FIBA U18 Europe 2024 (2006 born or younger)

[Serbian_Layup]

Traore is a candidate for France to become a lead guard, he can really score. But in this tournament he didn't show facilitation. 6,5as/3,8to is bad. Maybe just one tournament. Compare that to Jakucionis 11,8as/4.2to. It's still a question if he can be that great ball distributor for France, but he has fundamentals.

Regarding Jakucionis, not only his passing and shootings, but also defense should be overlooked. +3 steals in every game and tons of deflection. 2 ways beast.

Gonzalez is ambivalent to me. Good, but also a bit overrated, IMO. Streaky shooter and ranked too high (as top 5 pick) for more of a great role player.

Demin is Russian so I don't care about him.

Jakucionis racked up assists in a game in which Barca won by almost 80 points. That's meaningless. Every pass is basically an assist against such opponent. Traore dropped 45/9 on him in direct matchup. Nevertheless, I like Jakucionis, he's got talent and potential to be serious player.

I can confirm to you that Demin doesn't give a shit whether you care or not about him. LOL

[Toruko]

Jakucionis is a really talented and big point guard. Looks like a second round NBA draftee to me right now. His jumper needs to be consistent but he has definitely NBA upside.

[Straight forward]

Jakucionis racked up assists in a game in which Barca won by almost 80 points. That's meaningless. Every pass is basically an assist against such opponent. Traore dropped 45/9 on him in direct matchup. Nevertheless, I like Jakucionis, he's got talent and potential to be serious player.

I can confirm to you that Demin doesn't give a shit whether you care or not about him. LOL

It's not meaningless. He totally broke all time ANGT record. It's not easy to do at all. He has been the best ball distributor in the tournament.

Jakucionis is a really talented and big point guard. Looks like a second round NBA draftee to me right now. His jumper needs to be consistent but he has definitely NBA upside.

Quite few scouts have him as first round prospect and even potentially lottery pick (less likely). I think 1 round now is fairly possible, while second is truly realistic. I don't like that his next stop is likely NCAA though.

https://x.com/pelicanscol/status/1794411172046819778

[Srle]

This generation is in medal contention for sure, there is a lot of talent, it's just a question of finding proper fit between them.

U16 is also ridiculously talented, they seem like early favorites for gold medal.

Did you watch Bosnjakovic at ANGT? What do you think? Ballhandling a bit shaky, but defense and mentality fully on display. Kid has guts for big games, always comes up clutch. I think he won't be a star player, but very good or elite two way player. It depends on how much he improves his ballhandling and dribbling.

That's Bosnjakovic how you described him. He came big for Real in bunch of tournaments, this season and the last season. His ball handling regressed since he left Serbia because he's playing off the ball in Real. I think he should leave Real after this season. Nikola Bundalo who was on the USA's preliminary roster for their U18 selection, supposedly will play for us, he has received Serbian citizenship. I never watched him but I guess that's more reinforcement for our front court.

[Toruko]

Well no Demir Dogan due to health issues for us. This is a big disappointment. He is a very valuable talent for us on the long term and he fits to the Buyuktuncel, Sengun lineup very well.

No Derin Can Ustun either it seems but I am sure he will join the team after the U17 world cup.

A couple of interesting names beside these names but no star potential. Kerem Erdem impressed me in the U16 tournament two years ago. We dont have the luxury to look over a play making potential. Ege Akcay, Yagiz Aksu and Salih Altuntas are other names worth mentioning but we shouldnt expect too much of this team. A quarter final would be amazing achievement for this team.

[Serbian_Layup]

That's Bosnjakovic how you described him. He came big for Real in bunch of tournaments, this season and the last season. His ball handling regressed since he left Serbia because he's playing off the ball in Real. I think he should leave Real after this season. Nikola Bundalo who was on the USA's preliminary roster for their U18 selection, supposedly will play for us, he has received Serbian citizenship. I never watched him but I guess that's more reinforcement for our front court.

Speaking of Bundalo...

https://x.com/Scoutspects/status/1796280118853374316

Aleks Alston is also very interesting prospect drawing much attention from NCAA, an American born to Serbian mother. His nickname is Serbian sniper because of a great shooting stroke.

https://x.com/pstockprospects/status/1794130975741657198

It's been awhile since we had a lefty shooter.

Momcilovic, Stojakovic, Bundalo, Alston are some of talented kids who play or will play in NCAA with possibility to represent Serbia in near future. Stojakovic is probably closer to Greece, but we should keep an eye on the rest of these kids.

[Straight forward]

I voted for Lithuania and we lead with Serbia in the poll ATM.

I think I have rankings like that:

1. Lithuania.
2. Spain.
3/4 Serbia/France

https://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u18/2024/news/vote-who-will-win-the-fiba-u18-eurobasket-title

[Serbian_Layup]

Preliminary roster of Serbian U18 team:

Andrej Kostić (Crvena Zvezda Belgrade)
Savo Drezgić (Partizan Belgrade)
Aleksa Dimitrijević (Partizan Belgrade)
Stefan Plisnić (Partizan Belgrade)
Aleksa Stanojević (Joker Sombor)
Luka Marković (Joker Sombor)
Miloš Šojić (Beko Belgrade)
Aleksandar Vojinović (Vojvodina Novi Sad)
Marko Tofoski (BKK Radnički)
Luka Solomun (Mega Belgrade)
Ognjen Srzentić (Mega Belgrade)
Aleksa Vlajić (Dynamic Belgrade)
Andrija Djurić (Zemun)
Uroš Ivković (Borac Čačak)
Uroš Šuput (Dunav 2014 Apatin)
Luka Jovanović (Žarkovo Belgrade)
Ognjen Radošić (Igokea Aleksandrovac)
Mitar Bošnjaković (Real Madrid )
Nikola Džepina (Valencia)
Nikola Bundalo (Western Reserve Academy)

Very talented team, should be among contenders and with good chance to repeat. On the first look, it's great to see Bundalo on this roster, this probably means that he has chosen to represent Serbia. Probably huge addition for this team and quite possibly for senior team in the future.

Drezgic-Kostic (Radosic)-Bosnjakovic is surely one of the best perimeter lineups in this tournament. Dimitrijevic-Stanojevic-Bundalo-Plisnic-Sojic round out versatile frontcourt. Srzentic and Dzepina add size and skill at SF/PF position.

In fact, I think there is a little bit too much firepower here, it will be hard to make a cohesive unit out of all these talents. Some talented players might be cut for the sake of the team, addition by subtraction formula. Essentially, it only matters which players project to make a leap in senior basketball. Anyway, I think Kostic is primed to have a big tournament.

[Straight forward]

Drezgic-Kostic (Radosic)-Bosnjakovic is surely one of the best perimeter lineups in this tournament.

Interesting tournament ahead. LTU, Serbia, Spain will have super stacked teams.

From what I see Jakucionis>Drezgic, Kostic (more or less) = Indrusaitis and I think Juzenas (more or less) = Bosnjakovic. It's hard to measure rosters overall cause the depth is immense for LTU, but so can be the case with Serbia. I have no idea which frontline is better too.

Spain with Gonzalez and Mario Saint-Supery (and others) also is hardcore backcourt.

As well as off course France will be tough to contain. Nolan Troare is likely the best guard in the tournament even though Jakucionis was more efficient overall in ANGT finals. France got silver in U16, now Traore and some other players potentially will be more matured and ready likely.

Interesting that this 2006 Serbia team blew it in U16.

I still have LTU as the main contender with best or second best guard in the tournament Jakucionis (the best facilitator in the tournament by far) and overall most impressive guards line - Jakucionis, Indrusaitis, Juzenas, Buika. Good depth and high upside bigs as Raupelis, Butajevas.

But France, Spain, Serbia are from the same tier and who knows maybe even better teams. So really hardcore tournament this time. A lot of guys who can be even lottery picks as Traore, Gonzalez, Jakucionis.

[Srle]

Radosic,Bundalo and Markovic will be great reinforcement for the team that was competing in Germany few months ago. I am mad that people from our federation are overlooking Dimitrije Kondic which in my opinion is the top player in our 2006 generation.

[Serbian_Layup]

Interesting tournament ahead. LTU, Serbia, Spain will have super stacked teams.

From what I see Jakucionis>Drezgic, Kostic (more or less) = Indrusaitis and I think Juzenas (more or less) = Bosnjakovic. It's hard to measure rosters overall cause the depth is immense for LTU, but so can be the case with Serbia. I have no idea which frontline is better too.

Spain with Gonzalez and Mario Saint-Supery (and others) also is hardcore backcourt.

As well as off course France will be tough to contain. Nolan Troare is likely the best guard in the tournament even though Jakucionis was more efficient overall in ANGT finals. France got silver in U16, now Traore and some other players potentially will be more matured and ready likely.

Interesting that this 2006 Serbia team blew it in U16.

I still have LTU as the main contender with best or second best guard in the tournament Jakucionis (the best facilitator in the tournament by far) and overall most impressive guards line - Jakucionis, Indrusaitis, Juzenas, Buika. Good depth and high upside bigs as Raupelis, Butajevas.

But France, Spain, Serbia are from the same tier and who knows maybe even better teams. So really hardcore tournament this time. A lot of guys who can be even lottery picks as Traore, Gonzalez, Jakucionis.

This is not the same team. Only Drezgic, Plisnic, Sojic and Radosic (who got injured and didn't even play in knockout phase) were on that team. 2 years is a big difference in youth categories and it will show on this Serbian team, probably 8-9 new players compared to that team. That's big difference.

Aside from Jakucionis, I'm really not familiar with the rest of those kids, so I have no idea how they compare to Serbian talents. I will get better picture when tournament starts.

[Serbian_Layup]

Radosic,Bundalo and Markovic will be great reinforcement for the team that was competing in Germany few months ago. I am mad that people from our federation are overlooking Dimitrije Kondic which in my opinion is the top player in our 2006 generation.

Could you write a few words on Markovic and Kondic? I'm not that familiar with their game.

[Srle]

Luka Markovic is Stanojevic teammate at Joker club. He's two meter tall wing, a strong athlete with the very nice build ,good shooter, he can put the ball on the floor as well. Him and Radosic were good duo several years ago at Vizura , they won Serbian U15 championship back then. Kondic is also wing but they use him as PF in Vojvodina. He used to play at PG at KK Star before he moved to Vojvodina. He's about 2 meters tall, maybe even taller than that with the crazy length. A solid three point shooter, good passer and defender. In my opinion he should be the member of our U18 squad. Also Lazar Stojkovic should have been included here.

[Toruko]

Ben Saraf is a top play maker prospect. Very mature and polished game. His level of self creation is amazingly good. Adler of Finland is also very polished. His decision making was superb for his age.

[Dreamcatcher]

Ben Saraf is a top play maker prospect. Very mature and polished game.

Indeed, may be the best player here. He scored 40 pts and Israel disappointed Spain in 1/8.