If anyone knows anything about him, let me know your thoughts.
He sounds good based on his ESPN profile:
https://www.espn.com/nba/draft/bestavailable/_/position/ovr/page/3
ESPN profile
Spoiler:
Ziga Samar
6'5"
185 lbs
Fuenlabrada
12
POS RK
61
OVR RK
Pre-Draft Analysis
February 22, 2022: (Mock Draft and Top 100 update) -- Samar has been a long-time fixture on the international youth circuit, helping Slovenia to a surprise third-place finish at the FIBA U18 European Championship in 2019, where he was named to the All-Tournament team alongside eventual first-round picks Santi Aldama, Usman Garuba and Alperen Sengun, and ahead of the likes of Franz Wagner and Aleksej Pokusevski. He won back to back ANGT championships with Real Madrid in 2018 and 2019, but was not offered a professional contract by the Euroleague powerhouse upon turning 18, leading him to sign with ACB team Fuenlabrada in suburban Madrid, where he's now in the third season of a four year deal.
Now 21, Samar has blossomed into one of the most promising point guard prospects in European basketball, starting and playing significant minutes in the most competitive domestic league in the world outside the NBA, helping his team win plenty of games in the process, despite being severely overmatched talentwise.
Despite standing 6-foot-6, Samar ranks top-5 in the ACB in assists and No. 1 in the league in pure point rating, thanks in part to his sparkling 3.3 to 1 assist-to-turnover ratio. He's one of the most creative passers in this draft class off a live dribble, an absolute maestro in pick and roll with tremendous pace, ball-handling ability and vision who gets anywhere he wants on the floor despite not possessing blazing quickness, patiently surveying the court and making impressive reads with a variety of passes using both sides of the floor.
Samar has also significantly improved his perimeter shooting, once considered a weakness of his game (career 27% 3-point shooting on 350 attempts). He's hitting half of his attempts this season from beyond the arc, as well as 77% of his free throw attempts, allowing him to see minutes off the ball as well alongside a diminutive guard in Jovan Novak who also ranks among the ACB leaders in assists. He's been deadly with his feet set but also fairly effective shooting off the dribble, an important development for his NBA projection, but will need to continue to make shots consistently to prove that this recent uptick is not a fluke.
While his feel for the game and passing creativity is notable, what's allowed Samar to get and stay on the floor at the high level at which he competes is the toughness and intelligence he brings defensively. He regularly presses up on opposing guards the length of the floor, denies off the ball, and has the size and physicality to switch onto bigger players and hold his own and not get taken advantage of. He lacks a degree of lateral quickness matching up with smaller, more explosive guards, but has been very effective for the most part even against Euroleague players, ranking top-10 in the ACB in steals.
While Samar isn't exactly a prototype for what the NBA is looking for at the guard spot, with his slow-it down game, average length, explosiveness and just-decent finishing and overall scoring ability, it's become increasingly difficult to ignore his tremendous feel for the game and productivity at the highest levels of competition. His size, IQ and versatility should allow him to fit into different lineup configurations, and his comfortable contractual situation should make him one of the more attractive "stash" options for teams with multiple picks who aren't looking to roster all of their draft choices, making him a real candidate to hear his name called on draft night. - Jonathan Givony
and appears to have a high IQ, great court vision and great shooting (over 47% from 3)
Spoiler:
Also looking at Andrew Nembhard a bit, if he could go undrafted.
