Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Pangos Camp draws some of the best young hoopers in Europe

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ATHENS — Day 1 of the first-ever Pangos All-Euro Camp got underway Wednesday afternoon at the Basketaki Arena, with 56 athletes representing 15 different countries split among six teams.

After about 90 minutes of drills before the first of six games (with 20-minute halves) tipped off and concluded with each squad playing twice.

Action resumes Thursday morning at 10 o’clock (midnight, PT), with the camp all-star game scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

BallerTV is streaming and archiving each of the games.

The Celtics (72-71 vs. the Nuggets; 88-51 over the Mavericks) and the Lakers (69-54 against the Bucks and 79-64 over the Warriors) were 2-zip Wednesday and will meet in Thursday morning’s second game (11:45).

Leading the way for the Celtics in their first win were: 6-foot, Orestis Koutras (Psychiko, about 7.1 kilometers northeast of Athens) and 6-9, Stavros Karpouzis (Thessaloniki, about 500 KM north of Athens and the capital city of Greek Macedonia).

The 16-year-old — as of July 11 — Koutras (who departed early in his second game with an injury and didn’t return) was far from the quickest or strongest of the guards on display Wednesday.

But he got the ball where it needed to go, off the dribble or pass, and scored in a lot of ways, including deep 3s, pull-up jumpers and via either-hand drives. He finished with a team-high 16 points.

The almost-too-unselfish Karpouzis (and I’m not sure why he wasn’t in the building for the Celtics’ second game) rebounded forcefully, scored on assertive moves in the low post and hit a 3 from left corner off the catch.

And — as most of the “bigs” in action seemed to do Wednesday — Karpouzis (who turns 17 on Oct. 21) found cutters and spot-up shooters with on-target passes.

The Lakers got a day-high, 24-points from 6-4, Gianni Ferentinos (from Athens but he attended Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix, AZ, last school year) in their first game.

Ferentinos knocked in deep jumpers, beat defenders continuously (no guard had more physical strength) and crunched a few dunks over the top of defenders.

He didn’t play in the second game (according to Camp Director Dinos Trigonis, he apparently felt ill after the game).

According to his mother, via a Twitter IM, Ferentinos will not return to the U.S. for a final season at Hillcrest Prep, is finishing his high school education with on-line courses and “will probably play in Athens this season,” she added.

As for playing professionally or playing in college in the U.S., she said, “he is keeping all of his options open.”

Two of his Lakers’ teammates were sharp in both games, though.

Relative to his size, athletic tools, age (he turned 15 on May 10) and “feel” for the position, 6-4 Noel Emile-Lewis Mantock from Novi Sad in Serbia (the second largest city in the country after its capital, Belgrade) looked, often, like the top “point guard” prospect at the event.

Mantock (whose father is from Jamaica) used his fluid handle, ability to play at multiple speeds and craftiness to set up high-percentage scoring attempts — for himself and teammates — consistently over both games.

And a member of France’s 18U team, 6-7 Noah Penda (Paris), out-muscled, out-sprinted and out-jump pretty much everyone who tried to check him. Apparently, he’s a high school graduate with the academic resume needed to quality to play for an NCAA Division I program this coming season.

Joining Mantock and Koutras as “point guard-types” who were terrific Wednesday were Bial Raymond Petersen, a 6-2, 17-year-old from Copenhagen; and 6-1, 17-year-old Eldin Ejubovic from Amsterdam.

As good as Penda of the Celtics and Karpouzis of the Lakers were, the best collective, two-game performance turned in by a “big” Wednesday was that the 6-8, 18-year-old Georgios Vassilakis (pictured) produced for the Nuggets.

He scored 18 and 14 points, respectively, as he nailed deep and mid-range jumpers and turn-around attempts from the post.

And no one rebounded as forcefully and consistently as he did Wednesday.

He’s got the kind of physical and basketball skills that would entice a whole lot of top-flight, U.S. college programs to pursue him.

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