He’s not exactly climbing NBA draft boards but Mario Saint-Supery is getting real minutes for a contender in Europe. Emmet Ryan got a closer look at the young Spaniard on Tuesday night, in a loss for his Manresa side to Petkimspor in the Basketball Champions League.
This sounds dreadfully obvious but it’s much easier to pay attention to any sporting event when you’re commentating on it. This might sound alarming to some of my employers. Fear ye not. The need to concentrate when it’s your job to describe what is happening is elevated from other forms of viewing. That gave me my best opportunity by far to see Mario Saint Supery in action this season.
The young Spaniard isn’t exactly heavily in the NBA Draft conversation. Still, with Manresa he’s playing real minutes at a high level. He plays in the best national league outside the NBA, the ACB in Spain. His Manresa side is in fifth this season as things currently stand. In addition, and where I saw him, he’s playing for them in the Basketball Champions League. Some habits were clear in his display against Petkimspor.
He’s a passer
Every NBA Draft analysis of Mario Saint Supery will have this marked down. The young man is a pass-first point guard. Although listed at 6’4”, there’s no risk of him being confused for a combo guard.
The obvious inspiration for him is Ricky Rubio. Like Rubio, he’s got some lovely moves with the ball in hand. His speed of movement was brilliant at times against Petkimspor. There was one single body movement that stood out in the second half. Saint Supery prevented the ball from out of bounds and laid on a perfectly placed cross court pass. The vision and speed was at the level NBA Draft watchers will like.
Speed is great. Quickness is a concern. Don’t get me wrong, he can move quickly and create opportunities out of nothing. The speed of decision making under pressure however still needs some work.
The more reps he gets at this level, the better that will get. With 4.2 assists in just 16.5 minutes per game in the Basketball Champions League, he contributes. He’s also not turning over at the rate a youngster, especially one with flair, might be expected to, with just 1.4 per game.
Like I said, he’s a passer
Mario Saint Supery does not lack courage. That can be to a fault at times. While he is a glorious facilitator for Manresa, he can get frustrated when creating his own shot. The bulk of his six misses in the Basketball Champions League loss to Petkimspor were poor shot choices.
A guard with his percentages, 38 per cent overall and 26 per cent from deep, is going to get odd looks in the NBA Draft. Those percentages improve considerably in ACB play, which is arguably a higher level. He’s shooting 51.5 per cent inside the arc and 33 per cent from outside. Saint Super is also an excellent free throw shooter.
The iffy shooting but excellent passing will, again, draw Rubio comparisons. The good news for Saint-Supery is that he’s not competing with lottery picks. Him getting selected at all in the NBA Draft is a win.
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The level matters
Still a few weeks shy of turning 19, Mario Saint Supery is in his fourth season of playing top flight basketball. This however is the first where he’s gotten real minutes. At Manresa, he’s facing a much higher standard than anything the NCAA has to offer. We’re not in the old days of the NBA Draft where Europe was strange and confusing. Playing more complex basketball against better ballers is an asset.
He’s a teenager that is still filling out, going up against grown men and finding ways to deliver. Saint Supery is on loan at Manresa from Unicaja Malaga. At the latter he was on rosters that won a Basketball Champions League and Copa del Rey. Unfortunately it was about as stacked as it comes.
This season he’s been able to make a splash. That has earned him a call-up to the Spanish senior national squad. He played in their most recent qualifiers, logging heavy minutes. There’s a more than decent chance he makes the team for EuroBasket this summer. Saint Supery is doing what’s needed for at least a shot at hearing his name called on draft night.
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A reasonable outlook
The thing with Mario Saint-Supery is that he’s not even the Spanish guard that’s getting the most NBA Draft attention. That would be Sergio de Larrea, who is 6’7” and playing with Valencia and rated higher as a shooter. There’s a very good chance the two will face off in the ACB playoffs later this season, with Valencia fourth and Saint Supery’s Manresa in fifth at present.
Saint Supery is at present an outside shot to hear his name called. He will inevitably get looks nonetheless. The conventional wisdom is that he will round out into a reliable Euroleague level pass-first guard. The gap between that and getting a shot in the NBA is only getting smaller.
With the business end of the season still ahead, and Manresa having real things to play for, there’s an opportunity here. Saint Supery will get the attention he needs for full consideration. To me, he looks certainly acceptable as a second round flyer, albeit probably bottom 15 picks right now. There’s enough spark to want to see if he can round out the rough edges.
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