Denis Polokhin

The most eye-catching thing about Denis Polokhin was his birth date. Being born in December of 1990, he was the youngest player in this Sabonis Cup. Denis played the main point guard spot for CSKA and was one of the leaders, despite his young age.

Polokhin is more of pass-first point guard, who sees the floor well and at the same time is able to knock down a jumper after beating his opponent. He looks comfortable dribbling the ball and protects it well. Denis looks far more comfortable in transition play than in the set offense, where we could see the few times after failing to find a good direction he decided to end the attack by himself. His playmaking and distributing sometimes lacked fluidity, but generally he showed potential in this area. The same as in shooting, especially from the midrange area, but while attacking from further distances Polokhin’s shot wasn’t as stable.

Another pleasing aspect was his ability to collect defensive rebounds. It’s quite a rare remark when talking about point guards and we can only regret that statistics weren’t presented to prove the fact. Polokhin looked brave in the clutch, willing to be a part of deciding situations. He can penetrate to either side, but his finishing might need some improvement. His body looks very decent for a kid who is yet to turn 16, and Denis showed enough of fundamentals to keep us interested. He has many things to work on (such as his defense), but obviously he has plenty of time for that.