Draft Prospect: Sergio Llull

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While the Spurs don’t necessarily need a point guard, they’ll have to think twice if Sergio Llull is available at 37. YouTube footage of Llull is scant, but I’ve embedded the best available footage below:


The DraftExpress profile on Llull is insightful. One wonders whether Llull isn’t the point guard steal of the draft. As Jonathan Givony points out:

The amount of playing time he received in such an important setting tells you a lot about his importance on this deep and expensive Real Madrid roster. He’s been playing incredibly well up until this game, stringing together some excellent performances in the Euroleague Top 16 (where his team is 3-0) and ACB (team record: 16-5), grabbing the reigns as his team’s starting point guard in the process, which is pretty noteworthy for a 21 year old European guard (he’s essentially an NCAA junior, as he won’t turn 22 until November). Brandon Jennings can tell you more about the significance of that.

As is the case with many European players, I’ve seldom seen them play. Because of this, I depend on the opinions of friends. One friend, Christophe Ney of Ball in Europe and European Prospects, told me this about Llull:

Definitely an interesting player, who came out big only this season after having been benched over the last years. Super quick and very athletic, he has the abilities to have some impact on the NBA level. Sometimes, he tries a bit too much in my eyes-he is the youngest guy on the team and has some veterans around him. But this self confidence helped him, too. At times it allowed his team a big boost.

And over at European Prospects, Ney says this:

Another 1987 born player in Spain but being automatically eligible in the Draft this year is Sergio Llull of Real Madrid. The guard impresses with great speed, good athleticism and a quick shot release on catch-and-shoot plays. And it is with these kind of skills that Llull scores the most for his team where he has a role a energy back-up and booster from the bench. Additionally, he has a role as defensive stopper if needed where he can use his athleticism to overpower the often smaller or less athletic European guards.

Llull has two more seasons left on his contract, and is certain to receive a generous extension offer from Real Madrid. That makes drafting him in the first round extremely problematic. Why would the Spurs have an interest in Llull, what with Parker, Ginobili and Hill already on board for the future? By the time Llull came over Parker would be approaching 30 and would be playing on older than his driver’s license says legs. And Manu Ginobili will be well past his prime. A player of Llull’s talent, entering his mid-20s, would be terrific to have in the pipeline.

A friend who wants to be identified as mountainballer, a SpursTalk regular, lives in Austria and has had frequent opportunity to see Llull play. His evaluation of Sergio Llull is consistent with those cited above:

Llull? He’s fantastic, pure and simple. Yes, he’s inconsistent like most young players and sometimes makes poor decisions. But you won’t find many Euro guys with this kind of explosiveness and athleticism. In that regard, he is absolutely in the Rudy Fernandez and young Manu Ginobili category. DX projects him as a best case Jose Calderon. But that doesn’t seem right to me. I don’t think Llull will ever be quite that good. Comparisons to JC Navarro make more sense to me.

At any rate, Llull has better than second round talent. To land him in the second round in a draft and stash manuever would be a coup.