By Eurohopes
After spending three days in Treviso, Italy scouting some of the top draft-eligible prospects in European basketball at Adidas Eurocamp 2013, we report back with our thoughts. We present our reports on the best point guards, featuring Raul Neto ('92) from Lagun Aro and Vasilije Micic ('94) from Mega Vizura.
Raul Neto (6-2, PG, Lagun Aro, 1992)
Coming off decent year, however without breakthrough improvement compared to the season before, Raul Neto was undeniably the best point guard at this year’s edition of Adidas Eurocamp. With his high-tempo, run-and-gun style Neto has left really good impression on several NBA executives. Standing at only 6-2 with shoes on and average frame, 20-year-old isn’t NBA specimen, even though he did a nice job bulking up his upper-body over the course of the past year.
On the other hand he’s NBA-type athlete with his quickness, quick first step, explosiveness and aggressiveness. Nor extremely big neither long, Neto creates high percentage shots inside the paint, particularly in transition, attacking the rim aggressively and finishing through contact. He possesses diverse arsenal of one-handed shots, headed by polished tear-drop, effective even from free-throw line. Even though he appears to feel better in open-court than half-court, Neto does a great job directing his man on a screen at pick-and-roll, using his hesitation move to separate himself from his man. In terms of playmaking, he is really creative, feeding big men mainly off simple drive-and-dish situations, however he appears to be careless sometimes and over-dribbling and turning the ball on quite high rate though. Defensively Neto shows toughness, nice footwork, quick hands and is capable of pressing his man on the ball, however due to only average length and strength, he’s easy target for stronger or higher guards inside the paint, as he gets pushed around and is easy target to score above.
Anyway, given his age (20) and two successful seasons at ACB level, Neto appears intriguing prospect, especially that his high-scoring, transition-oriented style of play would translate very well to the NBA. Improving his defense and assist/turnovers ratio, Brazilian guard could follow footsteps of his fellow countryman Marcelinho Huertas, who earns more money in ACB than could supposedly in the NBA and is considerably one of the best point guards on this side of the ocean. According to rumors circulating in Treviso, Neto might be already given a promise from some franchise with late secound round pick.
Vasilije Micic (6-4, PG, Mega Vizura, 1994)
Micic joined Serbian U19 national team only a day before Adidas Eurocamp and had a hard time adapting to his peers with already developed chemistry and complicated playbook. However 19 years old point guard exploded in the last game of the event, collecting 15 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists in only 21 minutes against Team USA.
Not an elite athlete, Micic does a great job getting to literally each spot on the court and getting by each defender with his combination of ball-handling, strength, basketball IQ and ability to play on different peace. Standing at 6-4 with bulky upper-body he possesses all necessary tools to play at the next level. Coming off his career-high season, Micic is a point guard with high understanding of the game. He operates mainly around pick-and-roll, taking advantage of a ball screen and separating himself from his man well. Micic is not a volume shooter though. He shows nice follow-through on his jumper, however sometimes rushes his release, particularly off the dribble. Given his experience and IQ, Micic is terrific playmaker, rarely turning the ball over and doing a great job controlling the tempo both in half-court and transition. When given passes the ball ahead, however he appears to feel more comfortable in half-court executing set plays or just simple pick-and-roll. Defensively, Micic shows above average awareness, good team defense and pressure on the ball, however, he often gets beaten off the dribble due to only average lateral quickness.
Micic is definitely top5 prospect of European class 1994 and the one to follow, taking into consideration that he’s going to be starting PG for Mega Vizura in their next season’s Adriatic League campaign. Without no doubt he should be on the Nike radar for the Hoop Summit 2014 game. Though he’s not a NBA-type of player, he should develop into top European PG with seasoning and proper coaching.
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