Kulagin Juniour – DejaVu story should not repeat

 

Since Mikhail Kulagin is very popular among foreign basketball scouts and teams, I put him in the pool of players that I tried to follow this year to see what progress he has made.

I couldn’t miss a chance to see him playing LIVE in my city (Nizhny Novgorod), and I was surprised and impressed with what I saw.

With first sight I made a note that he was different from all the other guys on court. If you watch a lot of basketball you can feel it and this is not easy to explain. He confirmed his talent level and showed good numbers in those two games away from home.

But he looked too loose and free to be the one of the ideal basketball heroes to follow. The fact is that he has become more like his brother, copying his mischievous and inappropriate behaviour during the game. He’s got the same move bouncing the ball between the legs with that shaggy swallow; he touches his shoes tirelessly like his brother does. Maybe they watched a lot of TV in their childhood and American kind of street ball movies – who knows. I’ve heard they practice a lot and still do that.

Back to his game I should admit that Mikhail has a set shot, but it is not stable and does not have much arc. What is good is that he is not afraid to shoot when the situation demands it, even if he missed 2-3 shots before. His FT were very soft with excellent ball rotation.

He’s got his eyes up every time he has the ball no matter what speed he is running. His passes are mostly in time and nicely directed. It looked like he has the habit to get the ball in two hands before passing. He loves bounce passing in any form. I didn’t notice him passing the ball off the dribble, just one long pass against a press.

While receiving the ball he tries to be in the motion to create the space on the way to the rim. He changes direction with ease by dribbling the ball between his legs.

His defensive game has too many concerns as he is rather weak in one on one situations against PG/SG. He moves laterally well and looks like he is always ready to help. He can be a rebounding to save seconds for fast breaks. He is considered to be a good transition player.

His body has undergone some positive changes within the 2 last years. He gained some muscles and didn’t lose any speed or elastic moves.

There was a moment in the game when he allowed himself to clap deliberately when the opponent was throwing free throws. One of the referees noticed it and warned him not to do that anymore. Mikhail praised him with the OK sign, smiling sideways.

He appeared to be shy to speak English after the game, so I asked a few questions in Russian to receive the learned type of answers about his work ethic and alike. He admitted he should be more stable to play for the 1st (main) team, that means he is aware of the level  of difference and is ready to change his approach.

Again we have one more talented and controversial junior from Russian basketball, and again we hope that he will mature in the near future and will represent our country at the highest imaginable level with dignity. We will not lose our hope and faith.

P.S. Some pictures are used from BC Nizhny Novgorod social media group "VK"