By Rafal Juc

After spending five days in London, England scouting some of the top 1995 and 1996 born prospects in European basketball at Nike International Junior Tournament finals, we report back with our thoughts. The first part contains scouting reports on the most standing out big men: Dusan Ristic (’95) from Red Star, Djoko Salic (’95) from KK Spars, Milovan Draskovic (’95) from FC Barcelona and Kingsley Okoroh (’95) from Team England.

Dusan Ristic (6-11, PF/C, Red Star, 1995)

After dominating qualification tournament in Belgrade, Dusan Ristic (’95) didn’t step in, disappearing in the crucial game of the group stage against Lietuvos Rytas. Nevertheless Serb finished the 2012/13 NIJT season with 17.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 blocks per game. With his 6-11 frame, long wingspan, feel to the game, high basketball IQ and extremely versatile skill-set Ristic cannot be viewed as anyone else but top5 prospect of his European class. In London, 6-11 big man showed nice range on his jump shoot, decent touch inside the paint and nice court-vision, moving the ball well through high-post in the half-court. Really smooth and fluid, Ristic lacks an elite explosiveness and quickness, what hurts him on pick&roll defense, in open court and at the rim. Defensively, Ristic is a game-changer with his massive wingspan, feel to the game and aggressive presence on defensive board. He guides his teammates, giving them confidence and protecting well the rim as the last one in aggressive full-court Red Star’s press defense. Offensively, Ristic is capable of creating his own inside the paint with polished post moves. His go-to move is a jump hook with either hand with unblockable arc, what makes up for his limited leaping abilities. There are some serious question marks around Ristic’s ability to translate his game for the next level, in particular about the poor level of toughness either physical and toughness, however with his intelligence and versatile skill-set Ristic should find his niche at senior level. For more detailed scouting report check here.

Djoko Salic (6-10, C, KK Spars, 1995)

Averaging in double figures, 19.3 points and 13.7 rebounds, Djoko Salic has confirmed that he belongs to the top of European 1995 generation, however the performance in London exposed his weaknesses, showing that his game is not a flawless, as it might appear after dominating qualification tournament in Rome. Standing somewhere between 6-9 and 6-10 Salic possesses extremely strong frame and is at his best establishing deep post-position. He’s really physical, doesn’t give up and is ready to give back. His strength allows him to get on less matured and weaker opponents, however his match-up with 7-feet tall Milovan Draskovic was really meaningful in terms how Salic might translate his game to the another level, where will be facing not only stronger, but also higher and longer opponents on regular basis. Against Barcelona, Salic scored his season-low 12 points struggling to shot over longer Draskovic. He committed 7 turnovers as well, showing that is not a gifted passer (only 2 assists in 7 games), while his basketball IQ leaves much to be desired. At this point Salic is aggressive interior dominator, stepping outside the paint rarely. However with a view to senior basketball he has to work on his jump shot (59.3% FTs) and adding some midrange game. Giving his heart and soul as no one else at NIJT Finals, Salic might end up as poor men’s Nikola Pekovic though. For more detailed scouting report check here.

Milovan Draskovic (7-0, PF/C, FC Barcelona, 1995)

One of the main reasons behind surprisingly positive performances of invited to London by a wild-card FC Barcelona, was undeniably Milovan Draskovic (’95). 7-footer from Montenegro is still raw offensively, skinny and struggles to hold his own defensively, however showed positive improvement over the course of this season and averaged 10.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 27:18 minutes. At this point, Draskovic’s biggest assets are his physical tools. With lanky 7-feet tall frame he has a great size for the professional basketball. In addition, he shows above average mobility for his size and is really fluid athlete, even though needs to fill out his fairly skinny frame. At 7-0 Draskovic has quite soft hands. Although he was only 44% in 2-point field goals and 1/10 from beyond the arc, Draskovic showed that possesses a room to become a reliable on his jump shot, at least within the elbow distance. Being somehow mechanical and losing a balance, Draskovic displays an ability to face-up and drive to the baseline. At this point he builds his offensive game around cutting and rolling to the rim after ball screens, showing nice quickness on his spin move and effective drop step as well. He undeniably needs to become tougher, which was obvious in the way he sets the screens. Defensively, Draskovic protects the rim well, trying to contest each shot within his reach and always going to the glass. He’s not the best weak-side defender, though, too often losing focus and falling asleep in his stance. There’s much to be done with his pick-and-roll defense too. Draskovic has a quick feet, but possesses only average lateral quickness, which effects in stepping out late to hedge on ball screen. Nevertheless, continuing his development properly, Draskovic might become the best player out of featured group. His improvement will be interesting to follow, particularly given the fact that Barcelona is a powerhouse program known for buying out already prepared prospect, but not really for developing the raw one as Draskovic.

Kingsley Okoroh (7-1, C, Team England, 1995)

Already having behind him a season in the United States in the powerhouse prep school Findlay Prep, Kingsley Okoroh (’95) was not a game changer, though, ended up averaging of 9.7 points on 48.3%, 10 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game for Team England (1-2). On the very first glance, Okoroh impresses with lanky 7-1 frame, which goes along with massive wingspan. He shows great mobility for a his size and runs well to the transition. Surprisingly, Okoroh doesn’t show a single shape of a muscle on his upper-body and is below average athlete with somehow lazy attitude - sometimes simply giving up to get back to the defense as quick as possible. His lack of strength and motor was obvious against 6-10 Djoko Salic. Despite having a size advantage, Okoroh struggled to score at a rim being bulked outside the paint and not showing polished back-to-the-basket game as well. English talent is quite raw offensively. He’s great closer in transition and finisher of drive&dish actions created by his guards, however struggles at this point to create his own offense (only 48.3% FGs). Defensively, Okoroh is above average rim protector with his huge wingspan and active hands, nevertheless on defensive glass he relies more on instinct and size advantage than his leaping abilities, what is not a surprise given his below average lift. In the same match-up with mentioned Salic, Okoroh tended to give up a space too easy, allowing smaller, but fairly stronger opponent to establish a deep post-position almost effortlessly. Okoroh seems to have a huge upside, but his improvement will depend mostly on filling out his frame and cutting down a baby fat. For no reason he’s not being recruited by high-major colleges despite his intriguing 7-1 frame and exposure given in Findlay Prep, however could develop into decent rim protector down the road.

Photo: FIBA Europe