Ask any coach what a young player needs to develop, and he will answer: “playing time.” Readiness to open the floor to skinny teenagers in order to gradually turn them into match winners used to be one of defining features of ex-Yu ball. Coaches were not advised only by their instinct. The talent pool was wider and deeper. The league was more competitive. Local teams were built on youth systems and were proud of the talent in store. Due to restrictions, these teenagers were not sold abroad early, while guys with more experience were kept on the roster. What was the end result? When one team that was neither from Belgrade or Zagreb – namely, Jugoplastika Split – achieved its unforgettable threepeat.

Two decades later, things have changed dramatically. There are fewer players to choose from. Many youth systems have collapsed due to lack of funding. Yet, teams still must win in order to attract publicity and sponsorships. In doing this, defense is the key. Points are built on discipline, patience, positioning and calculated aggression: This in turn translates into fewer minutes for the youngsters who must learn fast and impress quickly or leave.

Take for instance Danilo Andjusic, who rose to prominence as a 19-year old sharpshooter with Hemofarm. He has struggled with playing time since his arrival at Partizan, earning his right to become the team’s go-to guy in Saturday’s Adriatic League loss against Maccabi Tel Aviv only after Acie Law’s controversial departure.

Though questioned about inconsistency, Andjusic played superbly against the Pride of Israel. Positioned as a combo guard by coach Vladimir Jovanovic, he passed the ball around, made steals, forced fouls, and did what he does best: drained two successive three-pointers to open a run which ended in game’s 15th minute with Partizan up 34-21. Andjusic’s offensive intensity was paired with fine role-filling by Vladimir Lučić and Milan Mačvan. It was only Maccabi’s depth – Jon Scheyer and Yogev Ohayon somewhat unexpectedly scored important points – that forced Partizan into defeat.

Having no point guard in sight might just turn out OK for Partizan, as long as young guys get the space they need. Things won’t necessarily go that way, however.

One year Andjusic’s senior, Nemanja Nedovic has to fight for his minutes again after a move to Vilnius was reportedly called off at the last moment. What was his main concern? You guessed it: playing time. An explosive fast breaker who helped the fledgling Red Star avoid relegation last season, Nedovic found himself sitting on the bench as renowned coach Svetislav Pesic looked for options on both sides of the floor, not only in offense. It remains unclear who exactly started the rumor of imminent transfer or whether the player was in fact really halfway out the door. But we do know that, after what must have been a sleepless night, he paid a house call to his coach, humbly choosing to stay and improve his game.

(The top bolded bit in the Serbian-language Mondo article has Pesic stating that he is proud to have Nedovic on the team and that the player came to him for a tete-a-tete. Pesic also confirms that Nedovic had received an offer from another club. –Ed.)

Whether Nedovic staying will pay dividends for Red Star is still unknown. But so far, so good: in Friday’s opening game, Red Star topped Zlatorog 70-56, with six points scored by Nedovic.

Marko Savkovic fell in love with basketball because: a) his older brother used to play, so it must have been a cool thing to do; and b) he witnessed Vlade Divac, Dino Radja and Toni Kukoc play an exhibition match back in 1988. After learning the fundamentals with Partizan Belgrade, Marko spent four years in FMP Zeleznik’s youth system and another three playing lower-division ball. Years later, as a political science graduate, he found a different career for himself, yet remained devoted to hoops. For BallinEurope, he will be closely following developments in the Adriatic League. You may write him at markosavkovic@gmail.com.

Christophe tipped off 2012 by releasing EuropeanProspects.com – 2011: The Year in Review, an ebook in the Amazon Kindle format. This 80-plus (or 269K, if you prefer) virtual tome promises to cover “all the main stories from the past 12 months. You will get scouting reports on all the main European Basketball prospects that have competed in 2011, including reports from the FIBA U19 World Championship, the FIBA U16 and U18 European Championships, the Adidas Eurocamp, the Nike Junior Invitational Tournament and the Nike Hoop Summit.”

The ebook is selling for a mere $0.99 (or €0.99 or £0.77) and though Christophe states that “The goal is not to make a lot of money but to see a bit how this e-book process works and if this has some potential for the future,” BiE can assert that this work would be a bargain at many times the price.

Though English-language only, EuropeanProspects.com – 2011: The Year in Review is available at Amazon.de and Amazon.fr in addition to Amazon.com, and Amazon.co.uk.

In a game tournament officials are calling “very scorching,” consisting of “forty tremendous minutes of pure basketball,” tourney MVP Luka Maksimovic tallied the two clutchest shots of the Rinus de Jong final. Maksimovic tied the game at 74-74 with 0:01 remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter to send the teams to OT, and drove the lane for a layup to score the game’s final points.

Placing third was U.S.-based Wilbraham & Monson Academy prep, while hometown Eiffel Towers den Bosch finished fourth.

In the U18 final, undefeated VEF Riga took on Canarias, whom they’d destroyed in game two of pool play, 80-58. This “attractive match” stayed close until the fourth quarter, when Riga finally managed to pull away after threes from Davis Geks and Kristaps Gluditis; the Bulgarian side ultimately won by a final score of 77-66. Gluditis was good for 20 points, and Netherlands players Shane Hammink and Floris Versteeg were top scorers for Canarias, with 18 and 16 points, respectively.

For third place, IBA Tel Aviv went off on Atletas Kaunas, winning 106-79 for the bronze.

Top scorer of the tournament was Boris Bojanovsky of CBA’s U21 side; the best defensive player went to Janis Berzins of VEF Riga; and Riga’s Ivars Rihards Zvigurs was named the “most talented player.”

Serbian team Mega Vizura took the inaugural competition in the U20 bracket of the Dutch invitational tourney last year. This year, Belgrade Select brings twin towers from the Partizan organization in 6’10½ (210cm) Dusan Bogdanovic and Nemanja Miskovic; Bogdanovic was pursued by Real Madrid earlier this year and is said to be undergoing scouting from the NBA.

Competing with the Belgrade squad in the U21 bracket are Wilbraham & Monson Academy of the US, Canarias Basketball Academy and home team Eiffel Towers Den Bosch.

Rinus de Jong Invitational officials have also announced a basketball clinic will precede the tournament with coaches Raoul Korner of Eiffel Towers and Wilbraham & Monson’s Chris Sparks will be tutoring coaches in basketball tactics and practice from 9.30am to 1pm on December 30.

The U18 portion of the annual tournament is now comprised of Atletas Kaunas, VEF Riga and Canarias Basketball Academy. On the U21 side, Eiffel Towers Den Bosch, Canarias and Wilbraham & Monson Academy from the US and an as-yet unnamed fourth team will compete.

The Wingate Institute was founded in 2009 under the direction of former University of Connecticut/Team Israel player Nadav Henefeld. Heading up the team is Israel U18s coach Ariel Beit Halachmi, who reportedly expects six of the Wingate players to be suiting up for the national team in upcoming Eurobasket tournaments.

The Rinus de Jong Invitational will be played in Den Bosch, The Netherlands, December 27-30. The official website may be found here.

The participation of both Canarias Academy teams offers the home crowd the opportunity to see a great number of their better national talents in action. Those gifted Dutch players are now trying to improve their skills at the famous basketball school of Rob Orellana, the American owner/trainer. At least eight Dutchmen will wear the CBA jersey in the Rinus de Jong: Quincy Treffers, Matthias Runs and Joel Brandt will join Canarias’ U21 squad while Shane Hammink, Jito Kok, Floris Versteeg, Stefan Topalovic and Mekbib Anthonisse will represent their academy in the U18 competition.

A year ago, four other Dutch talents made so much progress at the Spanish school that they all earned a transfer to a first-division college in the States: Sharlon Kloof went to Saint Bonaventure, Kadeem Pantophlet to Duquesne University, Thomas van der Mars to Portland University, and Joey van Zegeren to Virginia Tech.

Organisers of the Rinus de Jong Invitational, named after the man who brought the Den Bosch to the upper class in Europe in the 1980s, are working hard to complete the list of participating teams. They expect this job will be done in a couple of days.

Check out the below video for Harley on a breakaway jam, reaching a stratospheric height to slam home an easy two – and then check out the gray hair-inducing manner in which he falls to Earth like Icarus. Luckily, notes Basket Europe, Harley was “more frightened than hurt” and was able to finish the game.

Let’s start with some results from earlier in the season.

October 15th, 2011: Team A 152, Team B 8.
Scoring by quarter:
Home 33 – 38 – 38 – 42
Away 2 – 2 – 4 – 0

October 15th, 2011: Team C 144, Team D 4
Scoring by quarter:
Home 45 – 34 – 33 – 32
Away 2 – 0 – 0 – 2

November 13th 2011: Team E 133, Team F 8
Scoring by quarter:
Home 51 – 26 – 26 – 30
Away 2 – 0 – 0 – 6

As they say, team names have been changed so as to protect the innocent. If you wish to see the true identities of the monogrammed squads, visit the England Basketball official website.

You will see a theme in those above scores: A total of 429 points for the victors, compared with 20 for the losers for a difference of 409 points cumulative or 136.3 points per game. In a country where basketball is not exactly the most popular sport, do association members really think that it will help to annihilate the opposing team, possibly forcing those players to think to themselves “maybe basketball isn’t for me” before giving up on the sport altogether?

And what does the winning team gain? A lack of an offence with a game plan simply relying on fast break layup after fast break layup … was any defence played in any way, shape or form? I understand that holding an opposing team to zero points in a quarter is a good goal to set for your team, but at this level it is unnecessary; 143 points in a 40-minute game is 71 baskets (not including three-pointers and free throws): That’s 1.8 baskets per minute, which can’t possibly come from playing help defence and not gambling on steals.

After the 144-4 win on October 15, Sam Neter of Hoops Fix tweeted “An U14 National League game yesterday resulted in a 144-4 scoreline…what a joke. Clearly of no benefit to either team.” He went on to respond to a follower reply in adding “…there are results like that. What I’m saying is, for our players to get better, they need to actually be able to compete” and “I’m saying there shouldn’t be a situation where there is such a disparity in the standard of players. NEITHER team’s players are getting better playing a game like that.”

I understand where Sam is coming from on this one and in my personal opinion no U14 game should finish with a score line like the above. However, I want to hear your views: Can you take many positives from a game like this? What do you think of this scoreline? Have you ever been in a situation like this? Let us know in the comments section.

Sam Chadwick is the co-head coach of the Solent Kestrels U14 basketball team, along with dividing the remainder of his time among an assistant quantity surveyor job, university studies and sportswriting. Chadwick is now a contributor at BBLfans.com, and you can follow him on Twitter at @chadwick9.

• Deron Williams is sending personal word from Turkey these days; in his latest Blogging from Abroad entry, entitled “Breaking Down Beşiktaş and ‘Breaking Bad’,” Williams provides notes on an entire range of teammates running from David “The Incredible Hulk” Hawkins and Semih Erden (a.k.a. Ersin Dagli) to Mehmet Ali “Turkish Pistol Pete” Yatagan (who D-Will thinks is 18) and 16-year-old Kartal Ozmizrak.

Williams most recently led Beşiktaş Milangaz to a 98-82 victory over Mersin Bşb last night; D-Will was good for a game-high 28 on crazy 12-of-21 overall shooting (Would you believe he took not a single trip to the free-throw line?) to go with five assists and three steals. Earlier in the week, Beşiktaş took an opening-day win in the FIBA Eurochallenge, crushing ZZ Lieden in the Netherlands, 86-58; Williams contributed 20 in that win.

• In his second game with FIATC Joventut, locked out Cleveland Cavalier Christian Eyenga went for 11 points on 4-of-9 shooting in 19½ minutes of court time as his team took an ugly 86-67 loss to Blancos de Rueda Valladolid yesterday. At 2-5, Joventut is in 16th place in the ACB and hovering over the relegation zone.

• Stephen Dennis, a former NCAA Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East player of the year with Division II Kutztown University, is this season playing for New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig of Germany’s Bundesliga after a turn in the NBA D-League and in training camp with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Contributing a profile on Dennis for the Lehigh Valley (Pennsylvania) Morning Call is David Hein of Germany-based heinnews. Hein notes that, while Dennis is performing respectably with 10.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.2 turnovers per game thus far, “The 6-foot-6 playmaker is still struggling with his jump shot — his sore spot his entire career.”

• There’s a long interview/profile on former University of Montana Grizzly/Big Sky Conference all-time leading shot blocker Brian Qvale over at the Missoulan. Qvale is with Aliaga Petkim in Turkey, where he’s averaging just under nine points and 3.0 rebounds per game in TBL play; his career game this season came against Anadolu Efes, when he went for a 19 and 12 line. And he and his fiancée love it in Turkey.

• Finally, another U.S. player has announced his European transplant, but this one’s on the prep school level. Houston native Khadeem Lattin announced his transfer to Canarias Basketball Academy; Lattin is currently a freshman student who was at Second Baptist High School, playing well enough to earn a spot in ESPN’s “Terrific 25” rankings of top high-school basketballers.

The academy’s official website claims that Lattin “is the first top 25 high school basketball player from the United States in history to emigrate to a foreign country to develop his talents.”

Three teams have thus far confirmed their participation in the tournament, with BC Khimki Moscow Region confirming its spot in the U18 division. Fans of youth ball will want to note the promised appearances of Team Russia’s Stanislav Ilnitskiy and Vasily Martynov on this team.

Hometown club/reigning Netherlands U20 champions Eiffel Towers den Bosch will be represented in the U21 category; in last year’s inaugural edition of the Rinus de Jong, the Dutch side finished third behind Mega Vizura Belgrade and Canarias Basketball Academy.

A second team in the U21 category will be from U.S.-based Wilbraham & Monson Academy prep. Head coach Chris Sparks’ roster includes five international players: Spain’s Alex Ramon and Germany’s Maodo Lo are joined by the triple towers of New Zealand’s Mark Overdevest (2.23 meters/7’3”), Haïti’s D-Jery Baptiste (2.11m/6’9”) and Nigeria’s Sadiq Adedeji (2.11m/6’9”).

Organizers are reportedly in negotiations with teams from Spain, Serbia, Lithuania, Estonia, France, Belgium, Germany and Czech Republic to fill out the tournament brackets.