FIBA Europe picking its 2013 Young Men's Player of the Year

REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - It's slowly coming to the end of the year which means awards time. And FIBA Europe has released its list of 12 candidates for the 2013 Young Men's Player of the Year. So Eye on the Future would like to help those considering filling out a ballot.

First off, the list of names (alphabetically by first name as FIBA Europe has listed them):
Alejandro Abrines (Spain and Barcelona)
Amedeo Della Valle (Italy and Ohio State)
Anzejs Pasecniks (Latvia and VEF Riga)
Dario Saric (Croatia and Cibona Zagreb)
Devon Van Oostrum (Great Britain and Laboral Kutxa)
Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania and Unicaja Malaga)
Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece and Milwaukee Bucks)
Kenan Sipahi (Turkey and Fenerbahce)
Ludvig Hakanson (Sweden and Barcelona)
Mateusz Ponitka (Poland and Telenet Ostende)
Rasmus Larsen (Denmark and La Bruixa d’Or)
Vasilje Micic (Serbia and Mega Vizura)

The winner of the past two Young Men's Player of the Year awards was Lithuania's Jonas Valanciunas. And the 2013 winner is a pretty clear-cut decision.

So, let’s go through them.

Della Valle may have led Italy to the U20 European Championship crown but he did next to nothing for Ohio State. The same could be said about Van Oostrum, winning promotion from U20 Division B but not getting the playing time in the Liga Endesa. And Pasecniks was solid at the U18 Euros but didn't have enough production at the club level to merit a top-three vote.

Larsen's presence on the list is surprising considering he didn't play for Denmark in the summer and only at the beginning of the 2013-14 season did he make inroads into the Liga Endesa team. Another surprise is Antetokounmpo being included. He played last season in the Greek second division and was little more than solid at the U20 European Championship before getting picked by the Bucks - an amazing display of the impact of hype.

Ponitka will probably not get many votes though he helped Poland get back to Division A at the U20 level after playing a key role for Polish Euroleague side Asseco Prokom. He has since moved to Belgian club Ostende and picked up right where he left off and continues to excel.

Those who know Eye on the Future know that Abrines is a personal cheeseball. But he did not play at the U20 Euros and has failed to take the step to real star status at Barcelona - not that it’s easy and that he’s not producing. But not at a Player of the Year level.

Now it starts getting tough.

Let's start with the guy who will probably get fewer votes than he deserves. But Hakanson deserves some serious recognition. He reached the final of the Nike International Junior Tournament with Barcelona at the Euroleague Final Four in London. 'Ludde' then was named to the All-Tournament Team of the U18 European Championship Division B with nearly 18 points, nearly five rebounds, more than four assists and two steals. Hakanson finished off his summer by starting games for Sweden at EuroBasket 2013 as a 17-year-old.

Sabonis will get plenty of votes after finishing fifth at the U18 Euros with Lithuania, averaging 14 points and 11.4 rebounds and shooting 55 percent from the field. The son of Lithuanian legend Arvydas also has gotten minutes with Euroleague team Unicaja Malaga.

So, we're down to the top three.

Finishing third will be Micic, who earned a space on the All-Tournament Team for silver medalists Serbia at the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship. He then made the Serbian senior national team for EuroBasket and displayed a maturity and presence that showed he was not overmatched and belonged on the biggest stage.

Second place on Eye on the Future's ballot will go to Sipahi. He finished the 2012-13 season playing his second full season with the senior side of Tofas Bursa, appearing during the campaign in the EuroChallenge while averaging 6.9 points and 2.8 rebounds in the Turkish TBL as a 17-year-old. He then won MVP honors for leading Turkey to the U18 European Championship crown - the country's first at that level. And since then he moved to Euroleague powers Fenerbahce and started games for legendary coach Zeljko Obradovic.

The 2013 Young Men's Player of the Year will be Dario Saric. The Croatian bounced back from a contractual dispute and ended the 2012-13 season by guiding Cibona to the Croatian league title. He moved to the U19 national team and finished second in points (20.3), rebounds (11.2) and assists (4.9) at the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship. His summer continued by showing he’s ready for the senior level in helping Croatia to the semi-finals of EuroBasket 2013 with 5.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 0.9 assists and a team-high 0.7 blocks.

Congrats Dario - another award for you, one of many, many more to come in the future.

David Hein

FIBA

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