U-18 European Championships

[wardjdim]

Every year, the U-18 European Championships is the most intriguing for scouts and viewers, mainly because the players are known, due to the previous years' u-16 and also because most of them still haven't seen significant minutes in their senior teams and so potential is somehow not a give in.

This year, once again, the competition seems incredible.

Rubio, Koufos, Macvan, Motiejunas, Diot, Khvostov, Bogdanovic, Janavicius, Jackson, Shashkov, Mitrovic, Kruslin, Cepukaitis, Aguilar, Rullo, Vasiliauskas, maybe some u-16 kids as well (I'd love to see Musli and Melli competing against older opponents) are just some of the stars of the tournament.

I will somehow make an early prediction, by copying my IBN post here, altering the rankings a bit.

Lithuania is for me the most talented team. Always underperforming, yet having a nice chemistry and being a concrete generation, they have all the tools to win. With Vasiliauskas alongside Janavicius, they won't be missing out in the PG position (Zygimantas was exhausted in the u19 WC, without a decent backup), they have Donatas alongside Cepukaitis in the paint. It's pretty much their U19 team, just a bit upgraded (Motiejunas is far more talented than Valukonis) and lacking some inside muscle.

Serbia? It will all depend on the roster they'll bring over. They are the best school for the junior level and this year, they are winning all tournaments. Macvan is the MVP candidate in any tournament he competes. A mixture of a more post player than what Dejan Bodiroga ever was (maybe closer to Zoran Savic, as someone mentioned, just with higher bball IQ). Smiljanic, Mitrovic and Katnic all seem intriguing to me, as I can't remember having watched their game.

Spain could be ranked higher in this list and, maybe, at the end they will make it to the final game and win gold. Rubio is more experienced than anyone in this tournament and probably the best player you will ever found at the age of 16. But, the age group is now higher and the competition is tougher, while, without any other superb player besides Aguilar alongside Ricky, things might end up being tougher for them to beat the more team-oriented, lasting and, at the end, talented teams in Serbia and Lithuania. However, their exhibition game results seem impressive and their performance so far has been dominant, so nothing can be ruled out. By the way, why isn't Mamadou Samb in their roster?

France will be led by Antoine Diot, quite likely the next Rigaudeau or Papaloukas. Edwin Jackson totally ruled in the U-19 WC in Serbia and will be among the best players here again, leading the team in scoring again and showing if he has more skills than that. The frontcourt seems weak enough to not quarantee a medal, but the team is definitely going to be among contenders anyway.


Russia might be lacking some offensive creativity now that Shved is gone, but Khvostov can be a nice replacement as the team star (actually Shved was not exactly given full star status last summer), especially with his nice use of his body, fearless and winning character. However, without a dominant frontline and with Khvostov being pretty unstable and not reliable, their chances to go all the way are a bit short. On the other hand, given that most of the roster made the final last year in the U-16, only to lose by this incredible performance of Ricky Rubio in the final game in overtime, makes them the potentially surprise team of the tournament.

Kruslin had always been among my favorite junior players, but it will be Bogdanovic and Dellas who will lead Croatia in this tournament. Zubcic is also a nice addition to this age group and they seem pretty interesting this year, as mentioned before. They can be contenders, but they are in an extremely tough situation group-wise and they may not even make it in the final eight at the end.

Kosta Koufos will be the superstar of Greece. Given that next year he may even be included in the Greek senior team and he already goes to a top level NCAA program, one can expect a dominant performance from him in this EC, but the talent around him won't be enough to get the Greeks go all the way. More than Dirk with the rest of the Germans in this specific case (big guy Sarikopoulos and A1 guard Matalon look like the only solid players around him), Greece will be among surprising medal contenders, especially when they belong to the "easy" side of the groups A and B.

Similarly to Greece, Italy will not be the most talented team, but a guy with slight Euroleague experience (Rullo) and one of the most talented players of the U16 level, though struggling a bit (Melli), will be around to help. Rullo will be among the best combo guards of the competition (just a step behind Janavicius, Khvostov and Diot) and will likely lead them in their attempt to reach at least semis (as they are also among the lucky teams of the competition, when it comes to the groups, as they can even go undefeated in their own group).

Overall, an extremely intriguing tournament, as always, with many interesting players and competitive teams..

[jwfish6]

I agree with you that there is no reason Musli should not join this u18 team. First of all he is 16 years old, meaning you are supposed to push your body to the limit at that age. Second of all, he is playing with FMP 2 so that means he will have no strenuous schedule or lots of traveling ahead of him this fall (I see NBA players putting in more travel with their NT's). And finally, he would actually be pretty dominant in this age group as well. He would play alongside Macvan and we all know how well that worked in Zeleznik.

I agree my three favorite teams have to be Lithuania, Serbia and Spain. It should be interesting considering the majority of the LTU team was on the Zalgris team that beat the majority of the Serbian team on the FMP juniors at the euroleague junior final four. Lets hope the new and improved Macvan will have plenty of revenge for them.

Spain had dominant friendlies, but come on who did they really play. Let's see those numbers against LTU and SRB.

And I had heard Bogdanovic wasn't going to be able to play this summer?

[KristianH]

Bogdanovic is injured and will not play. 6foot4 playmaker Karlo Vragovic could be pleasent surprise, he is quick, very good mid-range shooter, smart player and has excellent defensive potential thanks to nice combination of lenght and quickness.

[DonMonte]

I agree with you that there is no reason Musli should not join this u18 team. First of all he is 16 years old, meaning you are supposed to push your body to the limit at that age. Second of all, he is playing with FMP 2 so that means he will have no strenuous schedule or lots of traveling ahead of him this fall (I see NBA players putting in more travel with their NT's). And finally, he would actually be pretty dominant in this age group as well. He would play alongside Macvan and we all know how well that worked in Zeleznik.

I agree my three favorite teams have to be Lithuania, Serbia and Spain. It should be interesting considering the majority of the LTU team was on the Zalgris team that beat the majority of the Serbian team on the FMP juniors at the euroleague junior final four. Lets hope the new and improved Macvan will have plenty of revenge for them.

Spain had dominant friendlies, but come on who did they really play. Let's see those numbers against LTU and SRB.

And I had heard Bogdanovic wasn't going to be able to play this summer?

Yes Musli could help and that most in defense. In offense he would still struggel against older players. But why use him here? His time will come and there is no need for it to let him play every tournament he can. At 1st he played his tournament and did this pretty well as we all know. He didn´t train with the U18 squad all year long so he would need his time to fit in the system. And it is not always the best thing to hype young players when they are that young, because all of them have still a lot of work to do to become good player at the senior level.

And Spain beat Serbia once. Serbia was without Stojacic and Spain without Rubio and Aguilar.

Serbia-Spain 58-73 (21:20, 12:13, 14:16, 11:24)

Serbia: Živanović 7, Mitrović, Čvoro 5, Cvetković, Luković 2, Tapušković 4, Čović 8, Mačvan 8, Maravić, Đorđević 10, Smiljanić 5, Marković 9.

Spain: Lopez, Marko, Rabaseda 11, Pareho, Almazan 5, Santana 1, Tomas 22, De la Fuente 30, Guera, Raja 2, Fernandez 2, Arias.


France is also strong, especially the backgourd with Diot and Jackson. Tanghe could be the men under the basket. Leonard and Wilson are also players to watch.

But for me the clearly favo is Spain. I think this spanish generation is something like the 87 one of Serbia with (Teodosic/Labovic/Tepic/Dragovic and Aleksandrov) and by Spain we have (Tomas/Aguilar/De la Fuente and Rubio (born 90). All 4 are top prospects for european standarts.

I would be glad to see serbia win the EC, but i will not overrate them and expect the title. If they could get a medale it would be enough. We still have to remember the U16 2005 where this serbian generation was 9th. I see few teams on a similar level here and at the end Serbia could be in the final or only play for the places 5-8. In the worst case we could even struggle in the 1st round in our strong group. Russia will be a opponent on our level.

[Genjuro]

But for me the clearly favo is Spain. I think this spanish generation is something like the 87 one of Serbia with (Teodosic/Labovic/Tepic/Dragovic and Aleksandrov) and by Spain we have (Tomas/Aguilar/De la Fuente and Rubio (born 90). All 4 are top prospects for european standarts.
I agree about Spain being the clear favourite. But I don't see it as the Serbian 1987 generation. Rubio is too much of a difference maker and you have only a few other important guys, while the 87 Serbia is so crazy deep that it doesn't matter if they miss some player.

Dimitris, Samb still has no Spanish passport. By the way, I don't see why this Serbian junior squad is more talented than the Spanish team. This seems to be a pretty limited Serbian generation (I mean for guys born in 89 and 90), although you can never know until actually watch them, because they always bring guys out of nowhere.

As for Russia, it's not only Khvostov. They also have the scoring SG Zakharov, or the big and athletic SF Shashkov, or the strong forward Gromyko. They seem nicely talented, and somebody else might emerge. As usual with the Russians, the biggest question mark will be the coaching.

[DonMonte]

I agree about Spain being the clear favourite. But I don't see it as the Serbian 1987 generation. Rubio is too much of a difference maker and you have only a few other important guys, while the 87 Serbia is so crazy deep that it doesn't matter if they miss some player.

Dimitris, Samb still has no Spanish passport. By the way, I don't see why this Serbian junior squad is more talented than the Spanish team. This seems to be a pretty limited Serbian generation (I mean for guys born in 89 and 90), although you can never know until actually watch them, because they always bring guys out of nowhere.

As for Russia, it's not only Khvostov. They also have the scoring SG Zakharov, or the big and athletic SF Shashkov, or the strong forward Gromyko. They seem nicely talented, and somebody else might emerge. As usual with the Russians, the biggest question mark will be the coaching.


Who is Dimitris? I know about Samb. Will Samb play for Spain in the future.

And you are right Russia has a good team here. Gromyko plays for Zvezda now. I think he had a double-double at the U16 2 years ago.

[Genjuro]

Who is Dimitris? I know about Samb. Will Samb play for Spain in the future.

And you are right Russia has a good team here. Gromyko plays for Zvezda now. I think he had a double-double at the U16 2 years ago.
Dimitris is wardjdim.

[jwfish6]

As for Russia, it's not only Khvostov. They also have the scoring SG Zakharov, or the big and athletic SF Shashkov, or the strong forward Gromyko. They seem nicely talented, and somebody else might emerge. As usual with the Russians, the biggest question mark will be the coaching.

What is up with Gromyko in Red Star? Havent heard anything about him in years.

About the coaching, what did you think about Malstev (spell) and his staff at the u20s?

[jwfish6]

Yes Musli could help and that most in defense. In offense he would still struggel against older players. But why use him here? His time will come and there is no need for it to let him play every tournament he can. At 1st he played his tournament and did this pretty well as we all know. He didn´t train with the U18 squad all year long so he would need his time to fit in the system. And it is not always the best thing to hype young players when they are that young, because all of them have still a lot of work to do to become good player at the senior level.

And Spain beat Serbia once. Serbia was without Stojacic and Spain without Rubio and Aguilar.



France is also strong, especially the backgourd with Diot and Jackson. Tanghe could be the men under the basket. Leonard and Wilson are also players to watch.

But for me the clearly favo is Spain. I think this spanish generation is something like the 87 one of Serbia with (Teodosic/Labovic/Tepic/Dragovic and Aleksandrov) and by Spain we have (Tomas/Aguilar/De la Fuente and Rubio (born 90). All 4 are top prospects for european standarts.

I would be glad to see serbia win the EC, but i will not overrate them and expect the title. If they could get a medale it would be enough. We still have to remember the U16 2005 where this serbian generation was 9th. I see few teams on a similar level here and at the end Serbia could be in the final or only play for the places 5-8. In the worst case we could even struggle in the 1st round in our strong group. Russia will be a opponent on our level.

Where was the boxscore from?

[Toxicity]

Every year, the U-18 European Championships is the most intriguing for scouts and viewers, mainly because the players are known, due to the previous years' u-16 and also because most of them still haven't seen significant minutes in their senior teams and so potential is somehow not a give in.

This year, once again, the competition seems incredible.

Rubio, Koufos, Macvan, Motiejunas, Diot, Khvostov, Bogdanovic, Janavicius, Jackson, Shashkov, Mitrovic, Kruslin, Cepukaitis, Aguilar, Rullo, Vasiliauskas, maybe some u-16 kids as well (I'd love to see Musli and Melli competing against older opponents) are just some of the stars of the tournament.

I will somehow make an early prediction, by copying my IBN post here, altering the rankings a bit.

Lithuania is for me the most talented team. Always underperforming, yet having a nice chemistry and being a concrete generation, they have all the tools to win. With Vasiliauskas alongside Janavicius, they won't be missing out in the PG position (Zygimantas was exhausted in the u19 WC, without a decent backup), they have Donatas alongside Cepukaitis in the paint. It's pretty much their U19 team, just a bit upgraded (Motiejunas is far more talented than Valukonis) and lacking some inside muscle.

Serbia? It will all depend on the roster they'll bring over. They are the best school for the junior level and this year, they are winning all tournaments. Macvan is the MVP candidate in any tournament he competes. A mixture of a more post player than what Dejan Bodiroga ever was (maybe closer to Zoran Savic, as someone mentioned, just with higher bball IQ). Smiljanic, Mitrovic and Katnic all seem intriguing to me, as I can't remember having watched their game.

Spain could be ranked higher in this list and, maybe, at the end they will make it to the final game and win gold. Rubio is more experienced than anyone in this tournament and probably the best player you will ever found at the age of 16. But, the age group is now higher and the competition is tougher, while, without any other superb player besides Aguilar alongside Ricky, things might end up being tougher for them to beat the more team-oriented, lasting and, at the end, talented teams in Serbia and Lithuania. However, their exhibition game results seem impressive and their performance so far has been dominant, so nothing can be ruled out. By the way, why isn't Mamadou Samb in their roster?

France will be led by Antoine Diot, quite likely the next Rigaudeau or Papaloukas. Edwin Jackson totally ruled in the U-19 WC in Serbia and will be among the best players here again, leading the team in scoring again and showing if he has more skills than that. The frontcourt seems weak enough to not quarantee a medal, but the team is definitely going to be among contenders anyway.


Russia might be lacking some offensive creativity now that Shved is gone, but Khvostov can be a nice replacement as the team star (actually Shved was not exactly given full star status last summer), especially with his nice use of his body, fearless and winning character. However, without a dominant frontline and with Khvostov being pretty unstable and not reliable, their chances to go all the way are a bit short. On the other hand, given that most of the roster made the final last year in the U-16, only to lose by this incredible performance of Ricky Rubio in the final game in overtime, makes them the potentially surprise team of the tournament.

Kruslin had always been among my favorite junior players, but it will be Bogdanovic and Dellas who will lead Croatia in this tournament. Zubcic is also a nice addition to this age group and they seem pretty interesting this year, as mentioned before. They can be contenders, but they are in an extremely tough situation group-wise and they may not even make it in the final eight at the end.

Kosta Koufos will be the superstar of Greece. Given that next year he may even be included in the Greek senior team and he already goes to a top level NCAA program, one can expect a dominant performance from him in this EC, but the talent around him won't be enough to get the Greeks go all the way. More than Dirk with the rest of the Germans in this specific case (big guy Sarikopoulos and A1 guard Matalon look like the only solid players around him), Greece will be among surprising medal contenders, especially when they belong to the "easy" side of the groups A and B.

Similarly to Greece, Italy will not be the most talented team, but a guy with slight Euroleague experience (Rullo) and one of the most talented players of the U16 level, though struggling a bit (Melli), will be around to help. Rullo will be among the best combo guards of the competition (just a step behind Janavicius, Khvostov and Diot) and will likely lead them in their attempt to reach at least semis (as they are also among the lucky teams of the competition, when it comes to the groups, as they can even go undefeated in their own group).

Overall, an extremely intriguing tournament, as always, with many interesting players and competitive teams..


First of all, nice post! :cool:

Regarding Italy, Melli is not included in the 13-men roster... he has to rest after a full season (Jordan Classic, some tournaments around Europe, Euro, etc) and he's probably not ready.

Rullo himself may be doubtful since he had an ankle injury 1-2 weeks ago (that's why the roster has 13 kids, one to cut) and he'll be not too healthy...

The key player for Italy will likely be the big man Andrea Renzi (6-10 of Benetton Treviso, DraftExpress mentioned him at the last U18 Euro)...

[DonMonte]

Where was the boxscore from?

From site of the spanish federation. But the KSS confirmed this result.

[Genjuro]

What is up with Gromyko in Red Star? Havent heard anything about him in years.

About the coaching, what did you think about Malstev (spell) and his staff at the u20s?
No idea about what is Gromyko doing. The last time I saw him was last summer at the U-18 EC, and he seemed to be making a successful transition to SF. I guess him and Shashkov should be the starting forwards, as both are kind of combos at this category.

I don't know about Malstev at the U-20 because I didn't watch that tournament. Still, to make it to the semis ahead of Slovenia was a nice achievement.

[Matiz]

One thing Malstev definately did well, and brought Russia that far, were his rotations. Especially at the begining of the game he used to completely rotate the whole lineup within 3-4 minutes of playing time, considering he had loads of, mediocre, but defensively solid players they crushed Slovenia in 3rd quarter when Alilovič suddenly decided to rotate a bit more to keep the pace, playing 2nd lineup with Lorbek&Čigoja (88') which were physically far from the level of Russians decided the game (mistake for not rotating in the first half, but anyway just a part of mistakes, since I haven't seen a game with so many TO's in loooong time...). The same tactics didn't work out vs. Spain, since as soon Russia started trailing by few points in the 3rd and 4th quarter with their limited offensive potential it wasn't hard for Spanish to keep the margin. Spain risked a bit and played irrational with "one sideline to another" passes, but it worked out with some triples by Beiran and Ribas and as soon as Russia naturaly responded to those triples by widening the defense, Rey got a few touches, penetrations were easier and Spain ended up as a one class better team, eventhough the result might not explicitely show that.

One thing I was wondering about: either Russia is producing only forwards and tweeners without PG's and centers able to contribute, or was that the matter of coach's selection. As I said those guys were desperately limited in offense Sheleketo, Krivosheev and Shved showed some(!) creativity, but the way some people raged about Shved and his talent, person would expect he'd be posting 25+ ppg easily in that team of "11 Sergei Panov's" nevermind his age

2 games aren't enough to determine if that was a coach's fault with selectioning the players or by game instructions, but I have troubles believing Russia wouldn't have a bigger talent pool than that-might've been just awfully bad generation for them, but apart from Shved other guy's maximum is aproximately Uleb cup version of Sergei Panov... (which is exactly what I think Krivosheev and Vorontshevich will in reality become)

[bestb]

If your a looking for PGs then Sten Sokk from Estonian squad is the guy to keep eye on. Sten-Timmu is younger son of 1988. Olympic winner Tiit Sokk. Sten is been in middle of basketball all his life. Till 1997 he was in Greek and used to watch his dad games. Tiit played in Panathinaikos and Saloniki Aris.
Sten Sokk play-making and passing skills are very good and with good basketball IQ and vision, he is the guy you want to dictate the game.
Offensively he is good 3pt shooter, but haven´t showed that in U-18 tournament. Maybe he is little bit tired because of the long year: domestic league (starting PG), A-class, U-20 tournament and much more.
Sten is good driver and can finish with various moves around the basket. Main problem for him is height. He is only 1.83m. His body is built strong. He should lose some bounds, because of the fact that is not super fast for his height. Question with him is if he can be a scorer for his team when he goes pro. The play-making will be great.

Sten-Timmu Sokk averaged PPG: 9.3, RPG: 3.3, APG: 4.8, STEALS: 2,3 in 2007 U-20.

Siim-Sander Vene (2.00m SF/SG 1990) is very interesting prospet. Last summer he had to choose between Malaga Unicaja and Kaunas Zalgiris. He choosed Zalgiris and signed 7 year contract with team. He is one of the best prospects in Estonia right now.

[davidalop]

Some questions about "U-18 EC Division B: Searching for Hidden Gems" Luis Fernández's article.

I've noticed that Barcelona's player Nihad Djedovic is not in Bosnia's roster. Why? It is known something about an injury or he decided not to play? It is surprising that the best scorer of the last U16 Championship doesn't compete in this U18 edition.
Related with this, David Jelink, the second best scorer of that championship is playing for Czech Republic. Anybody knows something about his team for next season? He's going to play for CB Prat (DKV Joventut joined team) for Penya's junior team or maybe will stay one more year at his country? It would be great to see him at the next L'Hospitalet Tournament, as we could do with Djedovic this year.

Only one more thing, Guillermo Corella Dekker (a Real Madrid junior squad player) is competing for Netherlands. I suppose his mother to be dutch, isn't it?


By the way, Novi Sad, Sofia and... ¿Madrid? What a great summer.

Thanks for the answers!

[DonMonte]

Spain is out. They will not play for a medal.

Semifinal

Serbia-Latvia
Greece-Lithuania

[Sed]

you're right on Guillermo Corella Dekker
decent prospect, getting a good education in Madrid

though Mohammed Kherrazi is their best prospect, good athlete, decent fundamentals, great wingspan, tough competitor.

They're without a couple of very nice players.