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.
Illan Pietrus (G | 192 cm | ’05) ~ SIG Strasbourg
Illan Pietrus was unstoppable in Espoirs in April. He was dominant in the first half of the month when he scored 35 points against Ada Blois, 26 vs Levallois, 30 vs Dijon but later his numbers dropped by a little and he continued with 11 points vs Monaco, 15 vs Nancy and 24 vs Limoges. Meanwhile he was also getting some minutes for the first team in ProA but his minutes were usually just too small for anything meaningful. Scored 8 points agaist Fos-sur-Mer and 6 against Nancy though which were his career-highs at that point (scored 9 against Nanterre in the first game in May). He is stepping up lately and showing that he can play on that level. He is a score first minded guard that has a versatile shooting repertoire and feels the best when he has the ball in his hands and when the lights are on him. Great slasher, capable of finding a way to the rim. Usually a high usage guy and when the shots are falling in he can easily go on 20+ points as he has shown in April.
Jean Claudio Montero (G | 188 cm | ’03) ~ Real Betis
Even though only players that are eligible for our rankings on the website are eligible for the all-month teams, we will make an exception here because we think Jean Montero deserves to be mentioned amongst the best young performers in the month of April. If you are asking why or if you haven’t followed the last weeks of the Spanish ACB, Jean lead his team Real Betis to three wins in April and now they are in the “safe zone”. The league is not over yet so things can change but Montero did his job and also got the “Best Young Player in ACB” award for the 2022/23 season. His quickness, elite 1vs1 and scoring skills were making problems even to the best defenses in the ACB and Jean averaged 17.8 points and 4.8 asists in April with great shooting splits. He took the ball in his hands and scored when it mattered and stopped his count at 30 points in an important match vs Fuenlabrada. A masterclass performance by the young Dominican guard, only the 6 turnovers he had in that match are a little too much. Overall a great month and I believe Jean will get some offers from teams that play in international competitions in the next few weeks.
Savo Drezgic (G | 187 cm | ’06) ~ Partizan
Savo Drezgic was one of the hottest players in April. He started the month with an amazing ANGT tournament in Belgrade where he averaged 21.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 6.8 assist. A few weeks later he showed even better performances at the Final8 of Serbian U17 league where he won the MVP award even though his team finished second. It all started with a 21 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals performance vs Dynamic in quarterfinals, followed by a 36 points, 6 rebounds and 16 asists performance in the derby vs Crvena zvezda and finished with 38 points, 9 rebounds and 10 asists match in the finals vs Mega. Savo showed amazing scoring abilities but when the defense put too much attention in trying to stop him, he usually found the correct pass to open teammate. He was very confident in offense and he looked unstoppable when he was making shots from deep range even though the defense was standing close to him. All of his moves were controlled and under balance and you rarely see that in players of that age.
Nikola Djurisic (SF | 202 cm | ’04) ~ Mega Mis
Nikola Djurisic had an effective month of April in the ABA league. He scored 16, 12, 16 and 17 points against Eurocup and Euroleague teams and was efficient from the field for his standards. Nikola also led the Mega U19 team to the championship in the ABA U19 league and he took away the MVP award. He was dominant on both matches – in semifinals he had 23 points and 10 asists while in the finals he stopped at 30 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists. His percentages from the three point line were poor but he was deadly from mid-range and at the rim. He had ups & downs when it came to maturity and there were lots of unnecessary mistakes and turnovers. Shot from distance and limiting the turnovers are two of the main things that Nikola needs to improve in his offensive game in the future to bring his game to an even higher level. The technical skillset is there, has good handles and court vision for his size and can make some tough passes that not many players can deliver and his creation is definitely his main selling points at the moment. If he continues to play like this is May and has good workouts before the NBA draft, then his draft stocks will definitely go up.
Babacar Mbye (C | 213 cm | ’02) ~ LDLC Asvel
Babacar Mbye was tearing apart the Espoirs U21 league in April. In the seven matches that he played for Asvel in April he averaged 27.0 points and 18.7 rebounds and Asvel won 5 of those 7 matches. Really dominant numbers and he definitely deserves a mention in our all-month team. He was scoring most of his points in catch & finish type of actions when he just received the ball in the middle of the paint and than he needed just to find a way to squeeze it throught the rim. Babacar was showing good jump hook touch on some finishes and was able to finish through contact too. He made a few shots from the three point range but the release looks shaky and inconsistent and I’m not buying the release yet. Used his size, length and athleticism well in rebouding and was dominant rebounding presence on both sides of the floor. Improved by quite a lot in this season and Babacar might be a name to follow for the next season.
