DUBAI– Almost every NBA franchise and every major shoe company had scouts at the FIBA U17 World championship competition here. The San Antonio Spurs, which has used international players to build the foundation for their NBA championship teams, actually had three in attendance to watch the stars of the future who will be visible on every draft board within the next two or three years.
USA Basketball won this age group tournament for a third consecutive time, defeating Australia, 99-92, in the gold medal game. But their stars had to share the spotlight with several internationals. With that in mind, here are 10 of the young guns– in no particular order– who participated in the tournament that scouts should keep an eye on.
— Harry Giles, 6-10 junior forward, 16, Wesleyan Christian Academy, Winston-Salem, N.C., USA. I can make a case for Giles, who is the best prospect we can remember from this basketball state since Chris Paul, as having the biggest upside of any player on the American side. He may have missed his entire sophomore season with a serious knee surgery, but he showed no after effects and has a rare combination of agility in the open floor and power inside coupled with a mid-range jumper that could make him the first pick in the 2017 NBA draft.
— Jamal Murray, 6-5 junior point guard, 17, Grand River College Institute, Toronto, Canada. If he played in the states, he might be a candidate for best guard in the Class of 2016. We got a sneak peak of Murray when he won the MVP after scoring 24 points in the Jordan Classic International game at a ninth grader, then was impressive last spring as a sophomore at the Nike Hoop Summit. Murray, who could have easily played for Canada’s U18 team in the FIBA Americas, chose to stay with his age group and his decision making skills were highly visible here, but he also showed he could score, averaging 16.4 points and stepping up for 25 points as Canada upset Australia in a pool round game.
— Georgios Papagiannis, 7-1 center, 17, Panathinaikos Club, Greece. Greece had a disappointing tournament, but Papagiannis had his moments, one of them against the United States in the tournament opener when he scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. He may have been fatigued after playing for the Greek U18s’ in the FIBA Europe tournament in Turkey the week before, but he is strong, has great footwork, can finish in the paint and has NBA potential.
— Stefan Peno, 6-5 point guard, 17, Barcelona Club, Serbia. I love the way the Serbs play and Peno was a huge reason for their bronze medal success, sacrificing his own offensive skills and three point shooting skills to get the ball to 6-7 all-tournament forward Nikola Rakicevic and wing shooter like Vas Stanjovich, the MVP of last year’s Nike International Junior tournament when his Red Star team upset powerful Real Madrid. He lead the tournament in assists, averaging 3.4 per game. .
— Hu Jinqiu, 6-9 center-power forward, 16, Zhijiang Lions, China. Hu was the dominant force in the 2013 FIBA Asia tournament, recording five double doubles as the Chinese swept through the competition with a 9-0 record. He continued to impress in Dubai, averaging 17.4 points and 12.3 rebounds for a seventh-place team that also had Zhao Yanhao, who averaged 21.4 points and was the second leading scorer in the tournament behind 6-7 forward Rui Hashimura of Japan.
— Isaac Humphries, 7-0 center, 16, The La Lumiere School, Ind., La Porte, Australia. The burly 250-pound Humphries caught out attention when he broke the school scoring record with a 41 point, 19 rebound performance in a pool round loss to Canada, then dominated overtime as the Aussies defeated Spain in the tournament semi-finals Humphries, who averaged 18.6 points and 11.6 rebounds and was selected to the all-tournament team, attended the Australian Institute of Sport last year and opted to accept a scholarship to a high profile prep school in order to adjust to a faster, more athletic style of play. He may not be Giles, but Humphries, who will be a junior, will play in the league. Heavyweights like Duke and Kentucky are already paying close attention.
— Malik Newman, 6-4 guard, 17, Jackson, Miss. Callaway. USA. He’s a natural scorer and the best guard in the class of 2015 and has had two spectacular summers with USA basketball, winning the MVP award for a powerful U16 team that won the FIBA Americas tournament in Uruguay, then followed it up by averaging 14.9 points and dominating at both ends, winning a second MVP trophy here. But he will have to learn more sophisticated point guard skills to make it big in the NBA.
— Arnaldo Toro, 6-9 power forward, 17, Newark, N.J. St. Benedict’s Prep, Puerto Rico. Toro, one of four Puerto Rican imports at St. Benedicts prep power, was the star of this island team that finished a surprising fifth in this tournament, ahead of Canada and China. Toro averaged 16 points and led the tournament in rebounding with a 13.4 a game as Puerto Rico finished 6-1 overall. Toro, who is being recruited by Miami and Notre Dame, is a rising senior who will play big time college basketball
— Diamond Stone, 6-10 center, 17, Milwaukee, Wisc. Dominican, USA. He’s 260-pounds and an old school low post center, much like Jalil Okafor was for the 2013 U19s. Stone, who joined Newman on the all-tournament team, averaged 13.4 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.7 blocked shots and could dominate any game he wanted to inside if he weren’t so unselfish. He and Newman are being recruited
— Silvio De Sousa, 6-8 center, 15, Angola. He averaged 14.1 points and 9.6 rebounds for the African U16 champions, drawing comparisons to former UCLA star and NBA combo forward Luc Richard Mbaha Moute. De Sousa may have the biggest upside of this young Angolan team that is loaded with future talent like 6-8, 16 year old forward Bruno Fernandes, who averaged 9.1 points and 10.6 rebounds; and 6-8, 16-year old small forward Alexandre Joao Jungo, who had 26, 11 and 3 blocked shots against the Phlippines. All three have high major college potential. We can only imagine how good they’d be if they got more sophisicated coaching in the States
Others worth a look: 6-2 junior guard Dejan Vasiljevic, Australia; 6-8 forward Stephane Gombauld, France; Rui Hashimura, Japan; Zhao Yanhao, China; 6-9 junior wing guard Jayson Tatum, USA and 6-9 junior forward Josh Jackson, USA.
