Mirotic is averaging 13.5 ppg in 22.5 mpg in the Euroleague: Shooting percentages: 66.6 FG, 63.6 from three, 91.7 at the free-throw line. https://twitter.com/hoopshype/status/399524350325309441 Bulls fans: Nikola Mirotic had 28 points and 10 rebounds in 22 minutes today. https://twitter.com/hoopshype/status/399523904621780992
Thanks, trueblue. I don't know if it was reported here, but in the recently conducted survey of NBA GMs, more GMs (25%) named Mirotic the "Best international player not currently in the NBA" than any other player. The next highest vote-getters were Rudy Fernandez and Vassilis Spanoulis, both of whom received 14.3% of the votes.
I view Mirotic like a high-end lottery pick (say #4 or #5 overall)...could be a stud, but also could be a disappointment. As Denny alluded to, until you've actually shown you can play in the NBA, there's a chance that you can't.
Rudy was tough to watch when he played in the US and he's even harder watch now. I adopted Real during the lockout and still watch a fair number of their games. I've had to follow players who are oblivious but still decent, like Nate Robinson, and I actually liked them quite a bit. Rudy's different, it's not really obliviousness. I think he gets jealous when he sees other players make shots, and then decides to show off himself. It's not that he doesn't know what a bad shot is, he does. It's more that if he sees a teammate doing well he'll jack up bad shots to show off. Awful, awful, awful. I think I'm a little more bullish on Mirotic's potential for success than you folks. A player hasn't proven they've made the transition until they've made the transition. That being said, I have a ton more confidence in Mirotic than I do with a usual high lottery pick. The numbers tell you that he's had a series of season in which his offensive efficiency was historically good on relatively strong usage. If he's able to sustain what he's done thus far this season (currently running a PER of 36.9) he will have had the best season in the history of European basketball. My eyes tell me that Mirotic is the best stretch four on either side of the Atlantic. He's dominated NBA players in European basketball (Ersan Illyasova) and in NBA exhibitions (Zach Randolph). He's a triple threat and can take people off the dribble or back opponents down in the paint and finish with either hand. His front court partner and the guy he goes up against in practice, 7 foot beast Ioannis Bourousis, is in his prime and was offered a 3yr/12M contract by the Spurs when he wasn't. Mirotic is a good passer and works well off the ball, reads the glass well, and isn't afraid of contact. I really don't see there being much of a chance that he isn't able to make the adjustment.
My expectations for Mirotic have gone up a notch. He's gone from doing very well in the Euroleague to being the Lebron James of the Euroleague. (Or so it seems). And to use a baseball term, he seems like a "five tools" kind of player. His success would also suggest he's more likely than not to come to the Bulls soon. He's clearly accomplished all that he can over there, and he's got a lot to prove, and a big contract to get, in the NBA.
Real Madrid looks to me to be quite a bit better than a college team. I think you're looking at a team that's probably better than Utah and Sacramento. Ioannis Bourousis, the team's center, would do well for himself in the NBA. I actually wish I could see what NBA coaches would do with him offensively. Madrid's guards suck compared to NBA caliber backcourts. Rudy is a talented idiot. Their backup pg, Sergio Rodriguez, probably could make the back end of an NBA roster, but other than that I'm skeptical. Still, they were almost all draft picks so you're looking at players who, given their experience, are better than college athletes. -- There was a rumor in El Mundo today about Madrid losing Mirotic to the NBA. From AAU Teammate at RealGM: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...3/spanish-writer-wants-vesely-on-real-madrid/
FWIW I went to see the summer league games a couple years back Rudy and Sergio both played. They both looked slower and less athletic than the d leaguers and college players and NBA end of bench guys they were playing against. Sergio, in particular, was slow motion.
Yeah, I don't quite get it. I see European centers and power forwards who are interesting all the time, players that have a couple of facets of their games that might translate well to the NBA. I feel like I almost never see interesting guards in Europe. They seem weaker to me than d-leaguers, but I'm lucky enough to not have not seen enough NBDL basketball to be able to judge that.
Maybe the speed of the NBA game is really fast and the speed of the European game isn't so fast? When you compare the slower euros competing against one another, you may not be able to judge how they'd handle NBA speed. Just a thought ...
Really can't you say the same thing about even D1 college players? Our prejudice against Euros aside (and I am as guilty as anyone) college stars are shining against players 99% of whom will never sniff a dollar of pro ball at D league Euro "Big in Japan" or even pickup games at Rutger Park yet we put them on a pedestal. Maybe Mirotek is a baller maybe not but being considered the best in an ever evolving and improving pro Euroleague has to count as much as posterizing some dude from Villanova who God bless his skill and hard work is a year away from being a really tall insurance agent.
I guess what I am saying is gut reaction rather than science -- and you can't do more than that given the improbable Moo U vs Euro hypothetical --I don't know if Madrid would win or lose. I don't think the outcome is as inevitable as some might believe. I do think a decent not even the best Euro team would have its way with the bulk of D1 and a top Euro team in an NCAA bracket stands a decent chance at a deep run and could position themselves to win on a given night.
I think what you say is true, except that the really big schools recruit elite players to even redshirt. Consider 3 guys from Noah's college team were drafted in the top 10, and 5 were drafted in both rounds. 3 Guys from Ohio State in the top 21 that same season. There's 298 Division I schools, and only a couple might have multiple players drafted each season. I deliberately picked Michigan State because they're ranked #1 or #2. Currently #2, in fact.
You know, I never understand this type of argument. I predict that the worst NBA team would consistently beat the best junior high team in the country. That's a gut reaction and not science but it's right. I don't even know what science is in this conversation. There's film of every one of the games from Euroleague and the ACB online. Highlights too. That's how we're able to make evaluations. That, and the fact that European teams beat NBA teams in preseason friendlies a fair amount of time, and between 1/4 and a 1/5 of NBA players are now from Europe. I think you guys are forgetting the value of age for these rosters. You see thirty your olds fighting in the paint in European basketball and you don't get that in college or the d-league, any evaluations of talent aside.
Every NBA team is a college all-star team for sure. I don't think you can say the same for euro teams. Otherwise wouldn't we be seeing all 5 starters on one of those teams drafted every year? From a year ago: http://www.hoopsworld.com/nba-pm-how-good-are-the-europeans The truth, we found out, is that the European leagues are a lot of America’s NCAA: Draft classes tend to vary from year to year. So is this an up year or a down year for the Europeans? “It’s a down cycle right now for foreign players,” ESPN analyst and former New Mexico head coach Fran Fraschilla told HOOPSWORLD. “While there still will be five or six that are drafted in the second round, the likelihood is there’s not a lot of foreign-born kids to be excited about—even in a draft-and-stash mode.”
My sense is that SST is a lot closer to the truth here and that a middlin' Euroleague team would destroy MSU. As SST said, with Euroleague, we're talkin' grown-ass men. That same middlin' Euro team would be beaten convincingly by the Jazz in a 7-game playoff. The best Euro team would give the Jazz a better go of it, but would still come out on the short end. From what I can tell, all of our POVs are based on observation with maybe a little bias tossed in. I tried to find an article on the subject written by someone with a little more global hoops cred than us, but failed. If one of you should run across one, please feel free to share.
http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2012/11/06/mitnick-top-50-american-players-in-euroleague/ 3. Jordan Farmar, 6’2”, PG, 1986, Team: Anadolu Efes (Turkey), College: UCLA The two-time NBA champion, a former Laker, has fit in quite well in Europe with his consistent effort at both ends of the floor. His ability to get into the paint, combined with his activeness defensively, have allowed him to be one of the most effective players thus far in the Euroleague, averaging 19 pts (76.9% 3PT), 6.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists. (against grown ass men)
