Marko Todorovic’s Signing, Another Sign Barcelona is Planning for the Future
By Rafael Uehara
Joventut Badalona officially announced on Tuesday – August, the 7th – the club has sold the rights to Montenegrin big man Marko Todorovic to Regal FC Barcelona, which then signed the 20-year-old to a three-year deal, with the third year being a club option. Todorovic spent last season with Badalona’s LEB Silver (Spain’s third division) squad Prat Joventud and helped it reach the championship series, posting averages of 26.5 minutes, 15.8 points on 54.2% two-point shooting and 8.2 rebounds. He was called to the first division club for five games late in the year and posted averages of 6.4 minutes, 3.4 points on 77.8% two-point shooting and 1.8 rebounds against top competition.
According to the website Eurohopes.com, the top scouting service of European developmental prospects, Todorovic is the fifth best rated youngster born in 1992. He is a face-up big man who breaks down opponents off the dribble with his terrific first-step and finishes at the rim effectively because of his leaping ability. He has good court vision to find teammates on the move and he can deliver the assist with his impressive for his position passing skills. And he has plenty of room to improve as his inconsistent outside shot hurts his ability to space the floor and he needs to gain more strength in order to guard more physically built big men. Because he is tall (six-foot-11) and lengthy, Todorovic holds his own on the boards but there is room for development there too.
After the team retained Erazem Lorbek, signed Ante Tomic and Nathan Jawai and with CJ Wallace still there and likely to play a bigger role on the team because of his defensive skill set next season with Boniface N’Dong and Fran Vázquez gone, it’s unlikely Todorovic becomes a regular part of the rotation as head-coach Xavi Pascual isn’t a development-friendly coach, or even hangs around the professional squad for now. But his signing is just the latest of a few acquisitions Barcelona has done or is rumored to make that signals the team’s long-term vision and its interest planning for the future.
Early in the summer, Barcelona facilitated Unicaja Malaga’s signing of Vázquez and acquired Alex Abrines. The 19-year-old wingman should be a projected first-round pick when he declares for the NBA draft and blossomed in 24 games with Unicaja last season, including a 31-point performance against Asefa Estudiantes, in which he displayed his skill set catch-and-shooting off screens, catch-and-shooting in transition, shooting off the high screen and eventually taking the opponent off the dribble. It was thought of that Abrines would take on Joe Ingles’ role as the team’s shooter, fifth wingman but news broke on Tuesday that Barcelona is now likely to retain the Australian gunner.
Then according to multiple reports, Barcelona has an agreement with Croatian wingman Mario Hezonja on a seven-year contract. That deal is yet to be confirmed, however, but most people seem to believe it will be announced some time soon. According to Eurohopes.com, Hezonja is the top rated prospect in Europe born in 1995. Hezonja just led the Croatian national team to a third-place finish at the 2012 World Championships U17, where he led the tournament in scoring, but while ranking 18th in true-shooting, and ranked third in adjusted player efficiency rating, according to in-the-game.org. He dominated competition, except for an off night in the semifinals, which turned out to cost Croatia, but also rubbed some people the wrong way with his body language. Regardless, there are no doubts about his potential.
Last summer Barcelona had already brought in Swedish point-guard Markus Eriksson on a four-year contract. 22 year-old Senegalese big man Papa Mbaye spent most of the year with the professional team and got to play a couple of times. Among others, Barcelona also holds the rights to other highly touted prospects such as Nike Spires, Josep Perez, Fernando Andrade, Alexandr Zhigulin and Ludde Hakanson, the bulk of the squad that went 1-2 in the latest Nike International Junior Tournament in Istanbul, but that lost its games by an average of just nine points per defeat.
Barcelona remains one of the most powerful, dominant forces in European basketball and by acquiring Tomic, Jawai and Saras Jasikevicius this offseason, that after bringing Marcelinho Huertas and Chuck Eidson last summer, it has stated strongly the club is not ready to move on from the Juan Carlos Navarro Era and fully intends to give the captain all the talent around him to go get another EuroLeague championship and continue to extend its dynasty in the Spanish league. It’s, perhaps, more terrific to see the club not ignoring there will be a post-Navarro time, though. And over the last couple of years, Barcelona has strongly geared up for when that time arrives.
Editor's Note: Rafael Uehara is the managing editor of 'The Basketball Post'. More of his work can be found here and he can be followed on twitter @rafael_uehara or reached via e-mail at rafael_uehara@live.com
Joventut Badalona officially announced on Tuesday – August, the 7th – the club has sold the rights to Montenegrin big man Marko Todorovic to Regal FC Barcelona, which then signed the 20-year-old to a three-year deal, with the third year being a club option. Todorovic spent last season with Badalona’s LEB Silver (Spain’s third division) squad Prat Joventud and helped it reach the championship series, posting averages of 26.5 minutes, 15.8 points on 54.2% two-point shooting and 8.2 rebounds. He was called to the first division club for five games late in the year and posted averages of 6.4 minutes, 3.4 points on 77.8% two-point shooting and 1.8 rebounds against top competition.
According to the website Eurohopes.com, the top scouting service of European developmental prospects, Todorovic is the fifth best rated youngster born in 1992. He is a face-up big man who breaks down opponents off the dribble with his terrific first-step and finishes at the rim effectively because of his leaping ability. He has good court vision to find teammates on the move and he can deliver the assist with his impressive for his position passing skills. And he has plenty of room to improve as his inconsistent outside shot hurts his ability to space the floor and he needs to gain more strength in order to guard more physically built big men. Because he is tall (six-foot-11) and lengthy, Todorovic holds his own on the boards but there is room for development there too.
After the team retained Erazem Lorbek, signed Ante Tomic and Nathan Jawai and with CJ Wallace still there and likely to play a bigger role on the team because of his defensive skill set next season with Boniface N’Dong and Fran Vázquez gone, it’s unlikely Todorovic becomes a regular part of the rotation as head-coach Xavi Pascual isn’t a development-friendly coach, or even hangs around the professional squad for now. But his signing is just the latest of a few acquisitions Barcelona has done or is rumored to make that signals the team’s long-term vision and its interest planning for the future.
Early in the summer, Barcelona facilitated Unicaja Malaga’s signing of Vázquez and acquired Alex Abrines. The 19-year-old wingman should be a projected first-round pick when he declares for the NBA draft and blossomed in 24 games with Unicaja last season, including a 31-point performance against Asefa Estudiantes, in which he displayed his skill set catch-and-shooting off screens, catch-and-shooting in transition, shooting off the high screen and eventually taking the opponent off the dribble. It was thought of that Abrines would take on Joe Ingles’ role as the team’s shooter, fifth wingman but news broke on Tuesday that Barcelona is now likely to retain the Australian gunner.
Then according to multiple reports, Barcelona has an agreement with Croatian wingman Mario Hezonja on a seven-year contract. That deal is yet to be confirmed, however, but most people seem to believe it will be announced some time soon. According to Eurohopes.com, Hezonja is the top rated prospect in Europe born in 1995. Hezonja just led the Croatian national team to a third-place finish at the 2012 World Championships U17, where he led the tournament in scoring, but while ranking 18th in true-shooting, and ranked third in adjusted player efficiency rating, according to in-the-game.org. He dominated competition, except for an off night in the semifinals, which turned out to cost Croatia, but also rubbed some people the wrong way with his body language. Regardless, there are no doubts about his potential.
Last summer Barcelona had already brought in Swedish point-guard Markus Eriksson on a four-year contract. 22 year-old Senegalese big man Papa Mbaye spent most of the year with the professional team and got to play a couple of times. Among others, Barcelona also holds the rights to other highly touted prospects such as Nike Spires, Josep Perez, Fernando Andrade, Alexandr Zhigulin and Ludde Hakanson, the bulk of the squad that went 1-2 in the latest Nike International Junior Tournament in Istanbul, but that lost its games by an average of just nine points per defeat.
Barcelona remains one of the most powerful, dominant forces in European basketball and by acquiring Tomic, Jawai and Saras Jasikevicius this offseason, that after bringing Marcelinho Huertas and Chuck Eidson last summer, it has stated strongly the club is not ready to move on from the Juan Carlos Navarro Era and fully intends to give the captain all the talent around him to go get another EuroLeague championship and continue to extend its dynasty in the Spanish league. It’s, perhaps, more terrific to see the club not ignoring there will be a post-Navarro time, though. And over the last couple of years, Barcelona has strongly geared up for when that time arrives.
Editor's Note: Rafael Uehara is the managing editor of 'The Basketball Post'. More of his work can be found here and he can be followed on twitter @rafael_uehara or reached via e-mail at rafael_uehara@live.com
Posted by Rafael Uehara at Tuesday, August 07, 2012 2:32:18 PM 
Categories: Euroleague, Spanish league
Tags: Rafael Uehara
Categories: Euroleague, Spanish league
Tags: Rafael Uehara
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