In terms of getting to know the first group of future European prospects, the FIBA U16 EuroBasket is a no-brainer to follow. Of course, Division A is where it all happens and where we’ll see the best games. In terms of Division B it’s usually with mixed results. Some teams are too good to be here, like Croatia and Montenegro, while we see nations like Bosnia and Estonia put out strong rosters as well.
The production value will be less, but I don’t care about that at all. For me it’s all about flashes and who stands out among their age group. Some will be late bloomers, some will show out now. Some will be physically more advanced. It’s a blend of multiple possibilities. That’s why I put out one prospect per team without looking at the top names. Just solely who stood out to me with a description of their game and trying to determine their future potential.
The sharpshooting wing put up a positive impact against Romania. He’s moving very well without the ball and makes the most of his role. He looked comfortable creating out of closeouts showing decent handles. He’s more of a finesse than a skill-player at this point. Wilczek plays for Slask Wroclaw, one of the best clubs in Poland and especially when it comes to youth development. The hard-nosed rebounder made a positive impact with his overall defense collecting two steals. He doesn’t have the most flashy profile, but fits the classic mold of a wing-defending shooter. There’s a world to where he’ll commit to a strong Division II program in a few years.
When it comes to playing with pure toughness, Serbians are a hard nation to beat. They keep producing these interior presences with strong rebounding feel and touch around the rim. Avdalovic is next in line. Good screener who shows serious finishing touch. The ease with which he absorbed contact and got himself to the line was a promising sight. He’s at Mega Basket, one of the world’s most popular youth development clubs and it’s very likely he’ll be a college commodity in a few years. There’s serious mid-major potential here.
He definitely made the most of the high-profile tournament-opener against Serbia, one of the tournament’s favorites. Andrulis stuffed the stat sheet and he’s a tremendously-skilled five-man. He’ll mostly develop into a interior hub with his footwork, angle-recognition and overall playmaking feel. He looked comfortable as a floor-spacer while showing good touch from downtown. Assuming he’ll continue to grow a few inches in the next few years, Andrulis looks more like a late-bloomer with the best ahead of him.
In today’s day and age, we don’t see many prospects who combine the traditional focus of screening, play-finishing and being a interior presence with a perimeter game. Those become more-wanted commodities nowadays as he’s mostly standing out with his level of skill and how Lithuania exploited that in this game. Andrulis is a name I’ll continue to monitor over the next few years.
The Romanians suffered a heavy loss against Poland in the tournament-opener. However, Micu has shown many flashes of being a future Division I center with his toughness inside the paint, screening and touch around the basket. They’ve been mostly underwhelming as a team, where Micu’s energy and effort was fairly consistent. He did play a bit too rough at times, picking up 4 fouls in the game. Overall, he’s made the most of his touches during the game. The 7 points and 3 rebounds might not be eye-popping but it’s all about substance in my evaluation.
The other side of the coin is that he struggled in the pick-and-roll defensively. He’s not much of a shot-blocker at this stage either. Regardless, that’s an area for him to develop at Dijon Basket’s youth development. The 2010-born is one of the positives for was seems this Romanian team’s upcoming relegation to Division B.
The 2010-born is the son of Mehmet Okur, Türkiye’s first-ever NBA All-Star. As a floor-spacing skill-five, he was ahead of his time and that’s the torch he’s passing to his son. Okur showed out with a 21-point showcase against Czechia. He dominated the glass five 9 rebounds and looked very comfortable from all levels. The shooting touch is tremendous. The mechanics are consistent and he has a decently-high arching point on his release. The 4-for-7 shooting night was a natural result of that.
On top of that, Okur shows crisp footwork in the post, moving his body well. He’s still a bit stiff and needs to improve his core strength in the next few years, but overall he’s showing that he’s already beyond his years in terms of feel for the game and overall skill. The best part is that the defense kept doubling him because his game’s already effective and holds tons of gravity outside the painted area.
Türkiye has always developed good forwards, and Okur might be the next in line. He has everything to make it to the senior national team in five years while most mid-major college programs should take a close look at him. As of now, he’s playing for Santa Monica Catholic HS in California.
The 2010-born was a athletic menace in the tournament-opener. His toughness, energy and defensive activity led to 4 steals and 2 blocks. He’s gotten downhill each time he pressured the rim and played with good composure and actively looked for the extra pass which earned him 4 assists. The touch around the rim was decent, but the best part here was how he created and exploited angles on his drives. He’ll continue to get stronger and improve his footwork.
At Lake Travis HS, the development of his shooting touch should be the main emphasis. He didn’t look comfortable from range and went 2-for-6 from the charity stripe. Overall, the two-level interior scoring is a strong suit. If he adds a jumper to his game, there’s clear mid-major Division I value in his profile. The defensive activity and athleticism are two other value-adders.
Benjamin Berrouet is their best prospect. By far. But the purpose of this newsletter is to shine light on less-coveted prospects as well. That’s why I’m going with Jahovics. At 6’5”, he’s a swingman in-the-making. He added another dyanmic scoring punch for Latvia to take pressure off their star and showed many flashes of potential in the tournament-opener. Jahovics is a self-creating option with decently-tight handles and craft. He shows good touch around the basket but looked to shoot his way out of trouble from downtown when he couldn’t get in the paint.
That’s the early red flag. But there are more positives in his case. He’s been active and played with energy. He wasn’t the toughest but looked to make good decisions and play with composure. The size gives him role versatility on defense because he could take on taller opponents on various positions. Jahovics is a name to monitor in Trento’s youth setup in the next few years.
He’s been the main standout player in the tournament opener against Türkiye. Despite their heavy loss, Snobl was able to showcase his handles, craft and playmaking skill. He’s a future signal-caller and game manager who’s a part of Basquet Manresa’s youth setup. The best part in his role is that he took the role of a off-guard and made the most of his jumpers off the catch. Great shooting form and his footwork overall looked decent.
The creativity is there, but he struggled to get in the paint. Overall not an issue because the craft was good enough for him to create and exploit his created angles with his playmaking. As of now, he’s more of a shooter than a interior scorer. Defensively he needs to get stronger as he struggled on that end. Not an issue as the three-ball looked reliable already. On top of that he needs to improve his handles to make the most of his self-creation—that’s the missing part in his profile.
I’m dedicating a large part of my work to college recruitment. The main focus is on the less-coveted guys so college coaches will always come across ‘new’ names for their recruitment market. Just like this article, I go in-depth in my scouting reports. My specialties are the international game, while also adding JUCO two years ago. For next season, I’m focusing on Division II as well.
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The Israelis have another strong squad in the making. Serruya’s been one of the eye-catchers when looking briefly to their tournament-opener against Georgia. He’s been showing out with his touch around the basket and he’s playing with natural toughness along the process. Good rebounder and a decent screener. It’s a positive he’s playing in a more traditional center role.
He’s been playing with tons of energy, but the other side of the coin is that he was picking up sloppy fouls in the process. Serruya’s my main name to focus on for this team. Looking at his profile, I expect him to be one of the standouts for Israel’s U18 team in a few years as well. The December 2010-born is playing almost a year ahead in competition and looks very comfortable out there.
He’s towering over most of the competition he’ll face during this tournament. Vincent’s a fluid five who’s more of a high-end interior defender and a play-finisher out of pick-and-roll. He reminds me a ton of Izan Almansa around that age, where Vincent’s creativity and self-scoring ability will be the vital part of his development. But he’s a born shot-blocker. Crisp, strong footwork and he’s moving very well for his size. It’s likely he’ll add a few inches while the emphasis of his development should be to continue to improve his core and upper-body strength. Vincent’s a great athlete, one of the best center athletes in this tournament on another loaded Spain team.
He’s been Greece’s most impressive player in their battle against Spain. He finished the game with 20 points and the way he handled the ball and created his own angles inside the paint was truly impressive. His handles are a bit loose, but he’s playing tough despite the somewhat slim build. He’s fitting in the mold of a long, athletic ball handler who’ll likely still grow a few inches in the next few years. He’s a true wing and will eventually defend multiple positions with comfort. The change of pace has been one of the eye-catchers.
The way he absorbs contact needs some refining, but the shooting prowess is real. He’s comfortable both off the catch and as a one-two-dribble shooter. Overall, Barlos looks like one of the better wing prospects in Europe’s 2010 class. Credit to Apo42, who told me about him earlier. I advise college coaches to give him a follow as well. Regarding Barlos, the high-major potential is there. He’ll be on my long-term watch-list.
There’s no official height listing, but he looks between 6’0” and 6’2” to me. I’m taking the safer option and put him at 6’0”. Regardless, he’s showing flashes of being the best pure point guard in this entire tournament. Georgia has been making tons of noise with their strong generation, and Dgebuadze’s one of my favorites I’ve evaluated. He has tight handles and plays with—for his age—elite change of pace. He’s seeing the floor so easily and he’s actively executing his passing reads.
He’s playing with tons of flair. It’s like a combination between Spanish flair and creativity while he adds the Georgian positive toughness. He’s a three-level scorer and will grow as a three-point shooter in the next few years. The angle-recognition is elite for his age. It’s really impressive to see how he’s demanding the ball and being respected as this team’s clear leader. Looking at other film from him he’s been showing the same things there as well. Defensively he struggled, especially in the pick-and-roll. But I’m not worried about that at all at this stage.
I’m going to put Dgebuadze on my long-term watchlist. If he’ll grow a few more inches in the next few years, there’s clear NBA value in the future as well. Remember the Name.
The German sharpshooter stood out with his high-end shooting off the catch. He’s more of a guard-defending shooter than someone who can run a team. The jumper is fluid and the form is consistent. He moves well without the ball, but often his movement patterns looked pre-determined. That’s mostly the result of the system most guards get developed through. His feel for the game will catch up in a few years as Papez got tons of open opportunities as a shooter mostly because of how he moved and made it easy for passers to find him. He looked to shoot a bit in a rush, so more composure before he’s entering his shooting motion is the main area to work on.
The sample size is too small for me to determine what else he can become. I’ll definitely keep an eye on his development in the next few years, but as of now the shooting is the main area that stood out to me.
I’m going on a tangent here. Well, not entirely but more of a philosophy type of way I look at French prospects nowadays. We’ve reached the phase where in general French prospects are overrated. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t still very good, but they usually get NBA tags while there are many better ones than them who happen to be non-French. With back-to-back number one overall picks, it’s safe to say France is on a level of their own. They can put out three teams in these tournaments and still contend for a title with all of them. Looking at a few French prospects who stood out, I’m looking at more of what college programs wants—and that’s forwards! We’re in a market where the demand is higher than the supply, so that’s why you’re seeing more forwards than other positions in this article as well.
Coming back to Drieux’s game—he’s one of the revelations in this tournament. The easy-scoring forward stood out with his high level of touch around the rim while getting to the line with comfort. He played with tons of composure. It almost looked like a positive-meant arrogance because he’s more athletic than most of the guys he’s facing already. Normally he’d already get NBA tags, and he might earn that in the next few years but as of now that feels like a overreaction. He’s already represented by Yann Balikouzou, one of France’s more popular agents.
Pôle France is a safehaven for top-tier talent, and I genuinely believe Drieux is one of their best prospects. There’s clear-cut high-major Division I value here, as the 2010-born will be one of my first watches at next year’s FIBA EuroBasket U18.
At 6’11” the does-it-all center is the revelation for Slovenia. Despite their heavy loss to France, his level of skill and maturity for his age immediately stood out. Not surprisingly, he stuffed the stat-sheet in a 10 points, 9 rebounds performance where his positioning and composure were the main areas that immediately stood out. He’s a tough evaluation regardless. That’s because he can basically turn into many sorts of archetypes in the future.
Personally, I’d like to see him be more of a inside presence and a hub. He’s been doing everything right in this game from moving the ball, his screening while showcasing his level of skill against the athletic interior defense of the French. Hegic is a part of Cedevita’s youth development—one of the frontrunners in Europe. He’s a clear-cut high-major prospect in the future, with flashes of being a NBA center in the future.
There’s no official listing of his height, but Ikoma Yaliko looks everything 6’8” to me. He’s a long, fluid athlete who’s a true vertical pop while showing great lateral pace. He’s the type of prospect who’s more of a clean blueprint that can be designed and developed into tons of different players. The 2011-born is playing a year ahead in competition and already looks like Belgium’s top prospect in this generation.
He’s been fluid as a screener and finisher inside the lane. But the defensive activity is the main money-maker for him. He earned five stocks against a physical German team as he made the most of his physical advantage. He looked uncomfortable shooting but the touch from the line gives me confidence he can improve on that end. It’s overall a ton of facettes of the game where Ikoma Yaliko stands out and as a 15-year-old that’s fantastic value. I’m confident that Ikoma Yaliko will be one of the more popular forward prospects in Europe in a few years from now.
I’m dedicating a large part of my work to college recruitment. The main focus is on the less-coveted guys so college coaches will always come across ‘new’ names for their recruitment market. Just like this article, I go in-depth in my scouting reports. My specialties are the international game, while also adding JUCO two years ago. For next season, I’m focusing on Division II as well.
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