Fantastic five teenagers to watch in Basketball Champions League

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - The Basketball Champions League tips off in earnest next week with the start of the Regular Season. And of course there are a fair share of youngsters to keep an eye on. Here is a breakdown of five teenagers to watch this inaugural season of the competition.

Ante Zizic, Cibona

Zizic is already a known commodity, with the Croatian big man being an NBA first round draft-and-stash selection by the Boston Celtics. The 2.10m force in the middle is already tearing apart the ABA League, averaging 24.3 points and 10.3 rebounds to go with 2.3 blocks. The 19-year-old was unstoppable against MZT Skopje, collecting 37 points, 20 rebounds and 3 blocks in a double-overtime victory.

Expect him to dominate at least a few games in the Basketball Champions League while he makes Celtics fans drool and try to convince management to bring him over to the NBA now.

Kostja Mushidi, Mega Leks

Mushidi isn't wasting any time in showing why his talent on the court has plenty of supporters. The German is averaging 8.3 points and 2.8 rebounds and hitting 42 percent of his three-pointers for Mega Leks in the ABA League. He poured in 15 points against FMP and had 11 points versus Buducnost.

He signed with Mega after an uninspiring year with Strasbourg as he played almost exclusively for the French club's team in the U21 national championship. He put up good numbers but could not crack the senior team - mainly because he counted as a foreigner. But he's already shown his leadership skills with Mega and will likely wow observers this season.

Vanja Marinkovic, Partizan

Staying in Serbia, expect big things this season from Marinkovic, who is already averaging 10 points and 4.8 rebounds in 28 minutes a game for Partizan in the ABA League, hitting 39 percent from long range. The 19-year-old's biggest game came against MZT Skopje as he collected 16 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 1 block.

This will be his third season predominantly with Partizan's senior team. The shooting guard started with the club's youth ranks in 2012 and signed a four-year deal with the club before last season. He will likely be a big part of the club's long-terms hopes of returning to prevalence on the European landscape.

Frank Ntilikina, SIG Strasbourg

Ntilikina oozes talent and observers are looking for the French youngster to break out this season for SIG Strasbourg after only playing a minor role last season in the ProA. The 18-year-old has already seen his playing time increase over last season, averaging 6.7 points 1.7 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.0 assists in 17 minutes a game. His best game came against fellow Basketball Champions League side ASVEL, as he put up 11 points and 3 rebounds.

He was one of the top players at the Basketball without Borders Global Camp as part of NBA All-Star Weekend in Toronto last February. He was expected to be one of the leaders of France at the postponed FIBA U18 European Championship.

Niklas Kiel, Fraport Skyliners

The reigning FIBA Europe Cup champs lost quite a bit of firepower from their team last season and Kiel will be called upon to help compensate for some of the losses. The 19-year-old power forward has thus far averaged 7.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in nearly 14 minutes. He still needs to add bulk to his frame but has already shown he can be effective in the German BBL league.

He was one of the leaders for Germany at the FIBA U18 European Championship in 2015 and decided to forego the FIBA U20 European Championship this past summer to really focus on improving with Skyliners after he missed long stretches of the season last year with finishing his school and an injury. But after playing in the third division ProB and the U19 NBBL league, Kiel will solely be playing in the professional BBL in 2016-17.

Rounding out the 12-man team

Let’s fill out the 12-man roster of teenagers to keep our eyes on this season in the Basketball Champions League.

Zizic has two fellow 1997-born talents on the Cibona team in Zan Mark Sisko and Nik Slavica. The Slovenian Sisko led the FIBA U20 European Championship in assists this past summer while Slavica is looking to take another - albeit bigger - step forward from last season, especially after he had an impressive FIBA U19 World Championship 2015.

Amine Noua came into the season with ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne on a high note after a strong showing at the FIBA U20 European Championship this summer for France. And the 19-year-old power forward has already worked his way into the rotation.

Khimik has handed 1997-born power forward Serhii Pavlov a major role in their team this season. And he has responded well thus far, posting one game with 11 points and another with 6 points and 6 rebounds.

Neptunas Klaipeda meanwhile plans on making point guard Laurynas Beliauskas a bigger part of their professional team this season after the 1997-born playmaker had a successful youth career.

Tim Lambrecht enters this season for Telenet Oostende after going through an excellent U20 European Championship for Belgium as an 18-year-old. The power forward collected more than 12 points and nearly 9 rebounds despite being two years younger than the competition. He is considered a major talent on the European landscape.

Another elite talent is Kiel's teammate at Skyliners, the 1999-born Isaac Bonga. The 2.03m point guard signed a long-term deal with Frankfurt and has already made his German BBL debut and is also playing in the third division ProB and the U19 NBBL league. He is considered one of the top 1999-born talents in all of Europe.

David Hein

FIBA

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