can be sure that i am working and watching and playing much more than you. Dont feel offended. If you are too slow its just two steps and a pump fake to outsmart your opponents. The question is how he develops i agree but he is by far the best center of the tournament.

As I keep saying at every occasion, I watch these kids only in summer tournaments. therefore I refer to you, TfG, roloj, and a few other friends who clearly watch more and know a lot more about youngsters (btw, we have the largest population recently on the IBN who follow TR youth bball). My question and skepticism about Sengun is in the same vein. Since you guys know more, please help me understand how he can overcome his apparent shortcomings in senior level.

You say he will outsmart opponents. That's what Prkacin used to do so effectively. This may work in the EL I think even today, but not as well as it did in the past. Hey, even if he becomes a Cemal Nalga (who Sengun reminds me a bit), it's better than all centers we currently have (excluding Kanter). Maybe he'll grow a few more cms, then it's a different scenario.

[Toruko]

As I keep saying at every occasion, I watch these kids only in summer tournaments. therefore I refer to you, TfG, roloj, and a few other friends who clearly watch more and know a lot more about youngsters (btw, we have the largest population recently on the IBN who follow TR youth bball). My question and skepticism about Sengun is in the same vein. Since you guys know more, please help me understand how he can overcome his apparent shortcomings in senior level.

You say he will outsmart opponents. That's what Prkacin used to do so effectively. This may work in the EL I think even today, but not as well as it did in the past. Hey, even if he becomes a Cemal Nalga (who Sengun reminds me a bit), it's better than all centers we currently have (excluding Kanter). Maybe he'll grow a few more cms, then it's a different scenario.

Well normally he is not usable. I can understand your concerns but he has some abilities which can give him some advantages in pro level. First he has a really good footwork which gives him an advantage especially in low post. He resembles in that point divac (doesnt mean he has his potential) and a very good touch. He can finish with both hands. Passing and finding the open man in low post is another point. He is not as creative as jokic but it gives him more options. Despite being slow he can dribble the ball very good for his size although it looks a bit goofy. He finishes his job. He has a improvable outside shot. These are his strengths about basketball wise. In addition to that he is very focussed and never sleeps in defense or offense. Aggressiveness is another point and leadership.

Weaknesses... he is obviously very slow and almost useless in fast breaks and his perimeter defense will be always a problem especially with closeouts and right now he is undersized as a center. If you want similar playertypes... the old efes guy Dario Saric is a good comparison. With his development state right now i am sure hell be able to handle euroleague in a couple years. He has thanks to banvit this consistency. The last obstacle is BSL and CL. If he can handle it we can count on him in the future.

Useless centers are Haltali and Sezgün and unfortunately we can add Atar too.

Our concern should be more Ilyasoglu and Kücük. They are million years away to handle pro level.

[christodoulou76]

A few thoughts on Greek team: Nikolaidis (only 16 yrs old) impressed me with his speed and defensive prowess (5 stl, 2 blk) despite being undersized (186 cm). Klonaras, one of the best performers in the friendly games, sprained his right ankle and is questionable for the match against Finland. Rogkavopoulos is an undisciplined and not very smart player. He is frustrating to watch. Sotiriou showed some good touch around the basket, especially in drives, and Karampelas has impressive handle and a nice shooting motion from deep. 16 yr old Kalogiros will surely do better in future tournaments as he matures. One to look out for.

I expect a close match against Finland - hopefully we'll win and then face an uphill battle against Serbia (probably) in the QFs.

[Dirtyh]

I expect a close match against Finland - hopefully we'll win and then face an uphill battle against Serbia (probably) in the QFs.

Well let's see. This Finnish team is maybe most "chaos-basketball" oriented team there's ever been and it could end up on a turnover competition. Our guards are pretty athletic, maybe more than ever in our history, but they lack shooting badly. Greece is absolutely heavy favorite but if Finland have hot shooting day they could pull up upset.

[Toruko]

What a game between LTU and SRBIJA. Serbia seemed very exhausted because they gave everything against us.

LTU defended very well but what a choke in the last quarter. LTU couldnt score for 6 minutes. Then Pokusevski with 2 three pointer in 5 seconds. Maculionis grabbed the rebound got fouled by Poku and missed both fts 20 seconds before end but a serbian player lost the ball and LTU won. Congrats!

[Shawshank]

Very ugly game for both sides I mean both teams really tried to lose hard this game ) but heck we gonna take any playoofs win against other top european basketball school as Serbia

[Straight forward]

Tremendous effort by Lithuanians defensively though. Kids hustled!

[Dirtyh]

Finland leading 6 at half time. Very, very ugly game. Greece have 10 turnovers and 10/35FG (1/123FG). They have looked absolutely bad and their shot selection have been horrible. They seems to be unhappy with that chaos-basketball. Finland have been slightly better but this team is totally missing shooting ability. I guess that we're going to see much better Greece at second half.

[Toruko]

Well Greece is a bad team and survived that game just with willpower but it could be enough for semi. Klonaras injured, Rogka is playing his third tournament, karampelas played over 30 minutes. I wonder how long they can maintain this.

[christodoulou76]

Only Nikolaidis impressed me today. He is a very useful player. It's a pity that he is so undersized - that will limit his potential at the next level.

[Toruko]

A couple words to Turkeys game today... I am not happy with the game although it was a deserved win at last but the start was horrible, we couldnt find open shots for the first 7 minutes. Starting five was very weird. The shots were not falling but the team went to the half with a lead. Big compliment to Sengün who nearly did everything on the court. He made it very easy especially for Bona to score. With 6 Assists he really was like a Jokic light. With 3 Blocks he prevented also important points for Italy. The Rotation is not good for the rhythm of the team but it is understanding because the tournament is very short timelined. I expected a much more creative team but i obviously underestimated the lack of strength of our two guards Yasir Kücük and Ilyasoglu.

I watched the france game today and a very limited croatian team had several opportunities to finish off the french team. The team has obviously big problems finishing in set offense. They are too predictable and can only score over transition or iso plays. Shooting from outside is a big problem for france since begarin obviously forgot how to shoot. I would normally see turkey in advantage but the turnover ratio is really worrying. Slow down the game, dont make stupid turnover and play hard. Diabate, Begarin and Cazalon played 30+ minutes. Turkey must take the advantage of this situation but its turkey you never know.