Lights and shadows for Mijatovic in this tournament. He did a nice job in the first games, but unfortunately got injured in the quarterfinal round, remaining sidelined for the rest of the championship. For Nenad, the worst thing is that Serbia and Montenegro didnt miss him, actually delivering their best games without his participation. However, he did play at a good level in this tournament, even if he hasnt evolved too much towards the more distributing playmaking model he should be chasing.
With Mijatovic you have an excellent physical and athletic profile. At 6-4, hes a tall and very quick point guard who shouldnt have troubles in this department at any level of play. But when it comes to his playmaking skills, its another story. Nenad is a scoring type of guard rather than a distributor. Indeed he played shooting guard in many stretches of the game, whenever he shared the court with
Milos Teodosic.
His offensive virtues rely on improvements in his shooting ability and especially in his one-on-one game. This allows him to be a nice slashing threat, although where Mijatovic really excels is in transition, being almost unstoppable in this area, as he knows how to effectively finish himself using his quickness and athleticism, and is also capable of passing the ball if necessary.
Going back to his set-offense strengths, his jumper is gaining consistency, which seems logical considering his good mechanics, and he can make it off the dribble. This skill is rather important for him considering his ability to beat his matchup, using his quickness, solid ball-handling skills and good first step, and generating in the process many shooting opportunities in the mid-range area which he can use with a fair chance of success.
If we talk about passing the ball, its using his slashing game where he finds the best options. Otherwise, hes rather a discrete passer. Not a true distributor, neither is he a floor general for his team at the moment, although hes playing more under control than he used to, making better decisions when they come to him.
Defensively, he was perhaps the best point guard of the tournament. His quickness is perfectly translated to his lateral movement, keeping his body really low and close to his matchup, annoying him. Hes a hard defender to beat.
Mijatovic still looks like an intriguing prospect, but needs to start addressing his distributing flaws. However, his skills might look more NBA-friendly than other better playmakers; for example, his teammate Teodosic himself. Milos probably looks like a much better bet for Europe at the moment, but Mijatovic likely features more potential for the American league. Hopefully, hell enjoy an important role next season in Buducnost, now that Koljevic is out of the picture, which will give Mijatovic the chance to learn from experience playing at a high level.
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