By Rafal Juc
Our first article taking a look at this year’s draft-eligible European prospects, starting off with Nemanja Nedovic (’91) from Lietuvos Rytas.
Nemanja Nedovic (’91) has been on the radar since the 2008 year, when he joined senior team of Red Star Belgrade. His progression continued with solid showings at junior European Championships and Adidas Eurocamp 2011, but his true breakout since then has been still to come, mainly due to the situation with a club he was growing up. Despite being one of the most productive young players in Adriatic League, his role in Crvena Zvezda was limited only to back-up option. 21-year-old Nedovic eventually changed the environment past summer and joined competing in Euroleague Lietuvos Rytas Vilnius, signing three-year deal with Lithuanian powerhouse. Although the main reason why he chose Rytas over some other major teams (Bamber and Valencia were in the mix too), coach Aleksandar Dzikic, is already gone, Nedovic has been enjoying his first pro season as a starting figure. In his first Euroleage season Serbian prospect is a second team scorer averaging 10.4 points and 1.6 assists as well as 2.4 rebounds in 22:01 minutes per game.
Standing at 6-3’5 with a solid frame Nedovic is an excellent athlete, especially by European standards. He shows terrific explosiveness and quickness to get to the basket off the dribble, reminding Jeremy Pargo a bit, being already nicknamed “European Derrick Rose” too. He has nice lateral speed and can beat defender off the dribble easily thanks to his hesitation move, change of direction, but mainly incredible blow by quickness.
Contrary to previous years in Crvena Zvezda, where Nedovic was used to play exclusively on a shooting guard position, he is starting at the point in Lietuvos Rytas’ offense under coach Darius Maskoliunas (he runs 88% of his playing time on PG according to in-the-game.org), what has shown more defined strengths and weaknesses at the professional level. In particular these flaws remain rooted in lack of qualitative point guard’s skills, what pictures his offensive game more as a “playmaking guard” than a true playmaker. He struggles with running the game of the team smoothly and doesn’t feel too comfortable with a ball in hands in a rush or under the pressure, what has shown the Euroleague’s game against Partizan Belgrade. It seems like he will stay scoring&driving combo guard. His passing is really accurate, but neither creative nor unconventional.
Very effective in the open floor, Nedovic has been showing ability to get into the paint in transition. Highly aggressive, he knows how to create a contact at the rim, getting to the lane at a very good rate. However, playing too fast results sometimes with clashing into a traffic in the paint. Surprisingly, despite his athleticism and quick first step, he doesn’t get to the rim very often in the half-court offense, often setting for mid-range jumpers. He rarely uses his quickness to drive and dish or get involved more defenders. Playing pick&roll, he looks to create his own offense rather than making passes except when angles are closed.
Additionally, his mid-range shooting is only decent. Although his shooting instincts as a shot-maker aren’t bad, poor shot-selection affects his efficiency. Nedovic shows nice follow-through and elevates well of the floor creating separation from the defender either off the ball and catch and shoot. However, he sometimes hurries release or can’t stay stable while pulling up. On the other hand Serb sets feet pretty well, especially cutting off the screens. He’s only an average shooter from beyond the arc (35.7% in Euroleage), but this aspect of the game leaves off to be his weakness. Nonetheless 3-point shooting will determine Nedovic’s NBA potential, because thanks to better range the defense would be more focused on him.
Defensively, Nedovic is really solid, using his quickness and athleticism effectively, holding his opponents in head-to-head match-ups to really low percentage numbers (37.5 2FG% & 22.7 3FG% according to in-the-game.org). His lateral speed, quick hands and intensity are an issue for opposing ball-handlers, however in a team defense leaves much to repair - he often zones out, loses track of his man, overhelps and sometimes a concentration is lacking. Moreover, his size would limit his ability to contest shots at NBA level being matched up on shooting guard position from the opposing team.
Competing in demanding Euroleague and VTB League competitions, Nedovic’s talents are going to be on fully display for almost an entire season 2012/13 season. As 1991-born he is automatically eligible prospect and seems an intriguing option for the second round for a team looking to draft promising, still improving with not done package yet international player, allowing him to develop in Europe for couple of more years.
Photo: bc.lrytas.lt
