Recap: Italian Next Gen Cup

Date: 12th November – 14th November 2022

Location: Vitrifrigo Arena – Pesaro

The first stage of the Italian major youth competition was held in Pesaro, where 16 squads,, made by each first division’s team, divided in two groups, were engaged in 3 games, one per day. In the competition, are involved players born from 2007 to 2003, teams can count not just on players coming from their own youth sectors, but also from loanee of the best italian youth programs.

Standings:

Group A

Group B

A sample of only 3 games isn’t enough to give certain judgments, so we can at least present you the most intriguing five of these three days, trying to build a sort of line-up. Measurements comes from different official sources: they may be subject to errors.

The frontman of the most good-looking team in the competition, Umberto Stazzonelli is emerging not just as a prospect, but as a real leader for Pesaro. The youngster is a big versatile guard with a very appealing physical and athletic profile, adding to it perimetral tools, like shooting and ball-handling. Stazzonelli takes advantages of his notable wingspan and his good percentages from behind the arc, creating a lethal mix on offense, remaning impactful on defense. He shot 8/17 from three point range in this 3 appearances (47.1%), being his team top scorer, adding 4 rebounds and a steal per game.

With this pick I make a personal coming out on of my pupil in the entire scouting world, David Torresani isn’t even remotely as sized or as physical as Stazzonelli, but he’s that kind of guard who has dynamite on his feet. The Treviso’s backcourter has an absolutely uncommon explosiveness, a really quick first step and impressive vertical jump: these skills allow him to be a great finisher around the rim and shot blocker, but also a solid shot-creator, due to his high release point up in the air and ability to create separation. He finally got the opportunity to show his potential in a competitive context, considering he scored 25 and 12 in his two games being one/two year younger than the opponents, sitting-out in the blow-out lost against Pesaro.

Porbably the only player in this line-up who’s far from the usual radar of the italian scouting circle. Marco Ius surprisingly led Trieste’s offense at Vitrifrigo Arena, with a stunning hot-streak of scoring performances. The power forward was protagonist of 3 straight 20+ points game, showing his capacity to be dangerous both from inside and outside the paint: 25 points per games with the 56,6% from the field, which makes him the best scorer of the competition so far.

Another 2005-born prospect, who’s far more known the scouting world, because of his experience with Orange1 Bassano. Bamba seems like a really older player and not just aesthetically speaking, he’s a decent baggage of knowledge of the game for a such a strong profile. I see him developed in a solid energy guy with a potential as a double-double machine. 13.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and almost a block in 3 games , knocking down a pair of good threes.

Greppi is one of the most attractive young big men on the italian market. Datas on his height are not that accurate, Euroleague site lists him at 209cm and he’s still 17 years old. He’s pretty longilinear, but also quite mobile for the size, that makes it a menace in the restricted area on both ends, as a rim runner/protector. Riccardo is an elite rebounder, had a 17-boards game against Virtus Bologna, and averaged a double double in these matches (12.3 points + 11.7 rebounds). A bad note: he lost way too many balls for the role he has (9).