By my count, there are eight players coming to the NBA after spending at least a year playing overseas. Throughout the week we are going to look at each player’s individual game one by one, to see what we can expect from them this year in the NBA.

Past Editions: Nikola Pekovic | Timofey Mozgov | Tiago Splitter | Pooh Jeter | Omer Asik

Kevin Seraphin was drafted by the Chicago Bulls with the 17th pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.  His rights were immediately traded to the Washington Wizards.  The 20 year old Seraphin is making the jump to the NBA this year as the Wizards and his French League team Cholet came to a buyout agreement.

This is a surprising move in my opinion, because I was expecting to see the somewhat raw Seraphin get another year of seasoning with Cholet Basket (Seraphin was starting to see more minutes with the French League winners, even starting a few games towards the end of the season).  To me, the reason seems to be that the Wizards want to be the ones developing Seraphin, rather than hoping that he gets minutes with Cholet.

Strengths

Athleticism

Kevin Seraphin is a very athletic big man for his size, and he uses that athleticism pretty well.  The two instances where you really see Seraphin’s athleticism stand out is when he runs the floor and when he rebounds.  When rebounding, Seraphin covers a lot of ground from when the shot goes up to when the rebound is available.  He is usually out of position when the shot goes up, but his athletic ability allows him to “go get it.”

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By my count, there are eight players coming to the NBA after spending at least a year playing overseas.  Throughout the week we are going to look at each player’s individual game one by one, to see what we can expect from them this year in the NBA.

Past Editions: Nikola Pekovic | Timofey Mozgov

Out of the eight players coming over to the NBA from overseas, Tiago Splitter is probably the most well known name (Not counting guys like Josh Childress and Linas Kleiza, who have already played in the NBA).  Splitter’s name has been out there since 2006 when he was supposed to enter the NBA draft, but eventually declined.  The Spurs took him the next year after, since his age made him eligible.  Spurs’ fans have been waiting for him ever since.  After agreeing to an $11 million deal over three years, Splitter is finally coming over to the NBA.

The reason that there has been so much hype (and so much talk about how good Splitter’s deal is for the Spurs), and it is because he is a very talented.  At 6’11″ and 245 pounds, Splitter’s polished post game is what really makes him special in my opinion.

Quick Note:  In the clips, Splitter is wearing #21 for his team in the white jerseys.  He is wearing an arm sleeve which makes identification easier.

Strengths

Polished Post Game

I briefly mentioned this in the intro, but in my opinion Tiago Splitter’s polished post game is his best attribute.  In the post, Splitter really makes it tough for defenders because he really knows how to counter what the defense does to him:

Here, Splitter’s defender has his hand on his back and is trying to be physical with him.  Splitter counters this by feeling for the defender and quickly pivoting to the inside.  As he does this, he throws his off hand up (if he keeps his hand close to his body, it isn’t a foul) creating separation between himself and his defender.  This gives him the lane and the only reason he misses is because he is fouled (it doesn’t get called).

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By my count, there are eight players coming to the NBA after spending at least a year playing overseas.  Throughout the week we are going to look at each player’s individual game one by one, to see what we can expect from them this year in the NBA.

Past Editions: Nikola Pekovic

Timofey Mozgov is a 24 year old center signed as a international free agent by the New York Knicks for $10 million over the course of three years.  Mozgov is a big boy at 7’1″ and 270 pounds, but he isn’t a stiff.  Mozgov has bounce to his step, and he is pretty mobile for his size.  Mozgov has spent the last four years playing for the Russian club Khimki Moscow Region.

Note:  Mozgov wears #25 for his team, Khimki.  You will recognize him in the clips by his high socks.

Strengths

He Can Run The Floor

Some Knicks fans are probably wondering why the Knicks signed a 270 pound big man to play in their run and gun style offense.  Despite his size, Mozgov doesn’t lumber up and down the court:

Mozgov doesn’t get the ball on this fast break, but you can see he can keep up with his point guard in transition.  He isn’t going to run by anybody on the break, but he can fill the lane in transition, making himself available to his PG in the middle of the paint on fast breaks.

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By my count, there are eight players coming to the NBA after spending at least a year playing overseas.  Throughout the week we are going to look at each player’s individual game one by one, to see what we can expect from them this year in the NBA.

Nikola Pekovic is a 24 year old 6’11″ center who was taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the first pick in the second round in 2008.  After playing two seasons for the Greek club Panathinaikos Pekovic signed a 3 year deal with the Timberwolves, guaranteeing that he will be taking his talents to the NBA.

Quick Note:  In the following clips, Nikola Pekovic is #14 playing for Panathinaikos, who are wearing green.

Strengths:

Work In The Post

The first thing that you notice when watching Nikola Pekovic play is that he absolutely loves throwing his body around when working in the post:

Pekovic is willing to bang bodies with his defender whenever he thinks he can improve his position by doing so. Pekovic has good but not great post moves and a good but not great ability to dribble in the post, but what makes him so good is that he gets such good position that all he needs to do is take one dribble or make one move to get a shot off:

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The pick and roll plays an important part of the Utah Jazz’s offense.  According to Synergy Sports, they run it about 10.6% of the time on offense, and are pretty successful at it, especially when it came to finding the roll man in positions to score.  The Jazz ranked 3rd in the NBA in Synergy’s “Pick and Roll – Roll Man” category with 1.15 points per possession, however that was with Carlos Boozer as the screener (Carlos Boozer was fantastic working with Deron Williams on the pick and roll, ranking 11th individually in the NBA in Synergy’s “Pick and Roll – Roll Man” category with 1.27 points per possession).

The problem is that Carlos Boozer is now in Chicago, and there is a void in Utah’s pick and roll game.  In my opinion, Boozer’s replacement comes down to two guys, Paul Millsap and their newest acquisition Al Jefferson.  The answer should be pretty simple right?  Just look at who runs the pick and roll better, and use them to replace Boozer.  The problem with that is that both Millsap and Jefferson run the pick and roll with the same efficiency:

Jefferson and Millsap’s numbers are so similar that it is basically a toss up when trying to figure out who is better at running the pick and roll.  So when deciding who will replace Carlos Boozer as the main screener, the Jazz are going to have to look at some outside factors.

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