A showcase of some of the top international talent is taking place right now in Treviso, Italy. Day one of the Adidas Eurocamp wrapped up yesterday. Some notes and quotes from those in attendance:
On Bismack Biyombo
The Biyombo workout was interesting as a rare public look at a prospect who has not played in months, after splitting with his team in Spain, and was barely known in the United States even when he was in a lineup. It just wasn’t good. The entire premise was a bad idea. Biyombo, a power forward from the Republic of Congo, is a stud athlete who blocks shots and rebounds. That would have come out in a game, where he could light up the gym by flying around the rim and overpowering opponents. In one-on-none drills, NBA evaluators got to observe bad hands and an offensive game that everyone agrees will be a non-factor in the league, all the way to a bad showing at the line. Dibs on trademarking “Hack a ‘Mack.” Opponents will foul Biyombo every time he has the ball within dunking distance, also known as his maximum shooting range. The encouraging news is that an executive with one team said Biyombo did much better at a recent individual workout in Spain by catching balls a club official purposely threw wild to gauge reaction and hands. But nothing hides the zero offense of a player tracking to the top 10.
On Donatas Montiejunas
The Motiejunas workout was better but hardly worth the top of the resume either. While he showed the agility and a shooting touch uncommon at 6-feet-11 power forward, the lottery-bound power forward appeared tired to those who had watched him during the season.
On Bismack Biyombo
Biyombo worked out at 1 o’clock in front of around 50 scouts at La Ghirada after the morning game. I walked up to him just before the workout and introduced myself and said “Hi Bismack, I’m Aran Smith of NBADraft.net”. He quickly corrected me that the pronunciation of his name is actually “Bismark”. He was extremely friendly and kind and all of the scouts I spoke with rave about his attitude and character. I grabbed a quick photo of him and wished him luck.
On Donatas Motiejunas
After the workout, scouts mentioned that they didn’t think he shot the ball well but there wasn’t quite as much negativity about his workout as there had been after Biyombo’s. I mentioned to a few scouts that I thought workouts like this can be misleading and I didn’t think too much could be taken out of either Biyombo or Motiejunas’ workout.
On Bismack Biyombo
One NBA exec put it best: “If you liked Biyombo going into today you are going to set aside the weaknesses he showed and realize that setting couldn’t have been any worse for him. The guy is not a jump-shooter, and no one is going to draft him to be one. You need to see through that. But if you came in here with question marks about him you surely came away with plenty more things to worry about. All in all, people who liked him will continue to, and those who don’t will as well.”
On Donatas Montiejunas
Known as a lackadaisical shooter who can’t rebound, Monteijunas negated his only strength today, being unable to make anything from almost anywhere on the floor. Granted, it’s one workout and his record throughout his career speaks for itself, but still. This was ugly.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
