Miikka Muurinen is a highly touted international prospect from Finland who spent one year on the Nike EYBL circuit playing for Brad Beal Elite and his junior year in high school for AZ compass. This past season he opted out of his senior year and took the professional route in the Euroleague.
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He signed with Partizan last season he averaged seven minutes per game. Playing professionally overseas is a tough route for teenagers because most coaches are reluctant to play younger players.
Muurinen is a very enticing prospect. He's an elite athlete at 7-foot with the mobility to potentially guard all five positions. The intrigue with him is his theoretical shooting upside. His highlights are loud, his flashes are loud but he's extremely inconsistent. Over four games in the European Cup World cup qualifiers he shot 13% from the floor, and 0.9 % from three and didn't average a single block. He shot 54% from the line, and 24 % on jumpers at AZ compass. For Finland, he was 29% on all jumpers. The shot looks good, the numbers don't.
Muurinen has high defensive potential with his length, size and athleticism. He has all the tools to be an elite weak side shot blocker but it'll depend on his motor. He doesn't necessarily play hard all the time. His motor can waver on both ends if he doesn't feel involved in the offense. The motor on the offensive glass doesn't always translate to the defensive glass and vice versa. It'll be interesting to see if head coach John Calpari can get him going consistently.
Arkansas current roster on paper will be a tough fit for Muurinen. Pure play-finishers like him are reliant on elite level playmaking from the guard or big spot. Jordan Smith Jr, Abdou Toure, Billy Richmond, JJ Andrews, and several others that will be logging the most minutes do not have the playmaking acumen he will need. This will put Muurinen in position to have to create for himself a lot more than necessary which isn't applicable to his skillset. Not only will he be competing with the rest of the world, but he will be competing amongst his teammates who are all trying to declare themselves in next year's draft.
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In a draft like this, I could still see him going in the top-10 based purely on upside. Teams will gush at the potential of a 7-foot athlete with shooting flashes. Even becoming a high end version of Santi Aldama could be very useful to teams selecting in the early to late lottery.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/draft/onsi as Assessing Miikka Muurinen's Fit with the Arkansas Razorbacks
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