Gezim Morina ('92) -at the pic- and Erjon Kastarati ('94) came to Ljubljana in summer 2008 and immediately attracted attention of coaches, first in Slovenia and later in Europe. We are talking about the kids who left home early and came to "new" world. They are both highly motivated players with usual teenage problems but dedicated to basketball and hard work. They are very popular among teammates and have a lot of positive energy. Since Kosovo is not member of FIBA yet, they don't play for young categories, but are participants of Slovenian basketball association "National program" and both consider the possibility to become slovenians and play for Slovenian national teams. I worked with both players during 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons and I have to say they are on the right path to become good players.
Gezim Morina was born in small town called Suva Reka, late in december of '92. He speaks English and learns to speak Slovenian too. He is student of EuroSchool in Ljubljana, and member of Union Olimpija junior team and LTH Cast Mercator in Telemach league. Morina had debut in Olimpija's shirt at u-16 team scoring 40 points in a game versus Radovljica. Later this season he was the best player of u-16 team (was chosen in all-tournament team of F4 national u-16 championship) and starting power forward in u-18 team. He led his u-17 team to victory at "Memorial Barila 2009" in Varese-Italy and was important piece of u-18 team at NIJT in Rome and Belgrade and finally attracted attention of many international scouts and coaches (Dusan Ivkovic among others) at Euroleague NIJT F8 in Berlin 2009. Early in autumn of 2009 Efes Pilsen showed big interest to bring Morina to Istanbul but buy-out was to high and he stayed in Ljubljana. But even better season for him was 2009-10 when he won Slovenian u-18 championship and shined at International tournament in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and even more at qualifying NIJT in London (february 2010), earning MVP award and led his Union Olimpija junior team (he finished the final game against USK Future stars with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 34 ranking) to NIJT F8 in Paris. Right after the win in London thunderbolts came: he injured his back and had many problems in school and personal life. When he overcame all troubles, just before NIJT F8, he injured his ankle (at preparation tournament in Pula) and his performance in Paris was huge disappointment for all, including me, himself and all scouts.
During summer of 2010 he recovered and now he is on his way, back to "glory" days. At the moment he is go-to guy (alongside with Jan Span and Dorde Micic) of Union Olimpija junior team and plays pretty good for LTH Cast Mercator in 1st Slovenian division, averaging 7 points and 3 rebounds in 18 minutes on the floor. He had two very good games: in 1st round against Geoplin Slovan (16 points, 4 rebounds) and in last round against MB Messer (12 points, 6 rebounds), but he is still very inconsistent at the moment. Morina is natural born fighter (but unstable sometimes) with very good sense and feeling for basketball. He has nice height and wing-span for power forward position (204 cm) but has some problems with over-weight. He is not explosive enough but lately he uses also dunks to finish actions. He has good body to develop quality muscle structure. He is not extremely fast, he has great static power and strength and is well coordinated. He lacks good dribbling and passing, but has very good shot technique and great back-to-the-basket moves, when we talk about basketball technique in general. He needs to develop his tactical knowledge and be more focused. In offense he can run pretty good (he has to work on in the future) in fast-break or transition as first or second trailer and can bring the ball into offensive end by himself as ballhandler. He can finish hard in the paint, he can shoot 3-pointer, he can make good hand-offs and play good pick'n'roll in transition. His penetration is not good, since his first step is not fast enough, but is very inventive in the paint and in traffic when he beat his opponent. Talking about his shot, I must say that he is good spot-up shooter from behind the arc, from high-post position and from wing position, but his release is too slow and he needs to work on faster and higher release. He barely shoot from the dribble but he is very good shooter when it comes to pick'n'pop situations.
His back-to-the-basket game is perfect. He can use all his moves (spin moves, hook shots) with both hands and both sides against taller and faster opponents. When he is in the paint he is almost unstoppable using his pivoting skills and fakes. Nevertheless he won't use this moves a lot in senior high-level basketball, so he must focus more on face-to-the-basket game. He is good screener when it comes to pick'n'roll (pop) game. He is late sometimes but overall impression is very good. He can roll good and fast with hands up and can catch the ball at right position but he is even much better and more dangerous in pop situations where he can use his 3-point shot. He can follow guard's penetrations extremely good and he can use good assists when he finds perfect place in the paint. He follows it mainly from baseline in very low body position. His perimeter spacing is not so good and many times he finds himself on wrong place at wrong time. Morina has nice feeling for passing and he can make nice assist (he is good in high-low, center-center game) but his passes are still not fast enough and technically perfect. His offensive rebounding is good and he can find good space to rebound but sometimes he is just not focused enough to do it. When we talk defence of Gezim Morina, we can talk about how to develop this part of his game on higher level. He is late in defensive transition and sometimes he just watches his man and does not care about others. He needs to be faster and smarter. He has no problem with boxing-out and defensive rebounding since he is strong and has feeling to rebound, and also has nice wing-span. He can easily guard taller opponents under the basket but needs to work on denying passes and ¾ front defence.
His weakness is 1:1 defence from high-post or perimeter position. His lateral movement is to slow and he is easily beaten. He showed sometimes that he can be good 1:1 defender but he lacks consistent in it. In pick'n'roll situations he can defend all ways but he is the best in "zoning" and has some problems with quick and aggressive "showing". Switching is not the option at the moment. He understands main principles of helping and rotating but his problem could be focus and speed. In case Morina will develop his physical attributes (become faster and more explosive) and work on focusing, he could become player to watch in next seasons. I'm sure he can play Maèvan (or Felipe Reyes) style of basketball. This is the season when Morina should make an impact in Slovenian league and become stable. It could be his break-out season.
Erjon Kastrati came to Ljubljana as 14 years old kid (last year of elementary school) and it was not easy for him to addapt. His native town is Pristina and was born late in december of 1994. Now he studies at EuroSchool and learning to speak Slovenian fluidly. In his first year in Ljubljana he played for u-14 team (he led his team to championship 2008 and was chosen to all-tournament team) and "B" u-16 team of Union Olimpija. He had many health problems and at one time he already went back home and finished career due to heart problem (later doctors said it was a medical mistake and was not very dangerous), but returned to Ljubljana late in october 2008. His break-out season was 2009-10. He played for u-16 team and finished 3rd in Slovenija and had many good games in u-18 team, playing with 2 years older guys. He was member of starting 5 in u-18 Union Olimpija NIJT team in London and Paris, averaging 4.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg and 1.8 apg in 18 and a half minutes on the court. He participated at JBC Europe 2009 and also at some other camps all over Europe. This season he is "go-to guy" in u-16 team and young team of Union Olimpija in 2nd Slovenian division. During his days in Ljubljana he had some problems with ankle and back injury, but it is nothing serious. He is very polite, well grown young man and I must say that he is the hardest working player I ever worked with. At every practice he is 100% focused and works all things in game speed, he likes to stay in the gym after practice and he is determined to become good player. He communicates with coaches and players all the time and tries to lift his skills on higher level. His negative thing is that sometimes he is just not daring enough in positive way.
His body and figure in general is ideal for shooting guard position. He is 198 cm high, has long arms and great physical attributes. He is fast and explosive, and can jump very high. He needs some weight to become stronger but this is not problem considering his age. His techinique of elementary basketball things are good, he has great shooting technique but he needs to work a lot on his dribbling and passing skills. He is also very good tactically for his age and he is learning from day to day. He is very good in transition game as wing man because he can run fast and has good timing. He can finish fast-break opportunities with nice 2-point jumper from the wing or he can go all the way and dunk. He is not so good as ballhandler since his pasing skills and decision making are still in progress. His trademark should be strong and effective penetration. He has very good and low triple-threat position and fast first step. He can use also body fakes and cross-overs from the dribble and he can go left or right. In the paint he can finish and even dunk with both hands. He prefers to drive baseline. Nevertheless, he still needs to work on decision making and fakes. His shot is just great. His vertical jump is very good and has quick and high release. He can shoot from all positions in all ways and situations. He needs to use screens better and overcome some problems with self-confident in the future. He tries to play back-to-the-basket when he finds himself in miss-match positions and I must admit that he is successful and better every day but has to see also perimeter players to pass when he is in troubles.
He has a lot of space to develop his pick'n'roll game. He is not using screens good, he is to high in the knees and he is dangerous just by himself. He barely sees his teammates in pick'n'roll situations but I'm sure that he will be better in the future. His spacing is OK since he worked a lot on this aspect and has good sense for following action of other players on the floor. He follows it in very low position and is ready to catch and shoot (or penetrate) in every moment. As I said his passing skills are not perfect but he has feeling to make outstanding assist. He could become very unsecure after one turnover but he will develop his decision making and security in the future for sure. One of his best attributes is offensive rebound. He is focused and has skills to go hard in the paint and grab the ball high. He is using his wing-span and jumping skills but he needs to be even more aggressive and could become real danger when we talk about rebounding. In defence he has one bad habit-his defensive stand is not good. He is staying on heels to much and he has problems with balance and reaction. Other than that he is perfect defensive player. He is good in defensive transition and he knows principles of sprinting back and defending the paint. He can box-out very good and rebound, but has some problems with very aggressive rebounders from time to time. He can guard players in the paint and can be very aggressive in full-court defences. He uses his speed and long arms for forcing turnovers of opponents.
His lateral movement is very good but he needs to overcome bad habit from above (staying on heels). He is very good and aggressive in pick'n'roll defence where he can also switch. He is not afraid to make contact and he can follow his man through screens. His will to play defence is huge and that is very important when we talk about going forward and playing on higher senior level I'm sure he is one of the top prospects in Europe on SG position in his generation, but he needs to overcome healt problems, he needs to develop his decision making and be more self-confident and aggressive. His idol is LeBron James but his style of play reminds me on Rudy Fernandez of Portland Trailblazers.
I heard that in Kosovo there are more players with great will to work and win, with great physical skills and maybe Kosovo could become new "El Dorado" for scouts all over the world.
