Is Nikola Topic someone who is on your radar moving forward? His stats from last year look reasonable, he's made a huge jump so far in a decent league, and he's only 18.
Don’t know a whole lot about him. He played in FIBA u18 B tournament last summer for Sweden and won gold. They went 6-1 with all wins by double digits and a 10 pt loss to Belgium.
Good news is his scored 21.5 pts on good efficiency.
Bad news it was weak competition, he is 6’1, averaged 4 assists vs 4.5 turnovers, and did not stand out as clear best player on Sweden statistically. He was one of 3 players who posted big #s against weak competition.
And even though he reclassified, he still is an average age for an incoming freshman.
We’ll see what he does for UNC, but based on current info there isn’t much to get excited over.
Out of interest how do you weight FIBA assists against assists in the US system?
Typically assists in Europe are credited at a much lower rate, and require you to directly create a basket with zero dribbles preceding it, compared to the rather generous way they are handed out in the US.
So for someone like Cadeau, I would guess (without watching any of the games) that his 4 assists, would translate to something around 5-6 if you had a statistician from the EYBL scoring the exact same games.
Dean, what are your thoughts on Stephon Castle now? Defense first guard/wing who played as a primary initiator in HS but is now getting cast in a utility forward role for UConn due to upperclassmen ahead of him. His 3pt% and 3PR are poor but he has a decent FT%. He has a poor steal rate but eye tests well on defense, and has a comparable AST% and better AS:TO than both Holiday and Suggs during their freshman year. He is allegedly 6'6" with a 6'9" wingspan. Does he have any outs to be a bigger Suggs/Holiday type?
Is Nikola Topic someone who is on your radar moving forward? His stats from last year look reasonable, he's made a huge jump so far in a decent league, and he's only 18.
Looks like it only took one more game of Adriatic League play to get me on board. After diggin in he seems super good.
He’s worth monitoring for sure. 6’5 PG playing huge offensive role and elite FT%
Need to see a larger sample of Adriatic play from him before having a real take.
What do you think of Elliot Cadeau?
Don’t know a whole lot about him. He played in FIBA u18 B tournament last summer for Sweden and won gold. They went 6-1 with all wins by double digits and a 10 pt loss to Belgium.
Good news is his scored 21.5 pts on good efficiency.
Bad news it was weak competition, he is 6’1, averaged 4 assists vs 4.5 turnovers, and did not stand out as clear best player on Sweden statistically. He was one of 3 players who posted big #s against weak competition.
And even though he reclassified, he still is an average age for an incoming freshman.
We’ll see what he does for UNC, but based on current info there isn’t much to get excited over.
Out of interest how do you weight FIBA assists against assists in the US system?
Typically assists in Europe are credited at a much lower rate, and require you to directly create a basket with zero dribbles preceding it, compared to the rather generous way they are handed out in the US.
So for someone like Cadeau, I would guess (without watching any of the games) that his 4 assists, would translate to something around 5-6 if you had a statistician from the EYBL scoring the exact same games.
FIBA gives assists when you create FT's for your teammates. Can't say I buy it.
As for Cadeau, he has looked awful for UNC so his FIBA A:TO seems like a relative flag in retrospect.
the people need a big board update
Dean, what are your thoughts on Stephon Castle now? Defense first guard/wing who played as a primary initiator in HS but is now getting cast in a utility forward role for UConn due to upperclassmen ahead of him. His 3pt% and 3PR are poor but he has a decent FT%. He has a poor steal rate but eye tests well on defense, and has a comparable AST% and better AS:TO than both Holiday and Suggs during their freshman year. He is allegedly 6'6" with a 6'9" wingspan. Does he have any outs to be a bigger Suggs/Holiday type?