Luka Samanic, next big prospect from Croatia

[pohani komarac]

Luka Samanic is 6'10 SF/PF, curently plays for KK Zagreb cadets, former team of Hezonja and Saric. He has skills and athletic abilities to be high level player

Highlights

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI6Wbosl2fI[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwP4jG01Oxk[/youtube]

[Von Bismarck]

Interesting kid indeed.

Reminds me a bit of Chandler Parsons.

[Mustinjo]

He's going to Barcelona this summer.

[pohani komarac]

Bit older highlights

https://youtu.be/UwP4jG01Oxk

[TheTrooper]

Is it not a bit too early to open up topics for him ?

[Stackey]

He's NBA draft class of 2019.

After Saric, Hezonja and Bender one more lottery pick from Croatia?

[pohani komarac]

He could be, he has chance. Has body and skills, rest is on him. Measured 6'10 with shoes and 33'5 vertical at eurocamp

draftnet on him:

The Croatian prospect literally stole the show during the exibition game, dominating on both sides of the court. As a 6-9 forward with power forward size and small forward skills, thanks to his superior body control and quickness. He shows a lot of personality with a competitive nature and is in a good place to develop at Barecelona. He has size, length, aggressiveness and a complete offensive repertoire, including Eurosteps and pull-up jumpers from mid-range. He also looked very comfortable stepping back for a 3 pointer. On top of all this, he's an elite level leaper and athlete as he got way above the rim for one dunk coming down the lane. France's Sekou Doumbouya is a highly touted prospect, but Samanic is better. This is a kid that clearly has lottery level talent, which is rare to be able to say about a 16 year old.

[pohani komarac]

Luka lead Croatia to 4th place at U- 16 EC. Averaged 17,7 pt, 10,4 rb, 2,7as, 2,9 bl. He showed his impressive combination of size, skills, atlethicism for his age. Some say he will reach 7'1, but more likley 6'11 or 7’0. Draftexpress see him as best prospect of tournament

Highlights

Watch on YouTube

[TheTrooper]

Luka lead Croatia to 4th place at U- 16 EC. Averaged 17,7 pt, 10,4 rb, 2,7as, 2,9 bl. He showed his impressive combination of size, skills, atlethicism for his age. Some say he will reach 7'1, but more likley 6'11 or 7’0. Draftexpress see him as best prospect of tournament

Highlights

Watch on YouTube

To be honest I hope he doesn't grow at all.
At 6'10 he is just a brutal mismatch. 6'10 is an elite size for a SF and he is quick enough to play it and just about right to be a PF where he would be one of the fastest ones. He is no pushover also, he has the strength to battle it out with most PF's.

[pohani komarac]

Luka is now 6'11 and won eurolegue junior tournament mvp with 23 pts, 15rb, 3 as and 3bl

Watch on YouTube

[SportsGuy8]

Croatia is getting stacked with lottery-talent. They're going to have one talented national team for the next decade, maybe even 2.

No true star yet, though. If someone becomes that, they're going to be perennial medal contender. A true star is needed, though, we've seen it with Slovenia in the 2000s. It's a mess when you have 5+ NBA players, but no true star, especially in really tough games where it's not clear who's going to take the main responsibility.

[UcanUwill]

Croatia is getting stacked with lottery-talent. They're going to have one talented national team for the next decade, maybe even 2.

No true star yet, though. If someone becomes that, they're going to be perennial medal contender. A true star is needed, though, we've seen it with Slovenia in the 2000s. It's a mess when you have 5+ NBA players, but no true star, especially in really tough games where it's not clear who's going to take the main responsibility.

One of their talents has to translate first. So far, they only have Dario Saric who is true impact player.

[pohani komarac]

Croatia is getting stacked with lottery-talent. They're going to have one talented national team for the next decade, maybe even 2.

No true star yet, though. If someone becomes that, they're going to be perennial medal contender. A true star is needed, though, we've seen it with Slovenia in the 2000s. It's a mess when you have 5+ NBA players, but no true star, especially in really tough games where it's not clear who's going to take the main responsibility.

One of their talents has to translate first. So far, they only have Dario Saric who is true impact player.

Bogdanovic too

[Alatan]

Looks nice. Im usually sceptical about nationally hyped up players but this kid genuinely looks good. Il be keeping an eye on him.

[Johnny Firpo]

What's up with Luka these days? His development is unclear at this point, right? Would you guys come over this year if you were him, and maybe that way he can almost select which team he can go to in the second round, or you would wait another year to get better?

[oligo]

In the best case scenario, I would draft him as a mid/late 2nd rounder and send him into G-league.
You just don't want to repeat mistake called "Dragan Bender" (he's out next season) and go too high on another similar Croatian kid.
If I would be Samanic, I would pass on this draft and go for a next one.

He's playing in a garbage team right now (Union olimpija) in 3rd-tier leagues.
Although his team is pretty much dead last in all competitions, nothing really stands out on him. He had a few bursts this season, his 3PT% looks promising, but there is really not much to show at this moment.

https://www.aba-liga.com/induvidualstatistics.php
http://www.championsleague.basketball/18-19/playerstats

I would like to warn US people not to go too high on Europeans because of recent Doncic case. He was special and his skill-set at his age can't be just copied.

[Goon]

In the best case scenario, I would draft him as a mid/late 2nd rounder and send him into G-league.
You just don't want to repeat mistake called "Dragan Bender" (he's out next season) and go too high on another similar Croatian kid.
If I would be Samanic, I would pass on this draft and go for a next one.

He's playing in a garbage team right now (Union olimpija) in 3rd-tier leagues.
Although his team is pretty much dead last in all competitions, nothing really stands out on him. He had a few bursts this season, his 3PT% looks promising, but there is really not much to show at this moment.

https://www.aba-liga.com/induvidualstatistics.php
http://www.championsleague.basketball/18-19/playerstats

I would like to warn US people not to go too high on Europeans because of recent Doncic case. He was special and his skill-set at his age can't be just copied.

Better to stash him in Europe than sending him to gleague.

He isnt ready for the NBA. Unfortunately signing for Olimpija wasnt a good move. That team has been terribly run for years. This season alone they just got their 3rd coach (finally someone decent though), have no quality veterans Luka could learn from, has no good point guard. Team has a terrible director running things who has no clue how to evaluate talent.

League itself isnt bad for young players, ABA league is ok for developing players. You had a ton of current NBA players go through it (10+). But Olimpija just isnt one of the systems that are good at developing them.

[LSandersBong]

Lol I remember only like a year ago, this guy was mean't to be a lottery pick, most mock drafts had him top 10. Bleacher Report even did a featured article/report on him.

Wish him the best though, hopefully he can make an impact in the NBA, man can still shoot the 3 pretty well for a big guy.

[Mirotic12]

Samanic is big, he looks about 6-11, and he's pretty mobile and athletic. That's about all I see for now. His skills and game are limited, and he's very soft.

[pohani komarac]

He started to play very good last 2 months. I would guess that he is about 10 pts 5 rebounds per game in all competitions. Cca last 20 games or so. He said he will go to draft and go straight to NBA this draft.

Watch on YouTube