Robin Benzing

German standout Robin Benzing emerged as the tournament’s leading scorer, averaging nearly five points more than the second-ranked player in that category. When he was on the court, he was the clear go-to-guy and driving force for his squad. Benzing runs the floor really well, showing good hands, long arms and great size for the small forward position where his coach (former senior national team member Hendrik Rödl) played him.

He’s quite agile and has good mobility, even if he lacks strength and better athleticism to be a more effective finisher inside, especially with his left hand. Although an okay passer with good court vision, his mind is mostly set on scoring himself, which, to his credit, he did very effectively throughout the tournament. He has the ability to make very quick decisions once he receives the ball. Whether it is to make use of his quick first step to drive or shoot a three. He attempted more than seven 3-point shots per game, more than his 2-point attempts for that matter, but made them at a sizzling 40% rate. Benzing doesn’t have the nicest looking stroke and doesn’t show the highest release point either, but his size and quick release enable him to get it off anyway. He was fairly successful with his slashing as, getting to the free throw line 8 times per game.

Overall he understands the game pretty well, showing good awareness on both offense and defense, giving a confident impression and providing instructions to teammates. He seems to be pretty consistent with his play as well, which is not always the case at this age group.

Defensively he’s not much of a force at all, as he’s not a very tough or intense player, and thus has many difficulties staying in front of his man. He gets beaten too easily both defending on the interior and against perimeter oriented matchups. In four of his five games he actually ended up with four plus fouls. It’s possible that he will need to move to the power forward at the professional level for this reason,

Perhaps the most freakish combination of size relative to his position, Benzing plays like a real wing despite standing around 6-10. However, he’s a very raw player, particularly in terms of his physical profile. He’s a long and skinny kid who shows a pretty average frame, enough for a perimeter player but rather underwhelming if we envision a possible future at the power forward position. His lack of strength limited his effectiveness on court, not allowing him to operate comfortably on both ends of the court.

Anyway, it’s pretty remarkable to see a 6-10 guy like Benzing putting the ball on the floor as easily as he does. He’s not the quickest guy around, but he can attack the basket going both ways and shows nice footwork. Still, he struggles finishing his slashing attempts, lacking some ability to score around the basket in traffic, but also some aggressiveness to attack the rim. He can pass the ball off the drive with mixed results: his intentions seem pretty interesting, but he’s not that precise with his passes. In the shooting department he looks quite inconsistent. He enjoys range out to the three point line, but his mechanics probably need to be polished. Benzing barely uses his size to post-up his opponents, emerging as virtually a pure face-up player at this point. Perhaps when he gains some strength he will try harder to cash in off his size. Defensively, he enjoys the lateral quickness of a small forward, although again he sometimes gets outmuscled.

A long term prospect, Benzing displays raw, but intriguing characteristics. Still, we’re yet to see how much of that potential he can fulfill, because he looks a bit of a soft player at this point.