U-18 European Championship Prospects: Power Forwards

An athletic, versatile and skilled power forward, in this championship Dasic was the go-to scorer of the Serbian team, realizing some of the great potential he had shown the previous summer in Belgrade. From a complementary guy that looked capable of doing a lot of things but hardly found consistency displaying them, he successfully assumed his leading role as a talented, veteran and experienced junior.

Last year we wondered about the eventual position on the court of this forward, but after a complete season in Buducnost and this tournament playing power forward, and actually looking like one, he seems headed there.

Anyway, Dasic still displays the same impressive physical and athletic set. He’s long, strong, fluid, quick, coordinated and a good leaper. His body is extremely well built, with excellent shoulders, a strong and balanced upper and lower body, but keeping a certainly slender figure and his flexibility. All in all, an excellent basketball weapon that, standing somewhere between 6-9 and 6-10, has nice but not great size.

Skill-wise, Dasic is a versatile threat in the ways he puts the ball in the net. He’s more of a face-up forward, a guy who likes to attack the basket from the perimeter, although he can also evolve effectively near the basket. He enjoys remarkable ball-handling skills for a guy his size, which allows him to create advantages from the perimeter, as he’s capable of regularly beating his power forward matchups. Showing nice footwork, he can do fairly complicated stuff for a big such as change directions, or eventually even with a reverse move off penetrations. He can attack his rival, as well as finish around the basket, using either hand, while he is quite physical with the way he slashes, using his body pretty well to create space.

A solid shooter, he enjoys three-point range and has the ability to release mid-range jumpers off the dribble or coming off a screen, always delivering very good mechanics. He’s quite a fluid guy playing the game. Not really a virtuous of the low post, he has quickness, some length and especially strength to be effective. With some turnaround jumpers or semi-hook shots, he regularly cashed in on that superior strength. His physical set is as good for defense as it is for offense, if not better. He shows excellent lateral quickness, never got outmuscled in this tournament and he can be a pretty intense guy.

Dasic is a very interesting prospect, perhaps not top-class NBA-wise, especially if he sticks to the power forward spot (which seems likely but not 100% certain), but a guy with the tools to play in any kind of league he wants, providing he continues to improve.

Zabelin was probably the rawest player in a very talented Russian team, but he’s arguably the one who enjoys the most potential as well. He was pretty much a non-factor for his team, but managed to play consistent minutes all along the tournament. At least, unlike the pattern showed by many of his teammates, he did seem to deliver effort and seriously tried on the court.

What’s so intriguing about Zabelin then? Well, he’s a seven footer with very good athleticism and coordination. Still his body is very raw, showing a skinny frame that will cause him problems if he eventually decides to fill it out to play center.

It’s a bit of the same story skill-wise. You can see he could develop some intriguing abilities, but they are at a very preliminary stage at this point. His shooting has looked extremely inconsistent, regularly trying 18-20 footers with little success. His ball handling is below average, getting poor results whenever he decided to attack his rival. In the low post, his moves are very unpolished, while he gets regularly outmuscled, although at least he doesn’t back off from contact. However, he seems to understand the game and could be the kind of guy who learns fast.

The outcome is a very intriguing player, with excellent potential, but still a ways away from contributing anything in the near future. For the moment, he faces a positional problem, as he’s very far from being skilled enough to play on the perimeter, but just isn’t strong enough to play in the paint. We’ll have to wait and see how he develops.

Vaty seems to be losing step with his generation teammates. He was easily the most impressive guy on the French team a couple of years ago, but hasn’t improved as much as expected ever since. Vaty relies mostly on his awesome physical strength. He has excellent shoulders crowning his remarkable upper body, while his legs doesn’t lose track. He’s an athletic guy, not anything spectacular, but good enough for a power forward. However, he seems to lack a bit of reactivity; as his first impulse doesn’t always come as quick as desired.

His skill set is not on par with his physical exuberance. He’s an inside player who gets production basically only in the low post or shooting from the mid-range area. In general, he’s not a guy who you feel the game comes naturally to. He rarely puts the ball on the floor, his footwork is average and he doesn’t have too much of a soft touch around the basket. He establishes position easily down low using his body, and then likes to shoot turnaround jumpers or try to outmuscle his rival to get an easy basket near the rim, although he often suffers to get the job done (meaning, to finally put the ball inside the rim) despite having everything in his favor. Also, whenever he tries any complicated moves, he usually gets into trouble, exposing his poor footwork and handles, while showing average coordination.

On defense, his size and strength help him a lot, but his lateral movement is nothing out of this world. He helps in the rebounding and shot-blocking departments, but he’s not great at any of them, probably because he isn’t a super-active guy and his timing is average.

Disappointing might be the best way to describe his performance. It’s more a matter of expectations than bad play. After all, he was an important inside player for the championship team. Anyway, he will need to work hard on his game for the future, particularly on the basic fundamentals.

The go-to player for the semifinalist Turkish team was Baris Hersek, a 6-9 forward who already seems too big to play on the wing. He is a very strong guy with impressive shoulders that shows solid athleticism.

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Hersek outmuscled many of his rivals by delivering nice aggressiveness the on court, but he also has some valuable skills, such as an effective jumper out to the three-point line and the capacity to score from mid-range off the dribble. He also has the ability to put the ball on the floor to attack his rivals, and a resemblance of a (limited) post game. He’s a bit of a more bulky but less refined (both skill-wise and athletically) version of Dasic.