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2008 Albert Schweitzer Tournament: Watered Down Mannheim

2008 Albert Schweitzer Tournament: Watered Down Mannheim
Apr 02, 2008, 01:54 am
DraftExpress spent a few days in Mannheim enjoying the Albert Schweitzer Tournament, a sort of unofficial world junior championship. However, this description couldn't be further from reality this time, there was just too much missing talent, both in terms of teams and players.

Traditional powerhouses such as Serbia (the clear-cut favorite to win the gold this upcoming summer at the U-18 European Championships) or Lithuania (featuring Donatas Motiejunas, the most promising international junior not named Ricky Rubio) did not come or were not invited (some rumors point to the latter option), while many other National Teams showed up heavily depleted.

For example, the US Team was unable to collect its best possible players due the tournament colliding with the McDonald's All-American game, and came with an assortment of second-string prospects at best. Russia, a silver-medalist with this very same generation at the U-16 level in the European championship, had some of its best players visiting other junior tournaments with their clubs. Most of the absences on the other teams were due injuries or obligations with pro competition, and combined, looked like a plague.

As a result, the level seen in Mannheim was very underwhelming to say the least. However, we could still get to know some new names for us, check the development stage of others, see a few quality and competitive teams, witness two excellent semifinals, and enjoy the very special atmosphere of an event that is running for 50 years now.

Organized by both the German Federation and the US Army, the most important venue is located right inside the Mannheim U.S. military base. You feel suddenly transported to a piece of American soil, with its fast food-food restaurants, bowling alleys, American accents all around, the smell of hot dogs, and a high-school type gym. It's cozy, but small, lovely and old-school, yet very uncomfortable, but still an unavoidable and integral part of the tournament's mystique.

Greece Triumphs, Pappas Dominates

The competition was keen enough to result in the clear-cut four best teams making the semifinals: USA, Australia, Turkey and Greece. The Americans didn't convince with their game, Australia made a terrific effort with the limited talent level they displayed, while the Turkish and Greeks provided the most quality basketball seen in Mannheim and rightfully clinched the final.

3067[c]Photo: rhein-neckar-sport[/c]

In a tournament that lacked inside dominance, the outstanding level of the Greek backcourt led them to the final triumph. Sloukas and Pappas, important pieces escorting Kosta Koufos in last summer's silver medal at the U-18 European Championship, built a terrific duo that generated a huge load of offense for the team and for themselves.

Nikos Pappas in particular was unstoppable for many stretches. The well-deserved MVP, he showed a ridiculous ability to score at will. Playing combo-guard, he would throw his strong 6-4 body at any rival and make room for a relatively easy basket. Although his strange frame -which looks pretty thick for a guard, not particularly attractive in terms of basketball potential- and body language might result misleading, he doesn't enjoy anything more than decent athleticism to work with, and particularly he's not very quick. But he's incredibly smart and poised, showing an uncommon maturity that helps him to overcome his athletic shortcomings.

Showing very solid ball-handling skills, a decent first step and great footwork, Pappas could attack both ways, being especially prolific from the left side, while his rivals rarely figured out how to stop him. Primarily looking for the basket, he loves to create contact with his opponents and hang in the air until he enjoys enough room to release a layup or a short-range shot (a la Papaloukas). If he didn't find the scoring option, he would never panic, and instead would look for his teammates. Pappas showed nice court vision to feed his mates, not only off the drive, but also from the perimeter. He also punished the defense with his long-range shot whenever his match-up –or the pair defending the pick and roll- didn't stay honest, showcasing a nice touch, still accurate off the dribble.

3068[c]Photo: AST.Basketball.de[/c]

But it wasn't everything a matter of ball domination. Pappas often stayed away from the ball, letting his teammates take over the offense, almost as if he didn't care, but would unexpectedly appear in the right moment with a cut, or offensive rebound, showing a terrific sense of timing moving without the ball. He showed a bit of the same stuff on defense, where he sometimes showed some apathy (his limited lateral quickness also backs this impression) but could come up with some steals.

Regardless of his skills and outstanding basketball IQ, it's hard to picture Pappas as a top prospect given his relative lack of athletic potential, but his performance alone made the trip to Mannheim well worthy. His performance in the semifinal was for the ages, scoring 24 points in the first half, sitting out for most of the third quarter due to foul trouble, staying away from the ball in the fourth, and taking over in overtime to score 11 consecutive points that rounded up a massive 39-point outburst.


His partner in crime Kostas Sloukas usually came off the bench to provide perimeter shooting and passing game. He's a 6-2 lefty point guard with a sweet deep stroke –quick in the release, with off-the-dribble mechanics- combined with solid court vision. Decently quick, enjoying nice handles, he's productive on the pick-and-roll and regularly finds his teammates on the court. All in all, he's a very solid point guard to have on your side.


The backcourt duo became a lethal triangle when including Kostas Papanikolaou, a promisingly-built 6-7 (perhaps in his way to 6-8) forward that played as a face-up power forward due the size limitations of the Greek team, but who showed clear small forward potential. Nicely athletic, Papanikolaou is another lefty, indeed a bit too left-handed, who showed a solid spot-up jumper with range out to the three-point line, solid ball-handling skills, excellent footwork on penetrations even to perform reverse moves, and great activity on defense. Indeed he might be the guy with the most potential on the Greek team.


Finally, even if not nearly as important as the three aforementioned players, Vladimir Jankovic showed some decent potential as a regular starter and a real defensive presence. Standing somewhere between 6-7 and 6-8, he's a nicely athletic wing with long arms and an underdeveloped, but promising body. Very inconsistent with his perimeter stroke, he neither was able to provide regular production going inside despite his ability to break defenses thanks to his nice footwork and decent ball-handling skills, as he could barely get anything done against contact. Jankovic needs to gain strength, better balance and body control to emerge more effective.


U.S.Struggles

It's becoming increasingly rare to see the USA winning at any stage and any level of male international basketball. Mannheim wasn't the exception and, taking into account the team that showed up here, it doesn't seem to be concerning anybody.

Beyond suffering a massive desertion of top junior players, the US Team especially lacked size, inside power and heavily depended on the disrupting abilities of Irving Walker. Of course, that's not to forget the tactical holes you usually find in these American squads, such as poor defensive rotations, poor defensive transitions, poor off-the-ball movement, and more.

In the end, Walker himself, the team's athleticism, and a refreshing ability to hit the perimeter shot easily elevated them over most teams here, not a particularly remarkable achievement given the mediocre level displayed by most teams. They failed to overcome the top squads in the tournament, though, (which were far from outstanding anyway), and left the team out of the tournament's top-3.

Before going on, we have to make a disclaimer: the official sizes provided on the rosters for the American team look ridiculously inflated. An initial estimation would make us cut a couple of inches for every guy in order to start getting closer at their apparent size.

We have to insist on Walker, the heart and soul of this squad. Rightfully selected for the All-Tournament Team, he was spectacular for many stretches, running, passing and scoring, sometimes at will, just providing the fuel his team needed to remain competitive in most games.

Extremely small (he looks way shorter than the 5-10 he's listed), Walker relies on his impressive quickness and great ball-handling. Like a devil set on fire, he would drive past anyone, sneak between defenses, to find layups –that he netted with both hands- or force defensive rotations that would leave his teammates open, especially behind the three-point line, where they would receive his kick-out passes. He's a tough guy, really strong, ready to bump into any opponent and able to play even off contact while maintaining nice control of his body.

Still Walker showed a very nice shooting ability to compliment his slashing efforts. Almost money in the bank when left open, he showcased three-point range and off-the-dribble mechanics, even from deep positions, with a nicely quick release, although he often forced too much, which ended up affecting his percentages.

On the negative side, besides his obvious lack of size, Walker shows limitations running a team It basically comes down to the point that he needs to first beat his match-up off the dribble in order to get anything going, that is, unless he can find space to shoot from the perimeter.

Anyway, expect him to emerge as an important point guard in college basketball with the Florida Gators, with some chances to make it to the NBA as a sparkplug guy in someone's rotation after four years.


Let's follow with Travis Releford, a very elegant slashing wing that provided incisive power to his team, and a perennial fastbreak runner. Showing an excellent physical profile, perhaps just a little undersized even for the shooting guard position (listed at 6-5, he might be around 6-4), he is extremely dangerous attacking the basket, showing some nice ball-handling skills (especially with his right hand), excellent footwork, terrific body control in the air, even off contact, and nice ability finishing around the rim. The downside in his game can be easily found in his extremely inconsistent shooting stroke, that even affects his free-throw shooting. Unless he significantly improves his jumper, his pro future looks pretty cloudy.


Inside, let's highlight the tallest player on the squad: Jeffree Withey. He's a solidly athletic and coordinated center close to the seven-feet mark, who showed some interesting low-post footwork, a willingness to mix it up inside (although still struggling to operate off contact), limited ability to play with his left hand, some mid-range ability and inconsistent intimidation effort (he would eventually come up big on some plays but failed to lock the paint on a regular basis). Still needing to add weight and perhaps a degree of aggressiveness to his game, he's decently built and has the potential to evolve into a very nice player.


Top International Prospects

The Albert Schweitzer Tournament was really scarce in major potential. Just a handful of guys put on the table the kind of intrigue that envisions a possible development into high draft prospects down the road, and none of them seems anywhere close to a sure thing.

TOMISLAV ZUBCIC

We had recent in our memory the performance of Zubcic in L'Hospitalet, and he really didn't provide much more meat to feed the profile of his well-known strengths and weaknesses. Usually starting as a small forward, he spent a lot of minutes in that position and officiated as a virtually full-time face-up player (he will most likely end up as a power forward, but it's nice to see him working on his perimeter skills). He regardless failed to emerge as a real go-to player for Croatia, lacking some aggressiveness to put the ball in the net that would have probably helped his team to overcome the dreadful backcourt that Croatia brought to Mannheim.

3069[c]Photo: AST.Basketball.de[/c]

As a quick remainder, Zubcic showcased his long-range stroke (still a bit inconsistent), his very solid ball-handling skills for his size, but still improvable if he wants to become a slashing force, a nice first step, his tendency to pass the ball off the drive instead of taking it to the rim, his nice court vision from the high post and the three-point line, his very poor use of the left hand around the rim, and some softness that we could partially attribute to his underdeveloped long body.

Probably nobody seen in Mannheim enjoys the kind of potential Tomislav displays, and indeed the Croatian forward ended up being featured on the All-Tournament Team. His combination of size, skills and athleticism is truly remarkable. But somehow you miss some slightly more character playing the game, which invites us to remain moderately skeptical –just to stress the relative uncertainty of his future- and very alert to his development.


ENES KANTER

The fact that Enes Kanter made it all the way to the All-Tournament Team while being only 15 years old deserves recognition here. It was a common conversation these days in Mannheim to discuss the credibility of his birth date, but beyond the impressive frame he displays, his age looks more shocking in regard to his game style rather than to his physical appearance. It's not every day you see players staying so cool underneath the rim at these categories, especially if they are two years younger than most of their rivals.

Standing 6-9, Kanter enjoys a strong frame that, combined with his toughness, allowed him to battle in the paint at this level, but that still leaves room to envision significant physical development. Playing purely as a center, he made an offensive living off his low-post game. The Turkish prodigy showed nice ability to gain position down low, solid but unspectacular footwork, and still almost always got it done just by evaluating the timing of his efforts, so he regularly caught his opponents off guard. His credo seems to be waiting until the opportunity arises, showing an inappropriate calmness for such a young kid.

3070[c]Photo: AST.Basketball.de[/c]

However, for the moment his offensive game looks a bit limited, with an underwhelming use of his left hand to finish around the rim, inconsistency in his short-to-mid-range jumper and no off-the-dribble game unless he's in the low post.

On the other hand, he emerged as one of the best rebounders in the tournament, using his strong body, and fearlessly throwing his arms up in the air looking for the ball. It's also a matter of good positioning, just as he shows in defensive duties, where he became a very solid piece for the Turkish squad.

Kanter looks pretty promising, but will need to expand his skills and/or keep growing in order to become a top act. Anyway, he's so young that we can't do anything but remain extremely cautious about his future.


ALBERTO JODAR

Easily the most intriguing 1991 prospect seen in the tournament, Jodar hardly impressed anybody with his playing level in Mannheim, given the good reputation he enjoyed in advance, but anyway emerged as one of the most consistent foundations for Spain.

While Fuenlabrada is developing him at the small forward spot, the lack of size on the Spanish squad pushed him to inside positions full time. Not active at all putting the ball on the floor, perhaps given the team schemes up to a certain extent, we couldn't properly evaluate his ball-handling development, an extremely important area of the game for him if he wants to become a top perimeter prospect (we've been told he's making some strides in this department). Instead, he would usually settle for spot-up three-pointers from the corner –with average consistency- or share the ball with his teammates showing nice decision making.

It was in other duties where he became a crucial piece in the Spanish puzzle. Defense, intimidation, rebounding, Jodar was a permanent presence to provide some consistency to a limited frontcourt thanks to his 6-9 body, long arms, nice athleticism, and good positioning. The guy is a very serious player, but needs to take a step ahead in order to become a go-to guy.


EVEGENY VALIEV

The extremely disappointing Russian National Team was stacked with long and skinny, but promisingly built and athletic forwards, just like a brand out of a factory. Among them, Valiev was the man standing out, both in terms of physical-athletic gifts, as well as because of some very raw skills. He comes to join the endless list of sized Russian small forwards (he stands 6-9) that regularly fill the international ranks.

Still physically underdeveloped, a bit thin-framed (still pretty decent for a small forward) and enjoying long arms, he's also nicely athletic for his size, and pretty active using his light feet. His game resulted as poorly consistent as his team's, but he left drops of some ability shooting, passing and even slashing, everything in a very early stage of development.

Valiev didn't shy away from shooting the ball, regardless of his poor accuracy, but still showcased good range out to the three-point line, off-the-dribble skills from mid-range distances and some decent mechanics that need to gain consistency. Facing the basket from behind the three-point line, he found his teammates regularly, as he can nicely see the court. He would eventually try to cash in off his size in the low post, but he wouldn't show refined low-post footwork, instead trying to use his quickness to beat his opponents. Valiev indeed shows a decent first step to attack his match-ups off the dribble, but he suffers a blatant lack of ball-handling skills with his left hand, greatly limiting his options on the court.

Active on defense, he looks for rejections on defensive rotations, moves his feet pretty fast, and should be able to match-up against wings when everything is said and done. Besides, he crashes the boards searching for rebounds on both ends of the court.

Anyway, Valiev has such a long way to go that we shouldn't consider him anything else than an intriguing youngster with long-term potential. But at least he shows some nice attitude and solid basketball instincts.


Other Notables

Besides all the aforementioned players, there was a nice bunch of mid-level guys. Let's take a look at those with the most apparent potential.

Andreas Person officiated as the go-to player for the Swedish team, despite being a 1991-born player. A pretty athletic 6-2 point guard, Person flows on the court making everything look easy. He's an elegant player, easy going, indeed a bit cold playing the game. A nice ball-handler, he can beat his opponents off the dribble on a regular basis going both ways and get to the basket showing very nice footwork and body control in the air, using both hands around the rim and being even able to finish through contact. Not a very prolific shooter, he looks inconsistent from the three-point line.

3071[c]Photo: AST.Basketball.de[/c]

Person can find open teammates, especially off slashing plays, but he didn't look like much of a distributor. Indeed he would often just take the ball up-court, pass it to a wing player and forget about the play. From time to time he would also over-dribble with no clear purpose in his actions. Actually, his decision making looks questionable, and you would like to see more leadership out of him while playing the game. He doesn't seem to care about defense at all, and ended up raising flags about his character and competitiveness.


Clearly the player with the most upside on the Israeli team was Daniel Rom, a 6-9 forward who was used as an inside player given the (perennial) lack of big men on his National Team. Well-built, nicely athletic, Rom shows good coordination and footwork, as he can deliver some interesting moves in the post or slashing towards the basket. Still very inconsistent with his jumper, he shows three-point range and some off-the-dribble mechanics from the mid-range area. He can put the ball on the floor, preferably with his right hand, but he needs to become more aggressive attacking the rim. He can finish around the basket with both hands or dunks, although he often fails to get the job done given his problems playing through contact. Indeed the biggest concern about him lies in his mental strength (seems out of focus at times) and competitiveness playing the game. He often looks soft and not very interested in what's going on on the court.


It seems like every time we see Leon Radosevic he looks a bit better, giving good credit to his hard-working reputation. This time we have to point towards his jumper, a bit more consistent than in past occasions. He regularly hit the mid-ranger and we even saw him netting some off-the-dribble attempts. He enjoys such great legs that it's easy for him to somehow balance in the air after a horizontal move. Indeed he plays regularly above the rim, showing his explosiveness and ability to easily get off the floor. The garbage man in Croatia stayed very active on both ends of the court, using his athleticism on defense (shows great mobility on this end), rebounding (he still could use better positioning), intimidation and to finish around the rim. On the negative side, his offensive skills still look pretty limited. He keeps putting the ball on the floor (perhaps not as much as we saw in L'Hospitalet), but his right-handed ball-handling skills are average at best and extremely poor with his left, while his low-post game consist in turnaround jumpers, always showing very limited footwork. He still looks like a player searching for his own style, but given the fact that he tries hard and keeps progressing, he's a very interesting guy to keep an eye on.


New Zealand came with a young big man answering by the name of Robert Loe, born in 1991, at least 6-10, skinny and very raw. He showcased some decent spot-up shooting ability up to the three-point line even if inconsistent, he eventually put the ball on the floor although with poor results, and seemed to enjoy some soft touch around the rim but lacks the strength and toughness to finish off contact. Anyway, a great immaturity is the dominating pattern in his game.

A quick summary… Shane Harris-Tunks provided inside power for Australia; he's a 6-10 strong low-post bruiser but not particularly skilled and without range in his game. His countryman Matthew Dellavedova showed great aggressiveness from the backcourt, regularly hitting his perimeter shots, emerging incisive in his game and finding his teammates off the dribble, but he's not particularly creative and doesn't look like a real point guard at this point while measuring around 6-2. The Swedish Alexander Lindqvist, born in 1991, showed some promise as a 6-8 forward with decent athleticism and a solid skill set that included shooting ability, good coordination and some nice handles. Mangisto Arop was a rebounding beast for Canada despite being only a 6-6 small forward; his superior physical set greatly helped him; however, he doesn't look particularly talented and his skill repertoire is limited, with a very poor off-the-dribble game and only a decent three-point shot to speak of. The German Femi Oladipo was a more refined version in a similar physical/athletic set; more elegant, a better ball-handler and slasher, with great footwork and control of his body, ability to finish with both hands and also a decent jumper, indeed a very nice player but quite mature already.
Let's finish with the fifth member of the All-Tournament Team, the very strong but undersized Turkish power forward Deniz Kilicli, an unorthodox inside guy who takes jumpers –and not particularly well- with his right hand and does everything else with his left; but despite his limited game and being very predictable going always left to cash off his excellent touch with that hand, few teams figured out how to stop him.

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