Continuing our coverage, we review now the Next-Best Prospects from a loaded U18 International Tournament in Logroño, Spain. In a previous post, we recapped the performances of the Top Prospects in the tournament. Here, we cover eight additional prospects that impressed us in this prep tournament ahead of the FIBA U18 European Championship held in Tampere, Finland, over the next few days.
Next-Best Prospects
Panagiotis Pagonis, 6’8 F
A bit of a late bloomer, Pagonis is emerging as a very strong third option for this talented Greek 2006 generation and looks primed to have a breakout FIBA U18 Euro tournament. At a legit 6’8 and with a strong, wide body, Pagonis has shown that he’s able to keep up with the very best European competition in this tournament. His game right now revolves around his jumpshot. He has a quick and compact release, which makes him an important threat off the catch, and he shoots with confidence and no hesitation as soon as he sees daylight. He can also attack a closeout effectively using his size, coordination and solid athleticism. Tough, combative and willing to mix it up, Pagonis raises the physicality of a Greek U18 team that very badly needed size and strength, and adds a level of frontcourt scoring that they didn’t have. With his shooting, strength, mobility, competitiveness and scoring inside, it would not be surprising for Pagonis to get some college looks if he performs well in Tampere.
Armandas Bancevicius, 6’7 F, 2006
Somewhat of a late bloomer, Armandas Bancevicius is a swiss-army-knife forward who plugged a lot of holes for this Lithunia U18 squad here in Logroño, acting as a secondary generator in some lineups and then playing the backup 5 for some others. Bancevicius is listed at 6’7 but may be a bit taller than that, he’s long, athletic and versatile, can shoot from the perimeter, drive off of closeouts and contribute on the boards and in transition. He has a good motor and is intense and competitive on both ends. While he hasn’t been the biggest name out of Lithuania –doesn’t play for either of the two powerhouse squads, Zalgiris or Rytas—Bancevicius is earning a good, long look by NCAA coaches for a potential D1 college career.
Iker Garmendia, 6’8 F, 2006, Committed to UIC
After a tumultuous season, including a gruesome double wrist injury off a hard fall, Garmendia seems to still be finding his rhythm, and exploded for 19 points in the final game against Lithuania after two more quiet games against Italy and Greece. Although the shot wasn’t falling for him this weekend, Garmendia remains a dangerous shooter, with picture-perfect mechanics, a quick and high release at 6’9 and the willingness and ability to fire away and take 3s at a high-volume and from deep range, even coming off of pindowns or floppy sets. Beyond that, there were clear attempts at playing aggressively, trying to use his athleticism and size to drive into the paint with mixed results, managing to finish at the rim or draw fouls at times but also turning it over or forcing bad shots when he got tied up in contact. He does play with good toughness defensively and on the boards and has continued his physical and athletic improvement despite the injuries.
Garmendia announced his commitment to University of Illinois Chicago, where he should contribute with his size and shooting as he continues to round out his body and develop his floor game.
Nedas Raupelis, 6’9 C, 2006, Zalgiris Kaunas
Manning the big man spot for a Lithuania U18 squad with a bit of a hole in that area, Raupelis is absolutely playing himself into some NCAA or pro programme. Listed at 6’9 and with good strength, mobility and some vertical athleticism, Raupelis did very well here in Logroño. He has a very limited role on offense, barely generating offense from either the low or the high post and instead being predominantly a pick and roll screener. He sets bruising screens and then dives very well to the rim, using good technique in his rolls, good timing to dive to the rim and good footwork and touch to elevate for finishes. Defensively, he lacks some size against top-tier matchups, but did well preventing 7’1 C Luigi Suigo from ever establishing deep position and fights hard, using his strength, staying in a stance and forcing opposing bigs to go though contact to finish at the rim.
Currently in Zalgiris’ programme, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him have a breakout U18 FIBA Euro and get himself on the radar for college programmes.
Veniamin Abosi, 6’7 F, 2006, Committed to USF
A physical and athletic F, Abosi had an up-and-down tournament here in Logroño. On the plus side, his athleticism allowed him to impact the game, producing on straight line drives using his strong body to get to the rim through contact and playing an important role on defense, with good laterality and intensity to swallow and body up opponents. His speed and strength allow him to switch across multiple positions at this level, and he will throw his body around on help-side situations and on the boards as well. However, we also saw the limitations of his game, as his offensive generation was a mixed bag, with several wild drives where he struggled to change directions effectively, was unable to finish against opposition due to his average vertical leaping and even turned the ball over on some questionable decisions.
Taking the college route as well, in his case to University of San Francisco, it’s easy to see what makes Abosi an interesting prospect with his strong body, mobility, coordination and defensive impact. He will need to continue working hard to ensure his offensive development is also on pace.
Ian Platteeuw, 6’10 C, 2007, Joventut Badalona
Following an exciting season which saw his ACB debut against none other than FC Barcelona —blocking a Willy Hernangomez shot and then scoring a layup over him on the other end in his first ACB minutes—, Ian Platteeuw had a bit of an underwhelming U17 World Cup, as did the rest of Spain’s U17 roster, not being quite as competitive as perhaps some expected. Listed now at 6’10 with a body that still has plenty of athletic growth left to do, Platteeuw has good size for a big man coupled with excellent touch, some very intriguing flashes of playmaking from the high and low post, ballerina-like footwork and some glimpses of deceptively good mobility. He did well here, being the third leading scorer on Spain’s team, finishing inside effectively off pick and rolls, showing touch in the upper paint for floater touches and even igniting the break by bringing the ball up himself a few times. This U18 Spain squad does give him quite a good context to operate, as defenses have to focus their attention on González and Saint-Supéry, and that opens up space that Platteeuw is very much able to use to his advantage for easy paint touches. His performance in this FIBA Euro U18, while playing a year up, will give us an opportunity to keep assessing one of the faster risers in European youth basketball right now.
Elisee Assui, 6’4 G/F, 2006, Pallacanestro Varese
After a season that saw him participate in ANGT competitions with Next Generation Team Dubai, Assui is looking to follow up with what looks to be a good performance at the U18 FIBA Euros as well, if this tournament is anything to go by. An atypical player, Elisee Assui was an excellent contributor and arguably Italy’s most impactful player throughout the weekend in Logroño, scoring 11.7 points per game. Standing at 6’4 but with a huge body, packing plenty of muscle in his wide frame, Assui is nonetheless fast and powerful in his movements. He was able to consistently get to the rim with a good first step and great ability to drive in a straight line, where his adequate handle, excellent strength and good touch and leaping ability made him a good finisher at the rim. He was also comfortable taking jumpshots, both off the dribble from the midrange area and from 3 in spot up situations. On defense, his strength and physicality made him effective in this context, although his 6’4 size as an off-guard or even a forward may limit his upside on this end of the floor.
Alexandros Alexakis, 6’4 G, 2007, SoCal Academy
Highly touted as the best player in the 2007 Greek generation, Alexakis was a secondary player here on a stacked perimeter behind Avdalas and Liotopoulos, but seemed to overtake Anastasios Rozakeas and even Veniamin Abosi in the rotation by the end of the tournament. Alexakis is a good athlete, with good strength, some vertical pop, great body control and burst. Despite not having the ball in his hands, he found ways to contribute, taking his open 3s confidently, finding open lanes for cuts to the rim and playing very hard defense on opposing ball-handlers, including giving youth level standouts and projected 2025 NBA draft selections Hugo González and Dame Sarr quite a hard time by staying disciplined, denying them the ball, getting over screens and using his combination of lateral speed and strength to contain drives.
Alexakis is leaving Greece and enrolling in SoCal Academy in the USA and will likely move on to the NCAA next summer. He’ll have a small role this summer with Greece U18 but is the only 2007 player on the roster, and the experience this summer will contribute to his further development.