Dominant Performance from Niels Van den Eynde

Another player that has been a dominant performer in #TDM1 so far this season is 19 year old youngster Niels Van den Eynde.

Despite his diminutive stature and the fact that this season is actually his rookie season in TDM1 Van Den Eynde doesn’t seem the least bit phazed and continues to do what he does best: scoring, creating and being a general nuissance for every opponent that is attempting to slow him down.

Blessed with strong basketball genes, Van Den Eynde makes eveything look so easy out there on the court as he plays with a natural flare which is a rare occurence in Belgian basketball. With a large array of dribble moves in his arsenal Van Den Eynde has an uncanny knack of freeing himself up for his own shot, as well as being able to blow past his defenders to finish at the rim or find an open teammate for a wide open jumper. Obviously it doesn’t hurt that he seems to possess an almost unlimited range from way beyond the arc and that he also possesses a quick release on his shot without it affecting its accuracy.

At 19 years old Van Den Eynde is the undisputed leader of the newcomers in #TDM1 BC GUCO LIER and he has led them to a very solid (and unexpected) 9-8 record for a 6th place in the standings, while averaging 21.5 ppg (41% from behind the arc!), 4.1 rpg, 4.2 apg & 0.9 spg in 31.4 mpg (17 games).

Just like Hazard does for Ieper, Van Den Eynde is consistently the best performer for Lier and has recorded 11 games in which he scored more than 20 pts and he even scored more than 30 pts on 4 occasions. He recorded his 4th 30+ pts game earlier today when Guco easily defeated Gistel partly thanks to his 31 pts. All in all, not bad for a TDM1 rookie, wouldn’t you say?

Clearly bulking with talent the question still remains whether his limited size and his fairly frail frame will prevent him from reaching the top of Belgian basketball in the years to come. With his natural talent, his clear love of the game and a good mentality I have very few doubts that he will be able to do just that and I expect that he will continue to astonish spectactors with his flashy style of play and his overall skills. Even at the highest level in Belgium and who knows… perhaps even beyond.

Whether he eventually will be able to achieve these goals obviously still remains to be seen, but personally I’m already happy that I’ve been able to follow his progress throughout these past couple of years and I’m very much looking forward to continue to do so in the many more years to come.

2019-’20 Game highs so far:

Points: 32 pts (vs. LDP, 8/12/2019)

Rebounds: 7 rebs (2 times)

Assists: 8 asts (@ Royal IV, 30/11/2019)

Steals: 3 stls (@ Sijsele, 12/10/2019)

Blocks: 1 blk (2 times)