Kings trade 49th pick for rights to Sasha Vezenkov
- Thread starter Tetsujin
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I think the comparison is an easy one to make because: (1) Both guys have eye-popping first steps and get to the rim in a blink when they find daylight (2) Jaden's mom was an assistant coach for Memphis so he got to sit in on practices with Ja Morant and obviously looks up to him as a player (3) Ja's exploits were the talk of the NBA this season so any vaguely athletic PG coming into the league is probably going to get compared to him. Five years ago it was Westbrook and 5 years before that it was probably D Rose.
But other than that, yeah I would agree that's it not a particularly insightful comparison. But most of them aren't. He's a slashing guard who can get to the basket and finish over defenders and he's got some off ball game and range on his jumper (but not enough consistency yet). I could see a little bit of Lillard, a little bit of D. Wade, a little bit of Fox, a little bit of OJ Mayo, a little bit of Russ and he won't be any of those guys but he should be pretty good. I don't want to bet against players who grew up in the gym around WNBA, NBA, and NCAA stars. He has the skillset and athleticism t be a star and he knows how hard players need to work to be stars.
But other than that, yeah I would agree that's it not a particularly insightful comparison. But most of them aren't. He's a slashing guard who can get to the basket and finish over defenders and he's got some off ball game and range on his jumper (but not enough consistency yet). I could see a little bit of Lillard, a little bit of D. Wade, a little bit of Fox, a little bit of OJ Mayo, a little bit of Russ and he won't be any of those guys but he should be pretty good. I don't want to bet against players who grew up in the gym around WNBA, NBA, and NCAA stars. He has the skillset and athleticism t be a star and he knows how hard players need to work to be stars.
He has a pretty fast release on his jumper, Steph Curry fast it seems like. How is his defense? I don't follow Euro ball all that much.
EDIT*
This is what someone said in the King's reddit about him:
Some information for Vezenkov from a local guy.
He was considered a wonder child in the Greek basketball community and had his first appearance in the Greek league at the age of 16. At the age of 20 had a great year in the greek national league having 18/7.7/1.8.
Then he moved to Barcelona (Spain) but did not impress the Spanish league or the Euroleague.
The last two years had a good presence in the Euroleague with Olympiakos (Greece) and this year had 13.1/7.4/1.7 earning an all-team appearance.
He is 27 years old forward (6'9'') and I believe he deserves a chance in the NBA.
Side note: He chose the Bulgarian national team and not the Greek.
EDIT*
This is what someone said in the King's reddit about him:
Some information for Vezenkov from a local guy.
He was considered a wonder child in the Greek basketball community and had his first appearance in the Greek league at the age of 16. At the age of 20 had a great year in the greek national league having 18/7.7/1.8.
Then he moved to Barcelona (Spain) but did not impress the Spanish league or the Euroleague.
The last two years had a good presence in the Euroleague with Olympiakos (Greece) and this year had 13.1/7.4/1.7 earning an all-team appearance.
He is 27 years old forward (6'9'') and I believe he deserves a chance in the NBA.
Side note: He chose the Bulgarian national team and not the Greek.
Looks like he signed a contract through 2024 with his Euroleague team, BUT he negotiated a NBA buyout clause into the contract for the summer of 2022 and summer 2023.
https://www.eurohoops.net/en/eurole...iacos-signed-a-contract-extension-until-2024/
Hopefully, Monte got some intel that he may agree to come over, before dealing the pick away for just cash. If he comes, he could be a nice bench SF/Pf.
https://www.eurohoops.net/en/eurole...iacos-signed-a-contract-extension-until-2024/
Hopefully, Monte got some intel that he may agree to come over, before dealing the pick away for just cash. If he comes, he could be a nice bench SF/Pf.
If the Kings do sign him imo that's the end of Trey Lyles the #4 pick will be starting and Sasha would than be the back up 4, while Sasha can "play" the 3 he's a 4 man in the NBA imo he's way to slow to guard on the perimeter and is not really known for his D.
I had no idea he was Bulgarian I always thought he was Russian/Ukrainian both from name and physical appearance.
But I have to caution that he could easily go down the road of Nico Mellie (better player than Sasha overall imo, slightly different games although much older when he came to the NBA), where he washes out in a season or two due to his lack of defense and if he does not find his shot. I think there were better Euroleague wings to take a gamble on tbh (e.g Lithuania Rokas Giedraitis).
I had no idea he was Bulgarian I always thought he was Russian/Ukrainian both from name and physical appearance.
But I have to caution that he could easily go down the road of Nico Mellie (better player than Sasha overall imo, slightly different games although much older when he came to the NBA), where he washes out in a season or two due to his lack of defense and if he does not find his shot. I think there were better Euroleague wings to take a gamble on tbh (e.g Lithuania Rokas Giedraitis).
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Meli had the unfortunate experience of coming over and playing one year under a coach that was willing to let him do his thing (be a smart solid offensive player) only to have him get fired and replaced by Stan Van Gundy, who immediately had half the team mutiny under his control.
He probably could have caught on with another team if he gave it another year but I can totally understand him deciding to go back to Europe when he did.
If Sasha can just give us 10 or so minutes a game off the bench, it would be a win in my books
He probably could have caught on with another team if he gave it another year but I can totally understand him deciding to go back to Europe when he did.
If Sasha can just give us 10 or so minutes a game off the bench, it would be a win in my books
On the other hand, if Vezenkov thinks he'll only get 10 minutes a game if he comes over, he's probably staying. I don't know if he would demand a starting slot, but I'd imagine that if he didn't see a path to 20+ mpg he'd likely just stay put, unless the money is so very much better he can't turn it down.
Watching that interview, it sounds like he grinded his way to get big minutes and is very proud of it. I don’t know if he’d be happy taking a demotion from being a starter to a backup 3pt specialist for an NBA team.
He’s in his prime, and I think it would be very beneficial for the Kings to bring him over now.
Well you beat me to it. I was just going to post this. His sister played college basketball in the US and his father was a European league player. I've watched a ton of film on him in the last two days, and there's no doubt that he's a very good shooter. I don't think offense will be a problem for him, and I see him strictly as a PF. The real test will be on the defensive side of the ball. He doesn't do too bad a job staying in front of his man, but I'm not sure how well that will translate to the NBA where the players are quicker, and there's a lot more switching. If he comes over, we'll see!
