Marko Todorovic has a great chance to showcase his strong skill set for Khimki Moscow Region – Photo from Euroleague
After Marko Todorovic went scoreless against Bayern Munich, Khimki Moscow Region coach Rimas Kurtinaitis said his Montenegro big man is dealing with a knee injury.
Todorovic had averaged 8.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks in four VTB United League games before Khimki’s first Euroleague road game of the season in southern Germany. The 23-year-old forward also collected 15 points, eight rebounds, one steal and two blocks in the Russian team’s big win over Real Madrid.
But the Podgorica native missed his only shot against Bayern for zero points while grabbing three rebounds to go with one assist and two turnovers. in 18:28 minutes of action.
In the post-game press conference Kurtinaitis said the 2.10m Todorovic is fighting a knee issue.
“He has some problems with his knee. We are trying to help him. He’s not in the best shape right now. But I hope so soon,” Kurtinaitis said.
Despite the season still being very young, the Khimki coach praised Todorovic, who broke out with a great campaign last season at Bilbao Basket after two seasons of only playing a minor role with Barcelona.
“He’s young and he doesn’t have a lot of experience in Euroleague games. Bilbao were fighting for fourth place last year. This is different,” Kurtinaitis said.
“He has a good feel for basketball. I see him in half or maybe one year as being a great Euroleague player.”
Khimki signed Todorovic to a three-year deal in the off-season after he played on loan with Bilbao from Barcelona.
Todorovic arrived in Spain in 2008 as a 16-year-old and came up in the Joventut Badalona system, playing for Joventut’s Liga Endesa team from 2010 to 2012 before heading to Barcelona.
He was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers with the 47th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. In July 2013, his rights were traded to the Houston Rockets as part of a trade for Thomas Robinson. The Rockets were reportedly interested in bringing over Todorovic, but he agreed to a long-term deal with Khimki.