Maciej Lampe

Kazan are led by ex-NBA player, Maciej Lampe. For all the failure that was his NBA career, Lampe has developed his game into one reminiscent of a pre-knee injuries Marcus Fizer. This isn't quite the new Dirk Nowitzki that the NBA was hoping for in Lampe, but it's something. Lampe has developed lots of upper body strength, can dribble drive far better than most guys his size, rebound, pass and shoot the mid range jumpshot. These attributes are coincident with little defensive effort and the occasional terrible decision, and probably always will do, but nonetheless, Lampe has rounded out nicely into a high quality player on a good quality European team, averaging 15/8 in only 26 minutes per game in Eurocup play.

Maciej Lampe

Lampe is a different player to the one that left the NBA. While he used to think he was Dirk Nowitzki, he now seems to acknowledge he's more like Marcus Fizer. Lampe still occasionally floats to the perimeter to take a three, which he's still not that good at, but he plays primarily in the post now, and is an effective and efficient scorer in there. In the Eurocup last year, Lampe averaged 16.7 points and 8.5 rebounds in 30 minutes per game, shooting 55% from two point range (and 22% from three). He can also pass out of the post, although his defense is pretty disinterested. The Fizer comparison probably doesn't sound flattering, but Fizer was pretty good before he tore his knee up. And Lampe is bigger.

- Maciej Lampe

Lampe started the year in Israeli with Maccabi Tel-Aviv, but the version of Maccabi that he had signed with in the summer did not last very long. It didn't take long before he was allowed to leave, at which point he moved to Russia to play for Unics Kazan. In the Russian league he is averaging 14.7 points and 6.3 rebounds; in the VTB United league he is averaging 14.5 and 6.0 rebounds; in the Eurocup he averaged 16.9 points and 9.5 rebounds. The idea that Lampe was a combo 3/4 was never right in the first place, but it's definitely not right now - he's emerged as a good if inconsistent post player with occasional three point range. He's not Dirk, and he was never going to be Dirk. But he does have NBA talent, even if he didn't exactly shine in the Euroleague this year.