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Marko Tomas profile
Height: 6'8" (203 cm)
Weight: 198 lbs (90 kg)
Position: SG/SF
Hometown: Koprivnica, Croatia
Current Team: Gaziantep
Win - Loss: 15 - 5

Articles

2007 Spanish King's Cup: NBA Draft Prospects

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Feb 13, 2007, 01:24 am
Tomas didn’t enjoy his best outing in the King’s Cup, but considering the circumstances he faced, he might have even helped his cause draft-wise. Coming off a thigh injury, he couldn’t play in the quarterfinal, but started for Real Madrid in the semifinal against Tau Vitoria. Soon it was obvious that Tomas was trying a bit too hard, overdoing things and rushing a bit, he wanted to prove something. We could see him being more active than usual playing off the dribble, but not necessarily more successfully. He was equally active on the defensive end, where this season he’s looking very improved. Staying aggressive for the whole game, helping in the rebounding department with 4 captures and showing more activity off the ball, the final quarter brought the best moments for Marko. Two plays stood out among the rest: in the first one, Tomas took his defender Igor Rakocevic to the low post and used his size advantage to feed Sonseca under the rim for an easy dunk. On the second one, in the midst of a slight offensive jam for Real Madrid, Tomas came to rescue with a superb three-point bomb from NBA range. His performance in the final was forgettable, in line with what most Real Madrid players showed there.

Perhaps Tomas will never manage to fulfill his anticipated potential as a big-time scorer, but at least he’s working well in order to not become a liability on the court, which even if it doesn’t sound too intriguing, might convince someone to take a chance on him in the second round. The Croatian wing is struggling when it comes to creating his own shot, as he suffers beating his match-ups in one-on-one situations, rarely shoots off the dribble and exposes the ball too much while slashing for layups. But he’s contributing from the perimeter with his shooting stroke, defending at a good level and works hard on the court. Actually, he’s becoming a nice complimentary player.

Roundup: Milenko Tepic, a Serbian Standout

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Jan 23, 2007, 03:15 pm
…Marko Tomas, steadily growing into a very solid contributor for Real Madrid, the ACB leader and one of the teams in the best shape in all of Europe. The Croatian wing enjoyed his best showing of the season this week against Dexia Mons in the ULEB Cup, collecting 22 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. It’s an isolated scoring effort in a season that hasn’t been particularly brilliant in this department (it’s the first time he goes beyond the 13-point mark), but he’s looking more confident and consistent adding points to his stat-line lately. Indeed, he has reached double digits in five of the last six games, combining the ULEB Cup and ACB League.

Marko’s efforts on defense and seriousness in his game have granted him the confidence from his coach and the necessary playing time to build his own confidence and leave behind the initial struggles of the season. Of course, the injury of Alex Mumbru, the starting small forward, has meant extra help securing plenty of action for him on court. The most important sign of this renewed confidence is exposed in his perimeter accuracy, one of his main sources of scoring production. In the last 16 games, he’s knocking down virtually 60% of his three-point attempts. He’s almost money in the bank going for the spot-up jumper when left open, but he can also release his shot off the dribble or coming off a cut with nice quickness and elevation. He enjoys NBA range, which he frequently shows as he prefers to avoid any rival’s hand on his face. Actually, he’s not the type of shooter who can consistently get his jumper off with a defender close to him. When it comes to beating his match-ups off the dribble, Tomas does not look very improved though. He’s a nicely athletic player, but not the explosive type, while he still looks a bit slow driving the ball. However, he does get some production in these slashing situations, forcing fouls, shooting over his defenders at some point (although not nearly as much as back in the Adriatic League) or eventually netting the layup. Anyway, it’s not a consistent source of production his team can count on. For the moment, he’s just a complimentary player on the offensive end who tries to take advantage of unbalanced defenses.

His defensive effort is what you can count on. He’s not a very strong guy, but he does a nice job with good positioning and solid mobility. He usually plays small forward, which helps him to keep up with his match-ups. Indeed, if we talk about NBA potential, he does not really enjoy the kind of explosiveness and athleticism you expect in a shooting guard. For a small forward, though, he’s too skinny at this point and not particularly big (he’s around 6-7 barefoot). Considering the shortcomings, his perimeter stroke alone won’t grant him a place in the draft, although he will be a candidate to sneak into the second round. His potential doesn’t look great anymore, even if he’s expected to have a solid career in Europe. As for the remainder of this season, Real Madrid has just signed Marko Milic, which might affect Tomas’ minutes on the court should the team decide to play him at the small forward position.

King's Cup: Splitter Solidifies his Spot in the Top-10

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Feb 22, 2006, 02:03 am
Just following the dynamic he has been showing in the past months, Tomas went rather unnoticed whenever he stayed on the court. In a team that based almost all it’s offensive production in the triangle formed by Igor Rakocevic, Louis Bullock and Felipe Reyes, Marko never found his place in order to contribute consistently. But it wasn’t only a matter of scoring points, he didn’t help in the rebounding department (not pulling down a single one), looking less active than usual.

In the quarterfinals against FC Barcelona, he notched a couple of catch-and-shoot three pointers after receiving looks, showing his nice accuracy when he is in a good position. The second one, in the last minutes of the game, was rather important to secure the victory for Real Madrid. However, that was his entire contribution in that game.

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There was a curious play in the semifinal against Tau Vitoria that illustrates the huge problems he has creating his own shot. Marko was left defended by Tiago Splitter in a mismatch situation with more than enough space to play one on one. Tomas tried, but he wasn’t anywhere close to beating Tiago off the dribble (see the photo). At least he could deliver a mid-range shot that went in, but the final impression was the image of a limited player in terms of slashing.

Tomas didn’t help his draft cause at all, which was already suffering the effects of the long-term contract he signed last season with Real Madrid. That decision now looks like the right one, as he looks everyday less of a first-round player, but is economically secure now, earning good money under a long contract in a strong European club.

Euroleague Regular Season’s Best of the Rest

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Kristian Hohnjec
Kristian Hohnjec
Dimitris Ritsonis
Dimitris Ritsonis
Feb 20, 2006, 01:47 am
The moderate optimism we transmitted in our half-season report has turned into a certain feeling of disappointment, as it’s fair to think that Tomas has lost an excellent chance to show some serious offensive power at the Euroleague level.

He has certainly enjoyed the playing time; coach Maljkovic has kept him on the court at least 20 minutes in every single game of the second half of the regular season. However if we compare between both halves of the regular season, his averages dropped from 7.9 points and 2 assists per game to 4.7 points and 1.7 assists, while his percentages were even worse going from 54% to 23% accuracy from the field.

Of course stats don’t tell the whole story, but the reality has come pretty close. Besides going through a probable run of bad luck with his shooting, Tomas has looked incapable of elevating his complimentary offensive role. This impression, intuited throughout the season, became evident in the game against Montepaschi Siena. Here Marko was left alone on the court without the company of the catalysts of Real Madrid’s offensive game, scoring guards Louis Bullock (injured) and Igor Rakocevic (in foul trouble). Tomas couldn’t assume the lead of the team in that moment as has a very tough time creating off the dribble. His handles are slowing him down to the point that he can barely create his own shot, a problem that looks far from being solved and that would certainly only get him in more trouble at the next level. Add in the fact that he isn’t a freakish athlete and that his body, even if improved, still needs serious work, and it’s easy to presume that a hypothetical NBA dream looks far from becoming true at this point, just as far as real stardom at the European level.

Euroleague Stock Watch Part 1 (Stock Down, Neutral)

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Kristian Hohnjec
Kristian Hohnjec
Dimitris Ritsonis
Dimitris Ritsonis
Dec 21, 2005, 03:44 am
Whenever a youngster leaves a comfortable leading role in a small club to join a European powerhouse and fight for a place in a deep rotation, he risks seeing his game diluted in this new environment and exposed playing at a superior level. At the same time, he enjoys an excellent opportunity to prove himself and showcase his game with much better competition, which also should push him to continue to improve. These are the circumstances that lead us to Croatian swingman Marko Tomas.

It was crystal-clear since it was known that Tomas was joining Real Madrid that he wouldn’t be able to repeat as the league-wide top scorer as he did in the Adriatic League last year. Both the Euroleague and the ACB are a much tougher bite. Nevertheless, he has achieved his main goal in Spain so far: finding a stable position in the team’s rotation. Being a player used to assuming a huge offensive role, he has been able to adapt himself to playing off the ball and becoming a contributor in different facets of the game beyond scoring. Tomas has gained his coach’s confidence with good effort on the court and his well-known offensive skills.

So far in Madrid, Marko has reproduced most of his well known virtues and flaws. For starters, he hasn’t lost any of his shooting touch, netting half of his three-pointers in the Euroleague. He’s taking significantly less off-the-dribble jumpers than he used to, a logic progression in his shot selection now that he shares the court with much more talented teammates than he had in Zagreb. Particularly Louis Bullock and Igor Rakocevic are the guys with the green light from the coach to shoot as much as they want.

Tomas now enjoys less freedom and possessions than last year, but still takes an active part in Real Madrid’s offensive game. Indeed he doesn’t hesitate if he sees a good chance to put in practice his slashing skills. He still has problems beating his matchups off the dribble, needing to improve his ball-handling to gain quickness while dribbling, particularly with his left hand, as his first step isn’t that good. He tends to look for more drawn out movements, creating separation between himself and his defender before attacking him. In these situations he used to shoot over his defender whenever he couldn’t find the way to the basket, but now he usually looks for his teammates. All in all, he’s yet to get consistent scoring production.

On defense he’s showing good effort. He’s managing to stay with his opponents using his lateral quickness, although he sometimes suffers being outmuscled. We could say the same talking about his rebounding, where he displays nice activity using his good vertical leap.

As you can guess, Tomas isn’t amazing or blowing anyone away with his performance level in Real Madrid so far, but he has fit in nicely rather soon, which should be taken into account.

Eurobasket (European Championships) Preview: Group B

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Sadik Iliman
Sadik Iliman
Almantas Kiveris
Almantas Kiveris
Sep 09, 2005, 05:18 am
Just on his way from a small team, KK Zagreb, to a European powerhouse, Real Madrid, Tomas will have in this championships a first taste of what is to play in a strong and loaded team. It’s crucial for him to start getting used to higher level of competition. Last season in Zagreb, he was the absolute offensive reference for his team, virtually a do-it-all player on the offensive end, even playing point guard when his brother Ivan fell injured. He was the primary ball-handler, creating many of his shots off the dribble, even if his handles still aren’t that good. Regardless, Tomas likes to put the ball on the floor trying to beat his matchup, but neither his quickness nor his explosiveness is outstanding. So in the end, he frequently can’t beat his man, but takes advantage of his unbalanced position to deliver a high-released jumper which is rather hard to stop.

With Croatia, and next season with Real Madrid, he won’t enjoy as much ball control, but whenever he does, he will have even more problems to beat his matchup, also not being able to shoot over them as easily. So it will be a matter of adjustment, of learning to play off the ball, in catch and shoot situations, or using cuts to more easily beat his rival. On preparation games he has looked a bit lost in his new role. At least, he has been playing decent defense, and that was another concern regarding his game. Nevertheless, Croatia doesn’t enjoy too much depth at the SF position, so Tomas is expected so see some playing time during the tournament. Shooting guard Marino Bazdaric’s injury could open up even more time for him on the wing next to Gordan Giricek.

Marko Tomas NBA Draft Scouting Report

Apr 22, 2005, 06:06 am
Strengths
(Kristian Hohnjec, April 2005):

Tomas is very good all-round player with solid athletic abilities, and should be considered one of the best shooting prospects in this years draft.

Marko has very good size for the SG position and is not undersized for the SF spot either at 6-7 3/4. He is a fluid player who enjoys a good vertical leap and is rather quick running the floor.

As of right now, the best thing about Tomas as far as the NBA is concerned is his shooting ability, being considered one of the best shooters this part of the world has to offer for his age. He has great shooting mechanics and a very quick release on his jumper. He has good range and shouldn't have any problems adjusting to the NBA three point line, because he has shown many times this season that he can shoot the ball from well behind the European arc. His shot off the dribble is pretty accurate and he uses it quite often. The best part about his stroke is the fact that he needs very little space and time to get it off.

He has shown some versatility this year in creating shots for himself as well as for his teammates at this level, as during the season he was forced to play the PG position at times and showed very decent, if not good court vision and passing skills. Although Tomas is the first offensive option on his team, he has very good shot selection and rarely forces bad shots.

Tomas showed very solid defensive footwork and can be a very aggressive defender and rebounder on occasion. He is aggressive on the offensive glass and gets a few offensive rebounds every night. Thanks to his vertical leap he is able to block some shots from the weak side as well.

Marko is a player who possesses great knowledge of the game and a high basketball IQ. The development that he has shown over last two seasons should tell you everything about his attitude and work ethic. Tomas is a pretty consistent player at this point who has shown that he can provide leadership on the court on a young team and take responsibility when the game is on the line, despite his young age.

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(Ivo Krka, May 2004): He's already a good basketball player at his young age. Has good size and quick feet. He's a good shooter, with a nice jump shot, which he can shoot either static or off the dribble. He can also put the ball on the floor. He has very good ball control, dribbles really well and causes lots of problems for the man defending him. His leaping abilities are quite good, he can dunk the ball in an attractive way, but he uses his dunks mainly on fast breaks. He's usually the first to run from one end of the court to the other in transition. His rebounding is excellent for an outside player, especially his offensive rebounding timing which is very good. His perimeter defense is OK, he has good footwork, but his defense in the passing lanes is what makes him a potentially very good defender, he anticipates opponent's passes well. He rarely causes turnovers, is very concentrated during the game and is a great teammate. He is a very gutsy player who doesn't give up.

Weaknesses
(Kristian Hohnjec, April 2005):

While his overall athleticism is certainly above average for a European guard, he will struggle to create his own shot at the next level as his first step is simply not good enough at this point.

In Europe he is a lethal scorer because of his combination of shooting and slashing ability, which makes him very tough to guard, but there is some doubt about whether he'd be able to beat most good NBA defenders off the dribble until he can learn the tricks needed to adjust his game to the speed in which the NBA is played at. For that reason it's hard to project him to the shooting guard position in the NBA, as he will find it tough to convince defenders not to guard him up close until he can prove that he can get to the basket and finish.

Physically, he is a skinny player at this point and will need to put on a good amount of weight in order to play the SF position in the NBA. Another concern is the fact that his wingspan is just average (6-7), even smaller than his height (6-7 3/4), further limiting his ability to get his shot off at the basket and defend his position.

In terms of penetration, its not just that he lacks an explosive first step, but his ball-handling could stand to improve as well, especially his left hand which he barely uses when dribbling the basketball. He doesn't excel without the ball in his hands and should improve his movement off the ball in order to become a better catch and shoot player, a skill he will have to have down pat to contribute to an NBA team.

There are not many good athletic defenders in the leagues he is playing in this season, but a couple of times when he was faced to play against bigger and stronger defenders his contribution was significantly decreased.

His defense will need a lot of work, because of his lack of strength he has problems fighting through screens and although he has shown some decent lateral quickness, it is clear that he will struggle to defend the more athletic shooting guards in the NBA. Further contributing to this problem is the fact that his defensive intensity in not always that high, although his role on offense probably had something to do with that.

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(Ivo Krka, May 2004): Physically very weak and I'm not sure if his basketball frame is good enough for the NBA (it depends on how much muscle his body can gain). He can't guard stronger and more experienced players right now. Currently he's playing SF so the guys he's guarding often go closer to the paint and try playing with their back to the basket. He should also improve his defense off screens. His perimeter shot is not very consistent and he should work on it a lot if he wants to play in the NBA. His passing abilities are OK, they are usually very accurate, but the problem is he doesn't create shots for his teammates often enough. When he passes the ball it's usually a pass back to the PG and not to the player in the best shooting position, although he's showed he's got a good court vision on some less important and more relaxed games.

Competition
(Kristian Hohnjec, April 2005):

This past season was huge for Tomas, who became one of the most dangerous scorers in the Balkans and a target for many European powerhouses who were looking to acquire him (see links). Tomas was the 2nd leading scorer in the Adriatic league this season at a very young age with almost 20 points per game. He also grabbed around 4 rebounds and dished out 3 assists. He shot 47% from the floor, 40% from downtown and 78% from the charity stripe.

Tomas was a regular member of the Croatian Junior team who won the silver medal at the European Championship two years ago. He was the 2nd best player on that team (after Ukic), averaging around 15 points per game. He is now a member of the senior Croatian national team and is expected to play big minutes this summer in Belgrade in the European Championships.

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(Ivo Krka, May 2004): He has been playing in the Goodyear Adriatic league for the past two years. Last year he didn't get much playing time (14mpg, 4ppg), but while he was playing he showed a lot of potential. This year he's already proven he's a very good player. He's averaging 14 ppg, 5 rpg (2 offensive rebounds), and 2 spg on the year. The improvement he's made in just a year is incredible. He is competing against a lot of solid guards and forwards, but the most interesting games are usually those when Tomas' team plays Roko Leni Ukic's Split team because in those games they are both very motivated to show who's the best young player in Croatia at the moment.

Outlook
(Kristian Hohnjec, April 2005):

After a disappointing performance in last years Chicago pre-draft camp, Tomas needed a huge season to restore his reputation as a first round prospect. Obviously he did great and is now one of the hottest international names in this year's draft.

Where he will end up being drafted highly depends on his buyout situation, as he has four years left on his contract and no clear escape clause written in. His team has already turned down an offer of 600,000 Euros (about 800,000 dollars) from the Spanish powerhouse Tau Vitoria, and its unclear exactly how much money they would have to be offered to release him. Considering that the CBA is expiring this year and the amount that NBA teams will allowed to contribute is unknown (although it must go up) at this point, Tomas will most likely have to get drafted somewhere in the top 20 to have enough money in his rookie contract (those figures are also unknown at this point) to satisfy his team. Tomas is clearly a first round talent, but all these question marks on his end about where he will get drafted and how much of his contract he'd be able to keep, along with the concerns from potential NBA suitors about the uncertainty regarding when they'd be able to bring him over, might force him to wait another year. His father (after the Tau Vitoria saga, see links) said that his son will not be staying in Zagreb next year, even though he says he knows that's not the best option for him as he would like his son to play at the top level of Europe before he makes the jump across the ocean.

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(Ivo Krka, May 2004): If he makes half the improvement this season that he made the last year, then he's a sure mid-late first rounder in the next draft.

Comments
(Kristian Hohnjec, April 2005):

Ignoring the buyout issues, I'm not sure Tomas is ready for NBA at this point anyway. He could really use at least one more season at the highest European level (the Euroleague) to prepare himself for the challenge that awaits him in the NBA.

However, that is not likely to happen since his club KK Zagreb is likely going to demand more money then most European clubs can pay.

Marko is getting a lot of media hype here in Croatia this year, but I'm not sure I am sold on him just yet. I think his NBA future is at the SF position, because I'm not sure he is not fast enough for the SG spot.

His development over the last couple of years is really remarkable and it seems like he still has a lot of room for further improvement. Knowing his work ethic, I expect this guy to become at least a good role player in the NBA with time, if not more than that.

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(Ivo Krka, May 2004):

I'm sure Tomas is going to become a well known player. If he doesn't succeed in the NBA I'm sure he'll do a lot of great stuff in Europe. It all depends on his weight training. But he should also be very careful not to lose some of his quickness. We're going to see him this summer at the U-20 European championship and there we'll be able to see how good he is for his age.

Facts
Has been playing on the same team with his brother Ivan since he was in elementary school.

(Ivo Krka, May 2004):

He's a member of Croatian junior team that won the European junior championship in 2002. His older brother is playing for the Croatian national team, as a PG on Marko's team and is the main player in KK Zagreb at the moment, but Marko is going to be their main player next season if he doesn't leave. The exact moment Marko impressed me was this one: last year Zagreb were playing Dino Radja's team (Radja was dominating the whole season) and on one occasion the only player that was in front of Marko and the basket was Radja. Tomas tried to dunk from almost the FT line (he was one step into the paint) over Radja. Naturally he was blocked, but the thing that impressed me was his braveness: no other player tried to dunk over Radja the entire season.

Top NBA Prospects in the Adriatic League

Kristian Hohnjec
Kristian Hohnjec
Apr 11, 2005, 07:45 pm
Of all the international prospects, Marko Tomas did probably the best job this season. Before it started, Tomas was projected in the 2nd round after a poor showing in the Chicago pre-draft camp (supposedly due to an injury) but is now almost a surefire first round pick if he stays in the NBA draft this year. Tomas increased his scoring numbers by almost 7 points and finished the season in 2nd place amongst the top scorers of the Goodyear league. Because of him, Larry Bird came to Trnsko a couple of times and came back not disappointed at all. Tomas showed a very nice all-around game all season long and was the leader of a very solid Zagreb team that includes some borderline national team players like Ivan Tomas and Damir Miljkovic. He improved in all aspects of the game, but most of all in the shooting department, becoming one of the most dangerous and prolific shooters in Europe. He also showed very good court vision and was able to play PG for some stretches of the season when his brother Ivan was injured.

Although Tomas is great scorer, he will have trouble creating his own shot at the next level, because his first step isn`t that fast and he needs to improve his ball-handling quite a bit. It's unclear whether he has the athletic ability needed to play the SG position in the NBA or whether he'll be a spot-up shooting SF. The problem is that like many European prospects, Tomas is very skinny.

His best game was against regular season champions Hemofarm, when he scored an incredible 42 points and went 8-of-9 from downtown. During the season Tau Ceramica offered $800,000 for Tomas, but Zagreb rejected that offer without thinking twice. His team didn't make it to the Final 8, so the Goodyear season is already over for Marko.

It's questionable whether Tomas will stay in the draft this year, because many people think that his stock could be higher next year in a weaker draft after a good performance in the European Championship, proving that he has what it takes to break the status quo and be one of the few Europeans able to play the guard position in the NBA. Tomas would almost certainly be a first rounder in this year's draft, but the only problem is that he will most likely have to fork over a large amount of his rookie contract in order to go in the NBA, because his club Zagreb is demanding more then a one million dollar buyout.

Further complicating things is the fact that he has 4 more years on his contract with Zagreb, and no escape clause whatsoever according to his agent David Bauman (who needs him to go at least top 20 in the draft), so it isn`t likely that we will see him on an NBA roster next season unless this matter can be resolved or he can up his stock into the lottery to be safe.

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