Donatas Motiejunas - NBADraft.net (original) (raw)

NBA Comparison: Andreis Bargnani/Dirk Nowitzki

Strengths: Legit seven footer … Lefty with excellent offensive potential … Loves to face the basket from the perimeter. Can score from inside and outside … Has added weight to his frame in the past year, making him more effective in the low post … Good ball handling ability for a big man … Quick first step allows him to get by opponents … Very confident player … Good at timing his jumps to contest shots … Runs the floor well, especially for a seven-footer … Can be a mismatch nightmare for opposing teams … One of the most skilled players in the draft … Very solid athletically … Can shoot the three … Capable of creating his own offense … Polished footwork … Skilled at passing out of the post … Can eat defenses up with the pick and roll/ pick and pop … Can use both hands well …

Weaknesses: Being a 20 year old European and lacking strength means he will need time to adjust to the NBA game … Has some prima donna to him. He’s talented and he knows it and often gets criticized for not being tough or showing enough passion for the game … Poor rebounder for a big man. At times it appears he’s averse to doing the "dirty work" … Defense could use a lot of work, at times looks uninterested in defending … Can be punished in the post … Streaky shooter … Needs to gain maturity, discipline, focus … Lacks the strength of other post players … Poor anticipation skills leads to defensive lapses and missed rebounding opportunities … Not a very good free throw shooter, which is surprising considering his touch …

Notes: Helped lead the International squad to victory in the 2010 Hoop Summitover a USA team that featured John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Avery Bradley.

Eric Yearian 6/20/11

Strengths: Versatile lefty bigman with a high ceiling … Has a lot of potential due to his size, agility and offensive development … A finesse 4-man with excellent versatility, but shows the toughness to play inside with contact … Shows a strong ability to run the floor and change directions, start and stop … Has great legs (strong) and feet (quick) … Has inside/outside ability with the ability to defend inside and play with his back to the basket, as well as knock down shots on the perimeter … His outside shot has both range and consistency, and he has begun to develop some excellent moves including a jump hook, a turnaround fadeaway as well as fakes to draw opponents off their feet and excellent footwork … Shows a competitive fire. He has a strong desire to win and improve, he just needs to show that at all times … Gets off the floor quickly and has solid explosiveness … A solid shot blocker … Comfortable handling the ball when necessary to break the press and has solid vision and passing ability … Has a very good body and appears that he will be able to add upperbody strength and become a solid rebounder and interior post player at the NBA level …

Weaknesses: Is extremely talented and he knows it. At times he doesn’t keep the pedal to the metal, exhibiting some lapses in focus and intensity (laziness) in practices … Sometimes appears content to be better than others without dominating them the way he’s capable … That’s the type of thing that he’ll need to mature out of, learning to work hard at all times in order to reach the stature of a Gasol or Nowitzki … Still needs to add polish on his moves on the perimeter but has excellent potential to do so … Has thin arms and upperbody, although he has solid strength. He’ll need to get stronger to contend with NBA bigs … Solid length (6-11 wingspan) but nothing extraordinary … Not as experienced or established as other European talents (such as Gasol or Nowitzki) were when they entered the NBA.

Aran Smith 4/20/09

YouTube Clip – 12/10/2010