Boris Tišma | Scouting Report

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Boris Tisma was born on 20 February 2002 in Zagreb, Croatia. He grew up playing basketball, in real term, as a child, he always plays basketball. He played for the Croatian club Dubrava. In 2015, when he was 13 years old, Tisma signed with Real Madrid and joined their youth academy. With the help of Luka Doncic, he adapted to Spain and learned Spanish in a short time. He became a successful student in Spanish schools, setting part of his day into school and more of in basketball. BT’s parents, Danijela and Miodrag, who were former basketball players, have always been his supporters. According to the information I learned from a veteran star in Real Madrid, Boris works individually for long periods before and after each team training. As I learned, Tisma’s work ethic is very high. Tisma spent the summer of 2020 working with Rok Stipcevic. He trained with an experienced player like Stipcevic in Zadar. As far as I can see Boris has made great progress, especially physically. PS: On 12 January 2020, Tišma made his professional debut for Real Madrid at the age of 17 years and 11 months.

Physical

In my opinion, Tisma possesses very good length for a small forward standing at 6-foot-9 with 6-foot-11.5 wingspan. In terms of strength, 185 lbs Tisma has a lot of room to get stronger. Long, very long and active arms, wide shoulders, stiff core and chest muscles, good hip mobility, quick lower body. Has pretty good footwork with consistency. There is not too much vertical pop, plays laterally but he showed some flashes on his vertical pop. From the athlectisim window, Tisma is not a great athlete in my opinion. BT is an average athlete who plays physically and aggressively. I have to explain here. Although Tisma does not have a very strong frame, I think he does an excellent job in contact play. Especially if you watch his matches in FIBA ​​Tournaments, you can see that he took contact in 87 positions and scored in 61 of those positions. I mean, Tisma doesn’t use much of his athletics, except for dunking in the open court and showing his fluency in some post games. Although he is 6-foot-9, he can play like a guard, pushing his opponent from the hill to the rim and scoring with physicality and aggressiveness. I think this makes up for his lack of pure skill and elite athleticism.

Offense

In my observations, Tisma’s game mostly revolves around spotting up for the 3-pointer/mid-range, pick-and-roll handler as a physical and aggressive scorer and finds buckets as an off-ball motion player. He is not a shooter who can create his shot consistently but showed 11 times this at the 2018 FIBA U16 European Championship. He usually hit the 3-pointers from the left corner and left-wing as a spot-up shooter. Has a smooth shooting mechanics, Tisma’s release, timing, confidence, quickness and footwork are great. However, he needs mentality, balance, angle and court vision as a shooter. I mean, some positions he tries unnecessary shots. Balance, angle, and court vision are almost absent in those shots. Tisma has confidence, has consistency, but if he wants to be a dangerous shooter at top levels, I think has to have a smart shooting mentality without showing his opponent a defect. On the other hand about his shooting, needs to improve the short-range. I mean, he has not last soft touch and elite athlectisim tools — as I said. He knows how to create short-range shots but can’t finish because of a lack of last touch. The Croatian prospect can score in the post, showing nice spin moves and hooks. As a post player, he usually attacks from the left side of the court. A great cutter — backdoor cuts, ATOs, side out of bounds plays and slips — showing nice offensive awarenesses, knows how to create spacing as a cutter and often finishes aggressively around the basket. Has a lot of room to be a good transition player. He has quickness, showed some dunks, also, showed trailer plays but not too much. Needs this skill-set in my opinion. Boris Tisma drives his left better than his right. Has slow but powerful first step. As a pick-and-roll handler, I think Tisma knows to give screen fakes against his opponents. I mean, he is not a classical PnR handler, thanks to his length and great handling for his length, Tisma uses the screen, drives in the free channel and finishes around the basket aggressively. In my opinion, he needs a lot of things on his passing package. I know, usually, you don’t wait for a good passing package from a 6-foot-9 player, but considering Tisma’s game features, I think he has to be better at passing. Because in this way, he may evaluate his gravity effect not only as a scorer but also in every sense.

Defense

When I think of players born between 2000 and 2004, Boris Tisma is one of the most interesting players in the defense pack based on his physical tools. I mean, you expect someone who is 6-foot-9 to have a good defense around the rim, read the pick-and-rolls well, and play with an explosive but Tisma puts pressure on shooters like 6-foot-4 guards and follows his man perfectly in off-ball motions. However, he not good against quick guards, also not a good defender around the rim. In my opinion, BT’s mobility, length, lateral quickness, BBIQ (reads and reacts) and defensive awareness like offense allows him to be a good defender against shooters who covers pick and roll situations well. In off-ball motions, after running around the screens with good timing and speed, he uses his hand length and BBIQ to cover the angle of the shooters and does pesky defense. He puts good timing pressure on the roller in pick-and-roll games, but after a minor mistake, he faces the handler and cannot defend him. He is good laterally but can improve his footwork to stay in front of quicker guards. His good length helps him play passing lanes aggressively. Despite not afraid of physical contact, Tisma is not a good rim protector. I think lack of elite vertical pop and strength hurt him here. As a competitive rebounder, Tisma pursues the ball with energy. Thanks to his good eye-hand coordination, Tisma sees something and moves on that well. I would like to see him around the hill as a defender. Because I think he can be more efficient there.

Summary

I think Boris Tisma is a forward who fit for the modern era in the NBA. Yes, he is not yet fit for the NBA in terms of strength and level of athletics. However, he has been in Real Madrid since he was 13 and I think his work discipline is high. In addition, his ability to score 3-pointers and his physical and aggressive game both on offense and defense make him a valuable prospect.