Mickael Gelabale, 6-7, SF, Real Madrid, 1983

One interesting prospect who no one seems to be talking about in this draft is Mickael Gelabale from Real Madrid, another 1983 prospect who is automatically for this draft. The book on Gelabale seems to be fairly short, as he has never played in any international competition with the French national team and was never really considered a high level NBA prospect until this year.

Ever since he moved to Real Madrid that began to change, though. Gelabale has firmly worked himself into the Euroleague team’s rotation, to the point that he is a consistent starter. He averages more minutes than any other non-American player on the team and being counted relied on heavily all through the Spanish playoffs, to the tune of 25 minutes per game. Gelabale’s team is currently in the finals of the ACB league playoffs, which means that he will not have an opportunity to come over to the States to participate in private workouts. Rumor has it that in between playoff games Gelabale did make at least one quick hop over the ocean to visit an interested NBA team, with the Knicks being the ones that got to see him in person a few weekends ago.

One of the main reasons there has been very little buzz around Gelabale is the fact that he just does not really stand out in any particular area. He’s just a cool, calm and reliable role player who does what’s asked of him and not much more beyond that. He has good size for the swingman position at 6-7 (maybe even possibly 6-8), with long arms and very solid athletic ability. While he is not an athletic freak compared with your average NBA wing player, he is fairly quick, has good footspeed and a very nice vertical leap. All these physical attributes make him an excellent man to man and team defender, and a very pesky one at that, which appears to be his biggest role on the floor while he’s playing for Real Madrid. He is tough and has quick feet and hands, rotating well and not being afraid of getting dirty on the defensive end if that’s what’s needed of him. In the numerous tapes I saw of him, he showed that he can successfully guard three positions at the European level, thanks to his toughness, lateral quickness and above average wingspan. These same attributes (replacing the lateral quickness part with the fact that he gets off the floor vertically very quickly) make him an above average rebounding threat at his position, particularly on the offensive end.

Offensively, he is a bit more limited and does not seem to take too many chances on this end of the floor. He has a good looking jump-shot complete with a high release, especially from mid-range, but judging by his FG% (58% in Spain, and an astounding 69% in the Euroleague) you can tell that he does not really use it unless a good shot is really presented to him. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he is somewhat bashful offensively, something that might hurt his potential in the eyes of some scouts. This is a big reason why he’s played so many minutes for a really solid team in Europe, though, as a player of his age will almost always be expected to be the 4th or 5th option offensively in his time on the floor. That might be the reason why his coach shows so much faith in him, something that’s almost unheard of for a player his age in the toughest domestic league in the world outside the NBA. His personality is most definitely one of a team player, someone who will never stop the ball movement and will be willing to sacrifice his own stats to come up with the win.

In terms of weaknesses, besides the fact that he may be looked at by some as suffering from the Boris Diaw unselfishness syndrome (although I don’t believe it’s nearly as bad), he has three things he needs to improve on quickly if he is going to stick in the NBA. One is his body, which looks extremely frail at the moment. His frame is fairly narrow as well, which makes you wonder just how much potential he has to put on weight, and just how much this will make him a tweener in the eyes of NBA scouts. The reason for that would be the fact that he is not a great ball-handler or shooter, two things that every NBA shooting guard must have down at least to some degree to play that position offensively. His ball-handling is a bit shaky and that limits the effectiveness of his first step, which looks fairly average right now. He has improved somewhat here and also in the perimeter shooting department, shooting 21/63 (33%) this year in 47 ACB league games so far and 7/21 in 19 Euroleague games, all from the European three point line. That’s below average compared with other players at his position, though. Those two flaws (shooting and ball-handling) make you think that he is definitely a small forward offensively for the NBA. The only question is whether he is tall and strong enough to handle the 3 spot, and how much can he improve on his weaknesses over the next few years considering his age? We’re not talking about a homerun pick here in terms of unlimited upside, that’s for sure. A team that is looking for a steady, solid, athletic backup swingman who can come in and play minutes right away (we’re not sure about his buyout) should give him a good hard look in the 25-35 range. Anything past that and he’s a steal. Think about a poor man’s Josh Childress if you are looking for an NBA comparison. His feel for the game is only adequate, but he does a great job sticking to his strengths. As you can tell, he has played a season that isn’t far in length to what NBA players play in one season, so there should be no concerns there

Interesting... Looks like the guy plays like a winner; some descriptions reminded me of Manu (obviously not the weaknesses). Intriguing pick for a team that will contend now or in the near future.

He's a duplication of Ariza with less athleticism. I would pass at #30.