Andreja Milutinovic
Not in any ranking or draft
Position: SG/SF
Hometown: Kragujevac, Serbia
Current Team: Pitesti
European Roundup: Motiejunas Adjusting
One of the best NBA draft oriented storylines developing in the always-interesting Adriatic league revolves around 19-year old Serbian wing player Andreja Milutinovic. Despite coming off a lackluster spring and summer at the junior level, when he played very uninspired basketball, Milutinovic has bounced back in a major way, emerging as the go-to guy of his very young FMP Zeleznik squad, and leading them in scoring thus far with nearly 14 points per game.
Milutinovic seems to have found a new bounce in his step, as he's attacking the rim with great purpose on a regular basis, often finishing extremely well once there. Beyond that, he's been absolutely lights out from beyond the arc, converting on over half of his four 3-point attempts (52%), while shooting a blistering 64% from 2-point range. For a prospect often criticized for being passive and not playing up to his full potential, Milutinovic has been about as aggressive as you could hope for in the early going of the season, both in the half-court and in transition situations.
Only five games into the season, it's still a bit too early to get overly excited about Milutinovic's performance. Still, considering his very nice physical attributes for a European prospect, and extremely young age, it's something worth noting and following as the year moves on.
adidas Nations Experience 2008: European Prospects
After a fairly average showing in the U-18 European Championship in Greece (both individually and collectively) with the Serbian national team, Andreja Milutinovic was not really able to put his problems behind him in Dallas either, despite his obvious talent. Milutinovic looked frustrated and not all that confident or even interested in what was going on around him, displaying concerning body language around his teammates and being unable to make much of an impact on the game. He missed free throw after free throw in the contests we watched, not looking like he was in the game mentally in the least bit. Milutinovic needs to work on his body, as well as his ball-handling skills, in order to be able to stand out in a setting like this. Coming out of the incredibly well-oiled machine known as FMP Zeleznik's junior team, where he is a true standout, hasn't been the best thing for him in other settings thus far, but he's obviously young and talented enough to bounce back.
Euroleague Final Four: Nike International Junior Tournament
Steady, but not really dominant at any point in time, Andreja Milutinovic picked his spots efficiently while helping his team come away with the Nike IJT championship. He's a fairly mature wing player, with good size, a nice frame, and solid athletic ability, along with some pretty nice skills.
Milutinovic is an excellent shooter first and foremost, but he's also a very effective slasher when he puts his mind to it. His body control and ability to change directions with smooth hesitation moves is pretty unique amongst European wing prospects, and will surely help him overcome the fact that he's not the most fluid or explosive player you'll find. He's also crafty and pretty aggressive when he puts his mind to it, which makes him capable of making some impressive plays from time to time. He had an emphatic dunk in traffic in the championship game for example that seemingly came out of nowhere, and also made strong moves spinning into the paint and finishing or pulling up off the dribble from mid-range to continue and drop glimpses of potential.
The problem is that it didn't always seem like Milutinovic was playing all that hard. Whether he was deferring to his teammates or just coasting against weaker competition (no one could touch FMP at this tournament, or in all of European junior basketball for that matter) remains to be seen, but it would be nice to see him play aggressively for the entire time he's on the floor. His coaching staff wouldn't stand for anything less than 100% from him on the defensive end, though, and he seemed to put in a solid effort and always compete trying to stay in front of his man. He seems like a pretty tough kid all in all, and is definitely a name to keep in mind for the future.
L'Hospitalet 2008: Balkan Dominance
Likely the best player on the best team, Andreja Milutinovic emerged as a dead-eye shooter for FMP, burying his rivals with his long range bombs, but also providing nice input in other departments. He's a nicely sized wing, with a good wingspan, solid athleticism and a good frame. It's excellent physical profile when thinking about the international competition, and also won't stop him from dreaming about getting further.
In terms of skills, his outstanding shooting ability clearly stood out. He barely missed a single three-pointer where he enjoyed some space to get his shot off (and he didn't need that much). It was mostly spot-up attempts, and the opponents often ended up assigning Andreja a defender who would not provide any defensive help in order to permanently stay with him. Milutinovic shows beautiful mechanics, but despite his accuracy, he still could enjoy some adjustments in the way he releases the ball.
It's not only about shooting, but Milutinovic can easily put the ball on the floor and attack his match-ups. If he doesn't find a clear lane to leave the lay-up or the space to release an off-the-dribble mid-range jumper, he's pretty effective finding his teammates with kickout passes. He also runs the court extremely well and generally speaking, his basketball IQ looks pretty high, usually taking good decisions.
A good contributor on defense, he used his length to work the passing lines and come up with a bunch of steals that provided easy transition baskets (FMP runs the fast-break really well). He also was productive cleaning the glass, again thanks to his wingspan, but also due his activity and positioning.
01/22/2023 62 - 72 at Rapid Bucuresti
01/18/2023 88 - 73 vs CSM Targu Jiu
01/15/2023 83 - 81 at CSM Ploiesti
01/09/2023 83 - 69 vs Sibiu