BELGRADE (Serbia) - Nobody expected Latvia. The Group Phase had gone the way it sometimes does for teams in just their second year back from Division B: a winless record, heading into a rivalry game against a title-contending Lithuania team in the Round of 16.
But a collective effort, with six different players scoring in double digits, pushed Latvia past Lithuania in a 101-94 upset.
Then came a Quarter-Final clash against Germany and the tournament's leading scorer Mathieu Grujicic. Nobody expected Latvia, but then Valdis Valters happened.
The shot that put Latvia ahead with just 1.4 seconds to go against Germany made Valters, who is playing his first FIBA tournament for Latvia, an unexpected hero for a similarly unexpected team. But even if this is his debut with the national team, his path in basketball began long before his breakout performances in Belgrade.
Valters is part of Latvian basketball royalty. His father, Kristaps, was a mainstay on the Latvian national team during the 2000s - making appearances in four FIBA EuroBasket tournaments. His uncle Sandis also suited up for the Latvian national team.
And if Valdis' name rings a bell, it's likely because he shares it with his grandfather, a FIBA Hall-of-Famer who won two EuroBasket titles and a FIBA Basketball World Cup with the Soviet Union.
While his background is certainly fascinating, in this Player Spotlight, we'll focus on how the younger Valdis is making a name for himself with his play in Belgrade.
Player Breakdown
The first thing that stands out about Valters is the speed at which he operates on the court. He's extremely difficult for opponents to contain, combining tremendous open-court speed and a lightning-quick first step with an exceptional level of fluidity and creativity off the dribble. Crossovers, changes of direction, and hesitations are tools that he utilizes consistently to beat defenders on the perimeter.
His ability to get downhill with tremendous speed and momentum, whether in transition, the early offense, or when he's assisted by a screen in the half court, allows Latvia to play at a breakneck pace that forces opposing defenses to scramble.
But Valters isn't just fast: he's extremely comfortable at high speeds. He's able to keep the ball on a string and doesn't get easily rattled by defensive pressure. Some of his best moments as a creator come when he gets into the teeth of the defense and operates in traffic.
The Latvian guard generates a lot of gravity with his speed and aggressiveness as he attacks the rim, and consistently makes the right reads on the move, whether it's by making kick-out passes to open shooters on the perimeter or making quick dump-off passes to bigs in the dunker spot.
While Valters doesn't exactly operate like a traditional point guard given Latvia's fast-paced offense, the 17-year-old is the team's offensive engine. He's averaging a team-high 4.4 assists per game and has shown flashes of advanced reads and deliveries during the tournament, threading passes, manipulating help defenders with his eyes, and delivering accurate skip passes on the perimeter that force defenders into hard closeouts.
Despite some physical limitations—he's listed at 1.90m and he'll certainly need to add muscle over the next few years—Valters compensates with his crafty and versatile finishing. He's able to convert shots around defenders in the paint, showing impressive touch on floaters and difficult off-balance layups at full speed, as evidenced by him shooting 74.1 percent from inside the arc during the tournament.
The physical limitations are present, however, in his defensive profile, as opponents are able to create space against him out of sheer physicality. Still, Valters has found a way to contribute occasionally on defense with his quickness, being able to slide laterally to stay in front of drivers.
Valters' perimeter shooting may be his swing skill. He can convert jumpers from range, particularly off the catch, where the results have been more consistent than off the dribble. He has moments of shot-making off the bounce and he certainly has the quickness and footwork to create space for pull-up jumpers, but some of the misses are rough.
That said, his touch on tough shots around the basket, and his consistency from the free throw line (83.3 percent in the tournament), are positive indicators of his potential as a shooter.
Outlook
Valters has come alive during the knockout stage of the tournament. His 26 points and 5 assists were instrumental in the win over Lithuania, and his 18 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds — plus one clutch bucket — carried Latvia to victory over Germany and into its first U18 Semi-Finals since 2018.
The 17-year-old has been one of the breakout performers of the competition, with a unique mix of speed, quickness, shiftiness, fluidity, and court vision, that made him the ideal orchestrator for Latvia's high-octane system.
Nobody expected Latvia, or Valters, but both look ready for the next step in Belgrade.
FIBA