Top European Performers of the 2011 NBA Draft Class December 19, 2011 Drafted in the latter part of the first round due in large part to the 5-year contract extension he signed with Real Madrid after winning the Euroleague Rising Star award last season, Nikola Mirotic has been nothing short of terrific in recent months. Garnering MVP honors while guiding Spain to the U20 European Championship this summer, Mirotic led the competition in scoring at 27 points per-game and finished second in rebounding at 10 boards per-contest. Returning to Madrid for the 2011-2012 season, Mirotic has gone from being a sparkplug scorer off the bench for Real to one of the best power forwards in European basketball. Last season, Mirotic wasn't expected to be much more than garbage-time performer for the iconic club considering the depth and experience ahead of him. He surprised many by carving out of a role as arguably Etorre Messina's most consistent big man, averaging a combined 7.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in the super-competitive ACB and Euroleague. Thus far this season, Mirotic is playing 7 more minutes per-game than he did last season, but his per-40 minute numbers are nearly identical to those that he posted in his breakout season last year –quite an impressive feat. Still seeing his touches come first on the perimeter, second with his savvy movement and hustle off the ball, and third in the post, Mirotic's versatile, but highly efficient offensive game has been a big reason why his club is in first place in the most difficult group of the Euroleague and tied for first in the ACB. Mirotic is not an elite athlete and may lack a degree of NBA upside because of it, but he's playing great basketball for one of Europe's best teams and couldn't be showing too much more in the way of role-player potential for the NBA. With the departure of Rudy Fernandez, Mirotic will be called upon to step up his scoring even more on the perimeter. He's clearly a rising star in Europe who could be a significant piece for the Bulls down the road, if he's able to make it over the ocean someday. From DraftExpress.com http://www.draftexpress.com#ixzz1nCxaF7nt http://www.draftexpress.com
Are you troll-baiting me? (Noah made three smiley.) Okay, I'll bite. I don't agree with the take. Mirotic is absolutely not a Tyrus Thomas run-jump type athlete but he's really quick. It's often hard to evaluate the athleticism of young prospects (because they're too busy tripping over their own dicks, trying not to make mistakes) and European prospects (shameless plug: Why don't European players dunk?). I've watched a ton of Mirotic's games -- and all of his games this season, and it only recently struck me that he's actually a well above average athlete. He has quickness advantages every matchup. I would say that there are things that he's probably not going to be able to do in the NBA because of his size/body type/athleticism. He's a moderately built player who is 6'10'', 7'1'' reach. That makes him a size bigger than Boozer, Love, Griffin and the like, but he isn't quite big enough to consistently create post offense. If you look through the NBA there really aren't consistent post scorers who don't have consistent height advantages, and Mirotic, like Boozer, Love and Griffin, is never going to be an offensive post force. But to a certain extent this is beside the point. I don't think any length/athleticism issues provide a ceiling. Kevin Love is probably the best power forward in the game, and he's only a mediocre post defender, and a bad post scorer. If someone were to make the argument that Mirotic is the best big man shooter in the world, I'd say "interesting" not "you're fucking crazy" -- he doesn't need to be a good post scorer in the NBA to be an allstar. I want to make clear that I'm not calling Mirotic a future allstar. I have no idea how he will ultimately pan out; only, his athleticism is not going to define whether he succeeds or fails in the NBA.
I don't have the hard-on for Mirotic like SST does, so I'm not as familiar with him, but he seems a bit like Hedo Turkoglu, but maybe with a sweeter shot. It'd be great if he could come over next year. Sounds like he'd be a good fit to both Boozer and Noah.
Only seen highlights and everyone's a stud in highlight reels. From what I've read, he's a stretch-4 offensively with an extraordinary touch. Looks like he needs to develop more strength, but appears to be a willing defender and rebounder. He'll probably be a good NBA player...some day.
It seems to me that euro players flop far more than they succeed. More Sergio Rodriguez types who tear it up over there but it doesn't translate here. I'm happy we have a shot with Mirotic, but I wouldn't move players to make room for him. Maybe after he's here and we're satisfied he can do the job.
I'm also happy we have the rights to Mirotic. However, since it's unlikely he'll be coming over for at least 2 more seasons, he's not worth getting all hot and bothered over right now because we have a 27-8 team right now.
Part of the reason I'm hot and bothered is because I follow Real Madrid as a home team. People may get caught up in thinking that I believe Mirotic is going to be amazing because I talk about him a lot. I think he's a great prospect -- but more than than, I like talking about him because he plays for my second team. In regard to Denny, you can't group all European prospects together. Most of the players who go high in the draft from Europe are bad/raw on their previous teams and drafted on potential. It's no different than drafting an American college big with great physical attributes that hasn't quite rounded out their game. If you look at the European players in the NBA who are on non-minimum, non-rookie scale contracts (i.e. the European stars) you get a solid group of players: Omer Asik $1,789,250 (per year) Gustavo Ayon $1,501,867 (per year) Timofey Mozgov $3,350,473 (per year) Jeremy Pargo $1,000,000 (per year) Nikola Pekovic $4,595,000 (per year) Tiago Splitter $3,672,000 (per year) That's a hell of a list of bargain bigs, with the exception of Pargo, who is still adjusting, and isn't signed to much above the min to begin with.
Rudy Fernandez. These guys aren't raw, the NBA is just too big, too fast, too strong for them to adjust.
Rudy Fernandez is having a great year in Denver. He probably has an MLE offer waiting for him if he stays in the NBA; or he has an approximately 5.5M three year deal waiting for him in Spain. And yes, he would be an example of a European player who was a star before they're drafted. The occurrence is actually pretty rare though. And if Rudy fails, it's not because he's not big, fast or strong enough. He would fail because he doesn't make smart decisions in the flow of the game. Let's look at last year's draft: Enes Kanter; Jonas Valanciunas ; Jan Vesely; Bismack Biyombo; Nikola Mirotic; Donatas Motiejunas; Bojan Bogdanovic; Milan Macvan; Davis Bertans. All of these are potential-based draft picks with the exception of Bogdanovic, who slipped because he's not that good of a player. None of the other players were the offensive focal points of their teams at the time of the draft.
Didn't realize you've got a double interest...cool. While I'm not hot about Mirotic right now, I look forward to your reports.
