NCAA UNDERGROUND: take note for your team in Europe... Egidijus Mockevicius - Evansville

Strong start in the season for the Lithuanian guy, against Belmont 26 points with 14 rebounds. Let’s go deeper into his profile…

1) WHERE HE PLAYS  - Mockevicius is a pure 5 man. He moves well without the ball around the basket understands how to create space for himself in order to score easy points from paint. His strengths are his game with his back to the basket (decent 1 on 1 player – finishes mostly with his right hand hook; can finish with left hand, however this is not his strength); and rebounding on both ends of the floor (very aggressive on both boards, doesn’t back up from contact, goes hard to get rebounds).

2) PHYSICAL SKILLS – has got big hands, good strong body, and decent athleticism (improved his explosiveness). He uses his body pretty well. Good footwork offensively; Defensively has to get better in lateral movement. Overall strong big man, who uses his length pretty well.

3) WHERE HE RECEIVES THE BALL AND HOW HE FINISHES – all of his finishes are around the basket. This is where he gets most (almost all) of his touches and this is where he is the most comfortable. Positives – when catching the ball, he goes straight up, without bringing the ball down. He is very good on this and has good tendencies to finish off the catch without putting the ball on the floor (off cuts, or after offensive rebounds). In post up situations, he is decent 1 on 1 player who can create his own shot, mostly with his back to the basket, trying to back down defender (Moskevicius could improve in creating his own shot of iso/post ups situations), and looking to finish around the rim. decent explosiveness; good screener. Doesn’t really take mid-range jumpers and has to work on this. Always above 70% on free throws…

4) WHERE AND HOW HE DEFEND – Mockevicius is a good post defender who ‘walls up’ pretty well, looking to block shots by using his long hands. In ball screen situations, most of the time he is in ‘flat’ position (and this is something he has to get better at especially playing at the next level). Positives- good and solid post defender in 1 on 1 situations around the basket; really good defensive rebounder. Negatives – has to improve his footwork defensively as well as lateral speed (struggles to defend faster players off the dribble, and his lateral speed reflects on his ability to show hard (hedge) on ball screens.

5) HOW HE PLAYS PICK AND ROLL (OFFENSE AND DEFENSE) – Doesn’t play in ball screen situations a lot (his team uses him the most around the basket in post up situations). If/when he plays in ball screen situations, he rolls to the basket every time. Defensively, as mentioned, most of the time he is in flat position trying to protect penetrations (has to improve in ball screen defense; mowing his feet laterally)

6) RIGHT FIT FOR HIM – team playing slow pace and half court sets, in need of someone bringing physicality and solid post game, an above average defender for his position and good finisher around the rim.

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