International Talent Makes Its Way To The NBA

NEW YORK– Dante Exum may be from the land down under, but the 6-6, 18-year old combo guard, who selected by Utah with the fifth pick in the NBA draft, has been here long enough to shoot down the stereotypes Americans have of Australians during the six months he spent in Los Angeles, training for a pro career after his November high school graduation.

“One guy nicknamed me, “‘Crocodile D’ and I’ve ever seen a crocodile in my life,” he recalled. “People constantly say, ‘Crikey: to me or “throw a shrimp on the barbee,” he said. “I just go with it and I say, ‘What’s up mate?” or ‘good day mate.” I play off my Australian accent and people love it.”

Exum is a 6-6, 18-year old basketball phenom who was born in Melbourne of American parents. Exum made an international reputation for himself as a 15 year old prodigy, playing for the Australian U17 team. Exum played well in the Nike Hoop Summit following his junior year at the Australian Institute of Sport. That summer, he made the all tournament team at the FIBA U19 world championships in Prague where he averaged 17 points and helped the Aussies win a bronze medal. Then, he got minutes for the Aussies’ Senior team, which defeated New Zealand in the Oceanic region to qualify for this fall’s World Cup in Spain.

Exum considered coming to the states for college. He made an official visit to Indiana and was recruited by Kentucky, but opted to sign with an agent at Landmark Sports and put his name in the NBA draft, where he was immediately projected as a high lottery pick.
The Jazz thought enough of Exum, they selected him without even watching him work out.

“I think Australia has always had talent,” Exum said. “People are just starting to look at the younger talent in our country like Ben Simmons, Thon Maker and Jonah Bolden. We have some of the best development coaches and development programs in the world.”

The 6-9 Bolden, who played for Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev., will be a freshman at UCLA. Simmons is a 6-9 senior forward at Montverde who is a Top 5 prospect in the class of 2015 and has committed to LSU. The 7-0 Maker, who played last year at the Carlisle, Va. School, is arguably the best prospect in the class of 2016, although he may reclassify. All are NBA prospects.

This year’s draft is just further proof the league is continuing to develop an international flavor, based on discovering a new stream of talent. .

Three of the top five picks — freshman forward Andrew Wiggins of Kansas, 7-0 center Joel Embiid of Kansas and Exum were either international players who played their college basketball or true international club players. Wiggins — who was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers– was the second Canadian-born player to be selected with the No. 1 overall pick, following in the footsteps of forward Anthony Bennett, who was taken first by the Cavs in the 2013 draft. Embiid, from Cameroon, has only been playing organized basketball for two years, was chosen by the Philadelphia 76’ers with the third pick.

Wiggins comes into the league with the most hype of any prospect since LeBron James in 2004. Embiid could be a dominant defensive game changer for a decade if he is healthy. and Exum, who has a 6-9 wing span, has the potential to become another Penny Hardaway..

Seven other players with international roots –including two more Canadians, 6-6 guard Nik Stauskas from Michigan (8 to Sacramento) and 6-1 point guard Tyler Ennis from Syracuse (18 to Phoenix) went in the first round along with 6-10 forward Dario Saric of Croatia (12, Orlando, traded to Philadelphia), 6-10, 280-pound center Jusuf Nurkic of Bosnia (16, Chicago, traded to Denver), 6-8 small forward Bruno Cabocio of Brazil (20 to Toronto), 6-11 forward Clint Capela from Switzerland (25 to Houston), 6-6 guard Bogdan Bogdnovic of Serbia (27 to Phoenix)–were selected in the first round.

Ten more — 6-8 small forward Damien Inglis of France Guiana (31 to Milwaukee), 6-11 forward Nokola Jokic of Serbia (41 to Denver); 7-3 center Walter Tavares of Cape Verde (43 to Atlanta), 6-10 forward Dwight Powell from Canada and Stanford (45 to the Charlotte Hornets); 6-10 center Cameron Bairstow of Australia and New Mexico (47 to the Chicago Bulls); 6-6 small forward Thanasis Anteokounmpo from Greece and Delaware 87ers of the NBA’s Development League (51 to the Knicks) to ); 6-6 point guard Vasilije Micic of Serbia (52 to the 76’ers); 6-6 small forward Alessandro Gentile of Italy (53 to the Minnesota Timberwolves); 6-8 guard Nemanja Dangubic of Serbia (54 to the 76’ers, traded to San Antonio); and 6-10 power forward Louis Lebeyrie of France (57 to the Pacers, traded to Knicks)– went in the second round.

That is a third of a draft that used to be dominated by American college players.

The risk reward is for this new generation of international stars is so great that the Sixers took two players in the first round– Embiid and Saric– who will not even play for them this season. Embiid is expected to miss five to nine months after undergoing surgery to repair a stress fracture of his right foot. Saric, who was the MVP of the Adriatic League, has signed a three year deal with the Turkish pro league that will keep him overseas for at least the next two years.

Sixers’ GM Sam Hinkie, whose team finished 19-63 and endured a seemingly never ending 25 game losing streak, is willing to rebuild slowly if he feels he can get the right players in place for the future, hoping he will not frustrate his dwindling fan base in the process with another disasterous season. .