By: Francesco Cavalli
From May 25th to May 31st in Torino took place the Final Stage of DNG, the top youth competition in Italy. Stella Azzurra Academy was able to win for the first time this tournament, which featured the major part of top prospects from 1996, 1997 and 1998 generations.
Final: Stella Azzurra Roma – Pistoia Basket 2000 61-60
3rd place: Pallacanestro Biella – Assigeco Casalpusterlengo 80-57
Semifinals: Pistoia Basket 2000 – Pallacanestro Biella 62-47 ; Stella Azzurra Roma – Assigeco Casalpusterlengo 77-75 OT
Quarterfinals: Pallacanestro Biella – PMS Torino 66-55 ; Pistoia Basket 2000 – Pallacanestro Cantù 82-78; Stella Azzurra Roma – Victoria Libertas Pesaro 68-57 ; Assigeco Casalpusterlengo – Olimpia Milano 83-70
All-Tournament Team: Valerio Costa (’97 - Casalpusterlengo); Andrea La Torre (’97 - Stella Azzurra); Riccardo Rossato (’96 - Casalpusterlengo); Sandro Mamukelashvili (’99 - Biella); Luca Severini (’96 - Pistoia)
Best Coach: Cristiano Biagini (Pistoia)
GROUP A
PMS TORINO
The home team was able to win his group, but was upset by Biella in quarterfinals. They were led by Tommaso Baldasso (’98, 6’3”), a shooting guard with impressive scoring instincts and versatility. A top five talent in Italian 1998 generation, Baldasso has to increase a lot his level of effort on defense, while on offense he has still the tendency to dominate too much the ball. It seems that he’ll need to improve his overall attitude on the court to fully reach his huge potential. Under the basket Torino had a massive presence in Bulgarian center Nikolay Vangelov (’96, 7’0”), a player with strong physique, rebounding ability and soft touch around the basket. He has quite good coordination and solid overall athletic ability for a player his size, but his physical attitude resulted often in foul troubles which forced him on the bench. Point guard Allen Agbogan (’97, 6’1”) has some intriguing potential given his frame and athletic tools, even though his outside shot is still too streaky and he’ll need to improve his half-court decision making.
UMANA REYER VENEZIA
Venezia came in Torino as a frontrunner to win the tournament, but they lost in their first game against the home team and were upset by Pesaro in the play-in game for the quarterfinals. They have four of the top prospects in Italy in lefty power forward Leonardo Totè (’97, 6’10”), lefty combo-guard Riccardo Bolpin (’97, 6’4”), lefty swingman Riccardo Visconti (’98, 6’5”) and point guard Michele Antelli (’98, 6’1”). Despite a still light frame, Totè has impressive athleticism and coordination for his size, which pair greatly with his almost wing-like face-up game; he’s still not always aggressive and sometimes he just disappears during games, as he doesn’t seem to be fully aware of his outstanding potential. Bolpin, arguably the best Italian ’97-born guard behind La Torre, had a tough time in Torino, struggling a lot on the court, not looking focused and showing only some flash of his mature all-around game. A versatile player with great size for his position, defensive effort and excellent fundamentals, despite average athletic tools he’s one to keep an eye on, particularly if developed as a point guard in his pro career. Visconti is still skinny but has a nice frame to fill up and solid athletic tools, as well as uncommon offensive talent and feel for the basket: he can really score from everywhere (even though he often favours his strong hand), can make plays off the dribble and is always willing to take a big shot; but right now he’s a liability on the defensive end, always lacking effort and focus. Antelli has been a starter in his first season in Venezia despite being two years under age, and has shown impressive improvements over the season, particularly in defending the ball and cutting down turnovers. In Torino he seemed to have lost confidence in his outside shot, but showed nice leadership, court vision and passing skills.
ASSIGECO CASALPUSTERLENGO
Casalpusterlengo came in Torino as the reigning U19 champion. Despite finishing at the third spot in group A, they upset Virtus Roma and Olimpia Milano, and were almost able to beat Stella Azzurra in semifinal; all of this despite missing Daniel Donzelli, a top three Italian prospects in 1996 generation. Swingman Riccardo Rossato (’96, 6’3”) and point guard Valerio Costa (’97, 6’0”), who both ended in the All-Tournament Team, were the leaders of the team. Rossato has impressive attitude for his age, so intense, physical and vocal on the court; he doesn’t have above average athletic tools, but thanks to a really strong physique he’s able to play bigger and be a factor in all backcourt positions. The main concern about him were the frequent foul troubles he had because of his too physical attitude, which forced him on the bench. Costa also plays way bigger than his size, thanks to a muscular physique, long wingspan and big hands; an explosive player with powerful legs and great lateral speed, over the years he has improved a lot the form and consistency of his pull-up shot, which now has proper range and quickness. He’ll have to work a lot on his ability to score contested shots at the rim. Anyway the top prospect in this team is surely Serbian big man Nemanja Dincic (’98, 6’8”), who dominated most of his opponents over the whole tournament. Right now he plays more as a center, but his game could easily allow him to evolve pretty well at the power forward spot in his pro career, probably the best things to do for him as his physique looks already defined. An impressive scorer and rebounder, right now he doesn’t have the focus and the willingness to play defense. A highly intriguing swingman is Giacomo Sgorbati (’97, 6’7”), who in his first season in Casalpusterlengo has played basically from 1 to 4 on the court. He seems pretty raw in his offensive game and has still to improve his ability to create and play off the dribble, as right now he’s more comfortable in scoring on spot-up shots or post-up possessions, but has excellent ball skills and good frame and athleticism to work on.
PALLACANESTRO PALESTRINA
Palestrina was by far the less talented team of the tournament, and they were crushed by an average of 28 points over three games, scoring 0,8 points per possession while allowing 1,15. The only prospect who seemed to have above average tools was power forward Giovanni Poggi (’97, 6’9”), an hustle player with great slashing ability. He’ll need to improve his outside shot, make better decisions with the ball and learn how to stay away from foul troubles, but this past season he was still physically growing and was playing his very first season in Palestrina, so he seems to still have a fairly good upside.
GROUP B
PALLACANESTRO CANTU’
Not overly talented, on the court Cantù appeared as one of the most solid teams and they showed to be able to take huge advantage from an above average length and physicality, particularly among guards. Luca Cesana (’97, 6’4”) is the one who stands the most in their roster: a tall, long point guard who can also play off the ball, with good court vision and passing instincts, he has an aggressive mentality and is always ready to take a big shot, being the de facto emotional leader of the team. His attitude has some woes, as he seems often to be too much focused on himself, but nonetheless he’s a really intriguing prospect. He’ll need to work on his pull-up shot, which doesn’t look much improved over the last two seasons, and increase his defensive focus off the ball. Another good player is Curtis Nwohuocha (’97, 6’8”), a center with great physical and athletic tools but still hampered by a low basketball IQ. He was a key factor for the team because of his offensive rebounding ability and athletic impact on defense, but he’ll need to work on his decision making, shot selection and defensive team fundamentals.
EUROBASKET VIRTUS ROMA
Eurobasket Roma, which runs the youth program of Serie A team Virtus Roma, was one of the most tough, hard-nosed teams in Torino, and displayed a couple of intriguing prospects. Gabriele Romeo (’97, 6’1”) was the leader of the team and the top scorer of the tournament, averaging 19 points per game while shooting with a 52,2% eFG and using around 30% of team’s possessions: an undersized combo-guard, he has wide shoulders and a really strong physique which allows him to play way bigger; sometimes he just goes out of control and keeps too much the ball in his hands, but he’s an impressive scorer at both guard spots, with nice form in his pull-up shot and the strength and aggressiveness to attack the rim with ease. Small forward Davide Alviti (’96, 6’7”) still struggles to create off the dribble and has to fill up his still light frame, but has excellent athletic tools, quick feet on defense and can constantly hit threes with his feet set, he could evolve in an interesting pro forward.
VICTORIA LIBERTAS PESARO
Small forward Michele Serpilli (’99, 6’7”) averaged 15.2 points per game but left as always mixed impressions, as he took 60% of his shots from beyond the arc and registered only a 11,7% free throw rate: he’s a deadly shooter who never hesitates in taking a shot, has great feel for the basket, quick release and deep range. Can comfortably hit in catch and shoot or after a fake or a couple of dribbles, but still doesn’t appear to be able to create off the dribble despite having really good ball fundamentals. He had to defend mainly the power forward spot, not his natural position, but nonetheless his soft attitude and defensive woes were once again often a concern. Being still only a 16-year old player playing a U19 competition, he has already impressive maturity and lot of time to reach his big time potential, but he’ll surely need to work on his attitude and be more aggressive on the court while not just settling on threes. Shooting guard Brandon Solazzi (’97, 6’2”) struggled a lot in the tournament because he had to play mostly at the point guard spot: being a scorer with poor playmaking skills, he averaged 4.2 turnovers per game and was often forced to settle on pull-up shots, while right now he’s at his best when he can shoot off the catch. Anyway, he had once again a solid showing on the defensive end thanks to his length, athleticism and level of effort, and also hit the most important shot of the tournament with a buzzer beater against Virtus Roma, a shot that ultimately allowed his team to finish third in group B. A key player for Pesaro was tough undersized center Riccardo Rosa (’96, 6’7”): one of the best rebounders in the tournament, particularly on the offensive end, he crushed Venezia’s big men on the glass to propel the upset. He’ll need to improve his pick-and-roll defense, but despite being undersized his game translates really well to the European pro level, thanks to his rebounding prowess, pick-and-roll awareness and efficiency on cuts.
JUNIOR CASALE MONFERRATO
Casale Monferrato was not at his best in the tournament, and they weren’t able to qualify for the second stage after being crushed by Eurobasket Roma in the third game. Power forward Eric Ruiu (’96, 6’6”), arguably their best player, suffered a broken nose just before the tournament and had to play with a mask. He didn’t look fully comfortable in playing through contacts and struggled to fight in the paint, but still looked pretty good in his face-up game and despite being undersized looks like a legit prospect because of his ability to play both face and back to the basket. Center Luca Rattalino (’97, 6’8”) was the most solid player of the team and a major threat inside the paint: a tough, physical big man who loves to play through contacts, he was able to score with ease under the basket and regularly go to the free throw line despite an increased number of possessions to handle, and over three games he averaged 16.3 points per game shooting 63% from the field.
Photo: Italbasket
From May 25th to May 31st in Torino took place the Final Stage of DNG, the top youth competition in Italy. Stella Azzurra Academy was able to win for the first time this tournament, which featured the major part of top prospects from 1996, 1997 and 1998 generations.
Final: Stella Azzurra Roma – Pistoia Basket 2000 61-60
3rd place: Pallacanestro Biella – Assigeco Casalpusterlengo 80-57
Semifinals: Pistoia Basket 2000 – Pallacanestro Biella 62-47 ; Stella Azzurra Roma – Assigeco Casalpusterlengo 77-75 OT
Quarterfinals: Pallacanestro Biella – PMS Torino 66-55 ; Pistoia Basket 2000 – Pallacanestro Cantù 82-78; Stella Azzurra Roma – Victoria Libertas Pesaro 68-57 ; Assigeco Casalpusterlengo – Olimpia Milano 83-70
All-Tournament Team: Valerio Costa (’97 - Casalpusterlengo); Andrea La Torre (’97 - Stella Azzurra); Riccardo Rossato (’96 - Casalpusterlengo); Sandro Mamukelashvili (’99 - Biella); Luca Severini (’96 - Pistoia)
Best Coach: Cristiano Biagini (Pistoia)
GROUP A
PMS TORINO
The home team was able to win his group, but was upset by Biella in quarterfinals. They were led by Tommaso Baldasso (’98, 6’3”), a shooting guard with impressive scoring instincts and versatility. A top five talent in Italian 1998 generation, Baldasso has to increase a lot his level of effort on defense, while on offense he has still the tendency to dominate too much the ball. It seems that he’ll need to improve his overall attitude on the court to fully reach his huge potential. Under the basket Torino had a massive presence in Bulgarian center Nikolay Vangelov (’96, 7’0”), a player with strong physique, rebounding ability and soft touch around the basket. He has quite good coordination and solid overall athletic ability for a player his size, but his physical attitude resulted often in foul troubles which forced him on the bench. Point guard Allen Agbogan (’97, 6’1”) has some intriguing potential given his frame and athletic tools, even though his outside shot is still too streaky and he’ll need to improve his half-court decision making.
UMANA REYER VENEZIA
Venezia came in Torino as a frontrunner to win the tournament, but they lost in their first game against the home team and were upset by Pesaro in the play-in game for the quarterfinals. They have four of the top prospects in Italy in lefty power forward Leonardo Totè (’97, 6’10”), lefty combo-guard Riccardo Bolpin (’97, 6’4”), lefty swingman Riccardo Visconti (’98, 6’5”) and point guard Michele Antelli (’98, 6’1”). Despite a still light frame, Totè has impressive athleticism and coordination for his size, which pair greatly with his almost wing-like face-up game; he’s still not always aggressive and sometimes he just disappears during games, as he doesn’t seem to be fully aware of his outstanding potential. Bolpin, arguably the best Italian ’97-born guard behind La Torre, had a tough time in Torino, struggling a lot on the court, not looking focused and showing only some flash of his mature all-around game. A versatile player with great size for his position, defensive effort and excellent fundamentals, despite average athletic tools he’s one to keep an eye on, particularly if developed as a point guard in his pro career. Visconti is still skinny but has a nice frame to fill up and solid athletic tools, as well as uncommon offensive talent and feel for the basket: he can really score from everywhere (even though he often favours his strong hand), can make plays off the dribble and is always willing to take a big shot; but right now he’s a liability on the defensive end, always lacking effort and focus. Antelli has been a starter in his first season in Venezia despite being two years under age, and has shown impressive improvements over the season, particularly in defending the ball and cutting down turnovers. In Torino he seemed to have lost confidence in his outside shot, but showed nice leadership, court vision and passing skills.
ASSIGECO CASALPUSTERLENGO
Casalpusterlengo came in Torino as the reigning U19 champion. Despite finishing at the third spot in group A, they upset Virtus Roma and Olimpia Milano, and were almost able to beat Stella Azzurra in semifinal; all of this despite missing Daniel Donzelli, a top three Italian prospects in 1996 generation. Swingman Riccardo Rossato (’96, 6’3”) and point guard Valerio Costa (’97, 6’0”), who both ended in the All-Tournament Team, were the leaders of the team. Rossato has impressive attitude for his age, so intense, physical and vocal on the court; he doesn’t have above average athletic tools, but thanks to a really strong physique he’s able to play bigger and be a factor in all backcourt positions. The main concern about him were the frequent foul troubles he had because of his too physical attitude, which forced him on the bench. Costa also plays way bigger than his size, thanks to a muscular physique, long wingspan and big hands; an explosive player with powerful legs and great lateral speed, over the years he has improved a lot the form and consistency of his pull-up shot, which now has proper range and quickness. He’ll have to work a lot on his ability to score contested shots at the rim. Anyway the top prospect in this team is surely Serbian big man Nemanja Dincic (’98, 6’8”), who dominated most of his opponents over the whole tournament. Right now he plays more as a center, but his game could easily allow him to evolve pretty well at the power forward spot in his pro career, probably the best things to do for him as his physique looks already defined. An impressive scorer and rebounder, right now he doesn’t have the focus and the willingness to play defense. A highly intriguing swingman is Giacomo Sgorbati (’97, 6’7”), who in his first season in Casalpusterlengo has played basically from 1 to 4 on the court. He seems pretty raw in his offensive game and has still to improve his ability to create and play off the dribble, as right now he’s more comfortable in scoring on spot-up shots or post-up possessions, but has excellent ball skills and good frame and athleticism to work on.
PALLACANESTRO PALESTRINA
Palestrina was by far the less talented team of the tournament, and they were crushed by an average of 28 points over three games, scoring 0,8 points per possession while allowing 1,15. The only prospect who seemed to have above average tools was power forward Giovanni Poggi (’97, 6’9”), an hustle player with great slashing ability. He’ll need to improve his outside shot, make better decisions with the ball and learn how to stay away from foul troubles, but this past season he was still physically growing and was playing his very first season in Palestrina, so he seems to still have a fairly good upside.
GROUP B
PALLACANESTRO CANTU’
Not overly talented, on the court Cantù appeared as one of the most solid teams and they showed to be able to take huge advantage from an above average length and physicality, particularly among guards. Luca Cesana (’97, 6’4”) is the one who stands the most in their roster: a tall, long point guard who can also play off the ball, with good court vision and passing instincts, he has an aggressive mentality and is always ready to take a big shot, being the de facto emotional leader of the team. His attitude has some woes, as he seems often to be too much focused on himself, but nonetheless he’s a really intriguing prospect. He’ll need to work on his pull-up shot, which doesn’t look much improved over the last two seasons, and increase his defensive focus off the ball. Another good player is Curtis Nwohuocha (’97, 6’8”), a center with great physical and athletic tools but still hampered by a low basketball IQ. He was a key factor for the team because of his offensive rebounding ability and athletic impact on defense, but he’ll need to work on his decision making, shot selection and defensive team fundamentals.
EUROBASKET VIRTUS ROMA
Eurobasket Roma, which runs the youth program of Serie A team Virtus Roma, was one of the most tough, hard-nosed teams in Torino, and displayed a couple of intriguing prospects. Gabriele Romeo (’97, 6’1”) was the leader of the team and the top scorer of the tournament, averaging 19 points per game while shooting with a 52,2% eFG and using around 30% of team’s possessions: an undersized combo-guard, he has wide shoulders and a really strong physique which allows him to play way bigger; sometimes he just goes out of control and keeps too much the ball in his hands, but he’s an impressive scorer at both guard spots, with nice form in his pull-up shot and the strength and aggressiveness to attack the rim with ease. Small forward Davide Alviti (’96, 6’7”) still struggles to create off the dribble and has to fill up his still light frame, but has excellent athletic tools, quick feet on defense and can constantly hit threes with his feet set, he could evolve in an interesting pro forward.
VICTORIA LIBERTAS PESARO
Small forward Michele Serpilli (’99, 6’7”) averaged 15.2 points per game but left as always mixed impressions, as he took 60% of his shots from beyond the arc and registered only a 11,7% free throw rate: he’s a deadly shooter who never hesitates in taking a shot, has great feel for the basket, quick release and deep range. Can comfortably hit in catch and shoot or after a fake or a couple of dribbles, but still doesn’t appear to be able to create off the dribble despite having really good ball fundamentals. He had to defend mainly the power forward spot, not his natural position, but nonetheless his soft attitude and defensive woes were once again often a concern. Being still only a 16-year old player playing a U19 competition, he has already impressive maturity and lot of time to reach his big time potential, but he’ll surely need to work on his attitude and be more aggressive on the court while not just settling on threes. Shooting guard Brandon Solazzi (’97, 6’2”) struggled a lot in the tournament because he had to play mostly at the point guard spot: being a scorer with poor playmaking skills, he averaged 4.2 turnovers per game and was often forced to settle on pull-up shots, while right now he’s at his best when he can shoot off the catch. Anyway, he had once again a solid showing on the defensive end thanks to his length, athleticism and level of effort, and also hit the most important shot of the tournament with a buzzer beater against Virtus Roma, a shot that ultimately allowed his team to finish third in group B. A key player for Pesaro was tough undersized center Riccardo Rosa (’96, 6’7”): one of the best rebounders in the tournament, particularly on the offensive end, he crushed Venezia’s big men on the glass to propel the upset. He’ll need to improve his pick-and-roll defense, but despite being undersized his game translates really well to the European pro level, thanks to his rebounding prowess, pick-and-roll awareness and efficiency on cuts.
JUNIOR CASALE MONFERRATO
Casale Monferrato was not at his best in the tournament, and they weren’t able to qualify for the second stage after being crushed by Eurobasket Roma in the third game. Power forward Eric Ruiu (’96, 6’6”), arguably their best player, suffered a broken nose just before the tournament and had to play with a mask. He didn’t look fully comfortable in playing through contacts and struggled to fight in the paint, but still looked pretty good in his face-up game and despite being undersized looks like a legit prospect because of his ability to play both face and back to the basket. Center Luca Rattalino (’97, 6’8”) was the most solid player of the team and a major threat inside the paint: a tough, physical big man who loves to play through contacts, he was able to score with ease under the basket and regularly go to the free throw line despite an increased number of possessions to handle, and over three games he averaged 16.3 points per game shooting 63% from the field.
Photo: Italbasket
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