Euroball Wrap-Up: Kuric and Bargnani headline opening weekend

Euroleague and Eurocup action got underway this week. The slate of games in both competitions offered few upsets, but plenty of fun games, including six games that were decided by three points or less. Eurocup play started on Tuesday with a fun 90-89 win for Lietkabelis over MZT Skopje Aerodrom, and the week ended with an 85-84 thriller between Baskonia and Anadolu Efes in Euroleague. Even though it’s only a one-game sample, there was plenty to sift through as teams tried to make early statements in the newly formatted competitions.

Prospect of the Week: Kyle Kuric, Herbalife Gran Canaria

Gran Canaria has struggled mightily in ACB action, but they had an excellent start to Eurocup, destroying Cedevita Zagreb 101-76. This game was supposed to be a matchup of the two best teams in Group A, and it was over at halftime, thanks primarily to Kuric. Kuric paced all scorers with 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting. He hit five threes, grabbed four rebounds, an assist, and a steal in the thrashing.

Kuric, a former Louisville shooting guard, is one of the better shooters in Europe, and Gran Canaria likes to get him going off screens and dribble hand-offs. They have several strong high screen bigs, such as Darko Planinic and Latvian youngster Anzejs Pasecniks, and Kuric reminds one of a J.J. Redick type with his ability to sprint off a screen, stop, and pull up before his defender has a chance to recover:

Kuric does all of the things you’d expect of a premier shooter. In addition to his success off screens, he moves well off the ball, has a quick and consistent release on catch-and-shoot looks, and he also does a decent job of attacking close-outs off the dribble. Gran Canaria has experimented with giving him more on-ball dribble responsibility with bench units this year, and he’s done a decent job of attacking in transition, using soft touch and some funky dribble moves to get to the rim.

Kuric still has some warts (particularly defensively against athletic wings), but his offensive game is an attractive one for NBA teams looking for extra wing shooting. He was on the Suns’ Summer League team this summer, and if his shooting percentages stabilize (he’s at 41.2 percent this year after shooting 48.3 percent in 2015-16), he could be on the radar for teams in 2017 who are looking for shooting guard depth. But for now, he’ll focus on trying to regroup Gran Canaria’s ACB season and help the team advance comfortably to the Eurocup playoffs.

Good Lord, CSKA Moscow

CSKA Moscow was the Euroleague favorite heading into the season, and the defending champions look just as scary as they did last year in a 109-84 stomping of Eurocup champions Galatasaray on Thursday. Their 109-point mark is the highest point total in club history.

The numbers for CSKA were scary. They shot 64 percent from the field for the game, hitting 12-of-22 from beyond the arc and adding in 15-of-17 shooting from the line for good measure. They got out to a comfortable 27-18 lead in the first quarter, but truly hit the gas in the 4th, pulling away from Galatasaray with a 28-13 finish. They assisted on 25 baskets, and won the rebounding battle, 37-25. It’s hard even to identify who CSKA’s best performance came from. Was it Nando De Colo, who had 22/5/4? Or Milos Teodosic, who hit five threes and pitched in 11 assists? Can I interest you in Nikita Kurbanov, who had 8/8 and controlled the glass completely when he was in the game, or Vitaly Frizdon, who added 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the second unit?

CSKA’s offense was supposed to be elite, but this was unbelievable. This squad capitalizes on an offense full of excellent passers and off-the-dribble threats to create a whirling machine that is almost Spursian at times:

It’s still early, and we don’t know if Galatasaray is that good yet. But given how much trouble Fenerbahce had with Brose Bamberg, escaping with a 67-66 win, this could indicate CSKA Moscow is the head-and-shoulders-above favorite to repeat as Euroleague champions.

Andrea Bargnani, MVP Candidate

Friday’s Baskonia/Anadolu Efes game was a surprisingly entertaining affair, as Efes couldn’t quite hold on to a 73-68 lead after three quarters, and fell 85-84 after Tornike Shengelia iced the game with a free throw. The game was somewhat sloppy, as Baskonia had to overcome 20 turnovers and Efes went ice cold in the fourth quarter, but that’s fitting for a game where Andrea Bargnani dominated.

Efes doesn’t quite have the personnel to defend a team that can go five-out, and with Andrea Bargnani, Adam Hanga and Johannes Voigtmann, Baskonia was able to give Efes fits. Bargnani was the primary beneficiary, posting 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting. This play in transition where Bargs pins Efes’s center and catches a lob with no help on the baseline is a perfect summation of how bad this matchup was:

The Baskonia offense was able to generate a bunch of open drives to the hoop based on the threat of outside shooting. Granted, Efes doesn’t have a true rim protector, but when Bargnani was on the floor, Bryant Dunston couldn’t help off on the pick-and-roll or a weakside drive, because he had to account for Bargnani either slipping into the post on a mismatch or floating on the outside for a kick-out. I still have major consistency questions about Baskonia’s offense, but this game shows the problems they can present in the right matchup. And a lot of those problems stem from Bargnani’s presence.

Rytas Lost, But Looks Intriguing

Lietuvos Rytas lost a close matchup with Khimki Moscow in Eurocup 76-71 — a result made more concerning by the fact that Khimki was without Alexey Shved. However, from the NBA perspective, the Lithuanian club solidified itself as a team to keep an eye on. Rytas might have one of the most dynamic frontcourt tandems in the competition, with Kings stash prospect Arturas Gudaitis at center, and Drew Gordon, the brother of Aaron Gordon, at power forward. Gudaitis and Gordon combined to give Khimki major problems on the interior, with Gordon slapping up 21 points and 14 rebounds while Gudaitis pitched in 17/4.

The pairing of these two creates issues because they are so drastically different in terms of style. Gudaitis is a throwback European center, standing 6-10 and 254 pounds and content to pound opponents in the post, and the pick-and-roll. He can be a handful to deal with by himself, but if you send the double, Gordon can do this:

Gordon definitely has the athleticism to compete in the NBA, but has lacked the fundamental skills to stick. Gudaitis, meanwhile, played pretty well for the Kings’ Summer League team, but was lost due to the Kings’ young depth inside. Both players should be active in NBA tryouts in 2017, so this is a good team to watch for the Eurocup, despite the lack of overall team depth.

Luka Mitrovic is Back, and That’s Fantastic

Speaking of Kings stash players, Crvena Zvezda got a good game from the other player they received in the Nik Stauskas trade in their loss to Darussafaka Dogus. Mitrovic missed almost all of last season with a knee injury, but he’s back in the lineup, and played very well. Mitrovic had 12 points and five rebounds in the loss, and he showed his versatility from the 4 spot, attacking off the dribble on multiple occasions and even getting this nice post move after getting a switch on the perimeter:

Mitrovic, the 60th pick of the 2015 NBA Draft, has been developing his perimeter game over the course of his rehab, and that’s going to be huge for both his NBA hopes and Crvena Zvezda’s offensive potential. For now, it means that Zvezda can space the floor better around the mammoth Ognjen Kuzmic, and Mitrovic being a threat from midrange or off the dribble means that guys like Stefan Jovic and Nemanja Dangubic will have more space to operate. For the future, it means that there’s more hope for Mitrovic as an NBA forward, as he’s undersized at 6-8, 200 pounds. He’s a high-energy player who’s not afraid to bang with bigger guys, but improving his shooting would make him getting minutes as a small-ball 4 more palatable.

Speaking of Kuzmic, his NBA career might be done due to his lack of speed and technical acumen, but he’s still gigantic, and creates massive issues for opponents trying to rebound against him. He had 16/9 in this game, and that should be a sign of good things to come for Crvena Zvezda.

5 Final Quick-Hitters

• It was a rough week for 2017 NBA Draft Prospects. Isaiah Hartenstein got a DNP-CD in Zalgiris’s loss to Panathinaikos, and Blaz Mesicek was awful in Union Olimija’s loss to Lokomotiv Kuban, posting four points on 0-of-6 shooting.
• Bojan Dubljevic of Valencia: 14 points, seven rebounds, and four steals against ratiopharm Ulm. Just keep a cursory eye on the Timberwolves’ stash prospect.
• Ditto for Coty Clarke, who played with extreme energy in Unics Kazan’s tight loss to Barcelona.
• Luka Doncic had 11 points, five rebounds, and three assists in Real Madrid’s win over Olympiacos. He’s just 17-years-old.
• FIBA Champions League action will kick off this week. Two games to watch: Frank Ntilikina and Strasbourg against Juventus Utena and Ante Zizic and Cibona against Tenerife.

Next: Jonathan Holton is a D-League Draft sleeper