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2016 FIBA U18 European Championship Scouting Reports: Forwards

2016 FIBA U18 European Championship Scouting Reports: Forwards
Jan 02, 2017, 05:26 pm
Scouting reports on four of the top forward prospects seen at the 2016 FIBA U18 European Championship, including Sekou Doumbouya, Louis Olinde, Borisa Simanic and Sergi Martinez.

Sekou Doumbouya, 6'9", 15.9 years old, SF/PF, INSEP/Poitiers, France

Strengths:
-Physical specimen. Has a huge frame and super long arms. Big hands. Reportedly around 6'9 in shoes and 227 pounds
-Very good athlete. Quick off his feet. Shifty with his movement.
-Length and explosiveness allows him to finish impressively from extreme vantage points. Barely needs to jump to dunk
-Aggressive and instinctive scorer. Averaged 25 points per-40 at U18s, third best at the tournament, on solid efficiency (58% TS%)
-Extremely advanced for his age with his ability to create offense. Goes left and right with power. Shows advanced footwork. Gets to the basket off one powerful dribble and stride from the 3-point line.
-Can use crossovers to create space and get to the rim in a straight line off a change of speed
-Got to the free throw line 9.4 times per-40 at the U18s
-Can post up with good footwork. Not afraid to use his body in the post. Was able to overpower opponents over two years older than him at this tournament
-Length, instincts and quickness allows him to come up with rebounds, blocks and steals. Can defend when he wants to
-Will throw in an occasional spot-up 3-pointer that leads you to believe his jumper can be harnessed into a weapon in time. Made 73% of his free throws at the U18s. Can even make an off the dribble jumper occasionally

Weaknesses:
-Already physically mature. Not much room left there for growth. Hips are on the wider side. Will need to be careful with his frame as he has a body that can put on weight quickly it appears. Appeared to be in good, not great shape physically at U18s. Struggled towards the end of the tournament. Conditioning is a work in progress
-Not a great passer at this stage. Posted a 3/25 assist to turnover ratio at the U18s.
-Has great tools, but still figuring out how to maximize his defensive potential. Has poor fundamentals. Doesn't really sit down in a stance. Takes plays off at times
-Gets called for a lot of borderline travels, needs to clean up his footwork.
-Very streaky shooter at this point. Career 15/58 3-point shooter (26%) in 23 games. Doesn't shoot it the same way every time. Tends to shoot a crazy high arching moon-ball style jumper.

Outlook: Arguably the best long-term prospect seen at the tournament. Didn't turn 16 until a day after the Final. Born in Guinea in North Africa. Moved to France with his family when he was six years old. Went through a lengthy process to acquire his French passport, which delayed his appearance for the national team. Only acquired it weeks before the event tipped. Splitting time between the INSEP Academy and Poitiers in Pro B France. Already a tremendous talent, and has quite a bit he can still improve on in terms of his shooting, passing and defense to become an even more complete player.


Louis Olinde, 6'9", 18.7 years old, Small Forward, Bamberg, Germany

Strengths:
-Has great size for a small forward at 6'9 (possibly without shoes) with a 7'1 wingspan
-Fluid athlete
-Shows nice versatility in many different facets, on both ends of the floor
-Can get low with his dribble and attack the rim smoothly in a straight line. Has soft touch around the basket
-Can operate without the ball and make intelligent cuts to the rim for easy baskets
-Shows some ability to makes plays defensively using his mobility and length.
-Averaged 12 rebounds per-40 at the U18s, mostly playing on the perimeter
-Will throw in an occasional outside shot given time and space. Hit all three of his 3-point attempts at the U18s
-Still at a very early stage of his development physically and skill-wise. Has significant upside to continue to improve athletically as well as increase his polish

Weaknesses:
-More smooth than explosive. Very narrow and upright. Really struggles to play above the rim.
-How will his frame will out in the long term? Very frail in the lower body in particular, but also doesn't have very wide shoulders
-Has great height, but doesn't have the ability or mentality to use it at this stage, which somewhat negates his size advantage
-Fairly limited offensive player overall. Scored just 226 points in 975 minutes in 48 games in the DX database (9.2 points per-40).
-Not a great shooter at this stage. Has a slow, low and somewhat mechanical release on his jumper. Not the most fluid looking stroke around. Career 11/41 3P and 65% FT% in 48 games.
- Limited ball-handler. Strictly a straight-line driver. Can't really go anywhere with the ball when he needs to create space in the half-court. Struggles to handle ball-pressure at times.
-Doesn't show much explosiveness in traffic. Struggles to finish through contact. Doesn't draw many fouls
-Just an average defender. Gives up deep post position and gets scored on by smaller players. Can't avoid getting backed down by stronger players, making it difficult to utilize him in a stretch-4 capacity. Needs to get tougher on this end of the floor

Outlook: Son of ex-UCLA player Wilbert Olinde, who won a NCAA Championship under John Wooden and was a longtime pro in Germany. Started off the tournament very strong, but tallied off towards the end like the entire U18 German national team. Has some very promising tools and shows budding versatility in a few different areas, but is still at a very early stage of maturation. Already made his debut in First Division Germany with Bamberg, where he signed a long-term deal this past summer.


Borisa Simanic, 6'10", 18.7 years old, Power Forward, Red Star, Serbia

Strengths:
-Frame continues to fill out. Big shoulders and proportionate upper and lower body. Long arms
-Mobile enough to play the 3, but big enough to operate as a small-ball 4 theoretically.
-Good athlete. Explosive off one or two feet. Quick off his feet. Plays above the rim impressively
-Has good scoring instincts. 21.5 points per-40 at U18s. Can put the ball in the basket in a variety of ways
-Impressive shot-maker who can throw the ball in the basket off the bounce. Has made over 2 threes per-40 minutes for his career so far. Also career 77% FT%
-Playmaker defensively who shows the ability to block shots and get in the passing lanes using his quickness, length and timing
-Can create his own shot off the bounce far better than your average 6'10 player.
-Quick first step and can change gears powerfully driving left
-Can make an iso pull-up 3.

Weaknesses:
-Struggled to score efficiently at the U18s. Shot 45% for 2 and 27% for 3.
-Avoids contact like the plague. Settles for weak floaters from outside the paint instead of driving all the way to the basket and using his explosiveness to finish above the rim. Has never gotten to the free throw line at a high rate in his career
-Still a very streaky shooter. Has a big ball and wind-up on his spot-up jumper. Shoots it different every time. Sometimes guides it off his palm with excessive rotation.
-Much better shooter off the bounce than with his feet set, which is not ideal for a guy expected to be a floor spacer
-Feel for the game is questionable. Wants to go into iso mode every time he catches it. Takes a lot of tough shots.
-Struggles to see the floor and find the open man
-Somewhat of a tweener forward who lacks consistency defensively at either spot. Gets beat off the dribble far more than you'd hope. Doesn't close out on shooters with any urgency. Not strong or physical enough to avoid getting posted up inside the paint. Doesn't have a great mentality in terms of wanting to get stops
-Demonstrates poor body language when things don't go his way. Lacks mental toughness to fight through adversity.

Outlook: Already having seen some minutes in the Euroleague, a lot was expected from Simanic considering he's regarded as one of the biggest talents in the 1998 generation in Europe. Unfortunately he had a very disappointing tournament both individually and collectively, with his team finishing in 10th place, a historically bad result for Serbia. Simanic is still very much a tease, showing flashes of incredible upside at times, and making lottery pick caliber moves every so often. Unfortunately he mixes that in with quite a bit of underachieving and bad body language, something that has frustrated his coaches at every level he's played at since he emerged on the scene.


Sergi Martinez, 6'7", 17.5 years old, Power Forward ,Barcelona 2

Strengths:

-Solid frame
-Long arms.
-Fluid athlete. Has quick feet and a strong first step
-Likes to get out in transition, where he has very long strides
-Incisive attacking the rim in a straight line. Takes the ball strong into contact every time. Gets to the free throw line at a very good rate.
-Likes to operate with his back to the basket. Makes quick decisive moves. Does his work early flashing in for quick finishes. Likes to spin quickly out of the post to his right shoulder
-Active on the glass. Keeps balls alive with his instincts and length. Gravitates towards the ball.
-Gets in the passing lanes at a strong rate. 2.8 steals per-40 at the U18s. Career 2.7 steals per-40 with national team in 33 games
-Can make a spot 3. Stroke looks decent in warmups. Might have a chance to keep developing this part of his game.
-Can pass the ball really nicely when he wants to. Has some ability to find the open man. Not a clueless passer.
-Fairly competitive defensively. Makes an effort to slide his feet and stay in front. Has good fundamentals and timing. Doesn't get taken advantage of

Weaknesses:
-Plays mostly the 4 and the 5 at this level, despite only standing 6'7.
-Jumper has a long ways to go in game. Contorts his hips sideways and jumps way forward on his catch and shoot jumpers. Tons of side spin. Some bad airballs.
-Really struggles to make free throws, which isn't a good sign. Career 154/278 (55%) in 64 games in DX database
-Creates primarily for himself. Drives into brick walls at times.
-Somewhat of a tweener defensively. Too small to guard some 4s, especially in the post. Doesn't cover a ton of ground defensively.
-Not a high flyer. Fluid and mobile guy but not overly explosive. Struggles to finish around the basket against better competition. Career 46% 2P% in FIBA play.

Outlook: Martinez played up a year at this tournament, but was still the best player on a Spanish team that qualified for this summer's U19 World Championship by finishing in fifth place. Individually, Martinez finished 7th at the tournament in scoring and rebounding. There's a lot to like about what Martinez brings to the table in terms of his instincts, competitiveness and ability to take advantage of mismatches at this level, but there are also plenty of question marks about how his game might translate to the highest levels if he doesn't improve his perimeter shooting and possibly find a way to become more of a combo forward type as opposed to a straight 4-man (without an outside shot).

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