Viktor Sanikidze

Viktor Sanikidze - 42nd pick, 2004
Missed the past season due to injury. Has developed into an excellent defence- and rebounding-focused role player over the years, with a game based on hustle and reckless abandon, but those years are going by, and with those years are going the athleticism that made him relevant.

Viktor Sanikidze (42nd pick, 2004)

- Sanikidze is Koponen's team mate at Bologna. He is averaging 8.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in only 20 minutes a night, on percentages of 59%/42%/76%. Sanikidze was drafted many years ago, but he was 18 at the time, and turned 25 only yesterday. Save for ball handling, shot creating, and not fouling, he does a little bit of everything - defending, rebounding, hitting shots, protecting the paint and the perimeter, tough and aggressive. He's a good player. But he's not quite good enough.

Chances of making the NBA expressed as an arbitrary percentage: 3%

- Victor Sanikidze

Sanikidze, whose rights are owned by the Spurs, played in Estonia in 2008-09. His team TU/Rock played in both the Baltic League and the EuroChallenge, so it wasn't as farfetched as it may otherwise have seemed, but he needed better work this year. And he got it when he joined La Fortezza Bologna (now known as Canadian Solar Bologna), for whom he is averaging 6.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in Serie A play. Sanikidze also averages 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks in only 18 minutes per game off the bench, while shooting 45% from three point range, doing a little bit of everything. Real Madrid are said to be pursuing him for next year, even though Sanny is under contract to Bologna for at least one more year. Maybe they regret letting go of Axel Hervelle.