Lauri Markkanen had an up and down showing in the summer, but has turned some heads with his play for Finland at EuroBasket.

The Bulls' first-round pick in the June draft has been leading Finland, one of four host countries in the tournament along with Israel, Romania and Turkey, through the first three games in the tournament.

Markkanen carried Finland to an overtime win against France in the opener. He scored 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting and had seven rebounds. He also took over late to carry Finland to the win.

In Finland's second game, Markkanen once again led the team in scoring with 24 points, but the Finns lost 81-78. He was once again efficient from the floor, making 9 of 13 shots including going 3-for-4 from 3-point range. He again added seven rebounds.

In that game he picked up an ankle injury on the last play of the game.

Markkanen did play Sunday and put in another big performance, again coming up huge down the stretch to give Finland a win in double overtime against Poland. He scored 27 points and had nine rebounds.

He also came up with a massive play to send the game to overtime.

At 24.3 points per game, Markkanen is currently third in the tournament in scoring and he is doing so while shooting 56.3 percent from the field. He is also 10th in rebounds per game at 7.7.

Looking back over this thread provides some laughs.

We should have known that when CoF was upset with the trade and pick that things would go like they have.

The Lavine decision is really going to decide where this team is going.

He reminds me of Penny Hardaway(before the injuries) in the mid 90s. Lavine and Markkanen will be the gems. I like Kris Dunn..I really do. But I just don't think he's a good enough shooter to be a main cog for what they want to do. The guy is a hard worker, dedicated, so he could prove me wrong too.