#23. Utah Jazz – Goga Bitadze
Goga Bitadze has played extremely well at age 19 in the EuroLeague, putting him in recent company with Luka Doncic, though of course Luka famously garnered MVP honors in his age 19 EuroLeague campaign – while also leading Real Madrid to a championship.
Bitadze isn’t putting forth quite that same level of proven production, but his improvements across the board on offense have raised some eyebrows among NBA draftniks. Though Sekou Doumbouya (more on him later) is likely the best foreign-born prospect in this draft class, Bitadze’s great size and shooting touch will likely garner some late-lottery looks from teams like the Celtics that will be in a rather exploratory mold due to them having amassed four draft picks in the 2019 NBA Draft.
At 6-foot-11 and 245 pounds with a sweet shooting stroke, Bitadze is certainly an intriguing prospect, and he might serve as a more offensively minded backup to Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors – while also possessing similar roll gravity.
The 19-year-old center finished EuroLeague with averages of 12.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 24.2 minutes while also knocking down a combined 21 of 55 three-pointers in EuroLeage and the Adriatic League. That’s a fairly engaging skill set for a 19-year-old big man.