Official Thread: Peja Samardziski

[admin]

Peja Samardziski, C
19 years old 7'0" 245 lbs.
KK FMP Zeleznik, International

Check out the complete profile at: Full Profile (http://www.draftexpress.com/viewprofile.php?p=149)

[11player]

I've never seen this kid play.
Is there a chance he evolves into NBA material?

[jwfish6]

Peja already is NBA material, and if anything, his stock has fallen drastically. 2 years ago he would of been a lottery pick (he is in the same case as Perovic and Andriskevicius) but GMs are no aware of the work out wonder. In fact, in 2004 he came to the U.S. for draft workouts with teams. Apparently he fell out of Partizans plans as they stuck him with the second team primarily, so he went across town to Zeleznik where he is in a smiliar situation, however he is playing much more minutes for FMP than he ever did with Partizan. He averages about 15 minutes a game and plays about the same time as other FMP bigs like Mile Ilic. Him and Ilic play about the same time and are pretty equivalent productivly. This is for Luis or Kristain: what do you see his NBA potential as of now? Do you think he will take the Andriskevicius approach and just throw his name in the draft and get taken in the second round and evolve with a team? Coach Dzikic said that he thinks he will just throw himself into the draft and hope for the best.From what i have heard his skills and size are outstanding. Thanks for the reply.

[J_Ray]

When is he going to enter the draft? I heard last year that if he entered Utah might have been interested in him, but it seems like Utah is interested in every 7 foot Euro player....

[Matiz]

No reason why Samardzinski should hurry, he has 2 years before becoming automatically eligible and in that time he could improve put up some Krstič like stats and some team would gamble in lottery on him...

[KristianH]

He is 2nd round pick as or right now at best. He is average athletically at best, and outside of mid-range jumper his skill-set is not very advanced. Looked much sexier two years ago, hasn`t developed much since. I like him better then Perovic, which isn`t saying much.

There is real possibility that he won`t ever play in the NBA. If guy like Andriuskevicius fall to 2nd round, what can happen to Samardziski since he also isn`t playing much, but he doesn`t share Martynas potential.

[Genjuro]

Peja already is NBA material, and if anything, his stock has fallen drastically. 2 years ago he would of been a lottery pick (he is in the same case as Perovic and Andriskevicius) but GMs are no aware of the work out wonder. In fact, in 2004 he came to the U.S. for draft workouts with teams. Apparently he fell out of Partizans plans as they stuck him with the second team primarily, so he went across town to Zeleznik where he is in a smiliar situation, however he is playing much more minutes for FMP than he ever did with Partizan. He averages about 15 minutes a game and plays about the same time as other FMP bigs like Mile Ilic. Him and Ilic play about the same time and are pretty equivalent productivly. This is for Luis or Kristain: what do you see his NBA potential as of now? Do you think he will take the Andriskevicius approach and just throw his name in the draft and get taken in the second round and evolve with a team? Coach Dzikic said that he thinks he will just throw himself into the draft and hope for the best.From what i have heard his skills and size are outstanding. Thanks for the reply.
You can't be serious. How can he be already NBA material if he couldn't step into the court with Partizan a few months ago? Even if he was far more interesting two years ago, he would have never been a lottery pick, forget about it. The only comparable case is Tskitishvili, and he was a really athletic power forward with very intriguing skills (shooting, awesome coordination). Samardziski didn't have comparable gifts at that point.

It's really difficult for me to talk about a NBA future of a guy who is so little productive in Europe while not enjoying outstanding potential. And he's not an 18-year-old kid anymore. Next season will be very important for him.

[coachjon]

i think when he is automatically eligible next year in 2008 he will be a mid to late second rounder.

he can hit the midrange shot, plays hard, has potential, good defensive basketball IQ (overall basketball IQ not very high), not very agile, not a good passer out of double teams, needs to prove himself against good competition, needs to work on his post game (offensively and defensively struggles against physical play), needs to get stronger, not athletic, poor shotblocker, inconsistent.

[KristianH]

i think when he is automatically eligible next year in 2008 he will be a mid to late second rounder.

good defensive basketball IQ (overall basketball IQ not very high),.

Im not sure how can you split basketball IQ on offensive and defensive.

[coachjon]

you can ben wallace i wouldn't say has a good offensive basketball IQ but he has a hell of a defensive basketball IQ. so you can split it in my eyes.

[KristianH]

nah i wouldn`t say so, the fact that Wallace has very limited offensive skill-set doesn`t mean that he suddenly becomes dump by crossing the mid-court.

[ecuhus]

Coach has got you there, Kristian. Dirk has a high offensive basketball IQ, but only recently (under the lil' General) has he performed admirably defensively. They are mutually exclusive.

Anyway, back to Peja...

It sounds like he's coming out this year. Is he a low-post presence at all, or more of a face-up J in a big body?

[coachjon]

his faceup game is further along than his post up game, but i have read he is making great strides down on the low block with his footwork and developing some moves so i think he is willing to go down low and eventually could become an inside/outside threat. his biggest asset is still his rebounding ability.

[KristianH]

Coach has got you there, Kristian. Dirk has a high offensive basketball IQ, but only recently (under the lil' General) has he performed admirably defensively. They are mutually exclusive.

Anyway, back to Peja...

It sounds like he's coming out this year. Is he a low-post presence at all, or more of a face-up J in a big body?

I wouldn`t call it a defensive and offensive IQ, but rather use the word awareness. Steve Nash is for example below average defensive player, but that doesn`t mean that he has poor defensive IQ. Same goes for Dirk.

[Matiz]

If there is such a thing as defensive IQ, it might represent just about 1-2 %. Defense is 60+% effort, the rest is athleticism and body control.

Even if we're talking about defensive IQ, a game without many defensive rotations (as NBA) makes that skill highly unimportant compared to others.

agreed with Kristian here...

[andrejjan]

Of course you can seperate off and deff IQ, wallace is the best example, his skill level is bad but he has no feel for the game offensively whatsoever, defensively he has the sixth sense. As for a guy like nash, he has physical limitations but he is a solid team defender.
People in europe believe defense is primarily effort, wrong-first and foremost it is knowledge, technique, repetition and understanding-then you have the physical ability-and then the will and the effort.
As for nowitzki, he never received a solid schooling on defense through his formative years and he is still struggling with some basic positioning, but today is like day and night compared to some ten years ago.

[11player]

Once rated as a lottery pick, I guess this kid won't be much than a late second round pick, so that a team keep his rights while waiting for him to break out in Europe.

Still has time to turn things around though.