Nikoloz Tskitishvili

Although he barely had any impact in the quarterfinal game that Caja San Fernando lost against Tau Vitoria, we feel forced to feature the performance of the favorite poster boy for the international bust in the NBA, Nikoloz Tskitishvili. The Georgian player arrived in the ACB league a month ago and therefore hadn’t been able to play anything more than four games prior to this event. Since his second game with the Seville team, when he spent 16 minutes on court, he has only seen his playing time decreasing. It’s certainly not a good situation for a player like him--not consistent, without experience, still somehow a project-- to arrive in the middle of the season to a very competitive league like the ACB.

Actually, it seems he wasn’t in the game plan for coach Comas, and only could hit the court once the victory looked like a distant possibility for his team, in the third quarter. Nikoloz delivered a decent, albeit inconsistent performance. On the offensive end, he basically stuck to face-up moves, missing a mid-range shot (he doesn’t seem to have the confidence to nail them down) and putting the ball on the floor to force fouls and produce from the free-throw line. He’s a quick guy who is difficult to stop once he’s near the basket thanks to his length and athleticism. Defensively, his inconsistency was even more evident, as he did a very nice job on Luis Scola (one of the top offensive bigs in Europe) in one-on-one situations, where Nikoloz’s lateral mobility, length and aggressiveness were quite effective. At the same time, he committed some big mistakes defending off the ball, getting caught behind screens due to his lack of concentration and not properly following Scola’s off-the-ball moves, which provided easy baskets for Tau. These mistakes sent him to the bench after less than 7 minutes on the court, with 5 points and 2 rebounds to his name. Tskitishvili still needs to learn the ropes of European basketball, and he doesn’t look like your most naturally gifted player in terms of his basketball IQ. Anyway, until next season we won’t be able to make a fair assessment on his success here.