Tied with Vasiliauskas as the best scorer at the tournament,
Semen Shashkov could be definitely nominated as the best shooter of the Sabonis Cup. By the way, him and fellow teammate Denis Polokhin (more below) were not newcomers in Kaunas. Both players were part of CSKA Moscows winning team at the 2005 Sabonis Cup, although they didnt enjoy significant playing time among their 1988 born buddies the year before.
Shashkov possesses good length as a wing and probably left the most promising impression of all the guys seen here. Semens biggest asset is his shooting touch, which he demonstrated on any possible occasion. He has a wide array of ways in which he can finish around the perimeter. A set shot is a piece of cake for him and he is also able to create a shot for himself. Shashkov has quite a quick release and no fear of shooting just seconds after coming off a screen. He used midrange jumpers after a short dribble or two, even with defenders right in his face. A few times it resulted in airballs, but on others the 16 year old kid looked quite solid by netting some fadeaway jumpers.
It is hard to call Shashkov one-dimensional as he is much more than a simple spot-up shooter. However, the lack of penetrations was a glaring drawback in his play. During fast-breaks he showed that he can finish in traffic using some of his athletic abilities, but in the half-court game his very few tries at slashing looked rather weak. One guess could be that having a very strict coach in Andrey Maltsev, Semen decided to stick to what he knows he can do the best.
On defense, Shashkov was always concentrated, he took his fair share of rebounds, but with some overly-aggressive moves found himself usually collecting fouls quick, while on the other hand he managed not to pick up the last foul for a long time. Overall, Shashkov switched into dominating mode a few times during this tournament, making consecutive shots and carrying CSKA on his shoulders. If he improves his slashing, adds some toughness and becomes a bit more versatile, he could become a really interesting prospect in the long term.
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