Freshness encompassed the three-day period, with dozens of teenage rollerbladers inside and out of the court providing the visitors and the fans with flyers, game statistics and information about ULEB and its products (t-Shirts, balls, hats), while every security guard was friendly and for the most part spoke English fluently enough to communicate with.
The Arena itself is one of the most amazing in the continent and the beauty of Prague, as well as its positioning in a very central point of Europe, made the tournament approachable for fans from 37 different countries. ULEBs international broadcast deal with ESPN was one more step ahead for the products expansion, while David Stern, who was sitting next to Euroleague CEO Jordi Bertomeu, was excited about the results and the extensive co-operation between the Euroleague and the NBA over the following years, starting this fall, with games of four NBA teams in six different European cities, as well as the first NBA-Europe Live edition to be released in October.
It was the perfect Final Four for ULEB to prove itself as a world-class organization, after only six years of attempting to completely transform the image of European basketball. It was helped by a marvelously close final game, which was the most exciting and competitive one of the past four years, adding more to the interest for the summer signings in the top European teams, in order to prepare for an ever hotter next season.
The only part that ULEB should have taken better care of was indeed the Junior Tournament. The names of the teams are good enough for the senior level, but not for the Junior one, which resulted in a somewhat watered down tournament. Maybe it would have been more competitive if some non-ULEB teams were invited in the tournament too, because seven of the eight participants were the Junior versions of Euroleague clubs, which may not necessarily be the best to depend on at the junior level. As a result, we didnt see the amount of intriguing prospects we could have, while the tournament could have been more exciting if there were more than two really strong and talented teams, despite the already known ones in CSKA Moscow and Zalgiris Kaunas.
This year, the winner was again CSKA, accomplishing the threepeat, despite presenting a relatively weak team in comparison to the recently remembered ones. Balanced at every position and having one superstar in PG Alxey Shved and many good role players ready to step up, CSKA managed to beat the slightly more talented, but at the end less patient and experienced Zalgiris in an ugly and nervous final game by 59-55. This was a game that featured most of the interesting prospects of this tournament, however their nervousness and the games tightness didnt allow them to show off their skills, due to the tremendous pressure for the win and their young age.
Top Prospects
ALEXEY SHVED, 1988, 6-5, Point Guard, CSKA Moscow
27.5 mpg, 14.0 ppg, 19/57 FG, 10/28 3pt, 8/15 ft, 6.0 rpg, 7.3 apg, 1.5 spg, 2.8 topg, 1.0 bpg
The most impressive player in this 3-day period was CSKA Moscows point guard Alexey Shved. The 6-5 Shved was the best player here in Prague and lost the MVP award to teammate Ivan Nelyubov only due to his terrible shooting in the final game, where he shot 1 of 14 from the field.
Already the MVP in last Januarys LHospitalet Tournament in Barcelona, Shved was known to most NBA scouts due to his length, strong body, splendid footwork, athletic ability, excellent court vision and determination. What he added in our notebook in the two games we watched over this weekend was the feeling of offensive superiority over any single opponent and the excellent use of his size to pull defenses up and come up with amazing assists at any given opportunity. Alexeys athleticism was by far the most obvious aspect of his game, even from first sight. His quickness was also not compared to any other PG in Prague, making him literally unguardable by man to man defenses for any team CSKA faced. His game was mostly dependant on patiently spreading his teammates and organizing the team on the offensive end, looking for the best possible shot selection.
His court vision looks excellent at the moment, not losing contact with his teammates and predicting empty spaces to take advantage of. His ability to come up with a nice offensive conclusion, either by finishing himself or by adding assists to his stat-line was admirable and looked like cake for him. His shooting touch is a bit questionable and this is why he comes with some poor stats line pretty often, but his mechanics seem better than the result. He has a steady jump shot and excellent slashing skills, which end up with nice finishes, impressive dunks or smart assists. Alexey has acquired the confidence to carry his team over any moment of the game and at least twice in the tournament slashed towards the opposing basket in order to get a foul and earn easy points when his team was stuck offensively. On defense, he presented impressive leaping ability, coming up with three amazing blocks, all over taller players, making him a factor on the defensive end especially when it comes to help defense. His defensive rebounding is very good thanks to his splendid leaping ability and as a result, he came up with more rebounds that some teams starting centers this weekend.
When mentioning his offensive confidence, which was obvious, as he could understand himself that he was by far superior in more aspects of the game than any other European point guard of his age group, we should mention that this could have some impact towards his enthusiasm. It seems as Alexey thinks pretty highly of himself, because his shot selection appeared to be poor at some specific moments of both of his last games, showing that he believes he can beat a 5-player team himself. Of course, this doesnt mean that he is a shoot-first PG, but his team became predictable offensively with Shveds exaggerating attempts, especially in the final game versus Zalgiris. This might be a matter of his age, but also a mental issue, as he seemed to underestimate his teammates in some cases, limiting his fine contributing ability and also harming his team game potential.
Additionally, he was constantly overrating his shooting abilities, as he often takes jump-shots or three pointers without weighing his shot and without seeming to have made a clear decision. As a result, his shots often came short, leaving the impression that he would shoot much better if his shot selection would improve. In the final game versus Zalgiris, he was surprisingly used mostly at shooting guard and failed miserably to present any significant scoring and especially shooting abilities. It seems wiser for his coach to keep him at the PG spot for most of the time, as his game is much more effective when he has the opportunity to also create.
On defense, despite his quick legs, strong and big body, he isnt half as determined as on offense. He is still learning that following smaller opponents might not be easy and he cannot organize his teammates that well. Of course, he often comes up with steals and impressive rebounds and blocks, but this happens when the ball is loose, because he has the ability to predict where the ball is heading and usually this doesnt happen when his team is playing man-to-man defense. Also, despite his nice leaping ability, all his blocks came from help defense on other players than the ones he was supposed to guard. Even though he is quick, he lacks the smarts to understand the exact timing that the opponent will be shooting at and in spite of his size and athleticism; he doesnt do as much as he could to prevent a jump shot.
Already the MVP in last Januarys LHospitalet Tournament in Barcelona, Shved was known to most NBA scouts due to his length, strong body, splendid footwork, athletic ability, excellent court vision and determination. What he added in our notebook in the two games we watched over this weekend was the feeling of offensive superiority over any single opponent and the excellent use of his size to pull defenses up and come up with amazing assists at any given opportunity. Alexeys athleticism was by far the most obvious aspect of his game, even from first sight. His quickness was also not compared to any other PG in Prague, making him literally unguardable by man to man defenses for any team CSKA faced. His game was mostly dependant on patiently spreading his teammates and organizing the team on the offensive end, looking for the best possible shot selection.
His court vision looks excellent at the moment, not losing contact with his teammates and predicting empty spaces to take advantage of. His ability to come up with a nice offensive conclusion, either by finishing himself or by adding assists to his stat-line was admirable and looked like cake for him. His shooting touch is a bit questionable and this is why he comes with some poor stats line pretty often, but his mechanics seem better than the result. He has a steady jump shot and excellent slashing skills, which end up with nice finishes, impressive dunks or smart assists. Alexey has acquired the confidence to carry his team over any moment of the game and at least twice in the tournament slashed towards the opposing basket in order to get a foul and earn easy points when his team was stuck offensively. On defense, he presented impressive leaping ability, coming up with three amazing blocks, all over taller players, making him a factor on the defensive end especially when it comes to help defense. His defensive rebounding is very good thanks to his splendid leaping ability and as a result, he came up with more rebounds that some teams starting centers this weekend.
When mentioning his offensive confidence, which was obvious, as he could understand himself that he was by far superior in more aspects of the game than any other European point guard of his age group, we should mention that this could have some impact towards his enthusiasm. It seems as Alexey thinks pretty highly of himself, because his shot selection appeared to be poor at some specific moments of both of his last games, showing that he believes he can beat a 5-player team himself. Of course, this doesnt mean that he is a shoot-first PG, but his team became predictable offensively with Shveds exaggerating attempts, especially in the final game versus Zalgiris. This might be a matter of his age, but also a mental issue, as he seemed to underestimate his teammates in some cases, limiting his fine contributing ability and also harming his team game potential.
Additionally, he was constantly overrating his shooting abilities, as he often takes jump-shots or three pointers without weighing his shot and without seeming to have made a clear decision. As a result, his shots often came short, leaving the impression that he would shoot much better if his shot selection would improve. In the final game versus Zalgiris, he was surprisingly used mostly at shooting guard and failed miserably to present any significant scoring and especially shooting abilities. It seems wiser for his coach to keep him at the PG spot for most of the time, as his game is much more effective when he has the opportunity to also create.
On defense, despite his quick legs, strong and big body, he isnt half as determined as on offense. He is still learning that following smaller opponents might not be easy and he cannot organize his teammates that well. Of course, he often comes up with steals and impressive rebounds and blocks, but this happens when the ball is loose, because he has the ability to predict where the ball is heading and usually this doesnt happen when his team is playing man-to-man defense. Also, despite his nice leaping ability, all his blocks came from help defense on other players than the ones he was supposed to guard. Even though he is quick, he lacks the smarts to understand the exact timing that the opponent will be shooting at and in spite of his size and athleticism; he doesnt do as much as he could to prevent a jump shot.