By Eurohopes
The emergence of Bojan Dubljevic (’91) as a leading figure for Eurocup’s Valencia, even taking into consideration his successful stint with Montenegrin national team during EuroBasket 2013 qualifications, was the main storyline of the 2012/13 season among auto-eligible European prospects. Is Dulbjevic skilled enough to be drafted despite his only average physical profile?
After putting 12.2 points on 42.1% from beyond the arc, 6.5 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in a starting role for unbeaten (12-0) Montenegrin national team in EuroBasket 2013 qualifications, Dubljevic seemed a legit prospect, however not many believed he could right of the bat become a major impact for competitive ACB team from Valencia. Nevertheless injuries of two centers, namely Vitor Faverani and Sergei Lishouk, forced coach Velimir Parasoviæ to use 21 years old big men on higher rate than he might expect. Dubljevic’s adjustment to demanding ACB play style went smoothly and youngster from Montenegro turned out extremely effective in his starting role jumping into top5 of best per-minute scorer in the league, eventually averaging 11.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.3 blocks in 19.9 minutes per game after 23 rounds of ACB.
Auto-eligible big men does not overwhelm with his physical profile, being clearly undersized standing at 6-8’5 without shoes with an average 7-1 wingspan. He is not an impressive athlete even by European standards, running the court awkwardly, moving a bit mechanically, not showing outstanding leaping abilities and being really heavy on his feet. On the other hand, he is in his best in “undersized-stretch-center” role, where makes up for his size fighting relentlessly for a position on the low-post. Anyway, he impresses with high intensity, more than average motor and real toughness, setting big and wild screens, diving to the floor and simply giving his best in each play.
Offensively, as already said, Dubljevic is in his best being matched up on center position by opposing teams, what was the main factor behind his successful beginning of the season. Making 45.5% of his threes in ACB, Montenegrin forward stretches the floor, pushing opposing center outside the paint to space better for his motion-offense-oriented Valencia team in 4-1 line-up, particularly during Faverani’s and Lishouk’s injuries (used to play together with Mickael Gelable or next to Justin Doellman in up-front) with Dubljevic as only - anyway somehow faked - interior player. The key to his effectiveness is high basketball IQ and superb shot selection. Dubljevic is really versatile finisher of ball screens, displaying an abilities to roll aggressively and pop out to knock down spot-up jumper with his sweet stroke. Down below, he displays really simple post moves, finishing mostly with jump-hook with either hand. However, most of his job in the post is done before receiving a ball, while Dubljevic knows how to use his 242-pound frame and fights really hard to establish deep post-position. Moreover, he is below-the-basket finisher, relying more on timing and smartness than leaping abilities. All in all, 21-year-old is really fundamentally sound, reliable, skilled and competitive, so offensively there is no doubt he is able to find his niche in some NBA team under half-court-oriented coach down the road.
Defensively, is the area where the most question marks around Dubljevic appear. He is neither long enough to protect the rim on the NBA level nor speed laterally enough to contain more athletic NBA power forwards outside the paint. Playing alongside either Faverani or Lishouk, Dubljevic has been struggling recently to held his own in front of quicker opponents on power forward position, playing only 44 minutes in total in last 3 ACB games, mainly due to falling early into foul-trouble (committed 3,3 and 4 fouls in those games respectively). To be accurate, most of his struggle comes in pick-and-roll situations. Quite heavy on his feet and only average quick laterally, Dubljevic tries to show the ball vertically and contain aggressively the ball handler, but in most of the possessions is late while coming back to his own man, forcing rotation or falling into mis-matches with guards. Despite being really precise in boxing-out, Montenegrin forward does not possess necessary length neither jumping abilities to crash the glass on the highest floor, grabbing less than 10% of the team rebounds with him on the court.
Promising and really effective beginning in the reliable ACB and Eurocup competitions has brought in Dubljevic’s NBA stock to unquestionable second-round choice as a wait-and-see pick for decent team. The best option would be allowing him to develop in Spain (still 2 more years of contract with Valencia remaining) in order to learn his own game at senior level, become smarter and more experienced. Certainly one of the front-offices will think - if Dubljevic in age of 21 was already top5 player of strong ACB in term of effectiveness and scoring per minute, what his ceiling is?
