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8 - Petteri Koponen

6-4, 195 Point Guard
Finland International
Birthday
04/13/88 (36 yrs)
Hometown
Helsinki, Finland
International Team
Honka Playboys
2007 Statistics
Athleticism
7
Size
8
Defense
6
Strength
7
Quickness
7
Leadership
8
Jump Shot
8
NBA Ready
6
Ball Handling
7
Potential
8
Passing
8
Intangibles
9
89 Overall:

NBA Comparison: Kirk Hinrich

Hippo T. – 5/14/2007

Strengths: Has crept from under the radar to become one of the most hyped players in Nordic countries ever … Great court vision, able to find the open guy no matter how narrow the passing agle is … Houdini in the open court … A classic pass first, pass second, shoot third point guard when is fully adapted to teams system … Defensively he is excellent covering the passing lanes and defending off-the ball movement because of the combination of wits and wingspan…Also a solid team defender, big enough to defend shooting guards … Tougher than seems, can take a lot of contact without complaining in both offensive and defensive sides … Able to slash to the basket and draw the defense to him … Excellent mental toughness, not even the toughest trash talker is able to get inside his head … Quick, stable jump shot release with a high arch … Great attitude, an extremely sportsmanlike player … Picks up his coachs advice quickly … Willing to learn and be one of the best one day, works hard to correct the weak spots in his game … A true talent with potential …

Weaknesses: Although he takes good care of his body and has improved significantly during last two years, lacks the NBA athleticism … Struggles in 1-on-1-defense against quicker, more physical point guards … Still shows inexperience against top competition: Gets a fair share of bad pass turnovers against defensive-minded teams … Makes quite a lot of rookie mistakes if opponents guards have done their homework … Can get frustrated after a couple of easy fouls or turnovers and sometimes gets carried away in high tempo game … Needs to get better running a 5-on-5 half court set: Has a tendency of forcing bad shots when he cant get the offense flowing naturally … Needs more confidence, can be overly critical towards himeslf … Lacks vocal leadership, although has shown impressive ability to lead both veteran and junior teams … Needs approximately two years of experience in bigger leagues before having a shot in the NBA …

Notes: Made his debut in the Finnish top league Korisliiga as a 16-year old and has been able to learn the game from top international coaches Mihajlo Pavicevic (Montenegro) and Henrik Dettmann (Finland) … Has been scouted by Rick Sheubrooks and Jerry West of the Memphis Grizzlies … Finished with seven points (2-4 field goals), six assists and just one turnover against Derrick Rose and OJ Mayo in the 2007 Nike Hoop Summit … Played his first game with Finnish National Team August 1st 2006 against Norway … Played 15 National Team games in the summer of 2006, scoring 7,0 ppg…Played four games in Euro-Qualifications, third best scorer of Team Finland (10,3ppg) after Hanno Mottola (Zalgiris Kaunas) and starting point guard Teemu Rannikko (Olimpia Ljubljana) … Netted 19 points and dished out 9 assists against Luxembourg September 16th 2006 … Starting point guard in U20 Division B European Championship tournament … U20 team finished third while Koponen scored 12,6ppg and delivered 3,4apg … Best individual performance in U20 games: 26 points, 7 rebounds and 8 steals July 18th 2006 against Macedonia…Was the starting point guard of 2007 Finnish Champion Honka Playboys … Season averages in 2006/2007: 12,4ppg, 2,4rpg, 3,7apg, 1,7spg, 3,0topg while draining 54,2% of two point attempts, 39,2% of three point attempts and 84,1% of free throw attempts …

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