Eurobasket 2011: Stock Rising

[skangles]

We made it to the knockout round so it is time to look back at which players have helped their career the most during this tournament.

1) Bo McCalebb - Shout it from the roof tops, Bo McCalebb will be the poster child for how one tournament can change your career.

2) Jonas Valanciunas - He obviously had a lot of hype around him and his career plans are solidified after this summer's NBA draft. Nevertheless, in this tournament he has gone from being a talented project to a talented player with his play against competition like Noah and Krstic.

3) Basketball in Finland - Lost behind the excellent play of FYROM, we cannot forget how impressive Finland was in this tournament. It is a shame that they fell just short of the knockout round but I hope to see more from Finland in the future and in this tournament they proved that they are not just the home to Rannikko.

Who else do you tag from this tournament?

[ZEUS]

I was pretty pleased with Georgia's tenacity

A lot of unknown players for me, and they were really unlucky that Patchoulia was out with injury, they mave caused a whole lot more upsets had their squad been left intact.

I believe Italy was also a pleasant surprise too, because even if they were only built around 3 NBA players, they had a lot more clout to their game than many expected. I hope they build their team to good strength in the near future

Kostas Koufos of the Hellas NT has improved vastly, especially in his offense. Yet he still has to work on getting tougher under Hellas's basket to always grab those defensive boards and not get outmuscled by other centers. I'm sure his NBA team has been tracking his performance too and may help his career blossom further

[TeoTheGreek13]

^ +1 for Koufos!!!

Even though Montenegro was eliminated early, I think Vladimir Dasic proved his quality. He is a modern basketball forward(like Jan Vesely) standing at 2.08m and he's capable of shooting threes!!

I think he plays for Roma, so I think it's time to move on!!

Predrag Samardziski of FYROM is very good so far! He's a tall guy that knows how to control his body and I think he should be in a Euroleague team!

I also like that Russian kid, Aleksey Shved!! A good playmaker with good shot, fast, great drive and great playmaking ability. I think he will be Russia's playmaker for years!! I like him!

Mike Bramos is also having a great Eurobasket so far and I think he deserves a better club than Gran Canaria! He's the man for every job! He can play defense(his strong part), he can shoot, he can rebound, he can steal and generally he can do the dirty work!!

I was also impressed by Robin Benzing! He's a modern day small forward, 2.09, he is a very good shooter and generally good enough offensive player mainly(and in general I think) to help him make the big step in his career! I mean Euroleague!

[skangles]

Good breakdown Teo.

One player who we haven't mentioned that may be a bigger winner from this year's Eurobasket is Jasikevicius. Everybody knows his story and what he was capable of; however, after last season and being 35 I think that a lot of people had given up on him.

He has proven that he definitely still has it. While he can't play the minutes that he used to, if a team is searching for a playmaker on a one year deal, Saras is still out there. He may be one of the immediate winners from Eurobasket.

[skangles]

The Spurs should be keeping an eye on their former draft pick Nando de Colo. He has been one of the anchors of this French team.

The biggest loser of this tournament is definitely Marijonas Petravicius. Here is a list of the what Marijonas has lost because of his lung ailment:

1) The chance to represent Lithuania throughout the tournament on home soil
2) His child's birth for which he cannot even travel to meet his new baby for 2 more months
3) A multi-million dollar contract with Besiktas which has been voided due to his illness
4) The ability to exercise for 1 month in order to stay in shape to secure another club contract.

Eurobasket 2011 has been rough for him. I wish him well and hopefully things can turn around. At least they discovered his potentially fatal illness before it did more damage.

[Black Urum]

I think Nicola Batum is way up right now... can't wait to see him in EL, again.

[stefans]

Don't forget Serbian fail...

[ZEUS]

I think Nicola Batum is way up right now... can't wait to see him in EL, again.

Now there's a REAL future player for France, he exhibited mental toughness on a way higher level that what was to be expected of his age.

I'm hoping Papanikolaou will work out this way for us in the near future

[Black Urum]

Krstic, Teodosic down.

[TeoTheGreek13]

Also, a big disappointment was the almost Euroleague MVP San Emeterio.

Although he has many good teammates to cope with but even in less important games that he played more, he wasn't that good.

[ZEUS]

I also believe our young Papanikolaou had an excellent tournament for the young age he's in. I expect him to have a good Euroleague season coming up for the European basketball world to take more notice of him as time progresses

[TeoTheGreek13]

I also believe our young Papanikolaou had an excellent tournament for the young age he's in. I expect him to have a good Euroleague season coming up for the European basketball world to take more notice of him as time progresses

It was his first Eurobasket appearance and he was a starter!!

He was great, especially for his age!

He can play great defense, he grabs many offensive(and defensive of course) rebounds, he has some great moves while he's driving to the basket and he has a good shoot!!

He has future...

[skangles]

How old is he?

[ZEUS]

OK, he just turned 21, I checked

[skangles]

I didn't realize thay he was that young. Nice prospect.

[TeoTheGreek13]

I didn't realize thay he was that young. Nice prospect.

He was the MVP of U-21 Eurobasket 2009 in Rhodes, where Greece won it!!!

He was teammate with another player from our team, Sloukas!! He's a nice prospect too, lower expectations than Papanikolaou though!!!

[ZEUS]

I remember him being talked about as a hot prospect when he was 19, so he just stuck in my mind as being that age for the next two years!

But yeah, he plays with real tenacity and courage, much like you'd see in a veteran player. I hope our other really young guys will see how he's blossomed, but credit has to also go to Ivkovic for believing in him and pushing him to be on Olybiakos's starting 5. In Greece, the mentality is that at such a young age, you have to first 'ripen' your butt cheeks by sitting on the bench ad infinitum