Vangelis Zougris

[Mirotic12]

If you're undersized, you gotta be either switchable or skilled enough to be a rim protector despite your size

If you can do neither, you're kind of stuck in no-man's land, like an Obi Toppin type

It doesn't really matter what you do on offense, that's why Adama Sanogo went undrafted despite being a really skilled scoring C. He's undersized and not athletic enough or skilled enough on defense to make up for it.

Zougris can do both. In fact, he's really good at both. At the Euro Under 20, he was pretty much the best defender and the best rebounder at the whole tournament. He's also a good shot blocker, and he pretty much shut down every opposing center that tried to post him. Even guys that were 7-0, 7-1, 7-2 type size couldn't post him at all. And he can rebound out of just his area. He goes and gets rebounds.

He is very good at covering on switches - probably the best in the whole tournament, for any 4 or 5. He's an absolute beast on defense and the boards.

[Mirotic12]

Here is an example of his defense. Again, against Olympiacos, which finished runner-up in the EuroLeague. At age 18, in what would be his senior season of high school, as the US sports system classifies it.

Watch on YouTube

First, Zougris runs the floor on transition D and blocks Thomas Walkup, who is very athletic and is one of the best point guards in Europe, in the paint. Then he blocks former NBA player Joel Bolomboy (6-9), who plays well above the rim, in the paint. Then he steals the ball from Giannouls Larentzakis, who is also quite athletic, and who is a very good ball handler, and a good main rotation player in the EuroLeague, out on the perimeter. He does all of this on the same sequence of plays.

There are very few centers in any league that have that combination of speed, quickness, motor, and defensive skills. And remember, that's a high school senior playing against one of the big EuroLeague teams.

[EvanZ]

I went back and re-read the Garuba thread here and credit to Mirotic12, you were pretty much the only one in that thread that was calling him out being a non-shooter, unathletic, etc. So kudos. I was never a Garuba fan.

To the rest of you who thought Garuba was a shooter based on like 40 shot sample size, shame on you.

[Mirotic12]

I went back and re-read the Garuba thread here and credit to Mirotic12, you were pretty much the only one in that thread that was calling him out being a non-shooter, unathletic, etc. So kudos. I was never a Garuba fan.

To the rest of you who thought Garuba was a shooter based on like 40 shot sample size, shame on you.

Thanks.

[Mirotic12]

Watch on YouTube

[Mirotic12]

The box score doesn't show it, but Zougris was really impressive against Olympiacos (EuroLeague Final Four team) in the Greek League semifinal game 1.

He played in the 2nd quarter, and he pretty much outplayed both Filip Petrusev (7-0) and Nikola Milutinov (7-1), head to head, on both ends of the floor and on the boards, and with no help on defense, when he was in the game and either of them were on him.

His defense was so good that Olympiacos' offense completely bogged down when he was in the game, and it was clearly because of Zougris' defense. And Milutinov and Petrusev couldn't keep him off the offensive glass either. Zougris' motor is absolutely incredible, and for a center, it's just unbelievable.

He's much better than Guruba (in theory supposed to be a similar type of player) was at the same age.