What makes MIROTIC the perfect high-low player

2019 will go in my books as the year in which European basketball made another important step into narrowing the gap with the NBA. The World Cup win for Spain and the multiple individual NBA awards for European players (Doncic, Giannis and Gobert) are important milestones. But also the fact that more and more NBA players continue their career in a Euroleague team. Nikola Mirotic is probably the biggest fish.

While Mirotic had several options in the NBA, he chose a long-term contract in Europa. In his first months, he’s an important key to the successes of FC Barcelona (shared top spots in the EuroLeague as well as in the Spanish league).

Especially in so-called “high-low situations”, Mirotic proofs to the prototype of a modern “stretch 4″ player who’s extremely difficult to guard. In the video below, I break down all the aspects which makes it an unstoppable play for Mirotic 👇

On the lowpost the defender cannot stay behind Mirotic. The cocktail of his size, mobility and shooting touch allows him to score easily with a fade-away, semi-hook or spin move.

When the defense tries to deny the direct passing line to the ball, he’s very smart to seal-off the defender to open up another passing angle for a different teammate.

His experience and basketball IQ make him also a lethal passer. Either from the lowpost or in feeding the “high-low pass” himself, he keeps his cool and court vision under the defensive pressure.

Unnecessary to add that you cannot give him any daylight behind the arc, making him one of the proto-types of a modern “stretch 4” that every coach would like to have on his roster.

Also in 2🏀2🏀 I will continue reaching out to you with more basketball analyses, video breakdowns and some analytics, stay tuned!