Sergei Lishouk

Serhiy Lishchuk - 49th pick, 2004
Retired as a player and president of Riven-OSHVSM basketball, his home town team.

Serhiy Lishchuk - 49th pick, 2004
Did not play this year, and, now aged 35, may be retired. Even if he is not, he is several years removed from his peak and no longer on the NBA radar.

Sergei/Serhiy Lishouk/Lischuk/Lishchuk (49th pick, 2004)

- Lishouk, obtained by the Lakers as a part of the Sasha Vujacic trade, drew a fleeting mention in the recent Euroleague quarter finals round-up. He has paired with Robert Javtokas to form quite the centre pairing for Valencia, and is recording 8.5 points and 5.4 rebounds in 24 minutes per game in the Euroleague. He has stepped up several levels in several years, and has not been overmatched. However, a leap to the NBA would change that. Lishouk is pretty decent, but there's a reason he's twice been NBA trade filler.

Chances of making the NBA expressed as an arbitrary percentage: 2%

Logically, it will be Jeremy Richardson who steps into the void vacated by Claver. Richardson has struggled with injuries of his own thus far this season, and was out of favour early, an oft-rumoured candidate for being released. However, he has played much better since returning from injury than he did before suffering it, has won the team back over, and is now being leaned upon to provide the shooting on the wings that no one else really offers. Pietrus is also on hand for an expanded role, providing the athleticism and defense lost with Claver, if not the offensive game. Meanwhile, Augustine's loss is offset by Savanovic, who is simply the superior player. Savanovic is a hugely talented inside/outside offensive player, with post footwork, passing sense and touch to compensate a strong perimeter jumpshot. Unlike Augustine, and indeed half the team, Savanovic can regularly create his own shot, and is frequently called upon to do so in the Valencia offense. And the rebounding and defensive ends, where Savanovic is less productive (and less interested), are covered by the centre duo of Javtokas and incumbent Sergiy Lischuk, the latter of whom in particular has had a fine season. The two provide the tough aggressive interior defense and shotblocking otherwise lacking on the roster, and in theory, a two centre lineup featuring the two of them will feature at least some of the time in Augustine's absence. It will be easier to do this if Lischuk can rediscover the three point range he used so often last season (33 makes on the year), and so little in this one (2).

- Sergei Lishouk

Former Grizzlies draft pick Lishouk, whose rights are now owned by the Rockets, is playing in Spain with Valencia. After spending his whole career to date in the Ukraine, including spending the last 4 years at Azovmash, Lishouk (who is usually known as Serhiy Lishchuk in Europe) moved to Spain to become a part of Valencia's ever-changing 10 man rotation, and to bolster their Eurocup campaign. He has averaged 8.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.3 fouls and 1.3 blocks per game in that campaign, alongside 7.8/3.3/3.4/0.8 in the ACB.

It is clear to see why Lishouk was drafted, and it is also clear why he didn't play the NBA. As the numbers above indicate, Lishouk can flat out block shots, particularly when you consider that those numbers all come in less than 20 minutes per game. He does so at the expense of fouling, but such is the life of a shotblocker. He's also a big old freaking boy (the 6'11 232lbs measurements do not do that justice) with a surprisingly good jumpshot (shooting 23-62 from three point range on the season, or 37%.) However, Leesh also suffers from the classic shotblockers curse of bad rebounding, recording fewer rebounds per game than fouls, which just isn't good enough. He's also very slow, which is part of the fouling problem, and he's also now 28. Lishouk can score with the jumpshot, on the pick and roll or through size alone, but he's a defense-first player who struggles to defend quicker guys. And there's a lot of quicker guys.