Each month our team will pick five players (usually two guards, two forwards and one big) that we think had a month of great performances and that they deserve a spot in our All-Month Team.
The focus won’t be just on the “mainstream/top tier/NBA talent” prospects but we will go deeper and highlight other players as well. We will also try to not repeat the same players every month and we will look for different players that had a breakout month or a really dominant performance.
We are aware that our teams won’t always be perfect and that sometimes a player that had a dominant month will be left out, either because we couldn’t watch his matches or we just weren’t aware of his performances, but we will try our best to not miss on those prospects too many times.
Egor Demin (G | 203 cm | ’06) ~ Real Madrid
2006-born Egor Demin was one of the best performers of the ANGT Munich and showed that he is a solid international NBA prospect during January and got himself a spot in our team of the month. Demin shot 52.9% behind the 3-point line on 4.3 attempts and impressed with his scoring ability while also showcasing his court vision and passing skills. Considering his size and skillset for a guard, he is going to be on the radars of a lot of teams in the future.
Jack Kayil (G | 190 cm | ’06) ~ ALBA Berlin
Jack Kayil’s performance was one of the biggest surprises of the ANGT Munich as the best performer of ALBA Berlin and he was named in the Best Starting Five of the tournament. He showed his upside as a perimeter defender and let the tournament in steals (3.8 per game) while also scoring on all levels with his athleticism and pace, averaging 18.5 points per game. That being said, Kayil deservingly got himself a spot in our All-January Team.
Tristan da Silva (F | 206 cm | ’01) ~ Colorado Buffaloes
Colorado played 8 games in january and Tristan da Silva finished the month with averages of 19.9 points, 5.8 rebounds. 1.5 asists and 1.1 steals. He had a dominant performance at the end of the month vs Oregon State when he finished the game with 22 points and 15 rebounds. He scored more than 20 points in 4 of the 8 matches and he definitely deserved a spot in our team. He had very good percentages from tdistance and was shooting 53.5 % from the three point range. He played a lot outside and created advantages with playing face up and due to his versatility the defense had a hard time guarding him. He punished every smaller mistake and played with good energy and with confidence on all matches.
Matej Rudan (PF/C | 208 cm | ’01) ~ Mega Mis
Matej Rudan played an important role in Mega’s winning streak in January. They won 4 of their 5 matches and Matej averaged 17.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.3 asists, 1.0 steals and 1.5 blocks in those four matches. His worst performance was in the first match in January against Cedevita Olimpija (Mega lost just this match in January) when he had 6 points, 2 rebounds and 3 asists. He played on both big man spots and slower big man struggled with defending him in pick & rolls. He had some nice plays and if he received the ball in a good position, he was not scared to rock the rim and go for a dunk. Has some troubles with shooting percentages from deep in this season and there is room to improve in that area of his game. After two amazing performances at the end of October/start of November against Partizan and SC Derby, it was nice to see Matej getting a bigger offensive role again and we can just hope that this trend will continue in February as well.
Dušan Tanasković (C | 208 cm | ’01) ~ Borac Wwin
Dušan Tanasković had a dominant month in Bosnian league and also in the ABA2 bubble in Banja luka. In January in both competitions combined he averaged 20.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.8 asists, 2.3 steals and 1.2 blocks per game which are great numbers against pro/semi-pro players. He showed very dominant interior presence on both ends and played great in defense and offense. Made some shots from the three pointer range too and it looks like he is making progress in his shooting even though not a constant shooting threat yet. He is strong and can hold his stance while also has the mobility to be a very good PnR player and switch defender. Definitely a big man to keep an eye on since he is making nice progress this season.
