'17 Serbia PG Lazar Nikolic (Signed to COLORADO)

[BuffG]

What I like about euro prospects is that they often have more substantial tape online. Nikolic has 50+ minutes of tape that I watched last night. Thoughts:

-Fundamentally sound jumper. Sometimes he takes too long to load up but mostly rises and fires smoothly at the highest point. Huge upgrade on Yaz.
----he's comfortable on pull ups and adjusting his body mid-air.
----Solid catch and shoot guy.
-Shows potential & room for growth as a dribbler
----He likes to crossover from right to left but his wind-up is predictable. Will need more variation by going left to right and faking the crossover.
----Uses hesitation and behind the back dribbles effectively to mitigate his lack of explosion.
-Above-average vision
----Loves to find teammates rolling to the basket. He'll find the roller whether he's standing on the perimeter or driving the lane.
----Need to see more drive and kick situations.
----Should be a good PnR PG. Looks like his club incorporates a lot of PnR.
----Immediately looks down court after the rebound.
-Potentially good team defender. Shot-blocking, rebounding, and disrupting passing lanes could be strengths.
-Too slow to be a good 1-on-1 perimeter defender but he'll rarely be matched up with an opposing team's lead guard. Tad often put XJ & Dustin Thomas on Kyle Anderson. Niko should see similar matchups.

He's not 18 yet. Have to hope with his age and body that he will become quicker and/or more polished with the ball. If not, he's a solid playmaking wing who can shoot and rebound. Will his first introduction to the team be in Italy this summer? Have to think that trip helped seal the deal.

 

[dyemeduke]

What I like about euro prospects is that they often have more substantial tape online. Nikolic has 50+ minutes of tape that I watched last night. Thoughts:

-Fundamentally sound jumper. Sometimes he takes too long to load up but mostly rises and fires smoothly at the highest point. Huge upgrade on Yaz.
----he's comfortable on pull ups and adjusting his body mid-air.
----Solid catch and shoot guy.
-Shows potential & room for growth as a dribbler
----He likes to crossover from right to left but his wind-up is predictable. Will need more variation by going left to right and faking the crossover.
----Uses hesitation and behind the back dribbles effectively to mitigate his lack of explosion.
-Above-average vision
----Loves to find teammates rolling to the basket. He'll find the roller whether he's standing on the perimeter or driving the lane.
----Need to see more drive and kick situations.
----Should be a good PnR PG. Looks like his club incorporates a lot of PnR.
----Immediately looks down court after the rebound.
-Potentially good team defender. Shot-blocking, rebounding, and disrupting passing lanes could be strengths.
-Too slow to be a good 1-on-1 perimeter defender but he'll rarely be matched up with an opposing team's lead guard. Tad often put XJ & Dustin Thomas on Kyle Anderson. Niko should see similar matchups.

He's not 18 yet. Have to hope with his age and body that he will become quicker and/or more polished with the ball. If not, he's a solid playmaking wing who can shoot and rebound. Will his first introduction to the team be in Italy this summer? Have to think that trip helped seal the deal.

I agree a lot with what you state. I didn't want to be a debbie-downer or too critical in a recruit thread, but ...film was just underwhelming in my humble opinion. He does have a long and extended wind up on his shot - seems like a defender could easily slap it out. That's correctable though. His slow first step may not be though. I didn't see a great defender, but I definitely did not see all the tape you did. I also am not sold on his handles; sometimes seemed a little high. But yeah, he does have above average vision, and his stroke is good. Has some tools...and like someone else said, I trust Grier. I also still trust Tad. Hope this kid exceeds our expectations.

 

[mattrob]

I agree a lot with what you state. I didn't want to be a debbie-downer or too critical in a recruit thread, but ...film was just underwhelming in my humble opinion. He does have a long and extended wind up on his shot - seems like a defender could easily slap it out. That's correctable though. His slow first step may not be though. I didn't see a great defender, but I definitely did not see all the tape you did. I also am not sold on his handles; sometimes seemed a little high. But yeah, he does have above average vision, and his stroke is good. Has some tools...and like someone else said, I trust Grier. I also still trust Tad. Hope this kid exceeds our expectations.

Short highlight clips like this never favor a cerebral player like Nikolic. It's easy to find a half dozen clips of flashy passes or the few perimeter shots that actually fell to fake basketball skill in a raw, athletic player, but you just can't edit in the athleticism for a player with Lazar's game. I think you need an extended viewing to appreciate him and these clips don't tell us much of anything, unfortunately.

 

[BuffG]

I agree a lot with what you state. I didn't want to be a debbie-downer or too critical in a recruit thread, but ...film was just underwhelming in my humble opinion. He does have a long and extended wind up on his shot - seems like a defender could easily slap it out. That's correctable though. His slow first step may not be though. I didn't see a great defender, but I definitely did not see all the tape you did. I also am not sold on his handles; sometimes seemed a little high. But yeah, he does have above average vision, and his stroke is good. Has some tools...and like someone else said, I trust Grier. I also still trust Tad. Hope this kid exceeds our expectations.

Yeah he probably won't get much quicker but, odds are he'll become more coordinated. That's why I like the (poor man's) Kyle Anderson comparison.

There's game film of him & his club on YT that isn't just highlights too. The majority of the shooting that I saw (makes & misses) was quite smooth. Of course, 50 minutes still is nothing. Like you said, with Grier, they probably spent way more time scouting Niko than they did with Thomas.

 

[Buffnik]

3* SF on Rivals

 

[YngC]

3* SF on Rivals

Late additions on Rivals get zero eval. They threw a 3* at Eli literally just because.

 

[Buffnik]

Late additions on Rivals get zero eval. They threw a 3* at Eli literally just because.

Yeah. I just saw the evals by Evans of our recruits and he wasn't able to comment on Nikolic.

Regarding those evaluations:

Schwartz - high IQ, polished offense, team player, won't wow you with athleticism
Bey - plus athlete, excellent defender, high upside, needs work on his shot & looks like a small-ball PF
Wright - tough, attacks basket, excellent defender, isn't a high riser to finish well in traffic
Battey - great shooter (one of the best in 2017 class from 3pt), questionable defense, undersized 4, matchup problem
https://colorado.rivals.com/news/analysis-of-colorado-s-2017-basketball-signees

Sounds about right. Diverse pieces who seem to have unselfish games with different skills and, I believe, have games that can complement each other while being round peg types who will create matchup problems for opponents and some liabilities for us against NBA-level guys who are prototypes at a position.

Nikolic is the wildcard who could play 1-4 on offense depending on who he's on the court with (and probably defends other team's worst offensive player at 2-4). Seems to be another guy who willingly shares the rock and enhances the potential of this group to build great chemistry.

 

[BuffG]

From Rooney's Tyler Bey article, Niko will indeed be awaiting the team in Italy. Hopefully, he can endear himself by being the team translator.

 

[BuffG]

Starting to think Niko is a prime redshirt candidate. Late arrival, just turned 18 this summer, & needs to get acclimated to a new country.

7 scholarship freshmen & McKinley seems to have locked up the 1. It makes even more sense if Lazar wants to stick at PG.

 

[Buffnik]

Starting to think Niko is a prime redshirt candidate. Late arrival, just turned 18 this summer, & needs to get acclimated to a new country.

7 scholarship freshmen & McKinley seems to have locked up the 1. It makes even more sense if Lazar wants to stick at PG.

Hopefully he's as good as the coaches think and doesn't redshirt. So frustrating that this process is so slow.