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Following potential 2015 draftees

Highlights of his game(19pts) against Euroleague champion Olympiakos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4pyou7OD3M
 
^^^^^ Oh man, those Olympiakos uniforms are hard on the eyes.

As for Venzenkov, he definitely looks like his ceiling would be that Bonner/Novak range. Are there any foreigners that play that kind of spot role in the NBA currently? It seems like if they aren't above average, they usually go home pretty quickly rather than stick around to score 6 pts/game or whatever.
 
His attitude and intangibles seem pretty strong. He usually plays great against the better teams. He had great games both against Olympiakos and Panathinaikos last season and to me it seems like his ambition is to be more than a Bonner type of player. I doubt he would stick in the NBA for such a role. Unfortunately, his athleticism is a bit underwhelming, otherwise he's a smart player who can shoot. If he can develop a bit of quickness and improves his defense, I think his ceiling is something like... Mike Miller, they are pretty similar actually - they aren't good defenders, their blocks numbers are underwhelming, no offensive rebounding, but good at the defensive glass. They are good shooters with high and quick release. I am not sure his athleticism is quite there, but yah... that I think is a good ceiling for him.
 
stitches said:
Well, since Utah has so many second round draft picks let me introduce a player of my country, who is projected in some mock drafts to be in the second round of next year's draft.

That's Aleksandar Vezenkov. He's a 19 year old, 6'9'' small/power forward whose best attribute is his shooting... and he's a leftie. He's the son of one of the prominent Bulgarian basketball directors Sasho Vezenkov. He grew up in Cyprus and has never played in Bulgaria, he started his career in the Greek Aris a couple of years ago. Last year he declared for Xavier University, but later decided to stay in Europe and turn pro. He's been dominating the FIBA U16, U18 and U20 European championships for the past 5 years or so. In 2011's U16 FIBA Euro Championship he averaged 27 and 10. In 2013 he lead the U18 FIBA Euro Championship in both points and rebounds with 22.4 and 10.2 respectively, and just a month or so ago he repeated the same feat this time at the U20 Championship with 19.3pts and 11.2 rebs per game. He's been playing for a weak Bulgaria national team but still his high usage comes with pretty high efficiency. He also made the first team of the tournament. In all his international play he averages about 50%FG, 40% 3p FG and about 80% FT.

Last year he played for the Greek Aris in the first Greek basketball division and got a lot of playing minutes averaging 11.1pt, 6rb, 2.1 ast, 0.9 steals in 26 minutes of play as an 18 year old. His shooting %s were 49/39/76.

For the past month or so he's been with Bulgaria's Men national team, playing qualies for Euro Championship. He's been the leader of the team there as well, which was really surprising to me. I didn't believe his transition would be so seamless. He's averaging 17pts, 6rb, 2 assists in about 33 minutes of play(%s are 51/38/83). Last week he dropped 18 on Omri Casspi and today he had a 26 pt game vs the Netherlands. He's been getting better with every game, too.

His strengths are his shooting and rebounding, he seems to have very good basketball IQ as well, he's willing and able passer as well. Main weaknesses are his athleticism, quickness and on-man defense. Here's a scouting report that was published on him yesterday:


A lot of people say he's playing style is more suited to the Euroleague than to the NBA, but he's said on numerous of occasions that his goal is NBA and he believes in due time it will happen. In the DraftExpress mock draft he's listed in the second round in 2015.
Click to expand...

I didn't know you were from Bulgaria. :)

I have followed U20 closely and Vezenkov certainly drew my attention during the games. I haven't seen any Bulgaria game exclusively but I have watched their highlights since I wondered what kind of player he was, as he was leading the stats columns in the U20 website from the beginning of the tournament. He is definitely an intriguing player, very good shooter obviously, although he didn't shoot well from the three in U20 EC. And he is a very good rebounder for his size. Actually, I wonder about that, if you have watched the Bulgarian games, is he really that good of a rebounder or was his team that bad of a rebounding team?. Because, for his size, it's pretty impressive for him to lead the tournament in rebounding.
 
Enes CanTear You Apart said:
I didn't know you were from Bulgaria. :)

I have followed U20 closely and Vezenkov certainly drew my attention during the games. I haven't seen any Bulgaria game exclusively but I have watched their highlights since I wondered what kind of player he was, as he was leading the stats columns in the U20 website from the beginning of the tournament. He is definitely an intriguing player, very good shooter obviously, although he didn't shoot well from the three in U20 EC. And he is a very good rebounder for his size. Actually, I wonder about that, if you have watched the Bulgarian games, is he really that good of a rebounder or was his team that bad of a rebounding team?. Because, for his size, it's pretty impressive for him to lead the tournament in rebounding.
Click to expand...

part of it is being part of a bad rebounding team, but part is that he's got the smarts, he knows how to box out people and get into good positions for defensive rebounds. On the offensive end, he's rarely in the position to rebound since he's playing a lot on the perimeter rather than in the post. His size is not bad actually. He's listed 6'8'' but as you know in Europe most players are listed with their barefoot height, unlike in US college basketball. If he were to be listed with shoes, I think it'd be 6'9.
 
Just an update on Vezenkov's play: he finished the Euro qualification with the following numbers: 34MPG, 17.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.2 SPG, 1.3 TO. Shooting % are as follows: 51%FG, 37% 3Pt, 72% FT. That's really impressive for somebody who just turned 19 and is with the team for the very first time.
 
So DX has been picking up the slack since last week and started publishing some new video breakdowns for PAC 12 players.

They aren't up yet on youtube, but you can see them on their weird video partner platform.

https://www.draftexpress.com/article/Top-NBA-Prospects-in-the-Pac-12Part-1-Stanley-Johnson-Scouting-Video-4693/

There's some others released yet on Rondar Hollis-Jefferson, Jabari Bird and Norman Powell(I don't know these last two) that I haven't watched yet.

They've managed to make sound editing for Stanley Johnson's video as bad as his skill level is.
 
Also this should get stickied as the August drought is over and college season is getting closer.
 
ok looking for info on Kevin looney?

what I see so far

- super skinny
- ok shot
- above average athletism
- seems to be more of a 3 then a 4
- keeps ball in play when he blocks
- plays with a little fire


?hard to see one on one defensive foot work
?his attitude
?how is he as a team mate

any one have any info?
 
Gamer13 said:
ok looking for info on Kevin looney?

what I see so far

- super skinny
- ok shot
- above average athletism
- seems to be more of a 3 then a 4
- keeps ball in play when he blocks
- plays with a little fire


?hard to see one on one defensive foot work
?his attitude
?how is he as a team mate

any one have any info?
Click to expand...

He's gon b good.. what d'ya wanna know?
 
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