Tibor Pleiss - 20 year old German 7'0 220 lb center. Reportedly a decent athlete with a nice big frame and wingspan. He was very productive at the Eurocup level avering about 17 points 12 rebounds and 2 blocks per 36 minutes. Very skinny obviously, and doesn't sound like he's picked up a weight in his life. Reportedly he's staying in Europe for the time being but could be a 2nd round pick turned gold in a couple years. Maybe a rich man's Rasho Nesterovic?
Pleiß (or Pleiss, spellings vary) is solid, but I'm not quite convinced he's NBA material. He is extremely long, massive wingspan and so on, but saying he's a decent athlete is overstating it. He can run the floor a bit and finish on alley-oops, but one is because he has freakishly long legs (seriously, the guy basically has no torso, he's just arms and legs) and the other is because of his standing reach, which is unique for the BBL. He has a good basketball IQ, can pass very well, knows how to block/change lots of shots without getting in foultrouble -you rarely see him out of position and he never bites on fakes- and he has pretty good touch both from the perimeter and as a finisher. What he doesn't have, though, is a low post/bavk to the basket game. No moves, no hooks, nothing.
Moreover, I'm not convinced he is assertive enough to be a good player. He tends to disappear in games and let other people do the heavy lifting. Of course, this is also due to the fact that he's playing in a, for German standards, elite team and is surrounded by players who can take games over. But I always think that, especially when those other players themselves fail, as was the case today in the potentially last match of the championship series, he should demand the ball more. You can see this mentality problem even in little things, such as his tendency to pass offensive rebounds out to the perimeter and not go up for the score himself. It kind of drives me crazy at times.
Anyway, short answer: Your comparison to Rasho seems spot on, the more I think about it, I'm just not sure about the rich man's part, as I think that his lack of athleticism, his passivity and his lack of a lowpost game will hold him back.
