Video: Bertans making buckets overseas
The San Antonio Spurs drafted four players in last year's draft, Kawhi Leonard, Cory Joseph, Adam Hanga and Davis Bertans. Hanga and Bertans are still in Europe and while we've shown you a lot of highlight packages of the super exciting Hanga, Bertans has flown under the radar. Still, Bertans has indeed turned himself in to a reliable scorer for Partizan of Serbia's Adriatic League. Check out this highlight package from this season.
Pretty exciting to see his quick release. The combination of his size and release make his shot nearly impossible to block.
He also can do a few things with the ball, mostly one or two dribbles to set up a mid-range jumper. He can also move without the ball fairly well, making some quick cuts to the basket. Currently, Bertans is averaging 8.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in 22 minutes of play in the Adriatic League. That may not sound like a lot, but he's his team's third leading scorer and Vladimir Lucic, the team's leading scorer, is averaging 11.9 ppg. The really good news is Bertans is shooting 52.3 percent from the field and 44.9 percent from three.
Two concerns about Bertans is his defense, which he's said previously he's working on (though the above video shows only one defensive play). The second is he's built like a power forward but should probably be playing small forward. Or vice versa.
At 6'10" he's ideally a power forward but at somewhere between 210 and 220 pounds, he's got the build of a small forward who isn't swift enough to guard other small forwards. If he adds another 10-15 pounds, he'll be more able to bang down low. He just turned 20 last November, so we can assume adding weight won't be too tough.
We can also assume he'll be in Europe for another couple of years since he just signed a three and a half year contract (Europe is weird) last January.
Only 20 yrs old and continuing to develop nicely. Maybe Chip visited and worked on his shot a bit... I like his engine, his passion. Not a just a shooter, he can slash, dish, and is willing to work on his D. He's pretty quick as well. He'll add some weight, hopefully mostly muscle. Would love for him to add the Dirk one-legged fall away jumper, along with Duncan's feel for the glass (and TD's defensive acumen).
Maybe a tad early to project... ok VERY early... but howse this for a 2015-16 Roster: Splitter, Baynes, Bertans, Green, Kawhi, Hanga, Parker, De Colo, Mills, Neal, Joseph... still a plethora of Guards, but several who can play both spots.
The great part is we have 3 years' worth of draft picks and development... and hopefully get Ryan Richards to clue in. The bad news is this will almost certainly be a time without Pop.
His stroke sure is pretty. Like the improvements, hopefully he keeps it up. Could be a quality post-Timmy piece
