EuroLeague Rising Star: Jaime Pradilla
Valencia Basket has been hit hard by injuries at the start of the 2021-22 EuroCup season, this was the chance of 21-year-old Jaime Pradilla who helped his team reach the semifinals of the competition.
Pradilla made all 13 shots from the field in the first three games of the 2021-22 EuroCup season. He led the 2021-22 EuroCup with 79.8% two-point accuracy, which was the highest in the competition since 2005. He missed just 17 of his 84 two-point shot attempts. At the end of the season, Pradilla had the highest two-point accuracy in EuroCup history for a player appearing in more than 12 games.
Just like last season, this season he is in the race for Rising Star, but this time in the Euroleague and when he got enough minutes, he proved that he can face the competition. In 13:27 minutes he has 3.9 points and 2.3 rebounds with 55.2% at 2 points and 38.9% at 3 points. The best match was against Maccabi in the 23rd round with 13 points and 6/6 from 2 points.
He won the gold medal at the 2016 European U-16 Championship but played for less than 10 minutes. He was the leader of Spain at the 2017 European U-16 Championship with 15.4 points and 9 rebounds. At the 2019 European U-18 Championship Spain won the gold again, Pradilla having 7.6 points and 4.4 rebounds in just 12 minutes. He was a member of the Spanish National Team, which won the gold medal at the 2022 European Championship with 5.8 points and 2.7 rebounds in 14 minutes per game.
Jaime Pradilla is an old-school type of center that unfortunately does not have the necessary height. Thanks to his IQ he finds a way to compete against more athletic opponents, he displays good mobility and effort which helps him to be a fantastic low-post scorer.
Pradilla is an interesting player, with a lot of qualities capable of being a constant scorer, but he still needs to work on his defense, especially his foot speed.
Valentin Petruta
Photo credit: EuroLeague
