Welcome to Virtual Boston, Juhann Begarin!

[Hal14]

wow Smart2Nesmith43, that's quite a 1st post on RealGM!

Love that clip of Begarin's transition dunk. Holy sh^t he really kicked it into another gear and looked fast as hell on that play!

[Shak_Celts]

There's been a lot of problems with the TV rights for Pro A this year so this was the first opportunity to watch a full game from Begarin.

Fun game between Paris Basketball at home and ASVEL (best team in France, 6-2 in Euroleague right now). Lots of hype (sold out stadium, first career start for Wembanyama, plenty of NBA personnel in attendance including RC Buford apparently) and you could see a couple of players struggle a little with the intensity. Not Kamagate though. Took Wembanyama out of the game by putting him in foul trouble early and when he rolled he got above the rim in a blink of an eye, nice timings on blocks and contests, somebody is going to draft him in June.

Begarin started on the bench and when he came in he had to pick up William Howard or Elie Okobo (both had a cup of coffee in the NBA, members of the french national team, they can play). He got called for a couple fouls for picking guys up pretty agressively but considering the physicality of the game I didn't care much for either calls. Drove right into Youssoupha Fall (7'3) and promptly got blocked. Don't know what the thought process was there. Throughout the game, he had a tendency to overhelp when somebody drove but he still managed to get back out to shooters and had solid contests. He was much better during his second stint of the half capping a run with an open three pointer to force an ASVEL timeout.

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Then he came out with a loud dunk in transition to put Paris up 1 at the half.

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He started the second half, played almost the entire third quarter and mostly defended David Lighty (last year's Finals MVP in Pro A). Begarin had a nice putback and was generally active on the boards. He had a really nice play where he went to the corner to cover a shooter on an ASVEL fastbreak and when the ball was thrown to Fall in the middle he came all the way over to break it up and even drew a foul on Fall as he barged into Begarin. Juhann also had a nice pass ahead to find a team for a dunk in transition. There was another play I liked where he missed a pull up three with the shot clock winding down, one of his teammates got the offensive board in the opposite corner shot it right away and Begarin instead of standing there or hanging his head after his miss went right after the ball and tied up the ASVEL center to force a jump ball.

He had a drive where he missed a teammate wide open for three but still liked the agressiveness to go right at Fall and Wembanyama and he got two free throws for his troubles. He also drove baseline right by a closeout and had a nice assist on the dumpoff to O'Quinn once he got the ASVEL big man to commit to stopping his drive. He was really good in transition getting a easy bucket on one instance and drawing a foul for two free throw after trying to go coast to coast of the defensive board on another.

Came back with 5 and a half minutes left in the game. He had a nice defensive possession where he brickwalled Fall in the post. And yeah Fall still shot a point blank range turnaround right over him but Begarin prevented a dunk and got the stop since Fall actually missed somehow. He drew two free throws on a drive, that was one of the only time he got the ball on the move, I wished they would have done that more as nobody on the floor was quick enough to stay in front of him in that scenario. He made a big shot to put his team up 9 with less than two minutes left with a nice crossover to shake his defender before swishing the midrange jumper.

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He had bad possession with the team up 4 and 24 seconds remaining where he kinda dribbled aimlessly before almost turning the ball over with a bad pass that was deflected (he did manage to tip it to a teammate in the end). I wished he would have had the confidence to go to the line instead of trying to get ride of the ball but his free throw shooting is still a work in progress. Paris would hold on to secure the huge upset despite a late barrage of long range bombs from Okobo.

TL;DR: Overall, some questionable decision making but a lot more heads up plays. Very willing and able to do the little things that don't show up in the boxscore to win. The outside shot looks pretty fluid. Not very involved in the offense in the halfcourt but made the most out of his opportunities tonight and he was great in transition. They need to find a way to get him the ball on the move in the halfcourt, nobody at that level will be able stay in front of him. I could definitely see him feast off dribble handeoffs.
Kamagate is getting drafted this june. Wembanyama had a rough game overall but did hit a couple threes and is still trying to get his footing at that level. Not worried at all.

The boxscore : https://www.lnb.fr/elite/game-center-resume/?id=23883

I see that I need more posts from you ASAP, good read! Thank you!

[Smart2Nesmith43]

wow Smart2Nesmith43, that's quite a 1st post on RealGM!

Love that clip of Begarin's transition dunk. Holy sh^t he really kicked it into another gear and looked fast as hell on that play!

As somebody that started playing basketball pretty late and at first could only really score by beating my defender down the floor, I've always liked guys that run hard down the floor. I'm probably one the people that enjoyed Tyler Zeller's Celtics tenure the most.


I missed Begarin's last game (which was pretty rough by all accounts) but I'll try to post update from his games when my schedule allows. Anyway tonight's game was a french cup match up with Roanne who is 3-5 in Pro A this season and not a great team by any stretch of the imagination.

Begarin came in with 3:55 left in the first quarter and I don't think he came out until the half which is kind of an odd rotation pattern. Not much to say defensively as Roanne never really tested him and instead tried to attack other guys. He did a good job of boxing out though his teammates really let him down by not cleaning up the glass initially (this got better as the game went on). He had a smart cut to give an outlet to O'Quinn that had picked up his dribble but he blew the lay up. He had a nice contest on a Roanne fastbreak to force a miss. On the last possession of the quarter, he worked a sideline pick and roll with Sleva. He drove by his man, drew a second defender and threw the ball over the top of the defense to hit the roll man for the lay up (and one).

In the second quarter, the first possession where he was actively involved he picked up a loose ball, ran the floor hard and found a teammate for an wide open three. He completely blew a pick and roll and roll coverage when he switched onto the ball handler but his teammate didn't switch and they were fortunate the other team turned the ball on an unforced error. Let his guy beat him back door but Kamagate cleaned up the mess with a good block. He had another opportunity in transition where he found a shooter wide open for three but the guy just missed. His best possession of the game came with 2:40 left in the second quarter. I mean this:

turned into this coast to coast dunk in about 5 seconds:

Closed the half with an easy alley oop dunk in transition.

Came in with 4:30 left in the third. His first big play came when somebody finally tried to iso him. He completely swallowed up the Roanne guard, kept the block inbound raced down the floor and had a nice crosscourt assist to the team's best shooter for an open three. Also had a really nifty assist when he was squaring up to take an open three and he saw two guys close out to him (leaving Kamagate with a free roll to the basket) so in mid air he threw the ball to the Kamagate for the dunk (and one). He had a nice backdoor cut but he fumbled the pass and that let the defense recover. Not a fan of his decision to try to muscle the ball up through two defenders anyway and he got blocked.Missed a long pull up three with the shotclock winding down (not cool from his teammate to hold on the ball for ten seconds before throwing Begarin the ball 30 feet from the hoop with 5 seconds left on the shotclock).

Started the 4th by trying to post up the point guard for Roanne, got by him fairly easily with a spin move but left his feet and turned the ball over because he had nobody to pass the ball after the big rotated over to prevent Begarin's layup. He was probably pushed in the back on that play but regardless the decision making was not sound. He then missed a contested three and a layup but at least he managed to get a step on his man and get all the way to the rim with no screen which was a pretty athletic play. He had an easy steal (the guard on the other team basically threw that pass to Begarin no idea what happened there) and he finished with a loud dunk on the other end to push the lead back to 8 with 3 minutes remaining. Nice activity and closeout on the following possession to force the 24 second violation. Roanne basically unraveled after that (something that we are too familiar with as Celtics fans). On the last offensive possession of the game, Begarin had a putback wiped off the board because of a goaltend on his teammate's initial attempt but still it's nice to see the activity stay high after he played basically 15 straight minutes especially considering the game was already decided.

TL;DR: Begarin remains a fairly small part of the halfcourt offense, mainly limited to spot up threes or desperation shots with the shotclock winding down. Very solid decision making/finishing in transition and a couple of athletic plays. He had a couple of nifty assists too. Defensively, a couple of lapses in concentration off ball but very solid on ball to the point that Roanne really didn't even bother to test him that much (though considering how it went the one time they did iso him I don't blame them).

The boxscore : https://coupedefrance.ffbb.com/match/680960-paris-roanne

[Half-Full]

Paris Basket on a 3-game streak. Juhaan playing well.

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[Kalela]

His defensive instincts are elite. Marcus Smart like. How weak/strong is this league he plays in?

[Half-Full]

His defensive instincts are elite. Marcus Smart like. How weak/strong is this league he plays in?

The league he plays in is the top league in France. The better teams in the league are among the top teams in Europe (two of the teams are ranked in the top 20 European teams).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_professional_basketball_club_rankings

[Theocy]

His defensive instincts are elite. Marcus Smart like. How weak/strong is this league he plays in?

The league he plays in is the top league in France. The better teams in the league are among the top teams in Europe (two of the teams are ranked in the top 20 European teams).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_professional_basketball_club_rankings

The league is very very bad.
Still he shows flashes of a good player in the making. Really promising this lad.

[Half-Full]

His defensive instincts are elite. Marcus Smart like. How weak/strong is this league he plays in?

The league he plays in is the top league in France. The better teams in the league are among the top teams in Europe (two of the teams are ranked in the top 20 European teams).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_professional_basketball_club_rankings

The league is very very bad.
Still he shows flashes of a good player in the making. Really promising this lad.

That's a very, very harsh take. Top level European teams are second only to the NBA. We're not talking about the Chinese league.

[Hal14]

The league he plays in is the top league in France. The better teams in the league are among the top teams in Europe (two of the teams are ranked in the top 20 European teams).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_professional_basketball_club_rankings

The league is very very bad.
Still he shows flashes of a good player in the making. Really promising this lad.

That's a very, very harsh take. Top level European teams are second only to the NBA. We're not talking about the Chinese league.

Yeah not sure what the "league is very, very bad" take is based on. It's the league that Victor Wembanyama is playing in - the guy who is already being projected as the no. 1 pick in the 2023 draft - some are saying he's the best NBA prospect in the past decade. I don't think he would be playing in a "very, very bad league" in his preparation for being the no. 1 pick..

[Theocy]

The league he plays in is the top league in France. The better teams in the league are among the top teams in Europe (two of the teams are ranked in the top 20 European teams).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_professional_basketball_club_rankings

The league is very very bad.
Still he shows flashes of a good player in the making. Really promising this lad.

That's a very, very harsh take. Top level European teams are second only to the NBA. We're not talking about the Chinese league.

It looks like i trashed the whole league. That wasnt the intention. In the 50 year history of euroleague there has been a single winner from france - limoz, 20 years ago. The pst 5 years they had 1 represrntative in euroleague. And that team was generally eliminate in reg season.

This year they hve 2 and they started well. That’s not to say there’s no talent in ftance. The national team has presented some good solid teams in competitions. The overall level is still low. Most ‘wonderkids’ move out quickly - to russia, turkey, spain or greece (even though greek teams suffer from financial austerity’s this past 3 years).

It’s a lower level league.

[Smart2Nesmith43]

His defensive instincts are elite. Marcus Smart like. How weak/strong is this league he plays in?

Begarin is strong, long, with quick hands and he competes so despite the odd missed rotation and the frequent overhelping on drives he should at least be solid on that end in the NBA. But still I'm not comfortable comparing a 19 year old that's never played in the NBA to a perennial All Defensive team candidate like Smart. Marcus is better at getting around screens and diving at loose balls six feet away plus he shows great anticipation once or twice a game to blow up a possession on his own whereas Begarin does a great job of mucking up possessions and coming up with the ball once everybody's done his job, the shotclock is low and the offense is running out of ideas. It's not that what Begarin does is useless I just think it's less impactful.

Regardless, that's not really what's going to decide if he sticks in the league. It's going to come down to whether or not he can hit his catch and shoot threes and if he can clean up his turnover issues. If he can do that and tighten up his handle a little bit then you have an interesting NBA player.
On that front, he's 6/17 from three this year (36%), the stroke looks smooth so there's hope even if his free throw percentage is much lower than you'd like to see from a perimeter player. It's worth noting that his field goal percentage, his three point field goal percentage and his free throw percentage have all gone up every single year of his career regardless of whether or not he was stepping up to a higher level league.
Some of his turnovers can be a bit baffling in the how the hell did he thought he had room to squeeze the pass in there category but at least that signals he's a willing passer and presumably that can be fixed with more experience. I wonder if there is a tendency to do too much because he rarely gets the ball in the halfcourt so he wants to make plays whenever he gets the ball. It might not be a coincidence that his highest turnover game was the game where he was the least involved (lowest field goal attempts of the season).
Not much to say on his handles, he just doesn't get enough on ball reps. He can create plenty of separation with his crossover into a pull up though.

It looks like i trashed the whole league. That wasnt the intention. In the 50 year history of euroleague there has been a single winner from france - limoz, 20 years ago. The pst 5 years they had 1 represrntative in euroleague. And that team was generally eliminate in reg season.

This year they hve 2 and they started well. That’s not to say there’s no talent in ftance. The national team has presented some good solid teams in competitions. The overall level is still low. Most ‘wonderkids’ move out quickly - to russia, turkey, spain or greece (even though greek teams suffer from financial austerity’s this past 3 years).

It’s a lower level league.

The league isn't amazing but it's better than what Madar faced last year for instance and it's always useful to remember that those guys are legit pros that would wipe the floor against every college team. The french league is also getting better every year. As for the notion that the top prospects leave the french league to play elsewhere in Europe that's just not really accurate. They usually stay in France until they move to the NBA. Killian Hayes is an exception (and that was more because he was butting heads with his club management in France than structural issues with the league) and he left for the German league which is probably worse. The top teams are not the best in Europe (although Tony Parker is doing a great job developing ASVEL and closing the gap) so that skews perceptions negatively but the league is also pretty deep. You have to bring it every game.

More importantly Pro A does a pretty decent job of preparing players for the NBA (see Fournier, Gobert, Capela, etc.) even if it's not immune to busts.

[Dogen]

The league is very very bad.
Still he shows flashes of a good player in the making. Really promising this lad.

That's a very, very harsh take. Top level European teams are second only to the NBA. We're not talking about the Chinese league.

Yeah not sure what the "league is very, very bad" take is based on. It's the league that Victor Wembanyama is playing in - the guy who is already being projected as the no. 1 pick in the 2023 draft - some are saying he's the best NBA prospect in the past decade. I don't think he would be playing in a "very, very bad league" in his preparation for being the no. 1 pick..

I don't know about Wembanyama being a once-a-decade talent, but (random OT comment incoming!) when the league needs a tie-breaker to determine playoff seeding, I would dearly like to see it settled via an arm wrestling contest between Wembanyama and Bol Bol.

Outside of course. And with pets.

[Shak_Celts]

Paris Basket on a 3-game streak. Juhaan playing well.

Watch on YouTube

I have to remind myself every video that Juhann isn't #0 LOL. I know it and still, my eyes follow him. He's 23, he's 23, HE IS 23!!!!

[Half-Full]

Paris Basket on a 3-game streak. Juhaan playing well.

Watch on YouTube

I have to remind myself every video that Juhann isn't #0 LOL. I know it and still, my eyes follow him. He's 23, he's 23, HE IS 23!!!!

I had the same problem.

[djFan71]

Paris Basket on a 3-game streak. Juhaan playing well.

Watch on YouTube

I have to remind myself every video that Juhann isn't #0 LOL. I know it and still, my eyes follow him. He's 23, he's 23, HE IS 23!!!!

I had the same problem.

Same, lol.

[Hal14]

I have to remind myself every video that Juhann isn't #0 LOL. I know it and still, my eyes follow him. He's 23, he's 23, HE IS 23!!!!

I had the same problem.

Same, lol.

Same! They do look very similar. Begarin is just a slightly taller, more jacked version of his teammate who runs the point. Both apparently see the same hair stylist and are possibly brothers.

[Smart2Nesmith43]

Same! They do look very similar. Begarin is just a slightly taller, more jacked version of his teammate who runs the point. Both apparently see the same hair stylist and are possibly brothers.

The funny thing is that Begarin actually has a brother that plays in the same league but they look nothing alike (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie_Begarin). That's probably not too surprising though considering there is a 14 year age difference.

[Hal14]

Same! They do look very similar. Begarin is just a slightly taller, more jacked version of his teammate who runs the point. Both apparently see the same hair stylist and are possibly brothers.

The funny thing is that Begarin actually has a brother that plays in the same league but they look nothing alike (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie_Begarin). That's probably not too surprising though considering there is a 14 year age difference.

info like this, you'll only find on RealGM

For real though, his brother does kind of look like him, in the face - just obviously very different hair styles haha.

[Shak_Celts]

Same! They do look very similar. Begarin is just a slightly taller, more jacked version of his teammate who runs the point. Both apparently see the same hair stylist and are possibly brothers.

The funny thing is that Begarin actually has a brother that plays in the same league but they look nothing alike (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie_Begarin). That's probably not too surprising though considering there is a 14 year age difference.

info like this, you'll only find on RealGM

For real though, his brother does kind of look like him, in the face - just obviously very different hair styles haha.

Yeah they look like bros to me. The hair difference throws it off.

[Smart2Nesmith43]

No games this week for Begarin as the league is on break during the Fiba European Championship qualifiers but still some good news as he was invited to the All Star game as a reserve for the french team (it's a France vs World format). His team will be coached by Vincent Collet who has been the head coach of the french national team for more than a decade. Hopefully Begarin can impress him first hand and earn a call up to the next rounds of qualifiers for France.