European prospects born 95'

[kukulas]

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Aleksandar-Vezenkov-NBA-Draft-Scouting-Report-and-Video-Breakdown-5054/

Scouting report for Aleksandar Vezenkov

John Hollinger of the Memphis Grizzlies was watching him yesterday sitting side by side with the player's agent (Still Nick Lotsos, sorry Pao fans lol). What we hear from rumors is that Lotsos is trying to secure a 1st round pick for Vezenkov else he's gonna pull him from this year's draft and wait for next year to declare again.

http://www.eurobasket.com/boxScores/Greece/2015/0609_186_269.asp

Not a bad night for Vezenkov he had a couple of catch-and-shoot 3 pointers where received the pass and shot the ball with an extremely quick release.

[slice me nice]

Almost every generation has dark horses. Kartal Özmızrak is my candidate for this title. He is overshadowed Cedi Osman in Turkish basketball society. When we look at this season, he had great season in Eskişehir Basket. By going there, he made a great decision thus he got enough minutes to develop his game. All he needs was high level competition experience and he has fulfilled this deficiency this season. I am the witness of his development. This guy has been playing in league for 4 years even though he is just 19. Only this year he has taken regular minutes and proved that he can be a good PG option in the future.

At the utmost, I like his bravery. When he was just 15 years old, he was one of the key players of Beşiktaş because of the performance in Fenerbahçe series. He never avoid of responsibility and whenever his team needs something, he is there to perform it. If team needs score, he scores; if team needs defensive effort, he gives his 101% to defend the opponent. He can even be the most balanced Turkish guard currently. He is a reliable shooter and can score pop shots. Therefore a good isolation player. When he sees a bulky player in front of him, he prefers to move with ball thanks to his agility and fast feet. His success percentage for this type of shooting decision is higher than any kind of Turkish prospect. For example, Cedi Osman misses these shots and this is the biggest deficiency in his game. His size is okay but needs to bulk a little bit more. Sometimes, some opponents play post ups over him, and he falls short to stop them. Post up plays of PGs are important specialty for players in modern basketball as as illustration Zoran Planinic. He is a good defender. Not a clamp but he can minimize efficiency of opponent guards. As a PG, he has good block feeling. I am saying this because when his opponent drives in, he can stay against attack and courses a block opportunity. A kind of versatile defender. He can guard any kind of backcourt players. He makes valuable his teammates. Cedi Osman indicated the Kartal Özmızrak's game as the success of him. Kartal is playing simple game and doesn't have ego to play with ball more. An ideal guard for the players like Cedi. I also should admit, Özmızrak's rebound feeling. He collects the fallen rebounds in painted area. I mean he is always active on the floor, instead of looking to his friends to get the rebounds, he contributes something to this effort. Generally I can't see this effort from PGs. He played as combo guard in Eskişehir which is a great decision for his abilities. Threes from screens are the new thing that he added his game.

The negative point about his game is shooting tendency. Instead of driving, he prefers to shoot. If he can rely on this, he will be one of the best Turkish PGs and serve the NT for years. I hope he doesn't stop to develop his game because I know, how a hardworking player he is. He is making shooting practices after the games. (That's what I had used to seen in his Beşiktaş times) One of the most underrated Turkish prospect. He worked hard and got the necessary minutes for his development. I trust his character and abilities. He is much better than his coeval friend Kenan Sipahi. The things that lack Sipahi, defines Kartal Özmızrak. I hope he will also be in senior NT. He totally deserves this.

Btw, next year is homecoming for him. Henrik Dettman will hand Beşiktaş jersey in to him. He will get starter role if there will be no misfortune.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

One of the less talked about prospects, Manu Lecomte

[vaslover]

One of the less talked about prospects, Manu Lecomte

Belgian Tony Parker.

[Obina]

Timothe Luwawu 27 points against Partizan.

[jonga]

Ilimane Diop improved phisically and he's playing better, specially in defense. In ACB is the leader in blocks, 7 blocks in 3 games, 17 minutes per game.

[Joško Poljak Fan]

Rebec is back on courts! He looks rusty, however it seems that those career ending injury speculations were wrong nevertheless. Playing slovenian 1st league only, though.

[Mika Hakinen]

Alexander Vezenkov officially becomes Greek 🇬🇷 citizen today. He is born in Nicosia and also hold the 🇨🇾 citizenship

https://twitter.com/basket24gr/status/682313608005566465

Goodbye, Bulgaria!

[SaliH]

He has played for Bulgarian senior national team like 2 years ago and has told it a lot of times that he feels bulgarian and wants to play for Bulgaria. He has also played in every bulgarian youth team before so I see no problem of him getting a greek citizenship. It's only a piece of paper after all. Paper that can give you a visa- free travel to USA if needed

[slice me nice]

He has played for Bulgarian senior national team like 2 years ago and has told it a lot of times that he feels bulgarian and wants to play for Bulgaria. He has also played in every bulgarian youth team before so I see no problem of him getting a greek citizenship. It's only a piece of paper after all. Paper that can give you a visa- free travel to USA if needed

How about the recent news from Bulgarian side? Looks like the Bulgarian Federation just watching the process without doing anything. If they don't take the necessary actions, he is going to play for Greece even though he has already played for senior Bulgarian NT.

[SaliH]

I don't know what the federation is doing to keep him but his father is a big figure in Bulgarian Basketball... If Vezenkov decides to play for Greece everyone will treat him as a traitor and he will become a persona non grata in the country. I don't know if he really cares about this because he is not spending more than a week or two in the country a year anyway. He is getting more and more popular though. From a month and a half two of Bulgaria's sport channels show Euroleague and Spanish League games and it's a little annoying to me to watch only Barcelona's games every week.

They show them only because we haven't had a basketball player on such a high level from lot's of years. If it helps to the game to grow in Bulgaria it will be really good because most of people don't watch or care about basketball.

[Adon]

Vezencov is not good enough for the Greek NT.
Anyway, citizenship is just a formality. If it's illegal then it can't happen. If it's legal, then there is no ethical problem. Otherwise, we have to define a different set of rules, which may include family history investigations, DNA tests (lol), and such things.

[slice me nice]

Vezencov is not good enough for the Greek NT.
Anyway, citizenship is just a formality. If it's illegal then it can't happen. If it's legal, then there is no ethical problem. Otherwise, we have to define a different set of rules, which may include family history investigations, DNA tests (lol), and such things.

He is such a promising player and his ceiling is much higher than any current Greek prospects right now. I don't know if you have a valid argument to claim he is not enough for Greek NT. Just a simple example, he is the MVP of Greek League. Quality wise, Greek League is not the impressive one but definitely being MVP means a lot in that league since that honor had been dominated by Diamantidis for years. Currently, he doesn't have enough quality to shoulder Greek NT but with limited role you can get the maximum benefit from this guy. He is not the project of today but the future.

@Salih, thank you for the info. I have read couple of his interviews where he said he wants to play for Bulgaria but since he got his new citizenship, the things may change. For the sake of Bulgarian basketball he should play there. He can take an important role in the development process of Bulgarian basketball.

[Adon]

He is such a promising player and his ceiling is much higher than any current Greek prospects right now. I don't know if you have a valid argument to claim he is not enough for Greek NT. Just a simple example, he is the MVP of Greek League. Quality wise, Greek League is not the impressive one but definitely being MVP means a lot in that league since that honor had been dominated by Diamantidis for years. Currently, he doesn't have enough quality to shoulder Greek NT but with limited role you can get the maximum benefit from this guy. He is not the project of today but the future.

I didn't talk about the promises he gives neither I did any prediction. I wrote using present time. A player who scores 4 point/game in EL and has insignificant numbers in anything else, simply, is not good enough for the Greek NT.
If he ever achieves to become something more than a promising talent and if he ever gets a call from the NT, then perhaps there is something to discuss about his intentions.

[Obina]

Rade Zagorac against Buducnost in ABA play off. Huge talent, hope to see him in Zvezda next season.