With the departure of senior forward starter Romello White, there was a dire need for the Sun Devils to try and fill in his shoes with immediate help. Today, that addition has been finalized as 6-8 200-pound Ukrainian forward Pavlo Dziuba pledged to Arizona State.
Dziuba, who turns 17 on July 3rd of this year, went mostly unnoticed in this recruiting cycle by college teams since he was believed to be a 2021 prospect. But once it was discovered that he was eligible to be pursued by as a 2020 prospect, ASU was one of a few programs that did recruit him.
The Sun Devils' newest addition was his national team's standouts in the 2019 FIBA u16 Division B European Championships averaging 13.8 points (at 65.4 percent clip from two-point range, and 32 percent from three-point range), 9.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.4 blocks per game.
He spent the last two seasons playing for one of the premier teams in Europe FC Barcelona, specifically on their B Divison junior team, which is mostly a developmental squad for you're players such as Dziuba.
In many respects, Dziuba is a classic European stretch-four player who will do most of his scoring facing the basket on a jump shot, and he does have a decent range from three-point territory as well. His film, however, does show that he's plenty athletic for his size and moves well without the ball. Needless to say that at such a young age, it may be unrealistic to have a formidable physical component to his game, but he's anything but apprehensive of taking the ball into the paint, especially when he is more than likely to beat his man off the dribble. His adversity to score from various spots on the floor was naturally one of the most appealing traits for the ASU staff.
His agility will help him keep up with most players his size, and he does do a nice job rebounding, especially for being a less physical player. His post defense is arguably the one skill that he will need the most developing at. Nonetheless, his very young age and the fact that his best years of basketball are still ahead of him will allow him to develop physically and come close to matching his defensive skills his offensive prowess.
Assuming senior guards Remy Martin and Alonzo Verge pull their names out of the NBA draft (Aug. 3rd or 10 days after the NBA draft combine), Dziuba fills the 13th and last available scholarship for ASU in the 2020-21 season.
The other additions to this year's team include a pair of five-star high school prospects in guard Josh Christopher and forward Marcus Bagely and Lee College forward transfer Chris Osten, who are all three eligible to play this year. ASU added two more guards transfers in Ohio State's Luther Muhammad and Portland State's Holland Woods, who are both expected only to be eligible in the 2021-22 campaign.
