By Panos Katsiroumpas/ info@eurohoops.net
Ekpe Udoh and Bogdan Bogdanovic both crossed the Atlantic and starting next season they’ll be playing in the NBA, for the Utah Jazz and the Sacramento Kings respectively…
The Turkish team and Zeljko Obradovic are forced to live with these losses and they are already preparing for the day after for the European Champions. They’ve made some important additions with the acquisition of Sinan Guler and Nicolo Melli. To these will be added the signing of the young Serbian guard from Crvena Zvezda, Marko Guduric.
Essentially, Guduric was introduced to European basketball in the last two years, during which he made quite an impression with his performances in the excellent team the former coach of the Adriatic champions, Dejan Radonjic, had built.
Who he is
Marko Guduric was born in Serbia in 1995. Since he was 18 years of age he belongs to Crvena Zvezda, but for the first two years of his contract, he played for FMP Belgrade on a loan.
In the summer of 2015, he essentially took off as a player. He won the gold medal with Serbia in the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, while at the same time he emerged as the MVP of the competition.
Crvena Zvezda decided to give him a place on the roster and he responded almost immediately. In the two years he played in the EuroLeague, he had close to 8 points on average in almost 20 minutes of playing time.
This summer, the time has come for the big leap in his career, as he signed a contract with Fenerbahce.
Player’s features
Guduric is a player with great talent and in Fenerbahce, he will definitely have the opportunity to develop it. Of course, the team’s fans shouldn’t have very high demands right off the bat as we shouldn’t forget that Bogdanovic too was getting better year after year. It’s no coincidence that when the Serb was transferred to Fener he was considered a shooter, but he improved all areas of his game and, as a result, he’s considered one of the best European players right now.
He can play in two positions
Marko Guduric can play both in the “2” position as well as the “3”. He can do a lot of things on the court. He can function as a weak side executioner like he often did when he first appeared in the EuroLeague. During those two years, he worked a lot on his pull up jumpers and we might even see him in the position of the creator in the pick-and-roll.
Shooting-Creating
He can shoot with ease behind the screen, while if he attacks the basket he usually picks the left lane, which is his favorite. In his second year, and with the absence of Jovic in some games, he played more as a creator and boosted his numbers in terms of assists.
He can see the split out passes more easily since he’s quite tall and has long arms, while he can improve his perception and his ability to pass the ball in the pick-and-roll.
What we haven’t seen him do very often is try to attack from the post. He likes to launch his attacks from the outside in.
Audacity
His greatest asset is that he’s not afraid. It’s no coincidence that even in his first year in the EuroLeague he took on big shots and gave his team big wins at points of the game when the ball was hot.
He’s very audacious competitively and he has guts, he likes having the ball in his hands when everything is hanging by a thread. He has a leader’s qualities and he doesn’t hide.
Of course, he often took on shots that were very difficult and far-fetched, which shows that, even though he has a great deal of confidence in his abilities, he does lack maturity in certain aspects. Of course, this is something he will definitely improve with Zeljko Obradovic and he will become even better in terms of decision-making in the game.
What will make him a superstar
The truth is that, as raw material, right now Guduric looks like a rough diamond. He really does have a lot of talent and even if after two or three years he doesn’t evolve into a player of Bogdanovic’s level, he’ll certainly be a player of a very high level.
In order to become dominant, he’ll have to work on his body, as he’s tall and long but still doesn’t have the mass that is required.
If he improves his game with the ball on the floor and his creation in the pick-and-roll, he will automatically become more complete. He’s a good shooter, but he has to work on his decision-making.
Overall, he’s a player who has the materials that are needed to make a great career. He needs to improve, but if he works on it, he might even become a top-class player.