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Kosta Perovic NBA Draft Scouting Report

Kosta Perovic NBA Draft Scouting Report
Apr 24, 2005, 03:23 am
Strengths
Kosta Perovic is a semi-mobile center with great size and a soft touch around the basket.

Perovic possesses average athleticism, but runs the court well and has a decent vertical leap. He has a good wingspan which might allow him to become a shot-blocking threat in the future, although at this point he isn't much of one at all. His wingspan will help him defensively and on the glass, though, as well as giving him more options to finish around the basket.

Perovic has the potential to become a very good offensive center; he has very soft hands and is a good finisher around the basket. Right now many of his points come off of offensive rebounds, where he uses his size and long arms to grab rebounds over small opponents. His go-to-move is the hook shot and it's a pretty effective weapon. He can use it with either hand, and generally has no problem using his left around the basket, which speak volumes about his skill level. He has a decent post-up game, where he takes advantage of his size to release mainly those half hooks. And while his quickness is not good at all, he shows some flashes of using the footspeed he has there, being able, for example, to spin quickly towards the hoop trying to beat his matchup off the baseline to score with a reverse lay-up. Kosta also has a very nice mid-range jumper. His mechanics and shooting stroke are surprisingly good for a center, and most importantly, he is an accurate shooter with range out to 18 feet. Perovic is also a good free throw shooter for a big man. He also has very good court vision and is a very good passer out of the low or high post.

Perovic seems to have a very good knowledge of the game to go along with his above average basketball IQ. He is a very experienced player compared with most 20-year olds, European or not, and has already had a chance to test himself against some of best centers in Europe, at all age levels.

Weaknesses
Perovic`s athletic abilities are barely adequate for the center position in the NBA. He is still as skinny as he was 2 years ago, and still often gets out-muscled in the paint. He suffers very much against stronger players and doesn't seem to like physical contact at all. While he can run the floor well and has shown some very decent footwork in post, he is a rather slow player overall, which is especially notable on defensive end of the floor.

He is good offensive player, but his back to the basket game is still developing and adding some moves to his post repertoire is necessary to be a scoring threat at the next level. Because of his lack of strength, Perovic struggles to establish good position in the post to catch passes. He sometimes has trouble finishing around the basket and takes a world of time to put the ball in the basket. He spends way too much time gathering himself to dunk the ball and often gives the defense a good chance to stop him in the process. He causes a few turnovers every game, mostly because of a lack of concentration and focus. Kosta should take better advantage of his mid-range jumper and just generally should show more aggressiveness on offense overall since he has the tools to be a reliable scorer at this level.

Right now it is clear that he will be defensive liability in the NBA if he goes there next season. There are really few things that he does properly on the defensive end of the floor. His man-to-man defense is poor due to his slow defensive movement and lack of strength and aggressiveness. His rebounding skills are also below average. He is 7-2, but struggles to catch anything that doesn't fall directly in his hands. He is a poor shotblocker for his size and rarely shows any desire to contest shots. His defensive intensity is just as big of a concern and sometimes he does not even appear to be trying to play good defense. Overall, he will need a lot of work to get rid of the soft label that he has been tagged with, which appears to be completely deserved.

His mentality in the way he approaches the game is also somewhat of a question mark. Kosta is almost the same exact player he was two years ago and doesn't appear to be working much to get better. He lacks fire in his game badly, especially on the defensive end.

Competition
Perovic has been playing for the last three seasons for the Serbian powerhouse and legendary European team Partizan Belgrade, who have recently fallen on hard times. This season in the Adriatic League he averaged around 12 ppg, 5rpg and 1 apg, while shooting 50% from field and 72% from foul line. He also played in the Euroleague with Partizan and contributed 9 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 0.9bpg, while shooting just 43% FG and 62% FT. Kosta was surprisingly called up to the Serbian national team for last European Championships in Sweden in 2003, but didn't get many chances and only managed to score 2 points in the whole tournament. It is highly unlikely that he will get a chance to play this summer in Belgrade at this year's European Championship.

Outlook
Considering where his stock is at right now, Perovic will probably be best served not to enter his name in this year's draft, but because he has nothing to lose by doing so he might declare and then withdraw, once he and his agent find out that his chances of landing in the first round are extremely slim. Kosta was projected as a top 10 pick, at worst top 20, two years ago, and now it's questionable whether he will ever be a first rounder. His team Partizan, headed by Vlade Divac, made it nearly impossible for him to even think about leaving for the NBA until now (and maybe still), thanks to a high buyout sum, and Perovic is now the one who is paying the price. Surely Kosta is a talented player, but he will need a lot of work and will probably need at least 2 more seasons in Europe before he'll be able to make the jump to the NBA and expect to contribute there. He has two more years before he becomes automatically eligible so there is still time for him to bring his stock back to where it originally was.

Comments
Two years ago I was very high on him, but since then he hasn't improved his game at all, and it seems like he will never live up the expectations that were once placed on him. Many people like to compare him with Nets starting center and his ex-teammate Nenad Krstic. Perovic is as talented as Krstic is, but he lacks Nenad's hard working approach and his offensive game is far from being polished like Krstic's is. It is really hard to say how he will end up, but unless he completely changes his attitude I don't see him becoming more than a backup center in the NBA.

Facts
He won the Serbian National Championship in both of the last two seasons with Partizan.

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