HELSINKI, Finland -- Life-sized cardboard cutouts scattered throughout the city. No. 23 Finland jerseys flooding the 13,000-plus seats of Helsinki Arena. Red and black
Chicago Bulls gear occasionally peering through the sea of blue and white.
And, most prominently, one 7-foot figurine that has stood in the middle of the city center during the 2017 Eurobasket. With curly hair, a cut frame, Kobe 8 Nikes and a mediocre wingspan, it's an exact carbon copy of Finland's youngest star.
"I haven't seen that one,"
Lauri Markkanen said as he analyzed a photo of his 7-foot plastic clone. He was sitting in the Crowne Plaza lobby less than 24 hours after knocking off
Evan Fournier, Boris Diaw and France in the Eurobasket opener by scoring 22 points in 24 minutes.
"I have those shoes. They actually might be mine. Those are my Kobe 8s. Can you send me that photo?"
The 20-year-old Markkanen has rapidly evolved into the face of Finnish hoops, leading the national team known as "Susijengi," or Wolf Pack, to a 4-1 record during the Eurobasket group stage in Helsinki with wins over France, Poland, Greece and Iceland. Thanks to Markkanen's consistently clutch scoring and tremendous all-around play, Finland travels to Istanbul Thursday as one of the 16 remaining teams to compete for the 2017 European championship.
Back in the U.S., Markkanen is best known as one piece in the Chicago Bulls'
widely criticized Jimmy Butler deal on draft night. So far Markkanen has shown that he's much more than a trade throw-in.
[h=2]Markkanen's star turn[/h]Markkanen averaged 31.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per 40 minutes on 57.4 percent from 2 and 50.0 from 3 in five groups stage games, and his popularity in the small Nordic country of 5.5 million has never been greater. After he put Susijengi on his back and led Finland to a double-overtime victory in a crucial game versus Poland, the morning paper read, "Kuningas Lauri!" (or "King Lauri!"). The president of Finland, Sauli Niinist?, stopped by the team locker room after the hard-fought win to personally thank the 7-foot sharpshooter for his play.
The most prominent fan group in Helsinki made 70 cardboard cutouts of Markkanen's face before the tournament began, even going all the way to the city's airport to hand them out to arriving fans. The basketball culture in Finland is growing rapidly, and Markkanen, both an icon for Finnish youth and a long-term asset for the national team, is at the forefront. With a quick release, great feet, deceptive explosiveness and the ability to put the ball on the floor, Markkanen is a unique talent with an impressive mentality. He is far and away the best NBA prospect in the country's history.
"He's rare," said Henrik Dettmann, the national team head coach who also coached a young
Dirk Nowitzki with the German national team from 1997 to 2003. "Finland is like New Jersey. We are no bigger. We don't get a player of this caliber with all these abilities and this mentality.
"It's very unfair to compare human beings to each other but I have to say I was very lucky to be around when Dirk kind of developed and I saw him from he was 18 years old. It's hard not to say that there are at least some similarities with his ability to shoot with his long hair and with his passion for basketball and for work."
Markkanen is initially shy yet full of quirks and dry humor (he's a hardcore Borat fanatic). He's unassuming yet confident, skinny yet mentally tough. Thanks to his Eurobasket explosion he's quickly ascending into icon status and is no longer seen as the son of Pekka Markkanen, a former Susijengi standout, or the younger brother of Eero Markkanen, a 6-foot-6 striker for AIK in Sweden and formerly Real Madrid.
Markkanen, whose mother also played for the women's national team, was born and raised three hours outside of Helsinki in Jyv?skyl?, but moved to the nation's capital in 2014 to join Helsinki Basketball Academy. The president of the Finnish Basketball Federation found Markkanen and his mother an apartment in Helsinki and Markkanen began to refine his already-impressive skill set under HBA coaches Hanno Mottola, the most accomplished NBA player in Finnish history, and Antti Koskelainen.
With the guidance of Mottola, Koskelainen and Dettmann, who recruited Pekka Markkanen to Helsinki in 1986, Markkanen began to take off. He stood out at the 2015 Basketball Without Borders camp in New York during All-Star Weekend, averaging 18.2 points per game later that summer at the under-18 European championships. He eventually opted to play in the NCAA like his father (Kansas) and Mottola (Utah) before him, choosing Arizona over North Carolina and Utah. He exploded at the under-20 Euros last summer before leaving for Tucson, leading the tournament in scoring and giving Finnish fans a taste of what was to come in the near future.
Markkanen shined within his role at Arizona, starting all 37 games, shooting 42.3 percent on 3s and giving the Wildcats a different look with a 7-footer who could stretch the floor, put the ball on the deck and score with touch on occasion inside. Lacking a degree of physical toughness prior to Arizona, Markkanen began to fill out and grow.
"It was really helpful for me, just playing in Europe my whole life, the game felt a little bit different there," Markkanen said. "Coach Sean Miller is a really good coach and all the coaching staff pushed me defensively so I got a lot better there. All around I think I got a lot better. I'm more mature. I got mentally tougher."
Finland has traditionally been dominated by hockey and soccer, but it's becoming a basketball hotbed. Mike SchmitzIn June, Markkanen became the first ever Finnish lottery pick and fourth NBA draft pick in general. Thanks in large part to Markkaenen's success, additional fan support and continually improved infrastructure, Finland is gaining steam globally. HBA is sending young players to the NCAA every year and the national team is thriving.
Mottola recalls the 1995 European championships in Athens when "literally 9 or 12 people" from Finland showed up to support.
"I've seen the struggle," he said. "I've seen when no one cared about us. We played in little gyms and now we're selling out the biggest arena in the country. Everyone around the world is interested in how this is possible."
Finland sent 10,000 fans to Bilbao, Spain, for the 2014 FIBA World Championships. Susijengi has
music videos on YouTube and an official theme song memorized by fans across the nation. #Susijengi is all over Twitter, and several of the hardcore fans even have Wolfpack logo tattoos inked on their skin. No. 6 was officially retired this spring and can't be worn by any national team players as it represents Finland's "Sixth Man" and rabid fan base.
The Nordic country long-dominated by ice hockey (with more than 60 active Finnish players in the NHL) and soccer is blossoming into much more of a basketball hotbed, and Markkanen has a chance to be its star for years to come.
Although Markkanen has a long history of success at the FIBA youth level, Eurobasket has been his senior national team coming-out party. He opened the eyes of NBA scouts and even members of the Chicago Bulls coaching staff, who weren't quite sure the caliber of player they were getting when they selected Markkanen No. 7 overall after acquiring the pick in the Butler deal.
"I don't want to just be in the NBA, I want to play there," Markkanen said. "My coach said I should be an All-Star at some point in my career. I took that personally so that's definitely one of the individual goals I have."
[h=2]How will Markkanen fit in the NBA?[/h]The Bulls sent associate head coach Jim Boylen to Helsinki to watch and meet with Markkanen and the longtime NBA assistant must have left Finland ecstatic over their young player's skill set and productivity.
Chicago, which didn't work out Markkanen during the pre-draft process, finished last season 28th in the NBA in 3-pointers made per game, 29th in 3-pointers attempted and 24th in 3-point percentage. Markkanen will provide instant floor-spacing for a team that will need a shot in the arm offensively with Butler in Minnesota and
Nikola Mirotic still unsigned. Markkanen (career 41.2 percent from deep in our database) is a more reliable shooter than Mirotic (career 35.9 percent) and should be able to provide more versatility than the 6-10 free agent, even as a 20-year-old.
If the Bulls truly believe in recently acquired, erratic-shooting point guard
Kris Dunn, they'll need a floor-spacing pick-and roll-partner like Markkanen to give the former Providence guard some breathing room.
Although the Butler trade may never look like a win for the Bulls, Markkanen could help ease the blow. He looks more than prepared to have an instant impact in an area of need for Fred Hoiberg's Bulls.
NBA-ready skills
Markkanen is a versatile shooter with a quick, simple release who can fill it up in a variety of ways. While the majority of his offense figures to come out of transition drag screens and half-court pick-and-pops, Markkanen is also comfortable making one or two dribble pull-ups, especially going to his left. He has excellent footwork on pull-ups and even showed some shot creation ability against NBA-level athletes like
Anthony Randolph, creating space with step backs.
With Markkanen's ability to spot shoot, make pull-ups, attack the rim in a straight line -- combined with his sound overall basketball IQ -- he could be an interesting weapon as a pick-and-roll ball handler in quick-hitting, second-side actions, especially if he's able to play more 5 down the road. Although he has always been quite versatile at the FIBA level, Markkanen often looked a bit one-dimensional at the college level with not nearly as much space to work with.
Improving skill
Defenses had a lot of success switching every screen Markkanen was involved in at Arizona, staying attached to him on the perimeter and taking away his jumper. Not the most naturally physical player, Markkanen wasn't able to bury guards in the post with hard duck-ins and was too often neutralized.
At Eurobasket, he has looked much more comfortable operating on the block after switches, making fallaways over either shoulder, using an up-and-under step-through and even facilitating a little bit. Continuing to find more ways to punish switches will be important for him moving forward.
Misconceptions
While not a freak athlete by any means, Markkanen's above-average positional fluidity wasn't always on display at Arizona like it has been at the FIBA level. He's not very quick twitch or the most explosive runner, but Markkanen is a good leaper off of two feet in space and moves really well for a player his size. He'll greatly benefit from the added space in the NBA.
Most importantly, Markkanen's feet on the defensive end likely didn't get the credit that they deserved. Markkanen got good experience chasing around collegiate power forwards like Miles Bridges on the perimeter and he should be able to at least hold his own guarding 4s and switching ball screens in the NBA. Although he lacks length relative to his height and isn't a defensive anchor, Markkanen can be more than adequate defending the perimeter in the NBA.
Improvement areas
Markkanen still needs to improve as an interior defender and defensive rebounder, which will be a factor in how many minutes he can play at the 5. While his body is improved, he's not overly strong or physical, struggles versus hard duck-ins and aggressive post-ups and isn't always the most natural defensive rebounder in traffic. He can also improve his ability to play going to his right and his finishing in traffic.
However, the NBA is trending in Markkanen's direction with far fewer traditional post touches, and if he's able to provide value switching on the perimeter his defensive rebounding concerns aren't quite as glaring.
Eurobasket standout Synergy stats (10 games | four group stage, six friendlies)
- 1.395 PPP on spot-ups, 95th percentile
- 0.84 PPP on post-ups, 59th percentile
- 5-11 on pull-up jumpers
- 61 percent at the rim in the half court