2013 FIBA U19 World Championship: June 27-July 7

[Maniak]

The most exciting thing on June 27th might not even be the NBA draft, as the FIBA U19 World Championships will begin in Prague, Czech Republic.

Official Prague 2013 FIBA Website (http://www.prague2013.fiba.com/)

Wikipedia Page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_FIBA_Under-19_World_Championship)

Team USA will tip off at 2:15pm EDT against the Ivory Coast.

I will try to keep this thread updated with stream links and what-not, and I hope lots of people will enjoy some Post-NBA basketball (if the WNBA doesn't cut it for you).

Notes:

- #1 Prospect Andrew Wiggins of Canada opted out of Canada's team, favoring practicing for his 2013-14 campaign with the Kansas Jayhawks. Many eyes will adjust to Wiggins friend Xavier Rathan Mayes, the 6'4 guard who will be playing for FSU this coming NCAA season.

- Korea center Jong-Hyun Lee was the team's biggest star at last summer's U18 Asian tournament, where he averaged 18.9 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.4 blocks and 1.9 assists.

- Croatia has Dario Saric

- Iran will be competing with players such as Rasoul MOZAFARIVANANI and Hamed BEIGIARBATSOFLA.

- Lots of people were impressed by Aussie prospect Dante Exum at the Nike Hoops Summit. He will be participating.

- No Chinese player has a last name exceeding 4 letters.

- Team USA has Marcus Smart (returning to Oklahoma St. next year), Aaron Gordon (top prospect who will play for Arizona), and Jahlil Okafor (5 star center prospect) among others.

[qrich]

No Aaron Holiday or Marcus LoVett Junior. Couldn't careless :rockon:

[Twiens]

Trey Lyles is Canada's best player, probably a lottery pick in two years. Mayes is more like 4th/5th best on the team, just got hyped because he was Wiggins teammate.

[Maniak]

I see.

[andremiller07]

and Jahlil Okafor (5 star center prospect) among others.

Is that Emeka's brother?

[Maniak]

distant cousin i think?

[JD_TO]

Trey Lyles is Canada's best player, probably a lottery pick in two years. Mayes is more like 4th/5th best on the team, just got hyped because he was Wiggins teammate.
Keep an eye out for Duane Notice as well. We still have a pretty strong team without Andrew.

[Fiba basketball]

Pay attention at Vasilije Micic ( ranked 4th on draftexpress international 94 ) from Serbia he had some great games agianst Partizan and Red Star ( both teams will play in Euroleague next season ) and he got invited to Serbian senior NT .

Also Nikola Milutinov and Djoko Salic ( he is youngest player on the team , born in 1995 but he is strong enough to play senior basketball ) are one of the most talented Cs in Europe . Milutinov is a good shooter and he has nice footwork but he needs to get stronger while Salic is a Pekovic type player .

[Maniak]

Games tip off tomorrow! Really early in the morning, of course.

[Fallen Angel]

So you're going to watch this shitty-ass tournament but you don't even bother watching NBA games?

Suck a bag of ***** ****ing **** face.

[Maniak]

^ this guy.

[Maniak]

Good morning! Just got up about a half hour ago. Let's give this thread some updates.

Group A Spain beat Canada 81-70 and Croatia beat Korea 106-89 (Saric went 32/12/12)

Group C Australia beat Senegal 90-46 and Serbia beat Brazil 65-50.

[Fiba basketball]

For some reason stream for Serbia Brazil didn't work, I hope they fix it.

Anyway Serbia had a lot of problems off the court, they travelled 15h, their luggage got lost and they only had one practice before the game so they should play better in next games.

[Maniak]

China beat Russia 61-59
Lithuania beat Czech Republic 77-74
Iran beat Argentina 84-73
Cote d'Ivore beat USA 88-29...maybe the other way around.

[KG215]

Cote d'Ivore beat USA 88-29...maybe the other way around.
Ummm...serious or a joke? I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's the other way around. There's no way in hell the Ivory Coast beat team USA by 60 points.

[Maniak]

Ummm...serious or a joke? I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's the other way around. There's no way in hell the Ivory Coast beat team USA by 60 points.
;)

[Twiens]

Iran over Argentina :coleman:

[Sakkreth]

Well how hard to check yourselves, yeah usa won that game lol.
http://www.prague2013.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/13/fu19m/p/schedule.html

Australia beat Senegal 90-46, ughh those poor african teams.

[Sakkreth]

Btw Saric with LeBron kind of numbers 32/12/12, Kang from south Korea answered with 35points.

[Maniak]

Brazil def. Senegal 72-56
Croatia def. Canada 79-66
Spain def. Korea 104-70
Serbia def. Australia 78-57

I haven't been able to find any streams for this that aren't paid, sadly.

[Maniak]

Argentina def. Czech Republic 76-55
Russia def. Ivory Coast 78-43
Lithuania def. Iran 81-40
USA def. China 113-57
Spain def. Croatia 86-76
Australia def. Brazil 73-45
Canada def. Korea 93-75 (:rockon: )
Serbia def. Senegal 80-49

Group A Spain and Croatia have qualified, it's down to Canada and Korea to see who moves on.

Group B Lithuania has qualified, Czech republic must beat Iran to have any semblance of hope to move on.

Group C Australia, Serbia, and Brazil move on while Senegal is done.

Group D the USA has advanced, with Russia and China probably soon to follow unless Ivory Coast pulls something crazy.

[KG215]

So who's supposed to be the favorite?

[duskovujosevic]

Usa
Serbia
Spain
Croatia

It is almost impossible to find free stream

[Maniak]

China def. Ivory Coast 81-48
Czech Republic def. Iran 60-50
Lithuania def. Argentina 76-66
USA def. Russia 115-47

Initial group play is done, let's now look at the Main Round.

Group E features

http://gyazo.com/08c8097cdc77dc7604819893bb7f2abe.png

Group F features

http://gyazo.com/f39f7e6a69c583209650183bd76df0e6.png

The Classification Round for 13-16th place features

http://gyazo.com/05196bce5271d081107c0bb86aaea828.png

[Sakkreth]

Usa
Serbia
Spain
Croatia

It is almost impossible to find free stream

Yup Lithuania is never favorite, never. You just can't name a small country favorites, but again and again we prove the world to be wrong, it's like a tradition at this point :pimp:

[duskovujosevic]

i dont give a damn about litva.

[Sakkreth]

i dont give a damn about litva.

It's ok we gonna keep owning Serbia as always, I know u mad.

[Fiba basketball]

Yup Lithuania is never favorite, never. You just can't name a small country favorites, but again and again we prove the world to be wrong, it's like a tradition at this point :pimp:

What are you talking about Lithuania is always considered one of the favorites.

Are there any players from your nt in this turnament that will be good enough for EL ? How are players that won gold last year in u20 doing ? They played good as a team but no one look like talented enough to player at higher lvl.

[fsvr54]

China def. Ivory Coast 81-48
Czech Republic def. Iran 60-50
Lithuania def. Argentina 76-66
USA def. Russia 115-47



God damn lol

[Borat_Sagdyev]

What are you talking about Lithuania is always considered one of the favorites.

Are there any players from your nt in this turnament that will be good enough for EL ? How are players that won gold last year in u20 doing ? They played good as a team but no one look like talented enough to player at higher lvl.

Grigonis and Dimsa will be good enough for NBA ;)

[alenleomessi]

so the only known player in this tournament is the guy who looks like blake griffin... gordon was his name i think had lots of views on youtube dunking...

what are his stats so far?

[JimmyMcAdocious]

What?

Okafor is the #1 player in 2014. Marcus Smart will be a high lottery pick whenever he leaves and is the pre-season frontrunner for the Naismith next season. Stokes, Harrell, and Sulaimon are all likely all conference players. Winslow is top 15, arguably top 10, in 2014. Williams-Goss was top 20 in the 2013 class.

All of the guys I mentioned have a real good possibility of being first round picks when they leave.

[Sakkreth]

so the only known player in this tournament is the guy who looks like blake griffin... gordon was his name i think had lots of views on youtube dunking...

what are his stats so far?

Lol. What about Dario Saric ?

[duskovujosevic]

Dario Saric who acts like Kobe Bryant, jackin up shots. In last game against Spain he had 10 TO :applause: :applause:

against Argentina 8 TO :applause: :applause:

[Grinder]

USA just beat Australia by 43 points. We'll play the other undefeated team in our group, Serbia, next.

Croatia scraped out a 1 point win against Lithuania.

US average margin of victory through 5 games is 50.2 points. :lol

[Grinder]

Dante Exum has singlehandedly carried Australia to an upset over Spain with 33 points. Spain almost came back but settled for too many 3s. If they could have knocked down a few shots, they probably would have won...you could see Australia was having a ton of trouble closing it out. Exum is a special talent; he really impressed me at the Nike Hoops Summit as well. He could very well be a top 5 pick.

The red headed kid, Alberto Diaz, from Spain was impressive. He played with a lot of tenacity, has a quick first step, and looks like a good defender. I checked his stats and he had hardly played before this game. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

http://prague2013.fiba.com/images/web/Events/13/FU19M/headshots/ESP/_215/Small_10.AlbertoDIAZ_Spain_.JPG

[Twiens]

anywhere I can find a link for Canada/USA

[duskovujosevic]

Whole Croatia team play like NBA teams. The tactics consist of following: Give ball to Saric and move to corner. The result is 30 points, below 40% FG, tons of TO's. Sacrifice whole team just to jack Dario's statistics up. Inteligent...

[Baliod]

vipbox.tv usually works, but I'd advise running some form of ad blocking if you use it

[Twiens]

vipbox.tv usually works, but I'd advise running some form of ad blocking if you use it

Yea thanks, I found a link on firstrowsports. No Trey Lyles though, so no chance for Canada.

[jamal99]

We beat Croatia, as usual :D
Off to the semis...

[chips93]

draftexpress have moved dante exum into the 3rd pick in their (admittedly premature) 2014 mock draft.

[IGotACoolStory]

draftexpress have moved dante exum into the 3rd pick in their (admittedly premature) 2014 mock draft.

I can't believe Roy isn't recruiting Exum. Both of his parents are UNC grads. His dad played for Coach Smith... And he fills a need. Something doesn't add up and I need an explanation for closure. He's way too good and on a silver platter to not be recruited.

[IGOTGAME]

draftexpress have moved dante exum into the 3rd pick in their (admittedly premature) 2014 mock draft.
They seem to be disrespecting Jabari Parker.

[alenleomessi]

so this kid mario hazonja is considered a better prospect according to draft express... why isnt he playing at the tournament?


edit: lol he played in the 2011 u19 champ. when he was barely 15 lol

[rwfletch22]

Rasheed Sulaimon has potential to be a good pro, he's the "go to" playmaker on this squad...

[Grinder]

Whole Croatia team play like NBA teams. The tactics consist of following: Give ball to Saric and move to corner. The result is 30 points, below 40% FG, tons of TO's. Sacrifice whole team just to jack Dario's statistics up. Inteligent...

The funny thing is both teams were on a similar level talent wise but their gameplan were so stark in contrast. Croatia pretty much gave Saric free will like he was Lebron while Serbia actually penetrated and moved the ball around.


We beat Croatia, as usual :D
Off to the semis...


I really like Micic's game. He's got great handles, court vision, and makes excellent decisions with the ball. He's not the most athletic but has no problems getting by his man and into the lane because he's so shifty that it keeps his opponents off balance. Jankovic looks like a nice face up 4 man in the future and that kid Andric can really shoot.




USA dominated Canada. Marcus Smart has Wade-like body control and strength going to the basket. Okafor, Stokes, and Harrell are too physically dominant for the other big men in this tournament. Aaron Gordon has freakish athleticism...

[CeltsGarlic]

m.smart impressed me. really. Seems like a prospect.

[Grinder]

so this kid mario hazonja is considered a better prospect according to draft express... why isnt he playing at the tournament?


edit: lol he played in the 2011 u19 champ. when he was barely 15 lol

Saric is more talented but it looks like he has a poor attitude and he hasn't performed well professionally. Hezonja is developing nicely at Barcelona and will probably be a first round pick next year.

[Shade8780]

I can't believe Roy isn't recruiting Exum. Both of his parents are UNC grads. His dad played for Coach Smith... And he fills a need. Something doesn't add up and I need an explanation for closure. He's way too good and on a silver platter to not be recruited.
I would be so happy if he came to UNC :D

[Shade8780]

Any link for the Australia-Croatia game? No link on FirstRow.

[Shade8780]

http://lsh.streamhunter.eu/static/popups/158056874343750.html

[Shade8780]

After 1st half of this game, Micic > Exum

[jamal99]

After 1st half of this game, Micic > Exum
Micic is really good but he can play too much hero ball sometimes.

And it's Serbia, not Croatia :D

[Shade8780]

Micic is really good but he can play too much hero ball sometimes.

And it's Serbia, not Croatia :D
Brainfart by me when I posted Croatia :lol :facepalm

Oh damn, nice move by Exum!

[IGOTGAME]

This guy Exum is a big time talent. Next years draft will be interesting. I kind of hope Kobe takes next year off by I'd love la to get one of these guys.

[jamal99]

Jankovic was awesome, won this game for us.

Final vs USA will be interesting.

[Fiba basketball]

I really like Micic's game. He's got great handles, court vision, and makes excellent decisions with the ball. He's not the most athletic but has no problems getting by his man and into the lane because he's so shifty that it keeps his opponents off balance. Jankovic looks like a nice face up 4 man in the future and that kid Andric can really shoot.


I think Jankovic is a more back to basket than face up player, I have high hopes from him. Andric played some minutes in Serbian league for Partizan and now with Lucic gone and Bertans injured for half a season he might get some minutes in EL.

[Twiens]

Tyler Ennis 42/8/5

[Grinder]

I think Jankovic is a more back to basket than face up player, I have high hopes from him. Andric played some minutes in Serbian league for Partizan and now with Lucic gone and Bertans injured for half a season he might get some minutes in EL.

He has a nice looking shot but it looks like he's strictly a spot up shooter at this point. Is that how he plays in the league too?



Justice Winslow isn't even a senior in high school yet. He's been one of the best wing players in the tournament.

USA's athleticism is overwhelming Lithuania right now.

[duskovujosevic]

ingenious plays by micic, will his creativity be enough to be selected in first round? i dont think so. lack of athleticism and lateral quickness seems too much for some serious role in the NBA. Euroleague would be perfect fit.

[Grinder]

ingenious plays by micic, will his creativity be enough to be selected in first round? i dont think so. lack of athleticism and lateral quickness seems too much for some serious role in the NBA. Euroleague would be perfect fit.

The only issue I see is that it might make him a liability on defense. Despite his lack of explosion, he was getting to his spots on the floor by keeping his opponents off balance thanks to his tight handle and shiftiness with the ball. There's definitely a place for him in the NBA if he can show that he's an OK defender.

[IGOTGAME]

The only issue I see is that it might make him a liability on defense. Despite his lack of explosion, he was getting to his spots on the floor by keeping his opponents off balance thanks to his tight handle and shiftiness with the ball. There's definitely a place for him in the NBA if he can show that he's an OK defender.
Def not an elite prospect from the very little I've seen. What I saw today was pick and rolls against a very bad team defense who was overmatched down low. He may turn out to be an NBA player but he didn't seem to prove he belongs in the lottery like Exum.

[madmax]

this current lithuanian team is like few levels below our golden generation from two years ago...nobody capable of beating USA guards trapping the ballhandler, which of course results in a chaos on every single offensive possession:facepalm Only Grigonis and Dimsa seem like OK prospects in a context of things. Still, we should beat aussies for the 3rd spot I guess

[GOBB]

Are the games over? Missed some action. I want to see some international talent.

[GOBB]

Exum is young, I cant see him declaring for the draft next year. Listening to his interview he seems like he wants to go to college?

[IGOTGAME]

Are the games over? Missed some action. I want to see some international talent.
The USA game is still going on. The other game is over. However, there are replays on ESPN3.

[Euroleague]

ingenious plays by micic, will his creativity be enough to be selected in first round? i dont think so. lack of athleticism and lateral quickness seemstoo much for some serious role in the NBA. Euroleague would be perfect fit.

That's an odd comment to make, considering lack of lateral speed hurts a player more in Euroleague than it does in the NBA, ESPECIALLY for point guards.

[gabepizza]

That's an odd comment to make, considering lack of lateral speed hurts a player more in Euroleague than it does in the NBA, ESPECIALLY for point guards.



No he means in Euroleague slow, unathletic guards like Spanoulis can be successful while in the NBA they would be eaten alive, like what happened to Spanoulis and Jasikevius. They were just embarrassed in the NBA. Looked like little boys playing against grown mean.

:oldlol: :oldlol: :lol

[Fiba basketball]

Great game so far

[Grinder]

USA wins the title over Serbia 80-64. Serbia was clearly the 2nd best team in this tournament, they were the only ones who were able to handle the US press. Harrell, Stokes, and Gordon's athleticism and energy down low was one of the US' biggest strengths in this tournament. There's a lot of future first round picks on this team. Serbia was the only team to get within 25 points of the USA in this tournament, losing by 9 the first time and 14 today.

Montrezl Harrell was the leading scorer with 17 points. He was a role player for Louisville last year, but he'll have a chance to lead them this year.

All tournament team:
Micic
Exum
Saric
Gordon
Okafor

Aaron Gordon was named MVP.

[duskovujosevic]

we played even game for 32 minutes. Than some bad calls by reeferes and lack of concetration in transition decided game. Well deserved win. In 5 years time, we will witness plays of future NBA stars in team USA. While on the other hand Serbia's players will struggle in some minor leagues in Ukraine, Poland, except maybe Micic and Milutinov.

[Euroleague]

No he means in Euroleague slow, unathletic guards like Spanoulis can be successful while in the NBA they would be eaten alive, like what happened to Spanoulis and Jasikevius. They were just embarrassed in the NBA. Looked like little boys playing against grown mean.

:oldlol: :oldlol: :lol

If that is what he means, then he is retarded, just like you.

Defense in NBA at point guard position is non existent, and no team, manager, coach cares one iota if their point guards can guard anyone in NBA.

As for Jasikevicius, he has always been the worst defender at point guard position in Europe, until Bobby Brown and Jordan Farmar replaced him as worst defenders than him.

All three were rotation players in the NBA.

And Jose Calderon is way worse on defense than Jasikevicius is anyway, and he's been starting in the NBA for years and years now.

And Spanoulis is light years a better defender than Nash..........who was 2 time NBA MVP. Spanoulis is every bit as quick and fast and athletic as Tony Parker, plus he is quicker laterally than Parker and better on defense than Parker, the so-called one of the two best NBA point guards.

NBA scouts call Nedovic, "an elite athlete" and he was one of the slower point guards in Euroleague. Ty Lawson has been called "fastest point guard in NBA" and he could not even get into the lane in Euroleague.

In other words, you are so crazy that you should be locked up in a padded cell.

No one in NBA is even asked to play defense at the point guard position.

[gabepizza]

If that is what he means, then he is retarded, just like you.

Defense in NBA at point guard position is non existent, and no team, manager, coach cares one iota if their point guards can guard anyone in NBA.

As for Jasikevicius, he has always been the worst defender at point guard position in Europe, until Bobby Brown and Jordan Farmar replaced him as worst defenders than him.

All three were rotation players in the NBA.

And Jose Calderon is way worse on defense than Jasikevicius is anyway, and he's been starting in the NBA for years and years now.

And Spanoulis is light years a better defender than Nash..........who was 2 time NBA MVP. Spanoulis is every bit as quick and fast and athletic as Tony Parker, plus he is quicker laterally than Parker and better on defense than Parker, the so-called one of the two best NBA point guards.

NBA scouts call Nedovic, "an elite athlete" and he was one of the slower point guards in Euroleague. Ty Lawson has been called "fastest point guard in NBA" and he could not even get into the lane in Euroleague.

In other words, you are so crazy that you should be locked up in a padded cell.

No one in NBA is even asked to play defense at the point guard position.

:roll: :roll: :roll:

Spanoulis was an absolute joke in the NBA. In the NBA there is no zone defense to protect slow and unathletic players like Spanoulis so coaches cannot put them on the flow. I watched Spanoulis in the NBA. Everytime he was on defense NBA guards would just blow past him like he was stuck in mud. There was a reason he averaged 2.7 ppg in the NBA. Everytime he went up for a shot he got it sent back in his face. Watching Spaoulis in the NBA was was like watching a little boy play against men. He was out of his league and embarrassed. It was really sad. I felt bad for him. There is a reason he went back to Europe with his tail between his legs, totally exposed as a slow, unathletic scrub.

There is a reason why he couldn't even beat a Nigerian team that lost to the US by 87 points. The Nigerian team had decent athletes but they looked like world beaters playing against slow, unathletic scrubs like Spanoulis and Bourousis. Swooping in for put back dunks, driving to the hoop at will. Once Nigerian tried that against NBA level athletes they couldn't keep up and lost by 87 points. Spanoulis and Borusous, while decent players in Europe, are way too slow and unathletic to compete against NBA level athletes as we all saw in 2007.

[Maniak]

shut the **** up. go take this in the hundreds of other threads about euroleague/nba.

[IGOTGAME]

Euroleague what is your opinion on Dante Exum?

[GOBB]

Euroleague what is your opinion on Dante Exum?

Who?

[chips93]

Who?

the big athletic aussie guard

you posted about him on the last page.

[Fiba basketball]

we played even game for 32 minutes. Than some bad calls by reeferes and lack of concetration in transition decided game. Well deserved win. In 5 years time, we will witness plays of future NBA stars in team USA. While on the other hand Serbia's players will struggle in some minor leagues in Ukraine, Poland, except maybe Micic and Milutinov.
Jokic and Salic are one year younger than otheres on the team, I could see them becoming good EL players. Micic is already good enough for EL, Jankovic could become a role player on some EL teams and Milutinov only needs to get stronger to be one of better Cs in EL. Pot and Novak will be good enough for Adriatic league but I don't see them doing something more. So from this generation we have one player who is for sure good enough for NT and if we are lucky we might get 4 more ( Milutinov, Salic, Jokic, Jankovic ), not bad at all.

[Fiba basketball]

I don't get why is Gordon considered to be that talented, he can't do anything except dunk. He is the same as his older brothere Drew ( when Aaron got blocked 2 or 3 times in just 7 seconds I got a flashback of last season and thing his brother did ) just a litlle more bigger but both of them can't shoot ( well Drew has a nice midrange jumper ), play with lot of energy but have low basketball IQ. Also I can't belive Smart is projected to be 5th pick from what I saw Micic is better than him. Only players from USA that I was impressed by were Cs and that guard Payton. From othere countries I real liked Exum, he'll be a great player but he should improve his defence.

[IGOTGAME]

I don't get why is Gordon considered to be that talented, he can't do anything except dunk. He is the same as his older brothere Drew ( when Aaron got blocked 2 or 3 times in just 7 seconds I got a flashback of last season and thing his brother did ) just a litlle more bigger but both of them can't shoot ( well Drew has a nice midrange jumper ), play with lot of energy but have low basketball IQ. Also I can't belive he is projected to be 5th pick from what I saw Micic is better than him. Only players from USA that I was impressed by were Cs and that guard Payton. From othere countries I real liked Exum, he'll be a great player but he should improve his defence.

I couldn't watch the ugly USA basketball. I agree with you Gordon but he is really athletic and coordinated and that is a talent. The top US talent(Parker) just wasn't there.

[fandarko]

Jokic and Salic are one year younger than otheres on the team, I could see them becoming good EL players. Micic is already good enough for EL, Jankovic could become a role player on some EL teams and Milutinov only needs to get stronger to be one of better Cs in EL. Pot and Novak will be good enough for Adriatic league but I don't see them doing something more. So from this generation we have one player who is for sure good enough for NT and if we are lucky we might get 4 more ( Milutinov, Salic, Jokic, Jankovic ), not bad at all.
BTW we'have had talented generations before (Serbia), but somehow we can't seem to be able to have these kids make the transition to the next level.

We don't make guards anymore, just big men. The reason is simple: you need time to form a guard, you need someone to teach them the tricks of the trade, for teams in Serbia struggling with $$$$, it's a bad investment.

With the big guys, it's easy. You have plenty of 6-7 - 6-11 guys walking the streets and you teach them to bang and occasionally to shoot and after a while you sell them as stretch power forwards, end of story.

Micic is the first interesting guard since Teodosic. Both are not products of our system, which sucks, despite many people believing the contrary. Both are talented and creative, solid shooters with excellent size, IQ, court vision and handles, with Micic being more athletic and able to play some defense.

I hope Micic is our guard for the future, because our national team lacks severely at PG/SG. BTW the guy endured two serious knee injuries in the last 6 years, but still managed to come back strong. Respect!

[GOBB]

the big athletic aussie guard

you posted about him on the last page.

I was making a joke as that is the reply Euroleague would have made if he answered his post. He's not very informative on the international talent.

[Fiba basketball]

I couldn't watch the ugly USA basketball. I agree with you Gordon but he is really athletic and coordinated and that is a talent. The top US talent(Parker) just wasn't there.

Well is it enough for him to make a great career ?
Smart is athletic too but I didn't see anything else he can do good enough for NBA or better European leagues.

[Fiba basketball]

BTW we'have had talented generations before (Serbia), but somehow we can't seem to be able to have these kids make the transition to the next level.

We don't make guards anymore, just big men. The reason is simple: you need time to form a guard, you need someone to teach them the tricks of the trade, for teams in Serbia struggling with $$$$, it's a bad investment.

With the big guys, it's easy. You have plenty of 6-7 - 6-11 guys walking the streets and you teach them to bang and occasionally to shoot and after a while you sell them as stretch power forwards, end of story.

Micic is the first interesting guard since Teodosic. Both are not products of our system, which sucks, despite many people believing the contrary. Both are talented and creative, solid shooters with excellent size, IQ, court vision and handles, with Micic being more athletic and able to play some defense.

I hope Micic is our guard for the future, because our national team lacks severely at PG/SG. BTW the guy endured two serious knee injuries in the last 6 years, but still managed to come back strong. Respect!

Teodosic is great shooter while Micic is at best average but Micic has much better handles and can finish near the rim better than almost any our player at the moment. Micic is worse defender than Teodosic, you think that he isn't because instead of Spanoulis,Farmar,DD he guards Covic and other Serbian league guards.

I don't agree that our NT lacks PG/SG more than Cs. At pg we have Teodosic and Markovic which is great, we have problem at sg because Duda doesn't want to call Milosavljevic who is our best sg at the moment and because Bogdanovic still needs to improve. Our biggest problem is C where we have Krstic, Katic, Stimac, Musli, Gagic. When Krstic gets old we'll be left with Stimac, Musli and Gagic wich is terrible, that's why I hope that at least one of Milutinov, Salic and Ristic will become a great player.

[madmax]

is Micic gonna be invited into serbian NT camp by any chance? He seems mature and physically strong enough to be Teodosic backup at least

[duskovujosevic]

he is invited but wont make in final 12.

[Fiba basketball]

Micic can play sg too so there is a chance for him to be in final 12.