OT : Eurobasket 2025

Moderators: bwgood77, zimpy27, infinite11285, Clav, Domejandro, ken6199, bisme37, Dirk, KingDavid, cupcakesnake

European champion will be?

Poll runs till Tue Sep 9, 2025 7:35 am

Serbia
49
49%
Germany
11
11%
France
11
11%
Greece
5
5%
Spain
3
3%
Slovenia
2
2%
Türkiye
2
2%
Latvia
4
4%
Lithuania
5
5%
Other
9
9%
 
Total votes: 101

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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#301 » by UcanUwill » Mon Aug 18, 2025 10:13 am

Mavrelous wrote:
UcanUwill wrote:
Mavrelous wrote:What happened to him? He had a killer world cup (or Olympics don't remember).


He is doing well, he played for insignificant Lithuanian club at a time, but after world cup he signed with Fenerbachce Istanbul, then he was loaned to another Lithuanian team, but later came back to Fenerbache and he had his moments. But he also had serious injury and missed a lot of time. Fenerbachce are current Euroleague champions and is top 5 team in Europe, so team is stacked and there were times when Zagars would just warm the bench, but I think in moments he played he proved to be Euroleague caliber guard.

He maybe did not fulfilled his pre draft potential, some people comapred him to Navarro when he was young, but he still became very capable offensive guard.

When he played in the WC, he was also coming off injury, am I remembering right?
Really liked his game, has guts like Saras.


Can't recall exactly when he had his most serious injury, was it pre world cup, but I think it was after when Fenerbache signed him and loaned him to BC Wolves of Vilnius. Might have been two different injuries. But yeah, he is still just 24 and he is finally coming along. When he signed with Kėdainiai in 2022 (absolutely irrelevant Lithuanian town team), it seemed he might be dead talent, but it wasn't the case. Of course Latvian dynamic is different, team overall is not as talented as top Euroleague team, so Žagars gets to be a big star, but I mean, he fills those shoes very well, he looks great.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#302 » by UcanUwill » Mon Aug 18, 2025 10:17 am

-Luke- wrote:Wasn't there some serious NBA hype around Žagars after the last World Cup? I wonder if he had offers from NBA teams and decided to stay in Europe.

Some NBA fans might remember Bonga as he was drafted by the Lakers in the same draft as Mo Wagner and played four seasons in the NBA. It was the right decision for him to go back to Europe and he has really improved. Could make the jump to the NBA again in the playoffs. The was also some NBA hype around Andi Obst after 2023, because he hit like 25 threes in the semis against USA. I guess it's too late for him now.

Aleksa Avramović... man, don't remind me of that guy. I still have nightmares because he played like prime Jason Kidd on the defensive end in 2023. Great guy. Would rather die than lose a game.


Žagars played so well in World cup, that teams probably wanted to have him on camp, but I do not believe they offered him guaranteed contracts. Things like that happen. like when Kirk Penny dropped 25ppg in world cup, Spurs brought him in, of course he never made actual team. Žagars is way better than Kirk tho.

Yeah, some of the guys I mentioned already played in the NBA, PEtrušev, Bonga and Maledon. But they really improved and we have seen this scenario many times, it just happened with Yabussele, where guy is ranked high as teen, gets drafted, makes NBA, sucks, goes back to Europe, improves a lot, comes back...

Avramovic is probably the best defensive player in Europe, guy lokced in SGA.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#303 » by jk31 » Mon Aug 18, 2025 10:42 am

UcanUwill wrote:
6'8 SF Isaac Bonga from Germany



I would really be interested in some official height measurement of bonga. this 6'8'' is the height He was when He last played in the nba. but i swear to you he looks way taller than that today. Compare him to Johannes thiemann who is listed as 6'9'' and bonga looks taller. could be even closer to Franz Wagners 6'10'' actually.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#304 » by UcanUwill » Mon Aug 18, 2025 10:45 am

jk31 wrote:
UcanUwill wrote:
6'8 SF Isaac Bonga from Germany



I would really be interested in some official height measurement of bonga. this 6'8'' is the height He was when He last played in the nba. but i swear to you he looks way taller than that today. Compare him to Johannes thiemann who is listed as 6'9'' and bonga looks taller. could be even closer to Franz Wagners 6'10'' actually.


Yes, it wouldn't surprise me to know he is taller, but I just went safe with measurements so no one would call me out for boosting Euro measurements :lol: Bonga is also really long, long arms, it is apparent from first look why he was NBA prospect from very beginning.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#305 » by -Luke- » Mon Aug 18, 2025 2:08 pm

Bonga looks taller than Coach Mumbrú, who was listed as 6'7 1⁄2" as a player according to wikipedia. That's probably 6'9" NBA height.

I watched Bonga two or three times (rather short appearances) when he was 16 in the 4th division in Germany. He played point guard and was pretty raw, but very long and you could see he had a lot of talent. Couldn't make a shot to save his life in the NBA, but I think that has improved as well.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#306 » by Mirotic12 » Mon Aug 18, 2025 3:44 pm

UcanUwill wrote:You mean players who are not in the NBA, but could make NBA?

I think it is not all over for Artūrs Žagars from Latvia. A 6'2 point guard.

6'5 PG Sergio De Larrea from Spain

6'4 PG Theo Maledon from France.

6'4 PG Aleksa Avramović and 6'11 PF Filip Petrušev from Serbia

6'8 SF Isaac Bonga from Germany

6'9 PF Tadas Sedekerskis and 6'10 C Ažuolas Tubelis from Lithuania

6'10 C Roman Sorkin from Israel

6'7 SF Gabriele Procida from Italy


None of them is more than an average roatation player for EuroLeague.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#307 » by Mirotic12 » Mon Aug 18, 2025 3:52 pm

Mavrelous wrote:
UcanUwill wrote:I think it is not all over for Artūrs Žagars from Latvia. A 6'2 point guard.

What happened to him? He had a killer world cup (or Olympics don't remember).


He can't guard anyone. Whenever he plays in EuroLeague, he's getting killed the whole time on defense. So he gets benched again.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#308 » by Mirotic12 » Mon Aug 18, 2025 3:57 pm

UcanUwill wrote:Žagars played so well in World cup, that teams probably wanted to have him on camp, but I do not believe they offered him guaranteed contracts. Things like that happen. like when Kirk Penny dropped 25ppg in world cup, Spurs brought him in, of course he never made actual team. Žagars is way better than Kirk tho.

Yeah, some of the guys I mentioned already played in the NBA, PEtrušev, Bonga and Maledon. But they really improved and we have seen this scenario many times, it just happened with Yabussele, where guy is ranked high as teen, gets drafted, makes NBA, sucks, goes back to Europe, improves a lot, comes back...

Avramovic is probably the best defensive player in Europe, guy lokced in SGA.


Panos Kalaitzakis is the best defender in EuroLeague. Avramovic is a much better all around player though.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#309 » by Swuul » Mon Aug 18, 2025 4:41 pm

durden_tyler wrote:Any other prospects for the NBA we must watch? Of course not the already current NBA stars playing but potentially role players like France's Yabusule in the Olympics, where he turned heads and got the bag.

Miikka Muurinen is heading to college this season, and is regarded as one of the top european prospects of his age (possibly a first round pick in the NBA, if he keeps on developing as he has so far).
https://nbadraftroom.com/miikka-muurinen/
https://www.bigboardglobal.com/p/miika-muurinen-scouting-report

He has not played any of the prep games so far, but should be a lock for Team Finland in Eurobasket 2025.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#310 » by Ruma85 » Mon Aug 18, 2025 7:38 pm

Seems like Doncic will play against Great Britain on Tuesday, after the injury scare.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#311 » by RookieStar » Mon Aug 18, 2025 8:38 pm

jk31 wrote:
UcanUwill wrote:
6'8 SF Isaac Bonga from Germany



I would really be interested in some official height measurement of bonga. this 6'8'' is the height He was when He last played in the nba. but i swear to you he looks way taller than that today. Compare him to Johannes thiemann who is listed as 6'9'' and bonga looks taller. could be even closer to Franz Wagners 6'10'' actually.


Just to add... we really need to re-measure Franz height. We got Magic posters who saw Franz and Paolo hanging out in Starbucks and such and swore Franz is taller than Paolo's 6'10 height when they lined up in the counter.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#312 » by Swuul » Tue Aug 19, 2025 3:25 pm

New Powerranking out for Eurobasket. Top 3 still same: Serbia, Germany, France
https://www.fiba.basketball/en/events/fiba-eurobasket-2025/news/fiba-eurobasket-2025-smart-power-rankings-volume-3
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#313 » by jezzerinho » Tue Aug 19, 2025 4:14 pm

Mirotic12 wrote:
UcanUwill wrote:You mean players who are not in the NBA, but could make NBA?

I think it is not all over for Artūrs Žagars from Latvia. A 6'2 point guard.

6'5 PG Sergio De Larrea from Spain

6'4 PG Theo Maledon from France.

6'4 PG Aleksa Avramović and 6'11 PF Filip Petrušev from Serbia

6'8 SF Isaac Bonga from Germany

6'9 PF Tadas Sedekerskis and 6'10 C Ažuolas Tubelis from Lithuania

6'10 C Roman Sorkin from Israel

6'7 SF Gabriele Procida from Italy


None of them is more than an average roatation player player for EuroLeague.


I thought Procida would be a solid NBA level pro, but so far in Europe he's been a rotation guy and little else.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#314 » by Mavrelous » Tue Aug 19, 2025 6:35 pm

Why bother fielding a team Britain?
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#315 » by Mone 24 » Tue Aug 19, 2025 7:08 pm

jezzerinho wrote:
Mirotic12 wrote:
None of them is more than an average roatation player player for EuroLeague.


I thought Procida would be a solid NBA level pro, but so far in Europe he's been a rotation guy and little else.


He needs to build up a solid offensive skill-set because he's a tremendous athlete.
Btw, he has shown lots of interesting improvements last year in Berlin, and now I expect from him an important step in Madrid.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#316 » by jezzerinho » Tue Aug 19, 2025 10:41 pm

Mone 24 wrote:
jezzerinho wrote:
Mirotic12 wrote:
None of them is more than an average roatation player player for EuroLeague.


I thought Procida would be a solid NBA level pro, but so far in Europe he's been a rotation guy and little else.


He needs to build up a solid offensive skill-set because he's a tremendous athlete.
Btw, he has shown lots of interesting improvements last year in Berlin, and now I expect from him an important step in Madrid.


Thanks for that. Hadn't heard he signed for Madrid. Will look out for him in ACB.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#317 » by boogiezen » Wed Aug 20, 2025 2:34 am

Luka is looking really good. According to St. Jean (Lakers Assistant coach), he will continue to get better. I just hope that he stays healthy because Slovenia has no chance of winning this tournament or beating the top teams.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#318 » by Ruma85 » Wed Aug 20, 2025 6:26 am

boogiezen wrote:Luka is looking really good. According to St. Jean (Lakers Assistant coach), he will continue to get better. I just hope that he stays healthy because Slovenia has no chance of winning this tournament or beating the top teams.


The team looks decent when they are hitting their shots, though even then they are playing above than what they are capable of.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#319 » by pepe1991 » Wed Aug 20, 2025 6:47 am

Luka for damn sure is faster and more athletic than last two years.
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Re: OT : Eurobasket 2025 

Post#320 » by Mavrelous » Wed Aug 20, 2025 7:05 am

Ruma85 wrote:
boogiezen wrote:Luka is looking really good. According to St. Jean (Lakers Assistant coach), he will continue to get better. I just hope that he stays healthy because Slovenia has no chance of winning this tournament or beating the top teams.


The team looks decent when they are hitting their shots, though even then they are playing above than what they are capable of.

Nah, this is a much worse team than the ones he had until now, Cancar and Tobey were much better than anything on this team, and the rest of the supporting cast was much younger, Zoran, Blazic, Muric and Prepelic were younger.
They peaked in Tokyo where they were one blocked layup away from the Finals, and been downhill since, Luka tanked their chances in the last Eurobasket with his temper tantrum against Poland, the team was OK but not good in 23 world cup and they didn't make it out of qualifications last year for Paris against a team they easily handled before in Croatia.
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