Aleksandar Vezenkov

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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#21 » by mihail_petkov » Thu Jun 4, 2015 12:23 pm

This was the first loss for Olympiakos in the playoffs for the last seven years, except the finals of course.

I'm really happy the we (Bulgaria) finally have a basketball player who has a chance to play in NBA :)
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#22 » by Greek » Thu Jun 4, 2015 12:45 pm

mihail_petkov wrote:This was the first loss for Olympiakos in the playoffs for the last seven years, except the finals of course.

I'm really happy the we (Bulgaria) finally have a basketball player who has a chance to play in NBA :)


He is Cypriot citizen too since he was born here, so its good to have a compatriot there. I hope that my 3.5 y/o son to be the next :lol:
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#23 » by stitches » Fri Jun 5, 2015 8:08 pm

Here are the DX's scouting videos and report on Vezenkov:
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Ale ... down-5054/

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BebSog5nFUk[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSWDilr-Ijc[/youtube]

I love his skill and offensive versatility... such a crafty and smart player. If he was even average athletically, he'd be in the conversation for the lottery...
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#24 » by Mirotic12 » Fri Jun 5, 2015 10:12 pm

stitches wrote:Here are the DX's scouting videos and report on Vezenkov:
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Ale ... down-5054/

I love his skill and offensive versatility... such a crafty and smart player. If he was even average athletically, he'd be in the conversation for the lottery...


This needs to be explained here because unfortunately Draftexpress once again does a disservice with their nonsense BS. If you would look at the stats of someone like Mario Hezonja for example, you would see he averages like 5 points a game.

This is why I honestly cannot stand Draftexpress, and never have been able to. They just throw out this stuff like "led Greek league in scoring" and leave it at that.

I like this guy as a player. But these claims are pretty much nonsense and the usual BS by Draftexpress to say it like that and give no explanation.

17 points a game in a team like Aris? Quite frankly, it is about like averaging 6 or 7 points a game in Olympiacos or Panathinaikos (Greek Euroleague teams), if even that much. If I remember right, Nikos Pappas averaged like 19 or 20 points a game in Panionios (Greek Eurocup team), which was actually a much better team than Aris is really - much better. He also led the Greek league in scoring as well.

Pappas then went to Panathinaikos, and he averaged like 4 or 5 points a game.

This is the kind of thing that Draftexpress always does that is so annoying to me. They never ever put context to anything. They are like nothing but hype, hype, hype, hype, hype, hype. Even if a player is genuinely interesting or intriguing, they have to do this unnecessary hype stuff for no reason.

They are basically now for whatever reason over hyping Vezenkov. He's a good player, and is certainly very skilled for his age, but now they are just doing their typical let's overrate whatever European player we can for advertising clicks from USA.
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#25 » by JDR720 » Fri Jun 5, 2015 11:10 pm

I dont think many people care why he led the league in scoring, you can only type so much stuff into a youtube video.
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#26 » by 903124 » Sat Jun 6, 2015 3:01 am

Mirotic12 wrote:
stitches wrote:Here are the DX's scouting videos and report on Vezenkov:
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Ale ... down-5054/

I love his skill and offensive versatility... such a crafty and smart player. If he was even average athletically, he'd be in the conversation for the lottery...


This needs to be explained here because unfortunately Draftexpress once again does a disservice with their nonsense BS. If you would look at the stats of someone like Mario Hezonja for example, you would see he averages like 5 points a game.

This is why I honestly cannot stand Draftexpress, and never have been able to. They just throw out this stuff like "led Greek league in scoring" and leave it at that.

I like this guy as a player. But these claims are pretty much nonsense and the usual BS by Draftexpress to say it like that and give no explanation.

17 points a game in a team like Aris? Quite frankly, it is about like averaging 6 or 7 points a game in Olympiacos or Panathinaikos (Greek Euroleague teams), if even that much. If I remember right, Nikos Pappas averaged like 19 or 20 points a game in Panionios (Greek Eurocup team), which was actually a much better team than Aris is really - much better. He also led the Greek league in scoring as well.

Pappas then went to Panathinaikos, and he averaged like 4 or 5 points a game.

This is the kind of thing that Draftexpress always does that is so annoying to me. They never ever put context to anything. They are like nothing but hype, hype, hype, hype, hype, hype. Even if a player is genuinely interesting or intriguing, they have to do this unnecessary hype stuff for no reason.

They are basically now for whatever reason over hyping Vezenkov. He's a good player, and is certainly very skilled for his age, but now they are just doing their typical let's overrate whatever European player we can for advertising clicks from USA.


Vezenkov is now projected as high second round pick and I don't understand how comes a hyped prospect is picked in 2nd round. In the weakness video he shows that he is quite nonathletic. Vezenkov's team beat Olympiaco and gets 28 points and this is already pretty good when you consider French prospect getting 10 points a game while French team seldom go far in Euroleague. The choose of prospect is base on his potential but not his performance right now. Moreover Pappas get around 10 ppg in Panathinaiko
this year I would say it is ok.
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#27 » by kennydorglas » Sat Jun 6, 2015 3:02 am

Mirotic12 wrote:
stitches wrote:Here are the DX's scouting videos and report on Vezenkov:
http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Ale ... down-5054/

I love his skill and offensive versatility... such a crafty and smart player. If he was even average athletically, he'd be in the conversation for the lottery...


This needs to be explained here because unfortunately Draftexpress once again does a disservice with their nonsense BS. If you would look at the stats of someone like Mario Hezonja for example, you would see he averages like 5 points a game.

This is why I honestly cannot stand Draftexpress, and never have been able to. They just throw out this stuff like "led Greek league in scoring" and leave it at that.

I like this guy as a player. But these claims are pretty much nonsense and the usual BS by Draftexpress to say it like that and give no explanation.

17 points a game in a team like Aris? Quite frankly, it is about like averaging 6 or 7 points a game in Olympiacos or Panathinaikos (Greek Euroleague teams), if even that much. If I remember right, Nikos Pappas averaged like 19 or 20 points a game in Panionios (Greek Eurocup team), which was actually a much better team than Aris is really - much better. He also led the Greek league in scoring as well.

Pappas then went to Panathinaikos, and he averaged like 4 or 5 points a game.

This is the kind of thing that Draftexpress always does that is so annoying to me. They never ever put context to anything. They are like nothing but hype, hype, hype, hype, hype, hype. Even if a player is genuinely interesting or intriguing, they have to do this unnecessary hype stuff for no reason.

They are basically now for whatever reason over hyping Vezenkov. He's a good player, and is certainly very skilled for his age, but now they are just doing their typical let's overrate whatever European player we can for advertising clicks from USA.


haha finally I found someone who hates DX too.
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#28 » by tomic20 » Sat Jun 13, 2015 8:11 am

pappas is 25 years old, vezenkov is 19. the only comparable player in greek league ever, doing what vezenkov does in this early age, was stojakovic

vezenkov is huge in offense, needs to bulk up in defense, if he ends up in nba he might need a year just to work on his athleticism...but if that works out, he can be potential star...

he can play in any european team right now. the best thing about vezenkov is that he is a really hard worker. and very focused on playing basketball
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#29 » by Mirotic12 » Tue Jun 16, 2015 10:09 am

tomic20 wrote:pappas is 25 years old, vezenkov is 19. the only comparable player in greek league ever, doing what vezenkov does in this early age, was stojakovic

vezenkov is huge in offense, needs to bulk up in defense, if he ends up in nba he might need a year just to work on his athleticism...but if that works out, he can be potential star...

he can play in any european team right now. the best thing about vezenkov is that he is a really hard worker. and very focused on playing basketball


Pappas was 22 when he led the Greek League in scoring, not 25. He averaged 19 points a game, while right now Vezenkov is down around 16. And Pappas played in a better and deeper team than Vezenkov plays in. As an example that same season Pappas averaged 20 a game in Eurocup (2nd European league) and led the regular season of Eurocup in scoring and was leading Eurocup in scoring for a team that advanced to the 2nd stage of the tournament.

Are you really going to suggest Vezenkov could do anything close to that right now?

The next season Pappas was in Panathinaikos, an actual big Euroleague club, and one of the top clubs in Greece, and he was averaging about 5 points a game.

The point is that the whole "led the Greek league in scoring" thing is completely blown out of proportion. He would be barely playing 10 minutes a game on a good team and he would just be a small role player, and anyone that knows European basketball knows that. That's why I made the point about Hezonja before. He averages like 5 points a game, does not get much playing time, and even often gets DNP-CDs because he plays in a good team in Spain. Let's stop pretending Vezenkov would be in any different at all if he was playing in a team where he was not being allowed to do whatever he wanted to.

I think if he was playing even in a Greek team like AEK, he would have been getting probably about 7-10 points a game.

And the comments imply he is the best player in the Greek league in the last 15-20 years, when he would be an 11-12 man right now on a team like Olympiacos, which plays in Greek league.

He's a very impressive player for his age, but now some of this stuff is a bit getting ridiculous. Put him on a team like Olympiacos and I have a lot of doubt that he would even get minutes over their third power forward Agravanis. And I believe Agravanis is registered also for this draft, and he's not even appearing anywhere on any mock drafts as far as I can tell. Vezenkov is a very good young player, but some of the stuff here is serious exaggeration.

Anyway, according to Eurohoops, which is like the biggest European basketball news website beside Eurobasket, and also extremely trustworthy, Vezenkov dropped out of the draft.

https://twitter.com/Eurohoopsnet/status/610563240003805185

I don't know if it is true or not, because there is nothing from his agent there. But if it is true, it is a sound decision. Despite some of the exaggeration in this thread, his stats are enormously inflated, and he should be thinking about either staying in Aris next season to play in Eurocup, which his team will, or even go to Panathinaikos to play in Euroleague, which has been mentioned that they have wanted him. Have to say though, in Panathinaikos, although it would be a higher level, he would not get as much playing time and as big a role though.
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#30 » by BadWolf » Tue Jun 16, 2015 11:02 am

he's omitted in the latest Dx mock. Did he pull out or did they just miss him?
edit - I see you mentioned it in previous reply, anything official yet?
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Post#31 » by UcanUwill » Tue Jun 16, 2015 11:25 am

Video just states he lead league in scoring, witch is true. No one is debating his team's competense.
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#32 » by MrTwister » Tue Jun 16, 2015 12:13 pm

BadWolf wrote:he's omitted in the latest Dx mock. Did he pull out or did they just miss him?
edit - I see you mentioned it in previous reply, anything official yet?

If its on DX its official.

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/2015-NBA-Draft-Early-Entry-List-Withdrawal-Deadline--5093

[tweet]https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/610521383060283393[/tweet]
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#33 » by Devilzsidewalk » Tue Jun 16, 2015 5:13 pm

Must have been fishing for a guarantee and came up empty.
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#34 » by BadWolf » Tue Jun 16, 2015 6:14 pm

wouldn't it be better for him to go early second? could get a better contract
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Re: 

Post#35 » by Mirotic12 » Tue Jun 16, 2015 8:01 pm

UcanUwill wrote:Video just states he lead league in scoring, witch is true. No one is debating his team's competense.


It's the implication to people in USA/Canada that somehow that in any way at all equates to the same thing as leading an American league in scoring. When it is a 180 degree opposite. The best players in that league actually are usually barely even taking any shots at all.

And you see some claims here like he's doing things no one did there since Stojakovic or whatever. It's a complete nonsense.

I could go into details of how the Aris owner is best friends with his dad and other stuff. The point is that they are specifically trying to push him and market him in the team, even if it would mean losing games.

But I mean really, you can name many players from just now in that league that would average much more points in him in same situation, and the same can be said going back every year since Peja was there. Look at Pekovic, when he played in Greek league he got like 15-16 minutes a game of playing time in his mid 20s for example.

So it is completely nonsense to be talking about how Vezenkov is dominating and doing things no other player did, and all this other stuff. Just say he's very good for his age, but stop exaggerating so much is my point. Last year he could not even get playing time when they had someone like Pelekanos in their rotation in Aris, and they had to let him leave to a club in Romania just so Vezenkov could even get playing time. Because he could not beat him out for PT. Pelekanos averaged like 4 points a game in Eurocup this year for nothing more than a decent team (not saying he's not a good player though - he's extremely athletic and amazing on defense). So come on now, let's keep this at least realistic.

As I am saying, I really do like Vezenkov, because he is really skilled at his size, and he's more like 6-10, even though draftexpress is saying he's 6-9. And he's a very interesting young player to be that skilled as a big man at his age. But there is no point for some extreme exaggeration on where his level is at right now.

MrTwister wrote:
BadWolf wrote:he's omitted in the latest Dx mock. Did he pull out or did they just miss him?
edit - I see you mentioned it in previous reply, anything official yet?

If its on DX its official.

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/2015-NBA-Draft-Early-Entry-List-Withdrawal-Deadline--5093

[tweet]https://twitter.com/DraftExpress/status/610521383060283393[/tweet]


Yeah, I believe it, because Eurohoops is very trustworthy for European basketball news (the most trustworthy by far) and they said it first, and Draftexpress usually always only reports stuff like that if it is verified from the agents.

BadWolf wrote:wouldn't it be better for him to go early second? could get a better contract


That's usually what European players do that are being drafted when they are much older than he is, because they have less options. I think in his case at his age, it makes much more sense that he would leave the draft. Unless he would get a first round pick, then it is much smarter to leave the draft, because he can keep going back in as much as he wants basically.

His team is raising its budget a lot more in the next season and they are going to play in the 2nd European league the Eurocup. And as I said, the owner of the team is friends with his dad, so this is why he has such a cushy situation with playing time, role, touches, etc.

So if he wants a first round pick, then of course it makes perfect since to stay in his team. They can give raises to players that are under contract in Europe unlike in NBA, because there is no CBA also.

So make more money, play in Eurocup (2nd tier European league) next season, and continue to be featured in the team, which is something he is not getting in any other team that is remotely at the level of his team, and that should pretty much assure he gets a first round pick next season. Because then he can show some good stats next season in Eurocup, and then the NBA teams will be lining up to use a first round pick on him. And in the meantime he can make a big salary next season.

So I actually think it makes perfect sense for a player in his exact situation to not accept anything other than a first round pick right now. Because he does not have to, and he is younger than those European players that hold out for a 2nd round pick, planning to come to NBA 3 years later or whatever down the road. He's not looking at something several years down the road. But maybe just next season. That would be my guess.

Either that, or possibly some big Euroleague club like Barca, Panathinaikos, Efes, Olympiacos offered him a big contract. All those teams have been rumored to be considering signing him. But teams in Europe are not looking to give a young player a lot of money for one season and have him leave to the NBA. Especially when he is just going to be a project they are developing for that first year. So if he was trying to get a contract like that in Europe, it is to his advantage to not have been drafted at all yet. I don't think he's ready yet for the level those teams need though, so I have my doubts on those rumors. All those teams have a lot of young players already and really don't see why any of them would want to add another young player to develop, except maybe Panathinaikos, since they need to get a replacement for their PF Fotsis soon.
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#36 » by Beorn » Wed Jun 17, 2015 10:58 am

First of all, I want to clarify that I'm greek and I've watched A.V. a dozen times or so this year, including his playoff games against AEK BC and Olympiakos.

@Mirotic12
Sir, I tend to disagree in some of the things you're claiming. I'm an Olympiakos fan, and I can guarantee that he would be the backup PF for us. Agravanis has improved a lot but is still terrible, while Petway is an athetic PF who has a mediocre 3pt and no post game whatsoever, and on defense is pushed around by anyone whith an ounce of muscle. Plus, he's week in-week out injured. His only advantages compared to Vezenkov are his weakside Def and offensive rebounding, while Vezenkov is a vastly superior offensive player with similarly bad defense.
Had he been playing at AEK like you mentioned, he would be a clone on Sakota, with more versatile offense and worse Defense. He wouldn't be getting the 15 or so offensive touches he's taking at Aris but even in this case he would probably score in low digits, with better efficiency.

Αbout his comparison to Pappas: Pappas has as much libertly to shoot whenever he wants at Panionios in 12/13 as Vezenkov has now, while being 4 years older than him and despite having better teammates too. Plus, he's a dick who believes that he's the next coming on MJ, subsequently clashing with his coaches in numerous occasions, and it was one of the main reasons he wasn't selected in the Greek Senior Squad all those years ang didn't get many minutes in Panathinaikos at 13/14.

As for the Pelekanos thing with Aris, Pelekanos is a 3&D SF/SG while Vezenkov is a 4 who has played at the 3 some, I can't see them battling for minutes. Also, the former left because the Romanians gave him a contract Aris couldn't meet. Is there any source claiming that Aris let him walk on purpose? A hasty search on the net didn't show anything for me....


Those saying that he's the most impressive 19yo that has played in the greek league at the last 15 years are right; This doesn't mean he's going to lead a Euroleague F4 squad or that he's a 19yo ready to play big minutes in a competent NBA team (or even that he'll be a starter someday, considering his physical limitations), but the amount of hate you're showing in this thread is out of proportion, mate.
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#37 » by Greek » Wed Jun 17, 2015 11:36 am

Well the most impressive 19 who i ever saw it was Fotsis on Thessaloniki final four, in exactly 15 years ago
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#38 » by Mirotic12 » Thu Jun 18, 2015 9:07 pm

Beorn wrote:First of all, I want to clarify that I'm greek and I've watched A.V. a dozen times or so this year, including his playoff games against AEK BC and Olympiakos.

@Mirotic12
Sir, I tend to disagree in some of the things you're claiming. I'm an Olympiakos fan, and I can guarantee that he would be the backup PF for us. Agravanis has improved a lot but is still terrible, while Petway is an athetic PF who has a mediocre 3pt and no post game whatsoever, and on defense is pushed around by anyone whith an ounce of muscle. Plus, he's week in-week out injured. His only advantages compared to Vezenkov are his weakside Def and offensive rebounding, while Vezenkov is a vastly superior offensive player with similarly bad defense.
Had he been playing at AEK like you mentioned, he would be a clone on Sakota, with more versatile offense and worse Defense. He wouldn't be getting the 15 or so offensive touches he's taking at Aris but even in this case he would probably score in low digits, with better efficiency.

Αbout his comparison to Pappas: Pappas has as much libertly to shoot whenever he wants at Panionios in 12/13 as Vezenkov has now, while being 4 years older than him and despite having better teammates too. Plus, he's a dick who believes that he's the next coming on MJ, subsequently clashing with his coaches in numerous occasions, and it was one of the main reasons he wasn't selected in the Greek Senior Squad all those years ang didn't get many minutes in Panathinaikos at 13/14.

As for the Pelekanos thing with Aris, Pelekanos is a 3&D SF/SG while Vezenkov is a 4 who has played at the 3 some, I can't see them battling for minutes. Also, the former left because the Romanians gave him a contract Aris couldn't meet. Is there any source claiming that Aris let him walk on purpose? A hasty search on the net didn't show anything for me....


Those saying that he's the most impressive 19yo that has played in the greek league at the last 15 years are right; This doesn't mean he's going to lead a Euroleague F4 squad or that he's a 19yo ready to play big minutes in a competent NBA team (or even that he'll be a starter someday, considering his physical limitations), but the amount of hate you're showing in this thread is out of proportion, mate.


Did you really claim that Brent Petway is bad at defense or did I read that wrong? Pappas was 22 when he led the Greek league in scoring. That would make him 3 years older than 19.

Anyway, I just have heard that all the paperwork for Vezenkov to get Greek citizenship has been completed for quite some time (about 4 months ago) and that he completed all the necessary requirements and qualified for it several years ago. So it is just being processed through (finalized). And also that his team Aris will get a wildcard place in the Eurocup (2nd European league) next season. Also, that they have a new owner that is going to increase the budget of the team by a lot, and that he is willing to give Vezenkov a big salary increase.

So, that would explain totally why he dropped out of the draft.
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Re: Re: 

Post#39 » by Nuntius » Fri Jun 19, 2015 4:50 pm

Mirotic12 wrote:Pelekanos averaged like 4 points a game in Eurocup this year for nothing more than a decent team (not saying he's not a good player though - he's extremely athletic and amazing on defense). So come on now, let's keep this at least realistic.


Pelekanos reminds me of my childhood. I still remember those early 00s Peristeri teams. The 00-01 team with an Alphonso Ford who was playing on a superstar level and the 02-03 team that finished 3rd in the playoffs (and would probably be in the Finals if they didn't face Panathinaikos in the Semis). I played for Peristeri's youth academy back then (I was in Mantzaris' year but I was nowhere near as good as him) and the club would often give us free tickets to attend the men's games. Watching those players play the game up close was pretty awesome.
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Re: Aleksandar Vezenkov 

Post#40 » by sisibilio » Sun Jun 21, 2015 6:51 am

More than Teletovic or other names thrown he reminds me of Paspalj, although Zarko was a bit quicker in his youth.
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