EuroLeague junior tournaments have always been of interest to those who want to discover the next stars of European and world basketball. From Jonas Valanciunas and Denny Avdiya to Isaiah Hardenstein, Janan Musa, Omri Caspi, Gigi Datome, Usman Garumba and from Luka Doncic and Milan Matsvan to Vasilio Michric, Ande Zizic, Lefteri Mandzuka, Nemanja Nedovic, Toma Ertel, Alberto Abalde, Mantas Kalnietis , Arturas Gudaitis, Tristan Vukcevic, Donatas Motiejunas, Goga Bitaven, Zuibar Sbiba from those tournaments that deserve the attention of fans of the sport.

Mission to Belgrade: Haris Stavrou

the Sportish traveled to Serbia from Thursday 24th to Sunday 27th February with the support of Adidas, the authentic basketball brand with the #ImpossibleIsNothing mentality, to closely observe every moment, every picture and every reaction of his coaching debut Vassilis Spanoulis and convey. And to see the sport’s rising stars shine in a fantastic tournament in Basket City, at the Red Star infrastructure departments facilities.

The trainer who quickly found himself

The first game of the team of selected athletes from Belgrade was not easy. Vassilis Spanoulis faced Mega, the team put together by his agent Misko Raznatovic for many years, and in practice the situation turned out to be not good. Next Gen Belgrade was clearly beaten, coach Bill was upset because he saw angry faces, but he knew everything would change quickly as his young athletes had two games on Saturday (26/2). One at 12 o’clock in the morning and one at 6 o’clock in the afternoon. There was no time for tears, no time for a reaction.

So Spanoulis found a way to cheer his players on Saturday morning and led them to a triumph over Villeurbanne. ASVEL traveled to Belgrade to win the tournament and indeed did so by defeating the Red Star in the final, but before that it was a game in the hands of the young Serbs, with Spanoulis living the forty minutes with intensity and on the whistles reacted by the referees with three unsportsmanlike teams, to be burdened with his first technical penalty, but to excite his “fighters” who played against the French of Winsu – Risache, two super talents who are also members of the club’s men’s team for caused a big surprise.

On Saturday afternoon, Next Gen Belgrade put 90 points ahead of Lietkabelis to reach 2/3 in the tournament and lost a chance to feature in the finals. . He played in the small final, had a bad phase in the fourth third, was defeated in detail by the beast of the beast Demir Tofas, and finished fourth in a total of eight teams. Ahead of Valencia, Mega, Lietkabelis and Partizan. In front of regular teams, not teams gathered at the last minute without knowing each other.

Spanoulis knew the importance of the tournament

In his first coaching experience, Coach Bill wasn’t keen on the result. He wanted to win, but more than that he wanted to inspire his players and motivate them to try harder, work harder and believe in themselves more.

Spanoulis corresponded to the philosophy of Adidas, the philosophy of the tournament, which aims to highlight the new stars of the EuroLeague, he was looking forward to the challenge even if his team didn’t have the greatest talent, he went to Belgrade well prepared, knowing that he did what everyone could and two or three children inspired him with their stubbornness and their overall performance.

He also said it on his camera Sportish after the victory over Villeurbanne, which he did not want to win for himself. He cared about winning to make his athletes happy. He said he would feel lucky even if he lost the next two games. And sure enough, his reaction was sincere, his body language telling the whole truth.

Dusan Vukcevic and Babis Skouzis were by his side to help him, support him, advise him, together they seem to go together, together they will continue the event.

The Outstanding Talents

We saw good guards, remarkable organizers, we saw good shooters and strong bodies in 2-3 positions, we saw stretch fours, we saw impressive, exuberant size. With 8 good teams there were at least 20 players with prospects of a good level career, but some of them certainly stood out and will be under our microscope from now on.

From Villeurbanne, who won the tournament, guard Kilian Malouaya stood out to become MVP (20 points, 68.6% in two points, 28.6% in three points, 77.8% in shots, 5.5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1.3 steals, 1.3 ranking per game), with super talent Zakari Risache having great ups and downs (11.7 points, 48.3% in two points, 8.3% in three points, 7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.3 steals per 23:55) and Kimani Winsu also has ups and downs and losses (12.3 points, 7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.3 steals per 31:38), though he is considered the most prepared player in this squad, which the French have lowered.

From Red Star, who had a place in the three group stage games, guard Luka Vudragovic stood out (member of the top 5, 17.5 points, 61% on two points, 45% on three points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.3 steals per 24:17). Pluralism prevailed among the Serbs, and we were positively impressed by the small but very athletic, goal-oriented teammate Vladimir Pavlovic (7 points, 2.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.8 steals per 18:59) who is loved by the point guard.

From Tofas, we singled out the wild Ege Demir, a 17-year-old Nigerian named David Ezekiel. He started playing basketball five years ago when the Bursa team spotted him at Toronto Raptors boss Masai Ujiri’s camp and brought him to Turkey. Neighbors are putting a lot on his development, he needs to tame his temper but he certainly has the package of skills/skills to reach the NBA. In Belgrade every 23:46 he had 12.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2 assists, 3.3 blocks and 17.5 points in the rating system. The second one we liked was Berke Buyukuntel, a 17-year-old forward, 2.02m tall, intelligent, very flexible, able to even score and push all over the field. He needs work on his body but he is truly remarkable.

From the Spanoulis team we liked the two-meter perimeter Zinedine Mulic (13 points, 3.8 rebounds per 25:54), a player with determination in critical moments, point guard Luka Krainovic, who gave his coach incredible attention listened. 4 rebounds per 26:58) and 18-year-old 2m.16 center Samet Gigitoglou (9 points, 11.8 rebounds, first in the tournament, 1.5 blocks per 22:35), whom Enes Kader’s cross reminded us of . Next Gen Belgrade also had a 14-year-old, 2.05m tall Avtandil Bakhtadze who happened not to be in that squad.

Fifth-placed Valencia impressed 16-year-old guard Sergio De Larea (17.5 points, 63.2% on two points, 26.7% on three points, 66.7% on shots, 8.5 rebounds, 5.5 rebounds , 2 steals, 22.8 points in the system rating) and 29 for the 16-year-old peripheral player Luca Marie (11.3 points, 3 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 3 steals, 1.8 errors, 18.5 ranking all 29:15).

From Mega, who wanted to win the championship but remained in sixth place, liked guard Asim Dzulovic (20.8 points, 5 rebounds, 1.8 steals per 31:55) and forward Alexa Milenkovic (12.5 points, 7 rebounds). ) 17, although the 16- The tall, one-year-old Bogoljub Markovic caught our interest not so much with his numbers (9.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists per 21:22) as with his impressive confidence and drive to lead .

The seventh Lietkabelis didn’t have much talent, but he did have an excellent periphery, Rokas Yokis (25.5 points, 58.1% in two points, 36.8% in three points, 83.3% in shots, 4.5 rebounds , 5.3 assists, 24.5 points in the scoring system all 32:51), who was injured in the second game, continued the tournament with … a foot and a half, was in the top three in the three days, but came not among the top five where De Larea landed , Krainovic, Malougia, Vudragovic, Demir.

Finally, Partizan probably had the weakest roster, but 16-year-old 2m.10 center Victor Mikic stood out (15.8 points, 10 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.5 steals, 1.5 blocks per 31:12) together with guard Ognjen Stanko points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.8 steals per 28:54).

The next tournament will make history

The second Adidas Next Generation Tournament of the season will be held in Patras from March 25th to 27th with Vassilis Spanoulis leading the Next Gen Patras which will feature 8 Greeks from teams other than Olympiacos and Prometheus. Alexandros Samodurov, the absolute contender of Greek basketball, will be present along with players from Peristeri, possibly from Panathinaikos and other teams in the country.

Prometheus facilities also include… Prometheus, Olympiacos, Barcelona, ​​​​​​Maccabi Tel Aviv, Helsinki Basketball Academy, Stelatsura and the eighth team, which will not be CSKA Moscow, is wanted, everything shows. The third tournament will be held in Varese from April 1st to 3rd with Varese, Armani Milano, Cedevita, Badalona, ​​Panathinaikos, INSEP, Ulm and Next Gen Varese led by coach Bill.

The winners advance directly to the final tournament, which takes place on the fringes of the EuroLeague Final Four, where teams with wildcards also participate, where Vassilis Spanoulis selected players and athletes can “bite” from participating clubs in previous tournaments, but were eliminated. Wherever it takes place, finally the Final Four, the veteran legend of European basketball will be there and win the title.

We too are in on it with our lightweight and extremely comfortable Ultraboost21, which we have traveled to Belgrade with, walked, walked and kept our feet in perfect condition 24 hours a day.

Sportish was in Belgrade, where adidas, the authentic basketball brand, with the #ImpossibleIsNothing mentality gave young talented European basketball players a chance to shine at the adidas Next Generation Tournament.