Derrick Rose isn't the only Bull in the FIBA World Championships, nor is he the only Bull on an undefeated team.
Turkey's already defeated France to go 6-0 and make it to the quarter finals. In fact Turkey and Team USA might be heading towards a matchup in the World Championship finals.
Omer Asik plays a key role for Turkey as their third leading scorer, leading rebounder, and interior defender. I'm not going to lie to you, I hadn't been follwoing Asik's Eurpoean tour much, but on a slow labor day weekend, I decided to go back and watch a few of his games in the archives to deliver a scouting report.
I started off with the France vs Turkey given that the game was in the knock out round and France features a couple of NBA rotation players (Batum and Diaw).
Visually, Asik looks bigger than the last time I scouted him. I'd give him a legit mid 250s in terms of weight, and he looks considerably stronger than a couple seasons ago.
In terms of play, Asik was fairly uninvolved in the first. He started the game with a layup after receiving the ball two feet from the hoop and then fighting up through a double team. However, that concluded both his scoring and shot attempts for the half.
I don't know the French team well enough to deliver a scouting report, but on defense, Asik was pulled out of the paint frequently, so presumably their opposing center can shoot some. As such, Asik's primary feature, of lane deterrence wasn't on full display.
Asik's rebounding in the first half was so-so, he had a couple opportunities where he had position on a board, but it was knocked away from him by the French team.
He played around seven minutes in the first quarter, his only minutes for the half. After he left the game Turkey had a one point lead which they extended to 15 by half time.
In the second half, Asik was a bit more active offensively. He had a kick out in the post for an assist to Turkoglu for a three, caught a pass on a basket cut for an easy two, fought off Batum for an offensive rebound and a dunk, and drew a foul and actually sunk both free throws all in the first five minutes or so of the quarter, and Turkey put the game away in this stretch.
He ended up finishing the game with 10 points on four shots, five rebounds, an assist, a block, and two fouls in 17 minutes. Overall, those are very, very good stats for 17 minutes, though I thought Asik's play probably wasn't quite as good as the stats.
After the France game, I decided to watch Turkey vs Greece since my impression was that Greece was one of the better teams of the tournament, I wanted to see how they'd fair.
Asik was more active against Greece, not necessarily in shot attempts since he still only had six, but he was involved in setting more screens and participating in more screen and rolls. His first three shot attempts were off of screen and rolls, he had two nice finishes and had his only miss in that area, the miss could have easily been called a defensive foul as he went up with plenty of contact through three defenders.
In the second half, he had three monster dunks on screen and rolls. Two of them he had the ball delivered 15 feet out or so and drove to the basket, and the third he had the ball delivered around five feet away and had a nice spin move into the dunk. All there were strong athletic moves and not simply open dunks where he received the ball right under the hoop and just went up.
On top of that, he did a nice job overall in finding an open space near the basket to set himself up for opportunities as there were several opportunities for Turkey to hit Asik in open space near the hoop that weren't capitalized on.
He had another nice efficiency scoring game overall, going five of six. His one miss on the night probably should have been a foul call as well. Asik was decent on the glass, but doesn't look like a dominant rebounder by any stretch. His normal free throw stroke was on display in this game though as he hit only 33% of his free throws.
Defensively, Asik had to defend Schortsanitis, who looks like a short Euro-Shaq. As such, I saw some of what he's able to do against a very physical, heavy speciman. He was pushed around at times, but he generally held his own. There were no double teams to help him, and he scored a block and forced a miss then allowed an and one before having to sit after picking up his third foul against him (though the first was BS).
It was somewhat of a mixed bag, and watching him defend Schortsanitis, I don't think he's likely to come in play overly physical against the Bogut, Howard, Yao, Kaman, types that we often struggle against. This isn't a knock on Asik, as you can say the same about Noah, and we all love him, but he's unlikely to fill that void of big physical defender initially.
All in all, watching about 35 minutes of Asik play quality competition, I came to the following rough conclusions which are probably fairly meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
Offensively:
He's not highly skilled offensively, everything he gets is off a cut, offensive rebound, transition, or some kind of other garbage basket. He simply doesn't create his own offense. However, he sets a nice pick, and is adept at finding an open spot to roll to and attempt to get an opportunity basket. He has decent touch with his little one handed hooks and shots near the hoop, as he hit everything I saw him throw up in two games except two shots (one didn't seem to show up in the box score) and both were probably uncalled defensive fouls.
Defensively:
He did an okay job in help defensive and on the glass. Neither game was probably amongst his best for help defense, but he was fairly adept at making rotations, and he hedged screens well and found his way back to his man in time for the most part. As a man defender he looked fundamentally sound, but I think he'll struggle with the bigger centers in the NBA. As a rebounder, he looked simply okay. He gave up some boards to athletic players who went around him.
Athletically:
He didn't strike me as a big stiff. He moves fairly fluidly and looks to have the frame to add more muscle. I can definitely see where he has potential going forward to become a nice solid backup center. While I haven't watched a ton of Gortat in Orlando, Asik reminds me a lot of what I've seen from Gortat.
Filed under: Players
Tags: chicago bulls, omer asik, scouting report, turkey, world championships
By the end of the season who do you think will be our #2 center, Thomas or Asik?
As we all know, big men develop slowly. Is there any hope for him to get some better offensive moves and shots.. He looks more like Biedrins than Gortat. Gortat is a little more stout. But that said, Asik can probably finish fast and will be good to keep a fast tempo when Noah is resting. It will be interesting if he will develop some moves to play alongside Noah..
The other big guy on Turkey's team(he is on the Celtics) seems a little more explosive than Asik.
Asik is no stiff but he's not going to contribute much to the Bulls except maybe as a designated hacker late in games.
always great to hear from an optimist.
Thanks Mitchell. Watching the replay now. I think Derrick has been playing his role fine all tourney long. Reading other Bulls blogs, I've seen a ton of hate towards Rose. Looks lost, uninterested, overrated, can't pass, low basketball IQ. I don't know what I'm missing but haven't seen any of that. He is getting wherever he wants on the court whenever he wants. Drawing the defense to him and creating wide open shots for his teamates. What's with all the hate and why is it from Bulls fans? I like what I'm seeing.
I think some Bulls fans look for Rose to be the clear cut leader of the team but he isn't. That role clearly goes to Durant. Rose is the best point guard on the team and he is only doing his job cause he has so many scorers around him. Coach K has plenty of confidence in him and that's all that matters. I think some Bulls fans don't quite understand what Rose's role on this team is. He is doing what he is suppose to do.
Hey Doug, do you think at times we'd be able to play Noah & Asik together?
Sounds like Asik is exactly what we are looking for in a backup center.
If he can execute pick and role on offense and finish consistently, and he can defend pick and role, rebound and block a few shots that is all we nee.
If he had a go to offensive game, he would have been a first round pick and probably a starter.
Asik is just another of the Bulls new comers who I am optimisticly looking forward to seeing this season.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CvXEhdXFheY/SKRM_TTZluI/AAAAAAAACqc/lh_goPELvkw/s400/Greek+Baby+Shaq+Sofoklis+Schortsanitis.jpg
Greek Baby Shaq. Yikes.
I agree with your sentiment, but I just cannot get a handle on how FIBA performance translates to NBA performance.
Most times it seems like there is little or no correlation.
We do expect Rose to dominate and he isn't doing so, but that may just be the nature of the international game.
Durrant is not really dominating either, at least statistically.
I think that I will happily take that.
Makes perfect sense. I was just thinking it will be good to have not one but two rim defenders coming off the bench this year in asik and gibson. Wasn't talked about much, but when tyrus left last year the bulls started giving up a lot of points. Actually the D got worse all around since losing Salmons weakened the perimeter too. Not saying I regret the trades, but the Bulls reputation for defense last year came from their play in the first half of the season, not the second.
Doug: I've been reading your blogs/articles for a few months now and I have to say I thoroughly enjoy what you have to say. I generally read all of the comments and arguments but I rarely post. You are very insightful and your blogs are thought provoking. It also helps with the down time in the off season and also, since I know live in Australia, it helps with my Basketball Jones. I am a big fan, so keep up the good work and thanks!
Sorry, I now live in Australia.
DON'T CHANGE.
That's the advice I would give Omer Asik. Just REBOUND, BLOCK SHOTS, ROLL OF SCREENS and RUN THE FLOOR. If he does that, then he be well-liked and successful in Chicago with the Bulls.