NBA draft prospect Nikola Djurisic hopes to next in line of Serbian hoops stars in America
INDIANAPOLIS — One of the most difficult things for Nikola Djurisic to get used to in draft workouts is the court itself.
The 19-year-old Serbian is used to playing against adults with his professional club, KK Mega Bemax which plays in the Adriatic League and specializes in developing young players and sending them overseas to the NBA. It looks for opportunities in the summer to play American college teams on foreign tours. They played Indiana in The Bahamas in August of 2021 and Virginia in Italy last summer. The program was home to two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, who will be pursuing his first league title with the Nuggets in the NBA Finals starting Thursday against the Heat. It also produced Clippers big man Ivica Zubac, former Pacers center Goga Bitadze, former Gonzaga star Filip Petrusev and Miami Heat wing Nikola Jovic, a 2022 first-round pick whose playing time has been limited in his first year.
"We do practices over there like here almost," Djurisic said Tuesday after a Pacers draft workout at the Ascension St. Vincent Center. "Not the same, but similar. So when we come here, we can get used to it instantly. It helped me a lot, definitely."
Djurisic, a potential first-round pick in this month's draft and skilled wing who measured 6-7, 217.6 pounds at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago, said his former teammate Jovic is one of his closest friends. He's worked out with Bulls center Nikola Vucevic, who comes from Montenegro.
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But for all of that exposure to NBA quality players and NBA-type workouts, it's still taken time since he's been in the United States for the combine and his workouts to get used to the ways the NBA court is different from International Basketball Federation (FIBA) courts. The NBA court is longer, the 3-point line is further out, and the paint is rectangular rather than the trapezoid lane in FIBA that widens closer to the basket.
"My first workout, we played one-on-one and it was definitely hard because the 3-point line is further away from the basket," Djurisic said. "So when I was playing defense, I got lost and confused. That was the main part."
But he's starting to get the hang of it. Tuesday's workout was his second for an NBA team at its facility and he believes it went better than the first.
"I'm trying to prove I can play both defense and offense," Djurisic said. "I can create. I can be a leader on the court."
Djurisic has proven he has a multi-faceted game. He averaged 13.1 points and 3.7 assists per game this season with 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 steals. He was held to single-digit scoring just four times all season according to Eurobasket, and in two games with Mega's U19 team, he scored 53 combined points.
Djurisic's film from Europe shows he can be a strong finisher on drives to the rim and has a very good mid-range game. His stats, however, show his 3-point shooting has been lacking, which is a narrative he's trying to change. He was 22-of-91 from 3-point range (24.2%) for Mega this season. His youth gives him plenty of time to improve on that, and he has potential to become another star form the Balkan states.
"I'm trying to prove I can shoot the ball from 3-point range," Djurisic said. "I shot the ball like 22%. That's not me."
Djurisic was one of six players the Pacers hosted for a workout Tuesday. The rest were all at least 21. None of the six are among the discussion at the No. 7 overall pick, but the Pacers also have picks at No. 26 and No. 29 in the first round and No. 32 and No. 55 in the second round and could obviously see the numbers change if they make trades.
The workout roster was further evidence of the Pacers' interest in rangy wings who can play defense. Djurisic was one of four players listed at 6-6 or taller along with Ricky Council IV from Arkansas, Jordan Miller from Miami and Tevian Jones from Southern Utah.
Council helped Arkansas to the Sweet 16 in his lone season there after being named the American Athletic Conference Sixth Man of the Year in 2021-22 at Wichita State. He averaged 16.1 points per game for the Razorbacks and was one of the squad's top defenders. The 6-6, 208-pounder struggled from outside, hitting just 34-of-126 3-point attempts (27.0%), so that has been the focus of his draft workouts. He projects as a mid-to-late second round pick.
"My shooting improvement, at the end of the day, that's what everyone wants to see," Council said after the workout. "... I just want to be myself and not stray away from what got me to this point."
Miller has a similar draft profile. He too was a strong wing defender on a winning team, helping Miami to a Final Four before it lost to UConn. He scored 27 points on 7-of-7 shooting and 13-of-13 free throws against Texas in the Elite Eight and averaged 15.3 points per game on the season, but he was a modest 32-of-91 (35.2%) from 3-point range.
"I shot about a 35% clip during college," Miller said. "I feel like I'm a better shooter than that. At these workouts, I'm trying to show, A: I'm a good defender. Most importantly in my transition to the league in the early stages I see myself as a 3-and-D player, so I'm trying to show defensively that I can knock down the open 3-pointer."
The two outliers at the workout were Nebraska guard Keisei Tominaga and Liberty point guard Darius McGhee. McGhee is listed at 5-9, 149 pounds, but was the three-time Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, averaging better than 22 points per game each of his past two seasons.
"The most important thing (to show) is your will to win," McGhee said. "You can impact the game on either side of the floor, just making plays to win the game. Being vocal. Trying to make plays on the defensive end. Just making the best plays as possible. That's the best thing you can show in these kinds of settings."
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: NBA draft 2023: Nikola Djurisic trying to be latest pick from Serbia
