Question for International Basketball fans. Who are top prospects from your country?

[LuDux1]

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Lithuania losing game to this Latvia hurt, man, I thought they were getting gold, their betting coef in that game was 1.01 (-10000)...

u20 team had coach who spent years on NBA and Euroleague bench, u18 had MKL coach. Another, conspiracy theory of mine, says they lost because coach didn't select my hometown kid

[UcanUwill]

u20 team had coach who spent years on NBA and Euroleague bench, u18 had MKL coach. Another, conspiracy theory of mine, says they lost because coach didn't select my hometown kid

They set the record on opening day, cruised passed group stage and figured they will have it easy there, loser mentality. U20 team outperformed all expectations, 6 players on that team were year younger than general competitions, Raupelis and Juzėnas aren't even 19 yet. That Ferrari kid on Italian squad looks like a good one though.

Will be interesting to see what Songaila will do in Šiauliai, our domestic league is barely functioning these days, teams from second league flat out refuse promotion, but anyway. I wonder is this better than being 8th. assistant on the Spurs, maybe it is.

[LuDux1]

u20 team had coach who spent years on NBA and Euroleague bench, u18 had MKL coach. Another, conspiracy theory of mine, says they lost because coach didn't select my hometown kid

They set the record on opening day, cruised passed group stage and figured they will have it easy there, loser mentality. U20 team outperformed all expectations, 6 players on that team were year younger than general competitions, Raupelis and Juzėnas aren't even 19 yet. That Ferrari kid on Italian squad looks like a good one though.

Will be interesting to see what Songaila will do in Šiauliai, our domestic league is barely functioning these days, teams from second league flat out refuse promotion, but anyway. I wonder is this better than being 8th. assistant on the Spurs, maybe it is.

Nah, it's functioning too well, compared to second league

[peZt]

I think it is the same in Lithuania here. I think all Euro countries that have strong domestic basketball tradition are more like that, where France or Germany for example, Basketball is getting more popular there, but it is not really because of local teams, and thats why they develop NBA talent way better now. I think countries like Greece and Lithuania need to look in the mirror and realize that what they are doing is outdated, because we being left in a dust.

We love coaches who overcoach, thats why everyone think Jaskikevicius so god, it is actually emberassing the Jasikevicius love fest our media has, if you undercoahcing coach, people here think you suck, you UNDER coaching, you doing bad. Most guards who develop here can't even really dribble. I do not think anymore can trash talk AAU, when almost every basektball club in the world has American guard thats their offensive leader. For some reason, Americans develop unlimited number of these type of players. Guy like Spanoulis was almost anomaly, because you wouldn't see a guy with such good handle, ability to split any double and get anywhere around the court with his individual skills coming out of these countries. I will say that Greece is still way better than Lithuania at this regard, because you guys still had Spanoulis, SLoukas etc, we on the other hand have nothing of sorts.
Our best 1 on 1 player ever was probably Šiškauskas, almost 20 years ago now, and he was anomaly, because he started playing basketball at like 17 years old, he just was natural talent, not our real product.

That said, I have been watching U20 that just ended on Sunday, and maybe some changes are being made, because that Lithuanian team had many drivers on a team, problem with these guys, they couldn't finish in the paint at all, but at least we saw guys with handle who were not afraid to attack the basket faced up. We had this guy Čižauskas from 92 generation, and many doofuses thought he is next big thing, I said it at a time, I debated these fools back in 2011 over here, this guy is most obvious bust I have ever seen, He was literally a PG, our big next hope, who literally couldn't dribble when pressed, it was freaking unbelievable. It is really insane how we develop guards, nobody can do anything without a screen action.

I remember Cizauskas. And the u18 Eurobasket in Lithuania in front of 10k fans, I remember scouts saying that that was the best european generation they had ever seen, the Lithuanian 1992 one. And the legendary battles between Valanciunas and Kanter. But tbf, wasnt really much of a battle, more a destruction from Kanter haha

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

What a duo of european centers, probably the most dominant european centers in youth category until and since then. But similiarly to Turkey's golden generations, doesnt seem like they really panned out at the end.
Same with Croatian 95-98 generations. I remember people saying it would be the next european dynasty with guys like Hezonja, Saric, Dragan Bender and so on. They also really won gold medals in the youth tournaments, some with an average margin of like 30 points or something. Now, when this generation shoudl be in its prime, Crotia can't even qualify for a Eurobasket

And in Turkey it was a similiar problem. Our 1995-1997 generations won every medal there was in youth basketball in the 2010s and people were super hyped. But even then it was obvious kind of, but we didnt wanna believe it, that the success came more from team chemistry and having 10 above average players than really individual talent. In Youth Tournaments its enough to have a bunch of solid players and good chemistry to win. But youth wins dont mean anything, what is important is how many top players you produce. And even in those teams that won everything it was clear that we barely had anyone that could beat their defender 1v1, that had elite shooting skills, just some skill that pops up. It was just a bunch of solid players playing perfect system Basketball and set plays but that doesnt make you a good pro at the end, you need some defining skill, something you need to be great at, even if just for a role player role

In Turkey its also changing a bit. We dont have the success we have anymore in youth tournaments because we dont produce this mass of above average players anymore, but we produce more top talent now with clear defining skill. Still not many, but more than before. So in the 2010s we had 10 above average players per generation, now we have 1-2 really good ones, 2 above average ones and 5 trash ones. The former brings you youth success, the latter brings you more success at the senior level.

[UcanUwill]

I think it is the same in Lithuania here. I think all Euro countries that have strong domestic basketball tradition are more like that, where France or Germany for example, Basketball is getting more popular there, but it is not really because of local teams, and thats why they develop NBA talent way better now. I think countries like Greece and Lithuania need to look in the mirror and realize that what they are doing is outdated, because we being left in a dust.

We love coaches who overcoach, thats why everyone think Jaskikevicius so god, it is actually emberassing the Jasikevicius love fest our media has, if you undercoahcing coach, people here think you suck, you UNDER coaching, you doing bad. Most guards who develop here can't even really dribble. I do not think anymore can trash talk AAU, when almost every basektball club in the world has American guard thats their offensive leader. For some reason, Americans develop unlimited number of these type of players. Guy like Spanoulis was almost anomaly, because you wouldn't see a guy with such good handle, ability to split any double and get anywhere around the court with his individual skills coming out of these countries. I will say that Greece is still way better than Lithuania at this regard, because you guys still had Spanoulis, SLoukas etc, we on the other hand have nothing of sorts.
Our best 1 on 1 player ever was probably Šiškauskas, almost 20 years ago now, and he was anomaly, because he started playing basketball at like 17 years old, he just was natural talent, not our real product.

That said, I have been watching U20 that just ended on Sunday, and maybe some changes are being made, because that Lithuanian team had many drivers on a team, problem with these guys, they couldn't finish in the paint at all, but at least we saw guys with handle who were not afraid to attack the basket faced up. We had this guy Čižauskas from 92 generation, and many doofuses thought he is next big thing, I said it at a time, I debated these fools back in 2011 over here, this guy is most obvious bust I have ever seen, He was literally a PG, our big next hope, who literally couldn't dribble when pressed, it was freaking unbelievable. It is really insane how we develop guards, nobody can do anything without a screen action.

I remember Cizauskas. And the u18 Eurobasket in Lithuania in front of 10k fans, I remember scouts saying that that was the best european generation they had ever seen, the Lithuanian 1992 one. And the legendary battles between Valanciunas and Kanter. But tbf, wasnt really much of a battle, more a destruction from Kanter haha

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

What a duo of european centers, probably the most dominant european centers in youth category until and since then. But similiarly to Turkey's golden generations, doesnt seem like they really panned out at the end.
Same with Croatian 95-98 generations. I remember people saying it would be the next european dynasty with guys like Hezonja, Saric, Dragan Bender and so on. They also really won gold medals in the youth tournaments, some with an average margin of like 30 points or something. Now, when this generation shoudl be in its prime, Crotia can't even qualify for a Eurobasket

And in Turkey it was a similiar problem. Our 1995-1997 generations won every medal there was in youth basketball in the 2010s and people were super hyped. But even then it was obvious kind of, but we didnt wanna believe it, that the success came more from team chemistry and having 10 above average players than really individual talent. In Youth Tournaments its enough to have a bunch of solid players and good chemistry to win. But youth wins dont mean anything, what is important is how many top players you produce. And even in those teams that won everything it was clear that we barely had anyone that could beat their defender 1v1, that had elite shooting skills, just some skill that pops up. It was just a bunch of solid players playing perfect system Basketball and set plays but that doesnt make you a good pro at the end, you need some defining skill, something you need to be great at, even if just for a role player role

In Turkey its also changing a bit. We dont have the success we have anymore in youth tournaments because we dont produce this mass of above average players anymore, but we produce more top talent now with clear defining skill. Still not many, but more than before. So in the 2010s we had 10 above average players per generation, now we have 1-2 really good ones, 2 above average ones and 5 trash ones. The former brings you youth success, the latter brings you more success at the senior level.

1992 Lithuanian team won every gold, even U20 one without Jonas. That game against Kanter was technically in 1991 generation tournament I believe, Kanter and Valanciunas played for them cause still cause they were prodigies, but yeah, I remember that game very well, Kanter dominated. I remember the day before Jonas had amazing game and he put a stinker there against Kanter, and Lithuanian coach said in press - well, you can't have two such amazing games back to back. and one of the internet replies from our fans was - well, Kanter just did...

Kanter and Jonas were rivals, Kanter was seen as slightly better prospect, tho I prefered Jonas, since Jonas dominated being very skinny, were Kanter already had that mens strength. He stil proved to be good in pro level later on tho, but you always need to scout these oversized junior players a bit different, cause their dominance often does not translate, like Karnowski for example.

When Jonas was dominating u19 that year, a lot of American fans were asking Givony how would this Lithuanian team do in NCAA, and Givony claimed they would be national champions easily. But IMO this is great example that youth goodness does not necessarily translate into anything, because as I said, Čižauskas was their second best player, but it was so obvious he sucks big time, he just couldn't protect the ball. Their third best player was SG Redikas, and he was a bit more promising, but still not that great at all, like nothing about him screamed good. I said at time, that team had 2 good prospects beside Jonas, Ulanovas and Skučas. Ulanovas became long time Euroleague player, SKučas was not as successful, but he had character issue. Another guy who became ok, who I didn't see coming, was Rokas Giedraitis. But just watching Čižauskas play, a point guard who passes out any time he sees pressure, cause he can't handle any, that guy was just complete waste of time. WIth him, for the first time I legit thought I was smarter than these professional scouts, cause Žalgiris invested in him and tried to make him a thing, freaking Žalgiris, and I was looking, thinking - how do you guys not see this guy is useless?

Čižauskas was super beefy athletic guard who passed through kid level cause he was way stronger, he used to do those Derrick Rose off two legs dunks, but dude just couldn't dribble at all at pro level and it was obvious. If he could dribble he would have been in the NBA, but he didn't and that meant he is Euro nobdoy. Turns out being able to dribble was important. I remmeber watching Brazil U19 vs Lithuania U19 friendly from first row, and Brazil had Reul Neto, and that guy was not dominant like Čižauskas, Neta was just skinny small guy, but you could see you can't steal the ball from him, you can't trap him easily, and few years later he is was in the NBA.

[LuDux1]

When Jonas was dominating u19 that year, a lot of American fans were asking Givony how would this Lithuanian team do in NCAA, and Givony claimed they would be national champions easily. But IMO this is great example that youth goodness does not necessarily translate into anything, because as I said, Čižauskas was their second best player, but it was so obvious he sucks big time, he just couldn't protect the ball. Their third best player was SG Redikas, and he was a bit more promising, but still not that great at all, like nothing about him screamed good. I said at time, that team had 2 good prospects beside Jonas, Ulanovas and Skučas. Ulanovas became long time Euroleague player, SKučas was not as successful, but he had character issue. Another guy who became ok, who I didn't see coming, was Rokas Giedraitis. But just watching Čižauskas play, a point guard who passes out any time he sees pressure, cause he can't handle any, that guy was just complete waste of time. WIth him, for the first time I legit thought I was smarter than these professional scouts, cause Žalgiris invested in him and tried to make him a thing, freaking Žalgiris, and I was looking, thinking - how do you guys not see this guy is useless?

What do you think made Skucas a good prospecT?

Other notable 1992 born players were Arnas Butkevicius and Deividas Pukis

1 Jonas Valančiūnas
3 Edgaras Ulanovas
2 Rokas Giedraitis
4 Arnas Butkevičius
6-10 Eigirdas Žukauskas, Donatas Sabeckis, Vytenis Čižauskas, Paulius Sorokas, Egidijus Mockevičius, Žygimantas Skučas

[UcanUwill]

When Jonas was dominating u19 that year, a lot of American fans were asking Givony how would this Lithuanian team do in NCAA, and Givony claimed they would be national champions easily. But IMO this is great example that youth goodness does not necessarily translate into anything, because as I said, Čižauskas was their second best player, but it was so obvious he sucks big time, he just couldn't protect the ball. Their third best player was SG Redikas, and he was a bit more promising, but still not that great at all, like nothing about him screamed good. I said at time, that team had 2 good prospects beside Jonas, Ulanovas and Skučas. Ulanovas became long time Euroleague player, SKučas was not as successful, but he had character issue. Another guy who became ok, who I didn't see coming, was Rokas Giedraitis. But just watching Čižauskas play, a point guard who passes out any time he sees pressure, cause he can't handle any, that guy was just complete waste of time. WIth him, for the first time I legit thought I was smarter than these professional scouts, cause Žalgiris invested in him and tried to make him a thing, freaking Žalgiris, and I was looking, thinking - how do you guys not see this guy is useless?

What do you think made Skucas a good prospecT?

Other notable 1992 born players were Arnas Butkevicius and Deividas Pukis

1 Jonas Valančiūnas
3 Edgaras Ulanovas
2 Rokas Giedraitis
4 Arnas Butkevičius
6-10 Eigirdas Žukauskas, Donatas Sabeckis, Vytenis Čižauskas, Paulius Sorokas, Egidijus Mockevičius, Žygimantas Skučas

Skučas was hard nosed PF with good measurements and feel for the game, these guys usually translate, and he kind off did at LKL level, he was relevant player for years there, but he never really elevated his game further, I imagined he could be Papanikolaou or Khryapa type/level of player.

[sisibilio]

I used to think ACB was huge advantage Spain had, because it looked to me that with such strong league, they were developing better talent and faster. Like I remember one year San Emeterio just balled out out of nowhere and thats just great player who just rised from ACB out of nowhere it felt to me. But now, yeah, I can see the downside of it, Spain win youth medals every year, but their senior talent starting to lack. But even when I am so down on them, I am remember they will be defending champs in this years Eurobasket. It is Lorenzo Brown medal but still, maybe I underrate their talent, IDK.

San Emeterio didn't rise out of nowhere, he was a highly touted prospect, albeit not NBA one. Problem is he was kind of a tweener in his youth and took him a lil longer than others to establish himself at the top level.

[LuDux1]

When Jonas was dominating u19 that year, a lot of American fans were asking Givony how would this Lithuanian team do in NCAA, and Givony claimed they would be national champions easily. But IMO this is great example that youth goodness does not necessarily translate into anything, because as I said, Čižauskas was their second best player, but it was so obvious he sucks big time, he just couldn't protect the ball. Their third best player was SG Redikas, and he was a bit more promising, but still not that great at all, like nothing about him screamed good. I said at time, that team had 2 good prospects beside Jonas, Ulanovas and Skučas. Ulanovas became long time Euroleague player, SKučas was not as successful, but he had character issue. Another guy who became ok, who I didn't see coming, was Rokas Giedraitis. But just watching Čižauskas play, a point guard who passes out any time he sees pressure, cause he can't handle any, that guy was just complete waste of time. WIth him, for the first time I legit thought I was smarter than these professional scouts, cause Žalgiris invested in him and tried to make him a thing, freaking Žalgiris, and I was looking, thinking - how do you guys not see this guy is useless?

What do you think made Skucas a good prospecT?

Other notable 1992 born players were Arnas Butkevicius and Deividas Pukis

1 Jonas Valančiūnas
3 Edgaras Ulanovas
2 Rokas Giedraitis
4 Arnas Butkevičius
6-10 Eigirdas Žukauskas, Donatas Sabeckis, Vytenis Čižauskas, Paulius Sorokas, Egidijus Mockevičius, Žygimantas Skučas

Skučas was hard nosed PF with good measurements and feel for the game, these guys usually translate, and he kind off did at LKL level, he was relevant player for years there, but he never really elevated his game further, I imagined he could be Papanikolaou or Khryapa type/level of player.

Look like you thought of Skucas what Givony thought of Cizauskas when you thought that you are smarter than Givony

Skucas is second-biggest threat to players' legs in Lithuanian basketball history after Garastas

[sisibilio]

As far as future spanish prospects
Baba Miller, Juan Nuñez, Aday Mara, Sergio de Larrea, Mario Saint Supery and Hugo Gonzalez (already drafted) are the most sure bets.
Other guys with a slight chance of sniffing the NBA could be Jordi Rodriguez and Izan Almansa.
Another guy with lots of untaped potential is Fabian Flores, tremendous physical tools but at 20 still a couple years away from being 1 year away.

From the 07 generation we got no superstars, Ian Platteew and Guillermo del Pino are the most promising, although it's a very deep generation with many guys who could turn it up. One of my faves was Sergi Kemu, combo guard who went to HS and kind of got lost a bit, didn't even play in the u18 euro.

From the 08 generation Abraham Maker Bol (if he counts as spaniard) and Diego Niebla lead the way, maybe Javier Viguer.

For the younger ones Jan Cerdan (2010) has been considered kind of a chosen one for a while, and Pablo Mera (2010) looks really promising as well.

[UcanUwill]

What do you think made Skucas a good prospecT?

Other notable 1992 born players were Arnas Butkevicius and Deividas Pukis

1 Jonas Valančiūnas
3 Edgaras Ulanovas
2 Rokas Giedraitis
4 Arnas Butkevičius
6-10 Eigirdas Žukauskas, Donatas Sabeckis, Vytenis Čižauskas, Paulius Sorokas, Egidijus Mockevičius, Žygimantas Skučas

Skučas was hard nosed PF with good measurements and feel for the game, these guys usually translate, and he kind off did at LKL level, he was relevant player for years there, but he never really elevated his game further, I imagined he could be Papanikolaou or Khryapa type/level of player.

Look like you thought of Skucas what Givony thought of Cizauskas when you thought that you are smarter than Givony

Skucas is second-biggest threat to players' legs in Lithuanian basketball history after Garastas

Well, Čižauskas was rated way higher than Skučas as prospect, and Skučas ended up better anyway, so I wasn't all that stupid. As I said, main probelm with SKučas was probably his character problems, I believe he also decided to just play in NKL at one moment, maybe ambition wasn't there in him, guy had talent unlike Čižauskas. Also, I do not remember Givony being high on Čižauskas at all, fanboys were, also Žalgiris...

Dated in 2011, I debated these Lithuanian fanboys here, who trashed me for trashing Čižauskas, maybe you were one of them I do not remember, I said the best prospect there beside Jonas is Ulanovas, and Ulanovas became Žalgiris captain, while Čižauskas is who he is, big nothing.

Also, I do not claim to be very smart about this, I been wrong many times, but I said this for years, Čižauskas was obvious bust I have ever seen personally, I jsut can;t believe other pro scouts didn't see it.

[LuDux1]

Can we agree that Skučas and Čižauskas are two worst pleyers ever seriously compared on RealGM General Board?

[FollowTheSound]

Can we agree that Skučas and Čižauskas are two worst pleyers ever seriously compared on RealGM General Board?

LMAO

[FollowTheSound]

As far as future spanish prospects
Baba Miller, Juan Nuñez, Aday Mara, Sergio de Larrea, Mario Saint Supery and Hugo Gonzalez (already drafted) are the most sure bets.
Other guys with a slight chance of sniffing the NBA could be Jordi Rodriguez and Izan Almansa.
Another guy with lots of untaped potential is Fabian Flores, tremendous physical tools but at 20 still a couple years away from being 1 year away.

From the 07 generation we got no superstars, Ian Platteew and Guillermo del Pino are the most promising, although it's a very deep generation with many guys who could turn it up. One of my faves was Sergi Kemu, combo guard who went to HS and kind of got lost a bit, didn't even play in the u18 euro.

From the 08 generation Abraham Maker Bol (if he counts as spaniard) and Diego Niebla lead the way, maybe Javier Viguer.

For the younger ones Jan Cerdan (2010) has been considered kind of a chosen one for a while, and Pablo Mera (2010) looks really promising as well.

Nunez was also drafted already

[tamaraw08]

Kai Sotto

Still?

not anymore.
Pablo Torre.

[sisibilio]

As far as future spanish prospects
Baba Miller, Juan Nuñez, Aday Mara, Sergio de Larrea, Mario Saint Supery and Hugo Gonzalez (already drafted) are the most sure bets.
Other guys with a slight chance of sniffing the NBA could be Jordi Rodriguez and Izan Almansa.
Another guy with lots of untaped potential is Fabian Flores, tremendous physical tools but at 20 still a couple years away from being 1 year away.

From the 07 generation we got no superstars, Ian Platteew and Guillermo del Pino are the most promising, although it's a very deep generation with many guys who could turn it up. One of my faves was Sergi Kemu, combo guard who went to HS and kind of got lost a bit, didn't even play in the u18 euro.

From the 08 generation Abraham Maker Bol (if he counts as spaniard) and Diego Niebla lead the way, maybe Javier Viguer.

For the younger ones Jan Cerdan (2010) has been considered kind of a chosen one for a while, and Pablo Mera (2010) looks really promising as well.

Nunez was also drafted already

Yeah, i meant he was already NBA bound.
BTW Flores finnally committed to DePaul.

[DreamTeam09]

Isaiah Hamilton got next from a CDN standpoint. He has superstar too prospect of his draft class type potential