Vlado ILIEVSKI
ILIEVSKI, Vlado
STRENGTHS: Lefty point-guard with good size. Has reflexes, quick hands and feet. At his best when he can run and push the ball up in the open court. Excellent ball-handling ability. Adept at driving and kicking the ball out. Talented, he brings creativity on offense and scores tough baskets inside. He can hit the three, behind the screens and off the dribble, even at full speed. He puts pressure on defense. WEAKNESSES: Extremely overrated. He struggles to control the tempo and run the team. He easily looses his lucidity and disappears. He finds it difficult to face the defensive pressure and he tends to make careless mistakes when running the plays. Not reliable in the crunch time. Inconsistent shooter from the arc. Very emotional. CAREER: A great star at youth level with the Macedonian team (25ppg at the European Championships Cadet, 23 in the Under 20). He played one season in a high school in the USA before moving to Partizan, Serbia, where he had little playing time. He had his breakthrough year in Antalya, Turkey (16ppg, 4apg), he had a great opportunity at Ljublijana before even being signed by Barcelona, where he won a lot. Won the Italian league title in 2008 with Siena. Fringe role at Vitoria and the comeback at Olimpija. EVALUATION: A mystery. He had playing time and responsibility in a team as prestigious as Barcelona without doing anything special to deserve it. Overestimated, he got on well with Pesic and his tactical ideas and also with Bodiroga and his technique, obtaining great results considering his real value. In Rome, with Bodiroga on the decline and less incisive, he had more difficulty. Still earned contracts with big teams such as Siena and Vitoria, although he had less responsibility.
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