Drooling for Pavlov(ic)

[Peter Delevett <pdelevett@xxxxxxxxx>]

Here's the rundown on this kid from NBADraft.net.
Sounds a bit ball-hoggedy, though the kid is only 19:

Strengths: Extremely athletic swingman, with great
size, long arms and great explosiveness. His size and
athleticism make him a very interesting prospect. This
is a guy who has everything to be a star in Europe and
a player in the NBA. He is playing his first season
at a high level and has already earned an important
role on a team with other young stars like Cabarkapa
and Koljovic. He has great ball-handling ability for
his size and he's a force offensively. He's
unstoppable when he's on, because of his great arsenal
of moves. He can penetrate with both hands, using his
speed and crossover. And if you leave him space he can
shoot in your face, off the dribble, with the pull-up
jumper. He's pretty fearless about going inside, and
has a great knack of finishing in traffic with
acrobatic moves. He plays very aggressively and he
wont hesitate to dunk on people. He can score a lot in
spurts. His offensive game is complemented with nice
passing skills, and court vision. He's basically a
complete package on offense. The sky is the limit.

Weaknesses: His biggest problem is that he needs to
learn how to use his skills. He is too aggressive with
the ball, he looks to go 1 on 1 every time he touches
the ball. He forces some shots and, more important, he
lets the defense concentrate on him every time he has
the ball because they know he will go 1 on 1. Defense
is still an area for him to develop. He can be a
effective defender, with his athletic abilities, but
right now perhaps he is too confident he can stop
every one and block every shot. He needs to gain
poise.

Notes: Buducnost is a team in Europe with one of the
better junior programs. Has emerged all of a sudden as
a top NBA prospect. Where did he come from? It is
extremely difficult to emerge in Yugoslavia. The
talent is very thick, and in order to stand out a
player must be very good, and it usually takes some
time.

-Cristian Biagini
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Strengths: Fundamentally sound player who is steadily
becoming a complete player offensively ... Displays
good athleticism in terms of leaping ability and
running of the floor ... Excels on the break where he
displays the decent athleticism to finish with flair
... Shows above average ball handling ability to take
most defenders off the dribble ... Extremely creative
in his scoring as he uses an assortment of moves when
taking the ball to the basket ... Defensively Pavlovic
shows great promise of being a capable help defender
thanks to his long arms and quick hands ... Great
passer who has the kind of court vision to be
effective when the defense commits to him ... Shows
great confidence in his abilityand wants the shot when
the game is on the line ... Has three point range on
his jumper ... Long arms and solid leaping ability
enable him to be a decent rebounder ... An explosive
scorer who can take over a game ...Understands how to
create his own scoring opportunities ... Rarely seen
in his age he is a capable mid-range shooter ...

Weaknesses: Defensively he has a bad habit of playing
over aggressively which can lead to him picking up
quick fouls ... Has yet to develop into a consistent
player ... Needs to become a more efficient shooter
off the dribble ... Shot selection is in need of
improvement as he can get caught up in the moment ...
Ball protection is below average as he tends to be
careless with the ball ... Court awareness isn't
always there and his concentration level can vary from
game to game ... Needs to use his feet on defense
instead of swiping at the ball ... Poor decision
making on the court makes for costly mental mistakes
... When driving to the basket he has problems
finishing after contact ... Could stand to improve on
getting teammates involved on offense ... Ball
movement without the ball is decent but could get
better ... Needs to become more efficient shooting off
screens and picks ... Outside shooting from beyond the
three point line remains streaky ...

-Matthew Maurer



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