There is a growing international flavor about this year’s NBA draft. At least five players who was either born in another country and played college basketball in the United States or are true internationals should be selected in the lottery. Freshman forward Andrew Wiggins, a 6-8 Canadian import who played for Kansas; or his 7-0 college teammate Joel Embiid, who grew up in Cameroon, most likely to be selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the first pick overall.
Wiggins has emerged as the most complete player in the draft and is most often compared to Tracy McGrady. He the most talented wing to enter the draft since LeBron James. But Embiid, who has only played organized basketball in this country for two years, has suddenly become the hot commodity because he is extremely agile for a big man, has great footwork despite limited experience and can provide high level rim protection with his explosive shot blocking and rebounding ability.
He could be a Hall of Fame talent and a dominant big man in the NBA for the next decade on a team that is desperate to find a center to compliment for future All Pro guard Kyrie Irving.
Or he could the next Greg Oden, a first round pick in 2008 who plays for the Miami Heat, but has been plagued with irecurring knee injuries throughout his career. Oden was actually waived out of the league by Portland in 2012 and did not play in an NBA game for three years.
Everything depends on his health. Embiid missed the final stages of of Kansas’ Big 12 championship season, including all of post season, with back problems that . But Cleveland, which has won the lottery three straight years, The Cavs has reached for the stars before with varying success. Two years ago, they chose guard Kyrie Irving of Duke, who has a legitimate shot to make the U.S. Senior men’s team in the upcoming World Cup this September. Last year, they chose 6-8 forward Anthony Bennett from UNLV, a Canadian national who was not ready for prime time and spent much of the season in the NBA Development League.
Wiggins may have started slowly at Kansas but once he blossomed in Big 12 play, he looked like an player with a tremendous upside could play any position, which would be perfect for Milwaukee, which has the second pick and needs help at every position. Ironically, the Bucks’ best current prospect Giannis Anteokounmpo, who plays the same position and be long term the best player to come of the 2013 draft, which may lead to swapping picks with with the Philadelphia 76ers, who have the third pick and might be willing to give up a future No. 1 or their second No. 1 pick this year to the Bucks if Wiggins does get snapped up by Cleveland.
That would open the door for Milwaukee to take 6-8 freshman forward Jabari Parker of Duke, an offensive force who could be a franchise player if he learns how to defend on the perimeter.
Guard Dante Exum of Australia, 6-8 forward Dario Saric of Croatia and 6-6 sophomore guard Nik Stauskas, another Canadian import who was the Big Ten Player of the Year from Michigan; could flesh out the lottery. Exum might well be the second best player in the draft, but he just graduated high school last November and is only 18, which might scare off Orlando, which already has a rising star in guard Victor Olapido, which has the fourth pick; as well as Utah and the Celtics. But the 6-6 guard, who lit up the U19 world championships in Prague last summer, could be a steal if he slips to seven and is taken by the Lakers, who might see him as another Kobe Bryant and even trade up to get him.
Saric would have been a lottery pick last year and figures to be a natural choice for Sacramento at 8, if they are unable to keep Rudy Gay from leaving through free agency. And Stauskas, a pure shooter, could find himself going 10 to the Sixers with their second first round pick. The Sixers are looking for a pure shooter to compliment Michael Carter-Williams and Stauskas fits the mold.
As many as five more internationals– 6-11, 220-pound forward Kistaps Porzingis from Latvia, 6-11, 280-pound .center Jusuf Nurkic from Bosnia, 6-1 point guard Tyler Ennis of Toronto, 6-11, 222-pound power forward Clint Capela from Switzerland and 6-5 point guard Vasilije Micic from Serbia could go in the first round.
Nurkic is a 19-year old hulk who plays for Cidevita Zagreb in the Croatian League and could go as high as 12th in the lottery. Porzingis he played for Cajasol in the Spanish as an 18-year old and has has been a fast-rising player in this year’s class and could go in the top 15. Ennis is the best known of the group and was a second team All ACC selection at Syracuse, who was the leading scorer for Canada in the U19 World Championships last summer in Prague.
Capela is a 20-year old shot blocking power forward with a 7-4 wing span who played for Chaldon in the French Pro A League He is explosive around the rim and participated for the International team in tne Nike Hoops Summit in Portland. Micic is a classic pass first point guard who made the all tournament team at the U19 world championship, along with Exum, Saric and both forward Aaron Gordon (a lottery pick from Arizona) and 6-11, 270-pound center Jalil Okafor of the United States.
Basketball is a global sport and scouts no longer restrict themselves to rolling the dice on young American one and dones when they can select an fundamentally internationals who has played high level club competition. Some 60 NBA GMs, executives and scouts are also mining events like the Eurocamp in Traviso, Italy for young talent and discovered five elite high school prospects from our country were there with a U.S. team, including 7-0 Thon Maker, an Australian import who now lives in the states and plays for the Carlisle School in Virginia and is the best prospect in the Class of 2016. Maker, who already has offers from Duke, Kansas, Memphis, Louisville and Missouri, is considering reclassifying to the Class of 2015 and will make a decision on that next January.
