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Really excited about Jelavic

Dec 6, 2020
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I mean he's a 6' 10 21 yr old with basically two yrs of professional experience. Given the minutes what do you think we can reasonably expect from him? Realize he's listed as more of a stretch 4, but if JQ is not quite ready at the start.. could he possibly play some 5? I'm not really a big fan of BG.
 
SEC basketball has become kind of like SEC football. If you are not ultra physical, high intensity every second and/or lack fundamentals your impact is not going to be a lot. So, how tough is Jelavic, how intense, how physical and how well can he shoot/score and defend? Just watching a few video's of him he wasn't getting knocked down, hit in the teeth or rooted off the boards. He was hitting every shot and dribbled up the court without much pressure. And his three shooting apparently only 32% against the kind of resistance that will be much lesser than in the SEC.

Just glad we got guys like JQ, MD, DA and OO that we know can survive wars day and day out in the SEC. Hopefully Jelavic can adapt fairly quickly to the rigors of competition most teams in the SEC have become.
 
I mean he's a 6' 10 21 yr old with basically two yrs of professional experience. Given the minutes what do you think we can reasonably expect from him? Realize he's listed as more of a stretch 4, but if JQ is not quite ready at the start.. could he possibly play some 5? I'm not really a big fan of BG.
I'd like to think Jelavic is a lock to be a major contributor, but his ability level is hard to gauge from his pro experience.
The AdmiralBet ABA League is difficult to evaluate, from my point of view, as to the overall level of competition and skill.
Due to sponsorship reasons, the league was also known as the Goodyear League from 2001 to 2006, the NLB League from 2006 to 2011, and as the AdmiralBet ABA League from 2021. The league coexists alongside scaled-down national leagues in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. It is unclear how broad the talent pool is that the league draws from. Having said that, his stats are promising for a younger player. I hope the KY staff's evaluations are spot on and he will be great find. It'd be nice to pick up a real gem !!!

Here are the stats for the team he played on this season. You can click on his name to see his career stats, of course:







As far as his academic eligibility ... I sure hope that will not be a problem and he will be on campus soon.
GO CATS !!
 
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What I like about Jelavic:

Legitimate size(very important given Mo D does not)

Proven rebounding prowess. Not Oscar Tshiebwe but our 4s weren’t great rebounders last year in Carr and Almonor. He’s averaged 7.5 RPG internationally

Played REAL minutes in the ABA. Comparing to big Z due to our familiarity. Jelavic played over 1500 minutes in the league, Z less than 300

The vision many have is Grant Nelson and I can definitely see it. Very similar builds and statistical profiles. Andrija isn’t quite the athlete and is coming from a complete unknown overseas whereas we knew where Grant was coming from, a a lower level of D1. Ironic that Nelson is the easiest comp for Jelavic and Mo D transfers in!

I would not be shocked to see him at the 5 some to start the season. Think you can have some VERY fun offensive lineups where you utilize him that way.
 
What I like about Jelavic:

Legitimate size(very important given Mo D does not)

Proven rebounding prowess. Not Oscar Tshiebwe but our 4s weren’t great rebounders last year in Carr and Almonor. He’s averaged 7.5 RPG internationally

Played REAL minutes in the ABA. Comparing to big Z due to our familiarity. Jelavic played over 1500 minutes in the league, Z less than 300

The vision many have is Grant Nelson and I can definitely see it. Very similar builds and statistical profiles. Andrija isn’t quite the athlete and is coming from a complete unknown overseas whereas we knew where Grant was coming from, a a lower level of D1. Ironic that Nelson is the easiest comp for Jelavic and Mo D transfers in!

I would not be shocked to see him at the 5 some to start the season. Think you can have some VERY fun offensive lineups where you utilize him that way.
Good comparison between Jelavic and Ivisic ... Thanks. It definitely appears Jelavic played better in the ABA, no question.
That is very encouraging.
 
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I mean he's a 6' 10 21 yr old with basically two yrs of professional experience. Given the minutes what do you think we can reasonably expect from him? Realize he's listed as more of a stretch 4, but if JQ is not quite ready at the start.. could he possibly play some 5? I'm not really a big fan of BG.
I expect to see him play at the top of the key possibly a lot. Call it what you want. Garrison will make a great move. We got four great centers and forward. I wonder if Williams can't get some stretch four minutes. Maybe Noah. I was impressed with he's rebounding last year. I think he could be a factor. Especially if our three point shooting is down
 
Jelavic is going to be competing with Alabama transfer Mouhamed Dioubate for the starting spot at power forward, and this will be a great battle. Dioubate has the SEC experience, but Jelavic has an elite upside that will make it hard to keep him off the floor.

Here is what Coach Mark Pope had to say about Jelavic when he signed with Kentucky, “Andrija is a really skilled, athletic, mobile, veteran player who has been playing at a high level for the last two years. He’s been mentored through the development program at Mega, which is one of the best development centers for great players in Europe. Andrija has a really unique combination of size, athleticism, and skill that will translate seamlessly into our system."


"My first Facetime conversation with him was actually beautiful. From the first few minutes talking, I was like, 'Wow, this kid is really special. He loves the game of basketball. He loves to hoop. He wants to hoop all the time. He’s in an environment where he’s doing two practices a day, every day for his entire life. And so that’s kind of the background he’s come from. He's with a really good organization that we know the people surrounding that organization really well. He knows Kentucky. Actually, on Facetime with him, as we kind of were exchanging calls, the more and more this became real, the more emotional he got."

 
I mean he's a 6' 10 21 yr old with basically two yrs of professional experience. Given the minutes what do you think we can reasonably expect from him? Realize he's listed as more of a stretch 4, but if JQ is not quite ready at the start.. could he possibly play some 5? I'm not really a big fan of BG.
I feel BG gets a hard time from a lot of people. I think we have seen so many nba all star big men come through that we are kind of spoiled. BG isn’t Boogie but he is a former burger boy good body great athleticism with a good motor. He makes some goofy decisions sometimes but I expect him to get it together and make a big leap. Most teams in the country would love to have him but I understand where the skepticism comes from.
 
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I feel BG gets a hard time from a lot of people. I think we have seen so many nba all star big men come through that we are kind of spoiled. BG isn’t Boogie but he is a former burger boy good body great athleticism with a good motor. He makes some goody decisions sometimes but I expect him to get it together and make a big leap. Most teams in the country would love to have him but I understand where the skepticism comes from.
Mark Pope is the best thing that ever happened to Brandon Garrison. BG has elite skills, athleticism and size, he just needs maturity and coaching. He’s going to get that from Coach Pope and will end up as a first round draft pick next summer.
 
I'd like to think Jelavic is a lock to be a major contributor, but his ability level is hard to gauge from his pro experience.
The AdmiralBet ABA League is difficult to evaluate, from my point of view, as to the overall level of competition and skill.
Due to sponsorship reasons, the league was also known as the Goodyear League from 2001 to 2006, the NLB League from 2006 to 2011, and as the AdmiralBet ABA League from 2021. The league coexists alongside scaled-down national leagues in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. It is unclear how broad the talent pool is that the league draws from. Having said that, his stats are promising for a younger player. I hope the KY staff's evaluations are spot on and he will be great find. It'd be nice to pick up a real gem !!!

There is actually going to be a lot of players coming from this league next season. UNC just got a commitment from a SG, Bogavac, that is projected to start for them, but scored less than Jelavic.

When you look at Jelavic, you see he came from the Croatian league, then went up to the ABA, whereas the new guy Zougris for UL was still at the lower Greek Basketball League, similar to Jelavics first couple of years. Same with Rtail for Arkansas playing at the NBL in Lithuania, which is a lower league.

However, UL's other commit, Sanada Fru and Duke's guy, Dame Sarr, played in leagues equivalent to the ABA called the Bundesliga BBL and Liga ACB respectively, which are Germany and Spains best leagues.
 
From the game tape he looks fluid, very mobile and has a fairly good shot. His post moves need a little work for the American game but other than that he looks good both ways.
As always with foreign guys and UK's luck, I hold my breath. Hope it is a quick and painless process. We need him here with the rest of the team, this week or next (whenever they arrive).
 
Auburn picked up a commit from an ABA power forward as well, Filip Jovic (12.2 PPG). He was on the same team as Jelavic even. Tennessee got a shooting guard, Massamba, from the top French league, LNB too. It will be interesting seeing how these guys fit in.

Illinois added a third player from Jelavics team in Mihailo Petrovic (14.3 PPG). Jelavic got 10.4 PPG.
 
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There is actually going to be a lot of players coming from this league next season. UNC just got a commitment from a SG, Bogavac, that is projected to start for them, but scored less than Jelavic.

When you look at Jelavic, you see he came from the Croatian league, then went up to the ABA, whereas the new guy Zougris for UL was still at the lower Greek Basketball League, similar to Jelavics first couple of years. Same with Rtail for Arkansas playing at the NBL in Lithuania, which is a lower league.

However, UL's other commit, Sanada Fru and Duke's guy, Dame Sarr, played in leagues equivalent to the ABA called the Bundesliga BBL and Liga ACB respectively, which are Germany and Spains best leagues.
THANKS for the excellent insight. Much appreciated ...
 
He is not wrong. All foreign students may be held up. There will be a higher level of scrutiny for all student visa applications and the state department put a pause until they can formalize the new application vetting standards. I think he will get here later than everyone expected. However, once he is here, he should not have eligibility concerns.
 
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I certainly hope you're right about BG.
If BG can get past the immaturity and inability to control his emotions that seemed to get in the way of his development last year, then he could be a significant contributor.
 
The clip is a highlight tape, but,... I saw some passes that looked like he can pass. I wonder if Pope could put him at the top of the key, there's a good chance he's a better passer that our other two bigs.
 
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He is not wrong. All foreign students may be held up. There will be a higher level of scrutiny for all student visa applications and the state department put a pause until they can formalize the new application vetting standards. I think he will get here later than everyone expected. However, once he is here, he should not have eligibility concerns.
But the guy he was responding to does in fact….suck . He is nothing but a troll.
 
@Wildcats1st , at least four people in this thread have asked how Jelavic will have eligibility issues.

Care to share what you know that the rest of us don't? Thanks in advance.
 
@Wildcats1st , at least four people in this thread have asked how Jelavic will have eligibility issues.

Care to share what you know that the rest of us don't? Thanks in advance.
Just go back and read the threads when he signed. All foreign players are scrutinized. These people asking do they remember ivisic? Do they remember kanter? Yes he will have to be cleared by the ncaa.
 
I'm pretty excited about the big Croatian.
Looks like a skilled player with the potential to be a solid contributor for the Wildcats!
 
Just go back and read the threads when he signed. All foreign players are scrutinized. These people asking do they remember ivisic? Do they remember kanter? Yes he will have to be cleared by the ncaa.
You frequently have posts that make you look so out of touch with the enormous changes that have occurred in CBB. It's like you've been living in a cave for the last decade.

Thinking the Kanter ruling has relevance here is nearly as out of touch as your laughably outdated posts last week indicating that you still think signing with an agent causes a player to lose eligibility. In case you weren't aware, players can be paid now. The entire basis for that ruling no longer exists. Formerly paid Euro pros are playing all across CBB nowadays and the NCAA no longer has any problem with it.

There's no evidence of any problems with Jelavic's eligibility. Assuming there is just because he's a foreign player is plain ole stupid.
 
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Troll trolling
Lol. You love me dude or you wouldn’t follow me around. Is jelavic cleared to play? It’s a yes or no question. Do you have an answer? And until he’s cleared I don’t want to hear “he’s gonna be”. There’s like 8 articles covering this so I didn’t want to get i trouble posting competitor stuff. So here’s a 2 day old yahoo article that says he still isn’t cleared. Idk what you want to see or hear @Son_Of_Saul and the 4 others but the bottom line is he isn’t eligible. It’s in the ncaa hands and as I mentioned before our success rate is low. I’m not saying he won’t play. It could go through smooth but unless he’s played until 21 in Croatia for minimal money I don’t trust the ncaa. And these kids from Croatia are easy targets because they are paid to play starting at very young age.

 
Ivisic didn't have eligibility issues. He signed in August right before school and they had to process football claims first. Then UK's own admissions office denied him for that language test.

By all accounts, I was impressed with the speed with which the NCAA cleared him.
 
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