Gomes3PC wrote:BostonCouchGM wrote:Gomes3PC wrote:Don't see the Romeo and Begarin comps. Begarin has a questionable handle, is a straightline driver and more of a run/jump athlete with questions about floor vision and defensive focus.
Romeo is a smooth player who is more quick and change-of-direction athletic. He's got good vision and is a better defender all around, but doesn't look to be as thick/strong as Begarin is/will be.
From what I read it sounds like Begarin wants to be in the US this year. Will be curious to see if he does.
everything you just said about Begarin (minus the desire to come to US) is wrong.
Show me one scouting report that doesn't state there's questions about tightening his handle and needing to improve his vision as a passer. From all I have read and what I have watched, he's just very raw. Nothing wrong with that but at the moment he's a downhill driver who shows some flashes of playmaking but not a guy you just hand the ball to make plays for others.
Defensively he lapses a lot on D, though obviously has a lot of great tools.
If he had all these physical / athletic tools, and were a great ballhandler with great vision, as an 18 year old he would have been a lotto pick and not a mid-2nd rounder. There's obvious questions/gaps in his skills.
1) I haven't really seen much scouting reports on Begarin. I've seen plenty of footage and typically can evaluate a player myself based on what I see on film along with the stats I dig up on them.
Plenty of footage on Begarin here, I watched the whole thing prior to the draft:
From what I've seen, Begarin's handle is fine. As good as you're gonna find for an 18 yr old non-PG. Langford (and even Nesmith) aren't very good with the ball in their hands creating off the bounce and handling the ball vs aggressive defensive pressure so I wouldn't say either of them projects as a better ball handler than Begarin.
As far as Begarin's vision as a passer, that is definitely a strength for Begarin. Nesmith hasn't really good any passing/play making ability, Langford has only shown it in small flashes. This video says how it's a strength for Begarin..this video also shows Begarin's ability to score off the dribble with an array of moves:
When we look at the stats, we see Begarin had an assist rate of 18.3% which is very high for a non-PG...especially one who is only 18.....playing in a professional league...not to mention he had that very high assist rate on a pretty low usage rate of 22.7%. Begarin's assist rate was higher than Cam Thomas, Josh Primo, Josh Christopher, BJ Boston, James Bouknight, despite having a lower usage rate than all of those guys except Primo (Primo had fairly low usage rate of 17.6% but has a crazy low assist rate of 6.5%) yet Primo was the 12th pick in the draft. Primo and Begarin had nearly identical TS%, both are 18 yrs old, both very quick and athletic but from what I've seen Begarin is a better defender, plays with more of a toughness/edge to him (Primo is good but seems soft), Begarin is built stronger, Begarin is 1 inch taller, 3 inches longer wingspan and Begarin has 23 lbs on primo so less likely to get pushed around.
As far as you saying "oh if he was this good he'd be a lottery pick" well, it was a really deep draft but even still, I had Begarin ranked no. 15 on my big board before the draft. Begarin is pretty unknown, not many people even knew about him until the last couple of weeks right before the draft. Often times the international players end up getting picked later than they should because US scouts are less familiar with them.
The only things I think Begarin needs to work on is sometimes his decision making on offense is not good, resulting in turnovers or poor shot selection - which is going to be the case for pretty much any 18 yr old kid playing in the pros but something he needs to work on - also FT shooting needs work. That and just playing against better competition to help him get ready for the NBA - he was in the B division in France last yr but word on the street is his team is moving up to the A division next yr so that will help him out. If he works on that stuff and just keeps improving his all around game, staying in shape and we stash him overseas for 1 yr (maybe 2) I think people will be really surprised how good he turns out to be once he comes back over here in a yr or 2..
