Future Miami Hurricane, Emmanuel “Manu” Lecomte just wrapped up an impressive run for Belgium in the U20 European Championship.
He averaged a solid 21.6 points, 6.6 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game, earning a spot on the All-Tournament team along side Great Britain’s Devon van Oostrum (tournament MVP), Hungary’s Rosco Allen, Poland’s Przemyslaw Karnowski and Mateusz Ponitka.
Despite being only 17 years of age and much younger than the guys he played against, Lecomte was second in the tournament in scoring, third in field goal attempts (17.5) and second in field goals made (7.6).
He also did a fantastic job attack the defense, as he finished third in fouls drawn (6.5) and second in free throws attempted (6.9) and made (5.6).
Lecomte is known for working the ball inside with his dribble drive and he showed that off in this tournament; 55 of his 61 made baskets were from two-point range.
He’s not the biggest fella on the court, but he’s quick and can beat his man one-0n-one to either side. He has an excellent stop-and-go approach in traffic (borderline palming if you ask me) and is amazingly crafty around the rim. He can get up high and uses his body smartly to avoid blocks.
However, he’s also known to struggle with his outside shot and he failed to disprove that. He only put up 24 three-point attempts, hitting just six (25-percent).
As a floor general, he worked hard to get the ball into his teammates’ hands, leading the tournament in assists (6.6 per game). Although he turned it over 3.1 times per game, that’s not bad considering he often never came off the floor and was asked both to be a distributor and the team’s scoring punch.
For his effort, Lecomte lead Belgium to fourth place into the B-Division Tournament, coming just two points short of advancing to A-Division next year.
Looking ahead, I thought Lecomte would see limited time on the floor this season for Miami, despite the roster turnover in South Beach. I had to assume that it would take him some time to develop thanks to his lack of outside ability, his lack of experience in the U.S., plus the fact he has the build of a toothpick on a Jenny Craig.
However, if a 17-year-old can run with the U20 crowd, then maybe he can make some kind of impact as a freshmen. Fact is, it’s not like the current crop of ACC point guards screams future NBA All-Stars.
In the end, I still believe Angel Rodriguez will get his waiver and will be the starting point guard for Jim Larranaga and Miami, but I can certainly see Lecomte stealing some minutes off the bench now.
