Marek Dolezaj | Page 56 | Syracusefan.com

Marek Dolezaj

Im no basketball talent evaluator, and I absolutely see a ton of potential in Marek. That said, watching his game against the Netherlands, leads me to believe, that he definitely will take some time to adjust to the American game. He just looks super raw to me. Not sure who he is going to beat out this year, to get time. Especially considering his late arrival. Oshae is bigger, stronger and more polished. We know TT is gonna play a lot, as is Moyer who has been in the system for a year. Tyus is not coming off the floor, and could slide over to the SF spot in a pinch. Marek needs about 20 pounds of muscle, and to work on that outside shot a bit. The AK comparison is a good one. As is the Kong comparison. Just not sure where you play him when we have to run set offenses, against the bigger stronger teams. I really hope we get him for 2 years minimum. If he bounces after one, wherever that may be, not sure we ever truly benefit from his talents. He will need time in my humble opinion, which is totally ok. But we should be ready to accept that, and not think of him as a superstar right off the bat.
 
007 said:
You have toned this down a lot from:



Is this because you now realize how good Brissett is? Or is it because Marek still weighs 170?
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Not to nitpick, but I see his current weight listed as 190-200 lbs on a number of sights. Still thin, but not a toothpick. Maybe that 170 number is old?

I'm more concerned with him missing the summer sessions. He will be months behind on getting to practice with his team and S&C, and we may not know whether he is ready to contribute until January.
 
Cusesky8214 said:

Game vs Netherlands the other day. He was the games top performer although i think his team is struggling from deep still. Dont think his supporting cast is very good. Mareks stats

Points:22
Rebounds:3
Assists:3
Steals:3
Blocks:3

He plays again this morning
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Thanks for the video...another one that is much better than the previous recruiting videos!

He was definitely the best player on the court. His outside shot really needs some tweaking. Form is good, but he needs to add some arch to it. It is much too flat, and really gives him no wiggle room for error. He just needs that shot to be serviceable so defenses will respect it a little, which will really be a weapon for what I feel is the best part of his game. He is physical and really looks to attack the basket. If the defense can't back off him, then he will be much more able to beat them off the dribble and get to the basket. At 170 pounds he's going to take a beating, but as long as he stays tough, and mans up, and goes right at the rim, he should draw quite a lot of fouls. Free throw shooting is good enough it seems. He looks to be a great athlete and will have the ability to cover the space pretty well in the zone. Overall, I do wish his outside shot was a bit more polished, but I still think he'll be a great fit for us. Talent is there, I just don't feel like he is ready to be a big time contributor right away.

Side note...anyone else just love the shot he took, sitting on his butt!!!
 
GooseMutt said:
That left the rest of his team 40 points. Wow
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The first game I watched they didn't play cohesive basketball and everyone thinks that chucking 3's are good shots. They do have the one big guy who seemed to have a proficient back to the basket game and could hit open face up jumpers out to the 3.
 
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108824


Doesn't look nearly as small here, from the FIBA championships site, as he does elsewhere.

Full stats below from tournament...
upload_2017-7-19_9-45-21.png


Good to see him get to line as much as he did, and to actually hit around 80% there.
 
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Couple things

Like many have said marek needs to work on his outside shot a bit. His mechanics are decent but his shot seems to be a little flat at times with no arc. He's decent from foul line. He seems to be very good at attacking to the basket and hopefully will draw contact often. He's a good passer and has a good handle with no problem bringing the ball up the court. Will fit our zone great on defense but won't be the greatest rebounder. As others have said he will benefit greatly by adding on some weight however the notion that he will be run off the court because he's skinny is absurd. He has no problem scrapping and has played for a few years now against plenty of older men much bigger and stronger. He is an aggressive player for his size and will be just fine regardless. Besides i don't think we will be asking him to be banging with the bigs down low too often as we have other players for that. He is more of a perimeter guy that can slash to the hoop. I also think as long as he doesn't want to go back home or over seas to play that we will for sure have him longer then 1 year which is fine by me because a 2nd year marek in our system could be scary! He will see the court but I'm pretty sure oshae will get the bulk of the minutes and md/Moyer will split some of the time available. He probably won't at all however it would be possible for him to play some minutes at the 2 spot if he absolutely had to but doubtful. He may take some time to get used to our system and style of play and I wish he could get here sooner to work with the staff and players but It is what it is at this point. He's a kid with a ton of upside that could end up being very good for us but I don't think he will be one of the main focal points of our offense this year but more of a role player. Excited to see what he can do when he gets here and I think it was a excellent find by our staff!
 
jordoo said:
The first game I watched they didn't play cohesive basketball and everyone thinks that chucking 3's are good shots. They do have the one big guy who seemed to have a proficient back to the basket game and could hit open face up jumpers out to the 3.
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I assume he scores a lot driving the basket. I love when he gets a defensive rebound and takes off down the court I'm looking forward to those big ACC forwards chasing the skinny kid with a handle down the court
 
Cusesky8214 said:

28 points
5 rebounds
3 steals
1 assist
1 block
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I'll reiterate that the kid has great potential. That said, despite his 28pts, watching the Russia game reinforced to me why I think he will take time to develop, and why I don't believe JB plays him during meaningful games down the stretch this year. In the first 20 min of that game, I watched him whiff on a number of must have rebounds, where he had position and the size advantage, a JB pet peeve (think of TR) hardly ever box out, and be out of position offensively (granted his whole team was out of position) where he should have gone down to the post or flashed. The missed rebounds and lack of power down low will kill him this year in the ACC. He could be a great 2/3 for us down the line, should he get that shot refined a bit.
 
jr4750 said:
I'll reiterate that the kid has great potential. That said, despite his 28pts, watching the Russia game reinforced to me why I think he will take time to develop, and why I don't believe JB plays him during meaningful games down the stretch this year. In the first 20 min of that game, I watched him whiff on a number of must have rebounds, where he had position and the size advantage, a JB pet peeve (think of TR) hardly ever box out, and be out of position offensively (granted his whole team was out of position) where he should have gone down to the post or flashed. The missed rebounds and lack of power down low will kill him this year in the ACC. He could be a great 2/3 for us down the line, should he get that shot refined a bit.
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I agree for the most part. Added weight would benefit him greatly but he's no slouch even for him being under weight. He's that scrappy type of player but your assessment is spot on. I do think with the right players around him and some of our HOF coaching he will be better in some of his weak areas...his team doesn't help much and as you said they often times look all out of place. I think we could utilize his skill Set much better then the Slovakia team does!
 
007 said:
You have toned this down a lot from:



Is this because you now realize how good Brissett is? Or is it because Marek still weighs 170?

I still think it's much more likely that Marek will get the least amount of minutes of the 3 forwards, if for no other reason than he is going to get pushed around all over the court. He does have a very high ceiling on offense and it will be fun to watch him develop.
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Nothing in those two comments contradict each other. He could still very easily be our 2nd best player. He could still easily start and play 30 plus minutes. He is definitely outside of Battle our highest upside and future pro type player. All I know is the staff is prepared for.him to be 1 and done.

There isn't anything Moyer or OB do that Marek doesn't do also. He has the best handle of our forwards by quite a bit as well. He could be our 6th man for sure, probably will be actually, but he will be in the game at the end most nights.

As I have said.. this team is not to be taken lightly. Just because they are young doesn't mean anything. These are all highly touted recruits who would have been 5 star if they were Americans
 
jr4750 said:
I'll reiterate that the kid has great potential. That said, despite his 28pts, watching the Russia game reinforced to me why I think he will take time to develop, and why I don't believe JB plays him during meaningful games down the stretch this year. In the first 20 min of that game, I watched him whiff on a number of must have rebounds, where he had position and the size advantage, a JB pet peeve (think of TR) hardly ever box out, and be out of position offensively (granted his whole team was out of position) where he should have gone down to the post or flashed. The missed rebounds and lack of power down low will kill him this year in the ACC. He could be a great 2/3 for us down the line, should he get that shot refined a bit.
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Eh. He will be taking his guy off the dribble from the arc most times... easily I should add. These teams he plays against would massacre high school teams and many college teams. He will be fine.
 
maxxyz said:
Not to nitpick, but I see his current weight listed as 190-200 lbs on a number of sights. Still thin, but not a toothpick. Maybe that 170 number is old?

I'm more concerned with him missing the summer sessions. He will be months behind on getting to practice with his team and S&C, and we may not know whether he is ready to contribute until January.
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No problem, I don't see this as "nitpicking."

This is what I was going off from a recent article: "He said he's been working with a trainer to add weight to his slender frame. When he visited Syracuse in May, Dolezaj weighed between 170 and 175 pounds."

If Dolezaji had gained 20-25 pound since the end of May... that would be great, but also unlikely.

Marek Dolezaj prepares to play for Slovakia's national team then Syracuse
 
Some really interesting discussion in this thread. I think Dolezaj needs to work on the jumper but you could run screen action out top with him having the ball. He's going to be able to drive on that all day and it would involve two of the other teams bigger players limiting the rim protection. My biggest take away watching the first game was his ability with the ball in his hands for his size. You just rarely see a 6-9 or taller guy handle the ball that well or move so fast doing it.

His lack of strength will make it tough on him as he was getting moved around off the ball quite often. He lost a lot of rebounds because of it as well. That said he did compete and wasn't afraid of contact.
 
What's all of this talk with adding muscle? This isn't football and for his game (a stretch 3/4), bulking up isn't necessary. If he were required to bang down low in the paint, then it would be valid.
 
007 said:
No problem, I don't see this as "nitpicking."

This is what I was going off from a recent article: "He said he's been working with a trainer to add weight to his slender frame. When he visited Syracuse in May, Dolezaj weighed between 170 and 175 pounds."

If Dolezaji had gained 20-25 pound since the end of May... that would be great, but also unlikely.

Marek Dolezaj prepares to play for Slovakia's national team then Syracuse
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There are web sites that have him listed at 195 but the roster for Slovakia for this tournament lists him at 202 cm, which translates to 175 pounds.

Marek DOLEZAJ at the Players of the FIBA U20 European Championship Division B 2017 - FIBA.basketball
 
Doing a quick google search I have seen 175 and 195 listed. He looks quite tall to me 6-9, 6-10 so you could be 195 and still look very skinny but I'd bet the truth is somewhere in between those two numbers.
 
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