Evaluating German Forward Prospect Declan Duru's Fit with Texas Longhorns

Following similar footsteps to his previous point guard, Egor Demin, German forward Declan Duru has decided to leave Real Madrid's youth setup and has committed to the University of Texas for the upcoming season. At 6-foot-9 and only 18 years old, Duru has made his mark for Real Madrid in youth competitions and often leaves a notable physical impact on the game.

Duru was a ferocious offensive rebounder at youth levels, capable of pairing next to other bigs, playing center himself occasionally, or even moving down to the three and providing a game-changing force as a weak-side crash offensive rebounder. He's a good finisher inside, too, able to power through contact and see his shots go mostly unaffected and also finish above the rim whenever necessary. Seeing how his athleticism translates to NCAA basketball will be interesting.

Recently, Duru has shown other elements to his game. He has looked much more comfortable as a spot-up player, making opponents pay if they leave him open for catch and shoot threes and even knocking some down over contests. He's improved at attacking closeouts as well. Now, when teams do close out hard on him, he's able to put the ball on the floor and get to the rim. He primarily looks to score in these scenarios, as his on-the-move decision-making, especially in the halfcourt, still leaves a bit to be desired.

Duru's stationary passing, however, is solid. At the FIBA U19 World Cup, he played high-low action in both spots for Germany and set up his fellow big men with a lot of easy buckets. He created from the wing as well, finding flashers to the middle with ease. At 6-foot-9, he was able to see over a lot of his opposing defenders, which let him execute passes with ease.

His handle is still clunky, and definitely a top area for improvement for him, especially if he's going to get minutes on the wing at Texas. Anything beyond attacking a closeout and getting to the rim currently seems taxing for him. If Texas uses him mostly in the four and five spots, though, this won't be nearly as much of an issue.

A benefit for Duru going to the University of Texas is that the Longhorns will have two guards - Jordan Pope and Julian Larry - coming back next season. They were top passers for Texas after Tre Johnson, and their overall experience will help Duru learn the ropes and find easy opportunities to build confidence.

And lastly, for international basketball and European basketball in particular, Duru becomes yet another prospect who decided to pursue NCAA opportunities instead of staying in Europe. Without significant changes from European clubs themselves, this trend will definitely continue.

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