Now that the NBA Draft is within the rearview and free company is tapering down, it’s time to start out waiting for Summer season League. In contrast to current seasons, Boston has a bunch of expertise that would realistically make a push for a spot on the finish of the crew’s roster.
Nevertheless, it’s Aleksander Balcerowski who has piqued my curiosity. At 22 years outdated and seven’1’’, the European huge man has some critical recreation that may solely enhance by being round NBA-level expertise and training methods. This previous season, Balcerowski performed for Gran Canaria within the Liga ACB, the place he averaged 9.2 factors and three.4 rebounds per recreation.
The Boston Globe’s Adam Himmeslbach has famous how Boston has been monitoring Balcerowski’s improvement and tried so as to add him to their Summer season League roster final season. A fast take a look at the movie and you may perceive why.
On the season, Balcerowski wasn’t a prolific perimeter scorer, hitting 25% of his three-point makes an attempt. Peel off a layer, although, and you’ve got a giant man with outlined spots on the ground.
In keeping with Instat’s monitoring knowledge, Balcerowski is an above-average shooter from each wing/slot areas of the courtroom, together with his weak point straight above the break.
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Balcerowski can run pick-and-pop actions. He can flare off inverted screens. And he can place himself above the perimeter in five-out sequences that may enable Boston to take care of the spacing that Joe Mazzulla’s offensive system requires. That isn’t to say that hitting threes is all Balcerowski can do, although.
Final season, Balcerowski spent 30.9% of his offensive possession working as a roll man. At 7’1’’, you’ll anticipate Balcerowski to both be a hulking middle with restricted motion or a tall, wiry huge man who has questions surrounding his sturdiness. In fact, Balcerowski is a contented medium.
At 22, he has already begun to fill out his body and appears each bit the mandatory athlete to compete on the subsequent stage. But, Balcerowski’s footwork and hip dexterity be sure that he’s cellular sufficient to be a real huge man within the trendy NBA.
There are moments when Balcerowski reveals a delicate contact across the rim, ending off actions that require a slight acrobatic end – corresponding to up-and-unders or reverses off motion.
And there are different instances when Balcerowski will merely hammer it residence to make sure a simple two factors across the rim.
A key level to notice with the above clip is how fluid Balcerowski’s actions look. Modifications of path, backpedaling, and navigating via site visitors, the 22-year-old has the motion abilities to repeatedly drive defenses into robust choices – particularly when he’s surrounded by elite shooters and penetrators.
It’s that motion that has me believing Balcerowski may very well be a high-level screener for the Boston Celtics. Together with his measurement and construct, defenders would wrestle to combat via the contact, whereas the motion abilities would make working ‘veer’ and ‘weave’ actions extremely easy.
One last word on Balcerowski’s perimeter match with the Celtics – or every other NBA crew – is that he has a reputable motor and may very well be utilized as a rim runner or off-ball cutter.
In actual fact, 19.2% of Balcerowski’s offense got here by way of off-ball cuts final season, be it because the path man, a rim-runner, or a secondary cutter after the preliminary motion/penetration has occurred. The massive man has a great really feel for when to make his cuts to offer a secondary scoring alternative.
Casting our eyes towards the inside, Balcerowski’s post-up recreation continues to be a piece in progress however has proven flashes of turning into one other a part of his offensive ability set. We’re in 2023, although. So, post-offense is usually a difficult ability to refine, given the dearth of reps in that space of the ground. Nonetheless, there are methods to make issues work, and there are definitely methods to generate playmaking alternatives out of the put up.
This brings us to Balcerowski’s defensive recreation, the place he blends his motion and measurement to positively impression Gran Canaria however initiatives to have a really totally different position in Summer season League and probably within the NBA.
When enjoying for Gran Canaria, Balcerowski was primarily used as an up-to-touch defender in PnR actions. As you possibly can see within the above clip, the large man is ready to bodily contact the screener earlier than making his resolution on whether or not to drop, present, or hedge the possession.
A big a part of Balcerowski being utilized in the sort of defensive system is because of his capability to cowl floor rapidly and never get caught up when altering path. For these of you that bear in mind, it was an identical system that Mifondu Kabengele mentioned throughout coaching camp.
“Primarily based off the final two days, we’ve been in contact,” Mfiondu Kabengele told CLNS Media/CelticsBlog in a one-on-one interview with Bobby Manning. “So the bigs have been in drop, possibly some defensive drills we’ve switched simply to observe it. Because it pertains to going dwell and switching, solely when Joe or when the teaching employees arrange a lineup the place it’s the switching lineup. That’s the place they type of do it. Thus far, we haven’t executed lots of switching for myself personally, nevertheless it’s undoubtedly been practiced.”
On the NBA and Summer season League stage, guards can be faster, wings can be extra explosive, and the tempo of the sport can be sooner with further spacing on the ground. Balcerowski will doubtless spend the vast majority of his time working as a drop huge, utilizing his measurement, body, and directional capability to guard the rim whereas additionally being tasked with closing out to shooters who choose to drag up from the mid-range.
As a result of restricted pattern measurement on supply in Summer season League, we may even see Balcerowski play some perimeter-based PnR protection in what could also be a hybrid position, which might enable us to see the most effective he has to supply on that facet of the ball.
Lastly, regardless of his measurement, Balcerowski might want to enhance his defensive positioning and boxing out, as his rebounding numbers depart little to be desired. This previous season, the large man averaged 3.6 boards per recreation, which is solely not sufficient given his 7’1’’ body. Hopefully, by switching to a drop position on protection, Balcerowski can be in a greater place to assist management the defensive glass and make higher use of his measurement and body.
Total, Balcerowski might present sufficient to persuade Boston to increase a suggestion for the season, bolstering their big-man rotation and probably changing Blake Griffin. Nevertheless, as is often the case, Balcerowski will doubtless be again in Europe subsequent season, ready for his subsequent probability to indicate NBA coaches what he’s able to.
For Celtics followers, although, we’ll get a first-hand look at the moment in Vegas.
