By Stefan Djordjevic / info@eurohoops.net
The Basketball Champions League has been filled with young talent since its beginning and while last year, there was much attention on guards, this time around Eurohoops gives some spotlight to the big guys in the frontcourt.
Here are five players born in 2000 that already have (or will very soon) a significant impact on their team’s performance and are looking to take a step forward in their careers.
Dalibor Ilic
Height: 206cm
Weight: 96kg
Position: F
Team: Igokea
Dalibor Ilic is a big but agile combo forward with solid motoric, dribbling shooting and passing skills. Although he’s capable of producing strong on offense and can match up defensively versus most frontcourt players, he lacks consistency on both ends. His off-the-ball movement and run in transition are very good along with a solid low-post technique but needs to work on creating his own shots.
The Bosnian-born Serbian center made his initial basketball steps in the hometown team Varda before joining Igokea at 15 years old. He had a strong presence in Igokea’s youth squads, winning the Junior ABA League in 2018 and finishing third the following year. He was averaging 20+ points and 10+ boards both seasons with a significant jump in the second one.
Ilic debuted for the senior team at 16 years old while he became a regular on the roster as time went on with 15, 20 minutes on average. He spent some time with Mega on a loan after which he returned to Igokea and has been there ever since.
He won three Bosnian Cups and one Bosnian League title with Igokea while he’s also got a Eurobasket gold under his belt with the Serbian U20 national team.