By Darko Ivanovic
Final 4 tournament of Junior League is over and the new champion is KK Partizan. In the final, the new champion beat KK Crvena Zvezda 51 to 48. For the third place Mega Leks won KK Jagodina 68 to 61. All the lights were over main players who are well known to almost everyone who loves basketball (Borisa Simanic ('98), Aleksa Radanov ('98), Vanja Marinkovic ('97), Slobodan Jovanovic ('97), Aleksa Uskokovic ('99), Novak Music ('98), Marko Pecarski ('00) and Nikola Miskovic ('99)) but today we focus on players who showed talent but are not widely known to casual basketball fan.
Mladen Grusanovic (1997, 6'8 - 202 cm.) was the "go to" player for KK Jagodina. He plays position 2 and 3. He likes to come off screens where his main source of shots come from. If he is not open he is able to put the ball on the floor and beat defense by dribble. He has very quick first step, where he gets separation from defender. Mladen is lefty and his dribbles are often with his strong hand. His basketball IQ is high and his body language on court is excellent. If he receives the ball at low post he reads the game well. On smaller defender he always tries to post him up, if not he passes the ball to the open man. His footwork is solid and has no problem in mismatches against smaller and quicker players in defense. This year he played Serbian first league and if he wants to move to next level his shot must be more constant.
Luka Vulikic (1997, 6’5 - 196 cm.) is from same team, KK Jagodina, and he plays position 1. He is good ball handler and likes to push the ball. Big part of the points he scores comes from fast break, where he is aggressive. He likes to play tough and does not avoid contact and when he is guarded by smaller point guard he uses his height advantage to post him up. Luka is long and has good defensive movement. Like Mladen, he was part of KK Jagodina first team, and for the next level he needs to shoot better. His shooting form is solid but his confidence is not high, that is reason why he is not constant in this part of the game. For point guard he needs to share ball faster and more often. On this year final tournament sometimes in fast break he had chance to pass in 2 on 1 situations but he decided to finish.
This year the final four tournament showed big deficit of skilled players on position 5. Except Pecarski, there was not much players who showed low post game and most bigs were playing outside. That raise the question if in this level there is no one who can play down low, what can we expect from them on senior level? Uros Plavsic (’98) from Mega Leks is 6’11 - 210 cm. with long arms and at this moment his game is more focused on outside shooting. He needs to improve on dribble penetration if he wants to explore his shot from perimeter. At low post there is still much to do, his footwork must improve if he wants to play on higher level. He is active from weekside in defense and most of his blocked shots came from this area.
Another big that has much to prove next year is Stefan Djordjevic (1998, 6’10 - 208 cm.). He is very athletic but lack of skills and playing experience. He came this season to KK Crvena Zvezda and we believe that in this system he will improve fast. He needs to work for start on his shooting form and his footwork. Stefan has solid rebounding touch and instinct for the ball and it should be good start to begin with. Another player from Crvena Zvezda is worth mentioning is the captain Ivan Corovic (1998, 6’5 - 196 cm.) who play on position 2 and 3. His main weapon is dribble penetration and fast break. He has good defense 1 on 1 and with his strong body at the moment he can guard from 1 to 4. To go to the first team he needs to improve his shooting mechanics and accuracy. Dribble is another field where Luka has room to be better. He is using much more right hand than left but with his mindset he can accomplish everything he wants if he put hours in practice during offseason. Luka is type of player that every coach wants in his team: hard working, high energy player and with great determination to win.
Photo: takmicenje.kss.rs
Final 4 tournament of Junior League is over and the new champion is KK Partizan. In the final, the new champion beat KK Crvena Zvezda 51 to 48. For the third place Mega Leks won KK Jagodina 68 to 61. All the lights were over main players who are well known to almost everyone who loves basketball (Borisa Simanic ('98), Aleksa Radanov ('98), Vanja Marinkovic ('97), Slobodan Jovanovic ('97), Aleksa Uskokovic ('99), Novak Music ('98), Marko Pecarski ('00) and Nikola Miskovic ('99)) but today we focus on players who showed talent but are not widely known to casual basketball fan.
Mladen Grusanovic (1997, 6'8 - 202 cm.) was the "go to" player for KK Jagodina. He plays position 2 and 3. He likes to come off screens where his main source of shots come from. If he is not open he is able to put the ball on the floor and beat defense by dribble. He has very quick first step, where he gets separation from defender. Mladen is lefty and his dribbles are often with his strong hand. His basketball IQ is high and his body language on court is excellent. If he receives the ball at low post he reads the game well. On smaller defender he always tries to post him up, if not he passes the ball to the open man. His footwork is solid and has no problem in mismatches against smaller and quicker players in defense. This year he played Serbian first league and if he wants to move to next level his shot must be more constant.
Luka Vulikic (1997, 6’5 - 196 cm.) is from same team, KK Jagodina, and he plays position 1. He is good ball handler and likes to push the ball. Big part of the points he scores comes from fast break, where he is aggressive. He likes to play tough and does not avoid contact and when he is guarded by smaller point guard he uses his height advantage to post him up. Luka is long and has good defensive movement. Like Mladen, he was part of KK Jagodina first team, and for the next level he needs to shoot better. His shooting form is solid but his confidence is not high, that is reason why he is not constant in this part of the game. For point guard he needs to share ball faster and more often. On this year final tournament sometimes in fast break he had chance to pass in 2 on 1 situations but he decided to finish.
This year the final four tournament showed big deficit of skilled players on position 5. Except Pecarski, there was not much players who showed low post game and most bigs were playing outside. That raise the question if in this level there is no one who can play down low, what can we expect from them on senior level? Uros Plavsic (’98) from Mega Leks is 6’11 - 210 cm. with long arms and at this moment his game is more focused on outside shooting. He needs to improve on dribble penetration if he wants to explore his shot from perimeter. At low post there is still much to do, his footwork must improve if he wants to play on higher level. He is active from weekside in defense and most of his blocked shots came from this area.
Another big that has much to prove next year is Stefan Djordjevic (1998, 6’10 - 208 cm.). He is very athletic but lack of skills and playing experience. He came this season to KK Crvena Zvezda and we believe that in this system he will improve fast. He needs to work for start on his shooting form and his footwork. Stefan has solid rebounding touch and instinct for the ball and it should be good start to begin with. Another player from Crvena Zvezda is worth mentioning is the captain Ivan Corovic (1998, 6’5 - 196 cm.) who play on position 2 and 3. His main weapon is dribble penetration and fast break. He has good defense 1 on 1 and with his strong body at the moment he can guard from 1 to 4. To go to the first team he needs to improve his shooting mechanics and accuracy. Dribble is another field where Luka has room to be better. He is using much more right hand than left but with his mindset he can accomplish everything he wants if he put hours in practice during offseason. Luka is type of player that every coach wants in his team: hard working, high energy player and with great determination to win.
Photo: takmicenje.kss.rs
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