The NBA draft is no longer the sole property of American born college basketball stars.
More and more college players who were foreign imports are slipping through the cracks, making their presence felt at the too of the first round and fleshing out a draft that was considered a flat at the top.
For starters, Anthony Bennett, a 6-8, 261-pound Larry Johnson clone from Canada who played one year at UNLV, helped his country make history when Cleveland made him the first pick overall. His selection could be the start of a trend since 6-7 forward Andrew Wiggins, an incoming freshman at Kansas who is considered the best high school prospect since LeBron James, already is projected to go No. 1 next season. Four picks later, 7-1, 255 pound center Alex Len from the Ukraine, who played two years at Maryland, was taken by Phoenix at 5. Pitt 6-10 freshman center Steven Adams from New Zealand (12 to Oklahoma City) Gonzaga 6-11 center Kelly Olynyk from Canada (13 to the Mavs) and Gorgui Dieng a 6-11 junior center from Senegal, the defensive anchor on Louisville’s national championship team (21 to the Utah Jazz).
But that wasn’t the biggest news.
International players who didn’t play in for a U.S. college flooded the first and second rounds.
While the top of this draft did not make the same seismic impact as 2011 when four international players who didn’t play for a U.S. college were selected in the lottery – Enes Kanter of Turkey (3 to Utah), Jonas Valanciunas of Lithuania (5 to Toronto), Jan Vesely of the Czech Republic (6 to Washington) and Bismack Biyombo of Congo ( 7 to Sacramento, seven internationals– 6-8 small forward Giannis Anteokounmpo, whose Nigerian parents immigated to Greece (15 to Milwaukee), 7-0 center Lucas Nogueira from Brazil (16 to Boston), guard Dennis Schroeder from Germany (17 to Atlanta), 6-7 wing shooter Sergey Karasev of Russia (19 to Celtics), 7-2 center Rudy Gobert of France (27 to Denver), 6-9 power forward Livio Jean Charles of French Guiana and Fance (28 to San Antonio) and 6-4 wing guard Nemanja Nedovic of Serbia (30 to Phoenix).
There likely would have been one more if 19 year old small forward Dario Saric of Croatia– who might have been the first European taken–hadn’t withdrawn.
Six more– 6-5 guard Alex Abrines of Spain (32 to Oklahoma City), 6-11 Marko Todorovic of Serbia (45 to Portland), 6-2 guard Raul Neto of Brazil (47 to Atlanta), 6-10 power forward Jeffery Lauvergne of Fance (55 to Memphis), 6-10 Bojon Dublijevic of Serbia (59 to Minnesota) and small forward Jannis Timma of Latvia (60 to Memphis)– went in the second round.
With high school players locked into a an outdated one and done rule and college basketball going through a down cycle, NBA general managers and player personnel directors have started searching the world for new sources of talent. And they must like what they see from these fundamentally sound, highly skilled international prospects who normally carry little or no baggage at a young age. There were 84 international players on the opening day rosters of NBA teams. And San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popavich built an NBA finalists with eight internationals on the roster, including guard Tony Parker of France, Mano Ginobili of Argentina, Boris diaw of France and Tiago Splitter of Brazil.The eventual champion Miami Heat had one, backup center Joel Anthony of Canada.
The NBA finals, which was broadcast to 87 countries– had a United Nations feel to it– the culmination of David Stern’s dream– and has constantly grown since the appearance of the Dream Team in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics..
With that in mind, the Nike Hoop Summitt in Portand, the addidas Eurocamp in Treviso, the European junior and senior championships and the important FIBA grass roots events have become must see events. Karasev, Schroeder and Jean-Charles, who declared for the draft, all played for the international team, which defeated the Americans for a second straight time in last April’s Hoop Summit, along with forward Andrew Wiggins of Canada and 7-0 Joel Embiid of the Cameroon, who both signed with Kansas; and 6-10 rising senior Karl Towns of the Dominican Repbublic, who plays for St. Joseph’s of Metuchen, N.J. and has already verbaled to Kentucky.
Schroeder, Gobert, Karasev, Adetokunbo, Nogueria, Nedovic and Jean-Charles were all at the 46 player addidas event.
Before the draft Fran Frascilla of ESPN conducted a teleconference in which he compared Schroder to Rando, Nogueiria to aJaValle McGee and Abrines to Rudy Fernandez.
How many of these players will migrate to this country next season is anybody guess. But unlike when George Raveling, the best recruiter of his era, was scouring newspapers from around the country in search of prospects in the mid 60’s, there are no secrets out there.
China and Africa are still under scouted, but the world is getting smaller and the foreign legion has arrived, seeking the same riches as American teenage travel team players.
