Saric will only play for Celtics or Lakers

[NorthernLightning]

"From what I've seen from watching a short scouting video on the internet," blah blah blah.

[pearljammer10]

The first person I thought of when I read his scouting report was Olynk. I like Kelly enough but we don't need two of them around.

[hpantazo]

The bias against European players here is astounding. He's a legit, highly touted and highly scouted prospect, yet here most people dump on him. How is he any different or more risky than Exum? Exum is even more unknown IMO.

For you guys who hate euro players, Dirk , Pau , Dragic. Marc Gasol, and technically even Manu and Tony Parker among a few, say hello.

[NorthernLightning]

The bias against European players here is astounding. He's a legit, highly touted and highly scouted prospect, yet here most people dump on him. How is he any different or more risky than Exum? Exum is even more unknown IMO.

It's not just bias against Europeans, it's players of European descent like KO.

[hpantazo]

For every European bust that people refer to, I'm sure you can name at least 20 American busts. Acie Earl, Eric Montross, Marcus Banks, Jajuan Johnson, Marshon Brooks, just to name a few from only the celtics. I'm positive the ration of European prospects that succeed vs bust is equal to or better than the ratio for American players.

[Roy H.]

The bias against European players here is astounding. He's a legit, highly touted and highly scouted prospect, yet here most people dump on him. How is he any different or more risky than Exum? Exum is even more unknown IMO.

For you guys who hate euro players, Dirk , Pau , Dragic. Marc Gasol, and technically even Manu and Tony Parker among a few, say hello.

Being foreign is only part of the knock on him, and that knock has nothing to do with his ethnicity, but rather his level of competition.  He's never been tested in a top European league (the Adriatic league is the 9th best league in Europe, and the Croatian league is lower than that), or the Euroleague.  At the highest level of competition he played -- the Eurocup, a second-tier league -- he was mediocre. 

The other criticisms of him are at least as serious, though:  he's not particularly athletic, and he doesn't seem all that strong.  His defense is considered weak in Europe, and that's without playing NBA-quality players.  He's presumed too slow to defend SFs, and not strong enough to defend PFs.  His shot is a work in progress. 

Here's nbadraft.net's description of his weaknesses:

Saric would have a much better NBA outlook if not for his lack of foot speed and athleticism ... His quickness and elevation might be enough to finish in Europe, but without the ability to finish above the rim, things will likely prove more difficult for him in the NBA ... He is quick and mobile for a player his height but clearly lacks the foot speed to stay in front of NBA wing forwards ... In addition he lacks ideal strength to battle NBA PFs on the block ... He projects as a 4, despite his excellent face the basket skills, due to his size and lack of foot speed. Sort of a stretch 4 without great shooting ability ... The best way to describe Saric's game is a jack of all trades, master of nothing type ... His lack of quickness will not allow him to beat anybody off the dribble 1 on 1, and the inconsistent shooting will not help in creating offense ... In transition he will still be able to create but despite a good use of both ends his lack of explosiveness above the rim makes every lay-up very blockable ... 3 turnovers per game are way too much for a player like him and it shows his lack of good decision making on a consistent base. In the NBA facing better athletes, it will be harder and harder for him to be effective in offense ... Things get worse if we take a look at his shooting percentages. The mechanics are not one of a pure shooter, and he is making only 30% of his 3 pointers right now ... With a longer NBA 3 point line it is safe to assume those percentages will not go up, though to his credit when he is in rhythm and his feet are set he can make around 40% at FIBA level ... Defensively as we said, he struggles to defend both the 3 and the 4 positions. His wingspan is just 6?10 so he will be much harder for him to recover from his lack of foot speed ... He does play really hard, and seems to have an aggressive mentality on every play but he will have to overcome many weaknesses and really develop as a player and as an athlete in the next couple of years to have a legitimate impact in the NBA ...

That's what concerns me.

[D.o.s.]

The bias against European players here is astounding. He's a legit, highly touted and highly scouted prospect, yet here most people dump on him. How is he any different or more risky than Exum? Exum is even more unknown IMO.

It's not just bias against Europeans, it's a bias against bad players like KO.

FTFY. 

[indeedproceed]

The bias against European players here is astounding. He's a legit, highly touted and highly scouted prospect, yet here most people dump on him. How is he any different or more risky than Exum? Exum is even more unknown IMO.

It's not just bias against Europeans, it's players of European descent like KO.

You mean like Joakim Noah (mother is swedish, Joakim was born in France) and Tony Parker (mother was a french model)?

[Celtics4ever]

All I see on him is mainly highlight reels and they don't show the bad stuff.  The D in that league is horrible.   I 've seen high school games with better defenders.  I think he is a poor defender and a poor defender in that league will not be able to stay near guys in the NBA.

We've all seen the highlights here is a video with some downlights.  This one has some negative stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux6G0gedYR4

It says his Weaknesses are :    1) Defense 2) Finish Ability 3) TO prone 4) In consistent shooter 5) Character Questions ( DUI, Poor Body Language, Blames team mates for defensive mistakes and complains to refs ( must be a Lebron fan).

Not my observations but the video creators.   After watching it I would not touch him with a ten foot pole.

I like Dirk, Tony Parker and I think Drazen P. was one of the best ever to lace them up.   I liked Detlef too but this kid is not in that tier of player.    I never have liked Gasol or his brother because of Pau's Laker connection.    BTW Manu is from South American!


I am biased against bad players too.

[knuckleballer]

The bias against European players here is astounding. He's a legit, highly touted and highly scouted prospect, yet here most people dump on him. How is he any different or more risky than Exum? Exum is even more unknown IMO.

For you guys who hate euro players, Dirk , Pau , Dragic. Marc Gasol, and technically even Manu and Tony Parker among a few, say hello.

There have been a lot of busts in the early part of the first round and lot of good players taken later in the draft in regards to European players.  That's evidence that it is really difficult to scout these guys well.  I think it's a result of the quality of play as well as the different style of play in Europe.  Saric looks talented, but the league he plays in appears to be less talented than the high level college play we're used to watching.  It's definitely less athletic and that makes it hard to get a good read on Saric.  He's a bigger gamble than the guys coming out of college.

As far as Exum, I think a lot of us first heard of him when he played so well at last year's Nike summit beating an American team with guys like Parker and Randle while displaying elite athleticism.  Scouts have been raving about him ever since.

[Donoghus]

So if we don't like the guy, it's automatically Euro bias?  Um...okay. 

It has nothing to do with what we've seen of him on tape or anything, though.  It's that Euro bias, you know.

[indeedproceed]

The bias against European players here is astounding. He's a legit, highly touted and highly scouted prospect, yet here most people dump on him. How is he any different or more risky than Exum? Exum is even more unknown IMO.

For you guys who hate euro players, Dirk , Pau , Dragic. Marc Gasol, and technically even Manu and Tony Parker among a few, say hello.

Being foreign is only part of the knock on him, and that knock has nothing to do with his ethnicity, but rather his level of competition.  He's never been tested in a top European league (the Adriatic league is the 9th best league in Europe, and the Croatian league is lower than that), or the Euroleague.  At the highest level of competition he played -- the Eurocup, a second-tier league -- he was mediocre. 

The other criticisms of him are at least as serious, though:  he's not particularly athletic, and he doesn't seem all that strong.  His defense is considered weak in Europe, and that's without playing NBA-quality players.  He's presumed too slow to defend SFs, and not strong enough to defend PFs.  His shot is a work in progress. 

Here's nbadraft.net's description of his weaknesses:

Saric would have a much better NBA outlook if not for his lack of foot speed and athleticism ... His quickness and elevation might be enough to finish in Europe, but without the ability to finish above the rim, things will likely prove more difficult for him in the NBA ... He is quick and mobile for a player his height but clearly lacks the foot speed to stay in front of NBA wing forwards ... In addition he lacks ideal strength to battle NBA PFs on the block ... He projects as a 4, despite his excellent face the basket skills, due to his size and lack of foot speed. Sort of a stretch 4 without great shooting ability ... The best way to describe Saric's game is a jack of all trades, master of nothing type ... His lack of quickness will not allow him to beat anybody off the dribble 1 on 1, and the inconsistent shooting will not help in creating offense ... In transition he will still be able to create but despite a good use of both ends his lack of explosiveness above the rim makes every lay-up very blockable ... 3 turnovers per game are way too much for a player like him and it shows his lack of good decision making on a consistent base. In the NBA facing better athletes, it will be harder and harder for him to be effective in offense ... Things get worse if we take a look at his shooting percentages. The mechanics are not one of a pure shooter, and he is making only 30% of his 3 pointers right now ... With a longer NBA 3 point line it is safe to assume those percentages will not go up, though to his credit when he is in rhythm and his feet are set he can make around 40% at FIBA level ... Defensively as we said, he struggles to defend both the 3 and the 4 positions. His wingspan is just 6?10 so he will be much harder for him to recover from his lack of foot speed ... He does play really hard, and seems to have an aggressive mentality on every play but he will have to overcome many weaknesses and really develop as a player and as an athlete in the next couple of years to have a legitimate impact in the NBA ...

That's what concerns me.

nbadraft.net is the bleacher report of draft authorities though. I wouldn't put too much stock in their opinion.

[D.o.s.]

So if we don't like the guy, it's automatically Euro bias?  Um...okay. 

It has nothing to do with what we've seen of him on tape or anything, though.  It's that Euro bias, you know.

CelticsBlog doesn't care about Euro People!

edit: I do think that a lot of draftnicks and fans of the prospecting/player development aspect of the game have a bias against all the foreign players, not just Europeans, simply because the footage & information is typically more scarce.

I do find it funny when people ardently champion someone like Doug McDermott, who played against relative nobodies for the majority of his college career, over Dario Saric, though.

[krumeto]

The bias against European players here is astounding. He's a legit, highly touted and highly scouted prospect, yet here most people dump on him. How is he any different or more risky than Exum? Exum is even more unknown IMO.

For you guys who hate euro players, Dirk , Pau , Dragic. Marc Gasol, and technically even Manu and Tony Parker among a few, say hello.

Being foreign is only part of the knock on him, and that knock has nothing to do with his ethnicity, but rather his level of competition.  He's never been tested in a top European league (the Adriatic league is the 9th best league in Europe, and the Croatian league is lower than that), or the Euroleague.  At the highest level of competition he played -- the Eurocup, a second-tier league -- he was mediocre. 

The other criticisms of him are at least as serious, though:  he's not particularly athletic, and he doesn't seem all that strong.  His defense is considered weak in Europe, and that's without playing NBA-quality players.  He's presumed too slow to defend SFs, and not strong enough to defend PFs.  His shot is a work in progress. 

Here's nbadraft.net's description of his weaknesses:

Saric would have a much better NBA outlook if not for his lack of foot speed and athleticism ... His quickness and elevation might be enough to finish in Europe, but without the ability to finish above the rim, things will likely prove more difficult for him in the NBA ... He is quick and mobile for a player his height but clearly lacks the foot speed to stay in front of NBA wing forwards ... In addition he lacks ideal strength to battle NBA PFs on the block ... He projects as a 4, despite his excellent face the basket skills, due to his size and lack of foot speed. Sort of a stretch 4 without great shooting ability ... The best way to describe Saric's game is a jack of all trades, master of nothing type ... His lack of quickness will not allow him to beat anybody off the dribble 1 on 1, and the inconsistent shooting will not help in creating offense ... In transition he will still be able to create but despite a good use of both ends his lack of explosiveness above the rim makes every lay-up very blockable ... 3 turnovers per game are way too much for a player like him and it shows his lack of good decision making on a consistent base. In the NBA facing better athletes, it will be harder and harder for him to be effective in offense ... Things get worse if we take a look at his shooting percentages. The mechanics are not one of a pure shooter, and he is making only 30% of his 3 pointers right now ... With a longer NBA 3 point line it is safe to assume those percentages will not go up, though to his credit when he is in rhythm and his feet are set he can make around 40% at FIBA level ... Defensively as we said, he struggles to defend both the 3 and the 4 positions. His wingspan is just 6?10 so he will be much harder for him to recover from his lack of foot speed ... He does play really hard, and seems to have an aggressive mentality on every play but he will have to overcome many weaknesses and really develop as a player and as an athlete in the next couple of years to have a legitimate impact in the NBA ...

That's what concerns me.

On the other hand he has won almost every tournament he had ever entered AND got MVPs for that. At 20 years of age averaged a double double in a grown men's league.

Here's nbadraft.net's description of his strengths:

At 6?10 it is very hard to find anyone in the world with the skills he possesses to play with or without the ball anywhere on the court ... He can push it in transition as well as posting up with good results ... His feel for the game is what really separates him from many other ?Point forwards? ... In Europe he can easily play as a 3 or 4 thanks to his court vision and decision making, very rare for a player of his height ... Perhaps his 2nd greatest strength is his aggressiveness on the boards ... He really is able to capture rebounds and quickly transform those rebounds in transition opportunity directly pushing the ball or making accurate outlet passes to teammates ... Another really underrated quality of Saric is his IQ and understanding of spacing, on both ends of the floor. His development as a point guard early in his basketball career have given him a tremendous feel for the game ... He is able to overcome his lack of athleticism many times being in the right spot in the right moment ... Obviously his versatility is attractive to scouts, as he seems to have many ways to impact games, not having to rely on one skill ... While his shooting mechanics need work, his percentages are much higher with his feet set ... His determination and basketball IQ are really what makes him such an attractive prospect, and the hope will be that he can overcome his limitations through desire, hard work and dedication ...

That's what I love about him.

[NorthernLightning]

NBAdraft.net is basically a US regional scouting outfit. It simply doesn't do European players well at all, and doesn't even try.

Call it a lack of resources or whatever it is, but they are pretty worthless for european scouting reports and placing european players in their mock drafts.