European Prospects General Thread

[Straight forward]

Finland has another big prospect - Miikka Muurinen. 6'9 can shoot the lights out, flexible, can create a bit for himself. Markkanen is 10 years older, but they may have couple of strong tournaments together. They also have good PG prospect Miro Little. So these 3 one day can caree Finland at the very high level:

https://twitter.com/MaxFeldman6/status/1710437615957082360

[Straight forward]

Hugo Gonzalez became MVP of ANGT Podgorica, and he's really good off course, No.1 2006 Euro prospect, but I expected more in terms of efficiency. 17.5eff pretty meh, shot the threes poorly. But nevertheless great 2 way prospect. Didn't play overly long 23.5mpg, but could unleash the hell more surely. Hugo was even better last year in ANGT with 20eff.

I expect from Jakucionis in terms of domination in Belgrade, starting with March 1.

[Straight forward]

I think it's safe to say that 2024 NBA draft will be one of the best for European players. Topic, Buzelis, Sarr, Risacher are all huge pieces, often ending up together in top 5 and always in top 10 projections.

Also Almansa, Tidjane Salaun, Aday Mara, Adem Bona, Baba Miller (legitimate chances) and Nunez, Rubstavicius, Durisic (solid chances) to be drafted and some others.

[Straight forward]

Interesting article on the best European prospects under 20 ATM. The author is legit, he's not a dummy at all. Nevertheless it's always a matter of choice, some players could be in, some players could be out. It's crazy that 7 of these players are French guys and all of them can be good. All deserves to here I think. So France has really choking amount of talent, NBA talent. But they don't have a single pure guard. Hayes busting out (and he was nearly a prodigy I would say as a young player, IDK what happened, he became slower, less crafty and hesitant, who's to blame?). Then Spain has 3 players.

From my personal point of view, I can say that Jakucionis is better than Sarr with whom he plays for U18 Barca. Flat out better, it's not even a competition. So he had to be there - no question. Jakucionis is absolute stand out, close to Topic. I even argue that Jakucionis is better than Nunez overall, who I really respect, his passing is more than elite, but Jakucionis has better motor, way more talented shooter and scorer and better defender. Nunez exceeds at passing and creation, but else where Jakucionis is better. OK, Nunez had to be in, but Italian Dame Sarr doesn't deserve it. But it's OK, cause it's obviously an attempt to include more nations in into the pallet. If he would name 7 French guys, 4 Spaniards, 4 Lithuanians, 4 Serbians it wouldn't be exactly fun. The same author today will release the article in which he claims that Jakucionis is the first round material of 2025 NBA draft.

Other guys who could be in - Krivas. ESPN projects him as top 15 of 2025 NBA draft.

Overall, the talent is going over the board. Wemby, Buzelis, Caulibaly, Sarr, Risacher, Salaun, Topic can be special and have NBA star's upsides. This could be one of the best under 20 lists ever.

https://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2025/qualifiers/news/20-under-20-who-are-the-rising-stars-of-europe

[Serbian_Layup]

Interesting article on the best European prospects under 20 ATM. The author is legit, he's not a dummy at all. Nevertheless it's always a matter of choice, some players could be in, some players could be out. It's crazy that 7 of these players are French guys and all of them can be good. All deserves to here I think. So France has really choking amount of talent, NBA talent. But they don't have a single pure guard. Hayes busting out (and he was nearly a prodigy I would say as a young player, IDK what happened, he became slower, less crafty and hesitant, who's to blame?). Then Spain has 3 players.

From my personal point of view, I can say that Jakucionis is better than Sarr with whom he plays for U18 Barca. Flat out better, it's not even a competition. So he had to be there - no question. Jakucionis is absolute stand out, close to Topic. I even argue that Jakucionis is better than Nunez overall, who I really respect, his passing is more than elite, but Jakucionis has better motor, way more talented shooter and scorer and better defender. Nunez exceeds at passing and creation, but else where Jakucionis is better. OK, Nunez had to be in, but Italian Dame Sarr doesn't deserve it. But it's OK, cause it's obviously an attempt to include more nations in into the pallet. If he would name 7 French guys, 4 Spaniards, 4 Lithuanians, 4 Serbians it wouldn't be exactly fun. The same author today will release the article in which he claims that Jakucionis is the first round material of 2025 NBA draft.

Other guys who could be in - Krivas. ESPN projects him as top 15 of 2025 NBA draft.

Overall, the talent is going over the board. Wemby, Buzelis, Caulibaly, Sarr, Risacher, Salaun, Topic can be special and have NBA star's upsides. This could be one of the best under 20 lists ever.

https://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2025/qualifiers/news/20-under-20-who-are-the-rising-stars-of-europe

Nunez right now is the most ready young Euro point guard. Topic has had great season until injury, but Nunez is playing at even higher level, won title with Ulm last season and was very good in Eurocup this season. Jakucionis has yet to play any meaningful minutes at senior level, he has no business competing with Nunez. We will see in upcoming years but right now it's not even close.

[Straight forward]

Nunez right now is the most ready young Euro point guard. Topic has had great season until injury, but Nunez is playing at even higher level, won title with Ulm last season and was very good in Eurocup this season. Jakucionis has yet to play any meaningful minutes at senior level, he has no business competing with Nunez. We will see in upcoming years but right now it's not even close.

Yeah, but I think those names were taken in terms of their upside. The same Italian Sarr has been playing worse than Jakucionis for a while now and the author of this article agreed on that. Nunez is really good, I don't question that.

[Serbian_Layup]

https://www.noceilingsnba.com/p/2024-nba-draft-big-board-v6

Topic has been out for three months and he is stil very high on many draft boards, usually in top 5. This is weaker draft class, so there is a good chance that he remains in top 5. That will probably depend on his performance in the last months of the season as he should be back on the court in the next few days. Again, lots of Euro talents in this draft with good chances to be lottery picks.

[Straight forward]

Gotta love this angle from BleacherReport:

https://twitter.com/EuroBasket/status/1777317731504640199

[Straight forward]

15 French, 6 Spanish, 3 Serbian, 3 Lithuanians, 3 Dutch, 2 Swedish and other Europeans remain in the draft.

That pretty much sums it up how prospect power goes in Europe. France is ultimate NBA talent farm in Europe. I think we are quite lucky that their transition to NT is super crappy. Much like Canada's, but even worse.

F.e. Lithuania never failed to integrate a single NBA, or even NBA borderline player ever (except against it's own will in Ilgauskas case). So far we have been utilizing NBA talent 100% basically. I bet in France case it's 10-15% if even so. That probably shows a high % of French talents busting out too.

Anyway, this year with Sarr, Risacher and Salaun all being top 8 most likely and first 2 top 5. Combine that with last year's top pick Wemby and Coulibaly at 7# (I think all 5 players can be really good) and we have a potentially legitimate punch this time. This explosion of real talent will reflect NT this time I think.

Teams like Serbia, Spain and recently Lithuania produce pretty consistent amount of NBA or NBA borderline material.

Almansa withdraws this year. Nunez in. Those are 2 important pieces for Spain heading forward.

Lithuania with a good stretch recently - Brazdeikis, Sirvydis, Jokubaitis as drafted players already impact NT and the next even more important push will be Rubstavicius, Buzelis, Jakucionis, Krivas. Last three should be first rounders and true NBA material likely if not all 4, which would be big push for LTU BB.

[Srle]

The most french prospects are overrated. They have Risacher as the number 1 pick in the Draft, the kid can't even dribble the ball. Sarr is the certain bust, there is nothing in his game that screams special, he's another Petro. Quantity doesn't always mean quality. They had so many players drafted in the past 5,6 years none of them made any difference in the NBA beside Wembanyama. And even when they go back to France they stay average. NBA clubs are very bad in terms of evaluating NBA talent internationally, and they are relying heavily on the frauds from ESPN, ex Draftexpress personnel. Also Spain is dominant in the youth competitions but they don't produce special players at the senior level anymore, they are naturalizing American players to represent their country . The part of that is that there is no place for them in their best clubs, those clubs who are competing in Euroleague. Still that shouldn't be the big problem for them because they have the strongest national league in Europe but something is obviously wrong with their program. Also in their youth selections there are lots of physically and athletically matured players that representing them, many of them are from African descent . They are too dominant physically in the youth competitions but they can't translate their games at the senior level. Germany is more impressive than those two countries, in terms of producing quality players who are elevating their NT .

[Straight forward]

The most french prospects are overrated. They have Risacher as the number 1 pick in the Draft, the kid can't even dribble the ball. Sarr is the certain bust, there is nothing in his game that screams special, he's another Petro. Quantity doesn't always mean quality. They had so many players drafted in the past 5,6 years none of them made any difference in the NBA beside Wembanyama. And even when they go back to France they stay average. NBA clubs are very bad in terms of evaluating NBA talent internationally, and they are relying heavily on the frauds from ESPN, ex Draftexpress personnel. Also Spain is dominant in the youth competitions but they don't produce special players at the senior level anymore, they are naturalizing American players to represent their country . The part of that is that there is no place for them in their best clubs, those clubs who are competing in Euroleague. Still that shouldn't be the big problem for them because they have the strongest national league in Europe but something is obviously wrong with their program. Also in their youth selections there are lots of physically and athletically matured players that representing them, many of them are from African descent . They are too dominant physically in the youth competitions but they can't translate their games at the senior level. Germany is more impressive than those two countries, in terms of producing quality players who are elevating their NT .

I think Sarr has tremendous defensive upside and pretty flexible offensively. He will be good player. I'm not sure No.1 pick worthy, but surely nice upside. This draft class is weak anyway, so it's more about what teams need rather than choosing highest upside. I think Buzelis and then Sarr probably highest ceiling prospects. Risacher is overrated cause he has no handles and ISO creation as you said, but he is an amazing shooter with great size and elite defender. That translates to NBA very well. I think these 5 player I mention will be ballers, I just know less about Salaun. Yeah, France players a loved by ESPN scouts, but they are panning out poorly overall. Nevertheless I think these 5 will be ballers and off course Wemby can be great potentially. I think he will. He is second best defender in the world ATM probably already.

Too soon to say that Spain has any problems. Upcoming 2 tournaments will tell more. But they won 2019 and 2022, so... It's all good if you ask me. The question is can they sustain that level, but probably they will with Nunez, Gonzalez and so on. Spain's prospects get overlooked a bit early, but eventually they have some great players. Maybe that super extra class player may be missed in upcoming 10-15 years. I feel like people too generous when they put Gonzalez at 5# spot in 2025 NBA draft. He seems to me more like a solid role player, or a starter at best for the NBA. Not really a star potential, but who knows.

So who are next great German true guard after Schroder then? I know there's Franz, but I mean true guard. That will be the key for them. Can they have lead guard?

[Srle]

Germany have two really good prospects born in 2006 and one in 2007. All three of them are back court players,one of them will play for Mega Basket club next season Also they have lots of big men that can become very good players in the future. I am not sold on Spain that much, they should have retired their ancient players already and start with some new blood. Almansa seems to have the trouble adopting to the pro basketball. I really like him as the player but let see how he's going to fare next season in Europe. Nunez is the creative point guard but he has some limitations, he's not quick and athletic guard and his shooting is very bad. I am not sold yet on Gonzalez, he seems to be physically matured , the last year at U18 championship , a year younger than the most of the competition, he looked more physically advanced than the most players who participated there. I have to see him at the senior level. Mara made the big mistake by going to college,he needs to go back to Spain as soon as possible.

[Straight forward]

Germany have two really good prospects born in 2006 and one in 2007. All three of them are back court players,one of them will play for Mega Basket club next season Also they have lots of big men that can become very good players in the future. I am not sold on Spain that much, they should have retired their ancient players already and start with some new blood. Almansa seems to have the trouble adopting to the pro basketball. I really like him as the player but let see how he's going to fare next season in Europe. Nunez is the creative point guard but he has some limitations, he's not quick and athletic guard and his shooting is very bad. I am not sold yet on Gonzalez, he seems to be physically matured , the last year at U18 championship , a year younger than the most of the competition, he looked more physically advanced than the most players who participated there. I have to see him at the senior level. Mara made the big mistake by going to college,he needs to go back to Spain as soon as possible.

What are those German names? I have to take a look at them and see if they are real deal.

[Srle]

Jack Kayil ,Ivan Kharnchenkov ,Mathieu Grujicic.

[Straight forward]

Jack Kayil ,Ivan Kharnchenkov ,Mathieu Grujicic.

OK, Kayil and Grujicic are interesting. But by no means I would put Germany in front of France or Spain. Those named are to top tier prospects, at least ATM. Let's see how they will develop though. I don't see next Schroder in Kayil to be honest.