Len Works on a Contract, Mykhailiuk Tries to Stick. All About Ukrainians' Prospects in the NBA

The NBA's best basketball league returns tomorrow.

The new NBA season is just around the corner, so it is time to look at the prospects of Ukrainian players in the world's best basketball league. This year there will again be two of them: Alexey Len and Svyatoslav Mykhailiuk, although Mykhailiuk's place in Detroit is still far from guaranteed.

Alexey Len – center, Atlanta Hawks

Before last season, Alexey Len signed a two-year contract with Atlanta worth $8.5 million. That is a fairly substantial sum, considering the NBA's trends regarding centers, which forced many bigs to accept only one-year minimum contracts.

For Atlanta, a two-year contract with Len allowed them to put the player, who was picked in the top five of the 2013 draft, through an extended test drive with virtually no damage to the payroll. It has long been no secret that Phoenix can ruin any talented player, so Len looked to the Hawks' bosses like a diamond they had found in the mud.

The Ukrainian came into the NBA as a player who could work on both ends of the floor, with good hands and offensive potential. In Phoenix he was never developed at all. The Suns sometimes used Len as a typical 90s “baobab” who does nothing but stand under the basket, and at other times suddenly pulled him away from the rim into mid-range shots, the least efficient shots in basketball, against resistance. Add constant changes of coaching staff and unstable playing time, and it becomes clear that in Phoenix he had little chance of success.

In Atlanta, things went differently from the very start. Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce immediately set several demands for Len so that he could fit not only his vision of basketball but also current NBA trends. These demands were simple and clear enough: on offense, Alexey had to shoot three-pointers, stretch the floor and run pick-and-rolls with Trae Young, while on defense he had to protect the rim and, as far as possible, avoid getting caught switching onto perimeter players. A bonus was Len's athleticism, which, despite his size, allows the Ukrainian to run the floor adequately in fast breaks.

Alexey managed to transform into a completely different basketball player over a single summer, devoting the previous summer to “pumping up” his three-point shot. What they could not do with him in Phoenix over five years, they did in Atlanta in three months. Over five years in Suns colors Len made just six three-pointers, while in one season with the Hawks he made 74. His three-point percentage of 36.3% even exceeded the league average.

All of this still did not guarantee Len a future with Atlanta, but a year before the end of his contract he managed to convince the team's management that the Hawks should not extend the agreement with former starting center Dewayne Dedmon this summer or sign a replacement in free agency. Now Alexey Len is the undisputed starting center for the Hawks, who will have every opportunity to earn a new contract and develop alongside Atlanta's promising young core.

His main and only competitors on the roster are former center Damian Jones and rookie Bruno Fernando. Jones can do just slightly more on the basketball court than nothing, and Fernando's prospects of making an impact in the NBA look minimal. Alexey's task in the new season is to build on last year's success in his shooting, as well as to try to be more mobile on defense. If he succeeds, Pierce will have no choice but to increase Len's playing time, and his statistics and the value of his future contract will rise along with it.

Svyatoslav Mykhailiuk – wing, Detroit Pistons

Svyatoslav Mykhailiuk's future in Detroit looks less rosy than that of his compatriot. Svyat joined the Pistons during last season in a trade with the Lakers, and he landed on a team with an established rotation in the midst of a battle for the last playoff spot.

In the NBA, Mykhailiuk came from Kansas as a prototypical wing who can shoot three-pointers and defend. But, as one of the classics of Ukrainian coaching once said: “I can shoot too, the point is to make it!” He still has major problems with this. Despite the mind-stirring clips of Svyatoslav's makes in practice that excite Ukrainian fans, his three-point percentage in NBA games remains extremely low.

Last season he played 42 games for the Lakers and three more for Detroit, in which he made just 32.6% of his long-range shots. That is a very low result for a finished shooter, which is how Mykhailiuk presents himself. So far he falls well short even of the NBA average of 35.3% on three-pointers.

Svyat could end up out of the NBA as early as next season, as he did not look convincing either in the Summer League or in preseason games. In the preseason Mykhailiuk made just 31% of his long-range shots, showing no progress whatsoever. However, Detroit does not have the resources to sign new players next summer, and in theory Mykhailiuk could become a bench player on a minimum contract. But if he continues simply shooting from distance rather than making shots, Detroit's management will look for someone who can do it.

As for this season, Svyat should be grateful for any scraps of playing time, since he has too many competitors. He currently sits behind Bruce Brown, Luke Kennard, Langston Galloway, Tony Snell, Sekou Doumbouya and perhaps even Khairi Thomas. It is easy to see that with so much competition, the Ukrainian is an option only for games where the result has long been decided.

What could help him get reasonable playing time are either injuries to his competitors or a trade of Galloway, in which Detroit's management is interested. But other franchises are unlikely to want to take on Langston's $7.3 million contract, so he will most likely remain with the club.

The most realistic scenario is Mykhailiuk spending time in the G League, with trips to the main roster and occasional 5-10 minutes on the court. If Svyat starts making shots in those minutes, his chances of staying in the NBA will grow. If not, the Pistons' management will no longer bother with a second-round pick on a non-guaranteed contract.