Game Scouting Report: Paulius Murauskas | Vytautas Prienu@Zalgiris Kaunas II
I’m Kuzey, 19. I’ve been writing about basketball since I was 9. I have been working in Eurosport Turkey for the last 1,5 years. I have written on various sites and magazines before. I’ve been working as a freelance scout for three years. I worked as a consultant. I have interviewed dozens of prospects such as Theo Maledon, Deni Avdija, Henri Drell, Aleksej Pokusevski, Arturs Kurucs, Yves Pons, and dozens of notable basketball people such as Luis Scola, Xavi Pascual, Jonathan Givony, Dimitris Itoudis, Sasa Obradovic, Joan Plaza, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Derrick Williams. I write an article every day. I live in Turkey, I go to all the Euroleague and Youth League games. My main areas are all of age group in Africa and from U12 to U20 European and NCAA. MY BIGGEST GOAL IS SCOUTING! Anyway, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and feel free to DM!
25 minutes
17 points
- 6/14 FG
- 5/11 2PTS
- 1/3 3 PTS
- 4/6 FT
Three turnovers
One steal
Three offensive rebounds and five defensive rebounds
Five fouls — Fouled out, fourth-quarter 01:27
Eye-test warm map
Matchups
#22: Regimantas Miniotas
- 6-foot-9, 210 lbs, 24 years old.
#29: Mindaugas Susinskas
- 6-foot-8, 195 lbs, 25 years old.
#7: Simas Jarumbuaskas
- 6-foot-6, 190 lbs, 20 years old.
#13: Justinas Jogminas
- 6-foot-7, 215 lbs, 23 years old.
PS: Paulius Murauskas is a 6-foot-9, over 200 lbs, 16 years old versatile forward.
What were the Prienai’s offensive tactics?
- Push the transitions.
2. Play high PnR: Especially, between Marquis Wright and Regimantas Miniotas.
3. Use under the basket with backdoor cuts.
What was the Prienai’s defensive tactic?
Just man to man, had good full-court trap in last-quarter.
Paulius Murauskas
Overall
It was a really great game for Paulius Murauskas. Just not in terms of stats sheet, also in terms of about his projection.
As you will soon see in the videos, Murauskas played very maturely against an LKL team even though he is only 16 years old. He still has problems with making the right decisions on the offensive end, staying calm on the defensive end, and timing in passing channels, but this is not too important for now. Because I think what you would want to see from a 16-year-old basketball player in a professional game are that handles the ball, dribbles the ball abilities, the way to use his best offensive weapon, and his ability to show a few additional tricks. I mean, you would expect him to be able to combine fundamental things with a few exciting moves. And I think Murauskas did it very well in this game. He did an important job by scoring 17 points in the game, in which his team lost by three points. In addition, his ability to stretch Zalgiris in off the ball motions was a very important note for his projection.
Murauskas fouled out 90 seconds before the game is over. But the player who committed this foul was actually Ugnius Jarusevicius.
In this game, I wish he was a little more aggressive and active in the last quarter. The opposing team defended Murauskas from wings with ICE defense and Murauskas did not score the last 14 minutes of the game. (his last points came at four minutes before the end of the third quarter.)
Clips
First of all, he does very well to push his opponent in under the basket to grab the ball. After takes the ball, look at how he runs quickly open floor. It is very important for his projection. Because Murauskas is originally a center but he can put the ball on the floor, has grab and go ability quickly. Here, he absorbs the contact, uses his body coordination impressively and draws the foul.
Paulius Murauskas has a lot of room to get better on the defensive end in my opinion. But in this defensive sequence, he has done impressive things. He against four CBET players but watches the ball to make one but most efficient move, and did it. Did not give bad reaction to baby jump fake and defended very well. Then grabs the ball and pushes the transition.
Simas Jarumbauskas (#7) is not a good rebounder, it is true but Murauskas shows his ability to use his good length (especially, arms) to takes the ball in the air on the offensive end. After takes the ball, he shifts his body weight to the defender, uses good two-feet jumps and finishes well.
I do not want to be “hyper scout” but after this offensive sequence, my excitement leveled about him level up too much. Have very simple reason, he changes the game.
Zalgiris down five. They need aggression because, in the second-quarter, Prienai did an impressive team job (26–13). Murauskas begins the possession with the ball, do not forget he is 16 YO and F-C, dribbles the ball quickly, draws the foul and thanks to his early smooth step, two and one is here.
PS: Look at his last change of direction in the air.
Does a pretty nice job on deep cut from the right-corner to the left-corner. #13 Justinas Jogminas gives bad reaction in first but does an impressive closeout here. Murauskas sees it and does not force the shoot. Lower his stance than his defender’s stance to take momentum advantage, first, he tries to hit with using step-out move but JJ really does good defense here. Then, Murauskas takes a classical low-post position but does quick drop step to lane against chest to shoulder fight, uses his coordination, soft touch and finds the bucket.
As you know, the biggest question mark about his offensive arsenal is his consistency in the shooting. It is not rocket science, Murauskas has room to get a better shooter but as you can see in this offensive sequence, he has the shooting mentality. Look at the scoreboard, Zalgiris down two. They need momentum again. Murauskas does nice job this quarter. And uses early three in transition with nice release, footwork setup and elbow point. I think it is very important.
Do you know Deividas Sirvydis, right? He was one of the best prospects from Lithuania a couple of years ago and he drafted by Pistons in 2019. But has not debuted yet because his improving curve going down. Three years ago, he was one of the best shooters in his class and did a lot to create good interior scoring. I think the same thing for Murauskas but his advantages is that PM is not just SF like Sirvydis, has a lot of offensive weapon on his arsenal and better defender than him. Also as you can see, he does not hesitate to uses the shoot. Can stretch the floor, can put the ball on the floor, has grab and go ability, has great offensive rebound instincts. So wait excitedly to watch his journey.