The 6th edition of the Nike International Junior Tournament currently underway in Madrid is the showcase for lots of potential future impact players on the European on NBA levels. This tournament, featuring players born in 1990 and after, is also probably the best edition for years.
This is essentially due to the high level of the teams present. Because of the qualification system that has come into reality this year, the present teams can be considered to be the real top level of Europe. Four teams qualified through this process, with two here because they are either hosts or defending champions and two as wildcards. For next year’s edition, there will be maybe even more qualifying tournaments, as we’ve already heard .
The tournament that is heavily followed by numerous NBA scouts and executives using this opportunity to follow their future draft picks and also to see NBA free agents in action during the Senior Final Four. The Final, which will be played in the next few minutes, will feature the Serbian FMP Zeleznik and FC Barcelona. While the former can easily be considered the top basketball school in terms of producing talent in recent years, the Spanish team is more of a United Colors of basketball selection. Georgia, Senegal, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil and Spain are represented on coach Alex Garcia’s team.
The main talents that can be seen here in Madrid are mostly the big guys: Dejan Musli, Donatas Motiejunas or Tomislav Zubcic are the names that you hear the most these days in and around the Palacio Magarinos and the Palacio de los Deportes. All three are the typical European big men that have an all-around game with an offensive skill-set up to three-point line. And all of the three are fundamentally so developed that they can play anywhere on the court. I won’t go into details about them right here, the scouting reports will be posted online at EuropeanProspects.com next week.
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