Ever since Kentucky’s Hall of Fame coach John Calipari signed 6-11, 245-pound center Enes Kanter, the Turkish national who once scored 34 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the Nike Hoop Summit, in 2010, he has been on the look out for elite international talent.
Kanter, who played a season with a Turkish professional team, never got to play for the Cats because the NCAA ruled him ineligible for accepting money from his club, but that has not stopped Calipari from attempting to flush out his talented roster with blue chip prospects from around the world. He signed 6-11 forward Karl Anthony Towns from the Dominican Republic, who helped lead the Cats to the Final Four as a freshman and should be the first player selected in the June NBA draft. He signed 6-11 forward Skal Labissiere, a Haitian refugee who came to this country four years ago after an earthquake ravaged his island country, attended school in Memphis and is generally considered the second best prospect in the Class of 2015.
And now he has received a verbal commitment from powerful 6-9, 265-pound Tai Wynyard from New Zealand, who is listed as a member of the Cats’ Class of 2016.
Wynyard, the son of world champion woodchoppers Jason and Karmyn Wynyard, was recently voted Most Outstanding Player after leading his team to the gold medal in FIBA’s U18 3×3 World Championships in Decebren, Hungary. Wynyard was the leading scorer in the championship game, a 20-18 victory over Argentina, scoring eight points and recording e memorable block on Martin Aerial Fernandez. The men’s team also got the chance to do its famed traditional haka dance before games. New Zealand went 8-1 in the event and won eight consecutive games after losing its opener to France.
3×3 is a rising sport that should be included in the 2020 Olympics in Japan.
There was a chance it might be included in Rio because it affords so many countries a chance to win a gold medal in a sport dominated by the United States. But given the amount of protestors at the soccer World Cup, holding an event in an outdoor park in Brazil could create crowd control problems.
This was New Zealand’s second world championship in this event. Four years ago, the men won the 2011 FIBA #x3 U18 World Championships in Rimini, Italy.
Wynyard was just 13 years old and didn’t even make his school basketball team when players like Isaac Fotu and Tai Webster made global history. Just a few years later, those two were playing for New Zealand’s Tall Blacks national team at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain.
That did not stop him from telling his teacher about his future goals. When asked whether he could see himself playing for the Tall Blacks, Wynyard raised the stakes.
“Tall Blacks?” he said. “I’m going to play in the NBA.”
Wynyard was discovered by Nike officials at the All Asia camp in China when he was just 15 and invited to participate in the 2014 Jordan Brand Classic International game at Barclays when he was only 16. Although he only scored 2 points and fouled out after just 11 minutes, he began drawing comparisons to 6-10 Kiwi Steven Adams, who grew up in Kenny McFadden’s Wellington Academy and played a year at Pitt before becoming a first round pick by the NBA Oklahoma Thunder.
Born in Auckland, Wynyard attended Rangitoto College where he helped the school’s basketball team win the Auckland premier championship in September 2014, recording 24 points and seven rebounds in the final over Auckland Grammar.
On 15 July 2014, Wynyard became the youngest Tall Black when he took to the court against South Korea in Wellington.He later missed out on making the final squad for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain as he went on to lead the Junior Tall Blacks in December during the 2014 Oceania Championships in Fiji.[8]
That same year, Wynyard joined the New Zealand Breakers in the Australian Zealand NBL as a non-contract development player. Unlike former UK recruit Enes Kanter, there are no questions about Wynyard’s amateur status. He sits on the Breakers’ bench but does not travel with the team and is not paid by the Breakers. His parents and Breakers’ officials are aware of the requirement of NCAA eligibility.
This spring, he was named to take part in the 2015 Nike Hoop Summit in Portland. Wynyard recorded two points, two assists and one rebound as the World Team defeat Team USA, 103–101. He then returned to New Zealand and made his season debut for the Super City Rangers on 24 April against the Wellington Saints, recording six points and four rebounds in a 102–94 win.
