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