Aleksej Pokusevski is the definition of a prospect. I will guarantee you this, Pokusevski is the best prospect you have never heard of, because, let’s be honest, you probably haven’t heard of him. So why spend the time writing an article about him? Because I believe someone will take a chance on him and you’ll be needing to know more about him. Pokusevski has huge up and downsides, but could he be worth the risk?
Strengths: Size, Rebounding, Guard Like Ability
Pokusevski is a 7’0 tall big that plays like a guard. It is absolutely unfair to be that tall and have the playmaking skills that he has. Pokusevski is able to track down the rebound, good enough of a dribbler to start the fast break, and good enough of a passer to make something happen. Not only that, but Pokusevski has something of a jump shot. There are tons of great players in this draft that can’t hit the ocean and are much smaller than Pokusevski. Everything about him screams massive amounts of potential.
Weaknesses: Strength, Consistency, Unknown
I’ve put “unknown” as a weakness because we honestly don’t know much about Pokusevski. He played in Greece’s second division of basketball and was out a decent amount of time with an injury. It’s hard to gauge how well someone will be against the best players in the world when he’s not even going against the best in a country. Pokusevski is a 7’0 bean poll that really needs to add weight if he wants to compete against other NBA bigs. Shooting is going to be his primary job (along with rebounding) but he isn’t that consistent (32%). If Pokusevski was your average big, it wouldn’t be that bad, but he will primarily be playing from the outside rather than the post.
Aleksej Pokusevski would be perfect for a team at the end of the first round to take a chance on. Grabbing him in the late first-round means you didn’t spend a high pick on him and you get to keep him longer and a bit on the cheap side. It’s a low-risk high-reward scenario. I honestly don’t see why someone wouldn’t take Pokusevski late in the first. Easy pick.
