Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk – 6’8″ – 191lbs – Junior – Kansas/Ukraine – 19 y.o. – SG/SF
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Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk is primed for a breakout year at Kansas.
Analysis:
Yet another big body from Europe who knows how to ball, and, son, can this kid ball. He started off his career playing in the Ukraine and found himself being recruited by some of the biggest names in college basketball, but he decided to go on to Kansas as a 17 y.o. freshman, making him the youngest player to ever play in a Big 12 conference game. He played 30 minutes in his first game, scoring just as many points, but then averaged around 10 minutes and didn’t produce a whole bunch. That changed when he began to start his sophomore year and put himself on notice. With an excellent shooting stroke and a developing defensive skillset, Mykhailiuk is making an effort to be called a prodigy.
Strengths:
Shooting – You wouldn’t tell from his freshman year, but Svi can absolutely launch that sucker. He has a high release and a steady base with the absolute softest touch, letting the ball scrap only the inside of the net. He sports a 36.1% career average, but don’t let that fool you because there is a big chance that when he has his feet set and gets a shot off, it goes in. This seems to be difficult for him to do mainly because he likes tough shots where he is using shooting off the dribble, and it has proved to hurt him and the team. However, he still has that touch scouts love.
Pete Maravich (?) – I think we all remember Pistol Pete. His knack for shooting, court intelligence, and passing ability? Yeah, I see a lot of that with Svi. From above you might gain that he is just a shooter and that’s it, but rather, he’s much more than that. His numbers don’t show it, but he has a talent for flashy, accurate passes, including lobs and absolute darts. He knows how to run the floor and uses what little weight he has to use a quick step to juggle the defenders, leading to a great pass. Watch a couple of his highlights, they’re pretty fun to watch.
Motor – Svi is known to be quite into the game. He operates at such a high level that it’s hard to throw him off unless he’s in a huge shooting slump, which he rarely is because giving him one shot means he is hot. He’s aggressive, but smart to not draw fouls, fights for loose balls, can talk trash with the best, overall just into the game. Like a Kevin Garnett in a smaller, more compact body.
Weaknesses:
Poor size – This is more of a thing I have against him that may or may not be an issue, but add onto him being less than 200lbs, but he has piss-poor wingspan. He has a square body shape, which means his arms are slightly less long than his body which means you probably won’t see a lot of tips or steals because he doesn’t have the length to do it. That’s why he has a high shot arc. And even with that, him having no strength and length means he can’t do jack anywhere near the paint. “Oh, but maybe he can just step back a few feet out of the paint and shoot from there since he can shoot really well.” Well…
Career average 45.6% from inside the arc – To put this into perspective, Per 40 minutes, he will end up scoring more 3PT on average than 2PT shots with the same number shot. He has never been a consistent shooter from inside the arc, and yes, I even looked at stats from when he was playing at Cherkasy First City Gymnasia. Last year he seemed to do better on average, shooting well into the 50 percentile, but outside of that, he has never had an average above 35%. Let’s also not talk about his total FG%, because it’s just as bad.
Defense – This is kind of an add on to the size thing above, but he is really weak. Like, unnaturally weak for a kid his size. He gets bullied down low and whenever he is guarding people. Any kind of contact is like punching construction paper. He has a good defensive skill-set already, but he needs to bulk up to put it to any real use.
Round to Invest: late 1st round, very early 2nd round
Who should invest:
Indiana Pacers: The Pacers have Monta Ellis at starting SG. Then, behind him, you have C.J. Miles? It doesn’t look better for the point either. Yes, you have Teague who is looking to revitalize his career, but behind him you don’t have much besides Joe Young, who seems to be a project point guard anyways (Yes, Aaron Brooks isn’t going to cut it Pacer fans). If the Pacers want to add depth to practically 3 positions at once, draft him and get him to the weight room.
San Antonio Spurs: Gregg Popovich loves him some international talent, and what makes it better is this kid flashes some serious potential, and under Pop’s tutelage, he can really shine. Danny Green is a decent SG right now, but he’s certainly on the decline. If the Spurs are serious, they’d start investing for the immediate future as well as the distant future for when Pop decides to ultimately retire.
