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NBA Draft 2010: Countdown

June 23rd, 2010 · 6 Comments

With the NBA Draft 2010 only hours away, we will start a countdown to the big event regrouping all the news, rumors and echoes around European players in this year’s edition. Feel free to add your comments below if you hear anything that you think is important in relation with the Draft 2010. The NBA Draft 2010 will start at 7pm EST in New York City on Thursday which corresponds to 1am European Time on Friday 25th June. Follow us on our Twitter Account in order to get notified when the Countdown got updated.

24th June – 23h41

This is the last update on our NBA Draft 2010 Countdown. Thanks for following. We will be back with a full analysis of the NBA Draft from an European point of view during the weekend.

24th June – 23h23

According to Talkbasket.net, Maccabi offers Robin Benzing a 4 year deal.

24th June – 23h00 – 2 hours until the NBA Draft begins

Bianca Tennyson spoke to Ryan Richards today for Courtcred

I will be watching the draft with my agent, friends from England, trainer, and a couple of people I have met here (Chicago).  I see myself going anywhere between 20-36, late first round, early 2nd round.

24th June – 22h38

Draftexpress analyzes this year’s Centers in the Draft by a statistical point of view. Lots of interesting numbers and here are some bits out of the report.

Pleiss is an intriguing player with his finesse offensively, but he still got it done on the boards last season.

Kevin Seraphin places better in offensive rebounds than he has in many other categories.

24th June – 22h28

Rumors say that Dule Vujosevic would leave Partizan Belgrade to sign a three-year deal with CSKA Moscow? Would have some major impact on the future of Jan Vesely as well. We are waiting to see if this gets confirmed or not.

24th June – 20h44

We checked with former Houston Rockets NBA Scout and now Armani Jeans Milano GM Gianluca Pascucci what he thinks of this year’s Draft from an European point of view.

This is probably one of the weakest Draft that I can remember in terms of International Players. And the number of underclassmen who remained in the Draft is a good indication of what I am just saying…that said I think the Top 5 International Prospects(not in order) are:

Paulao Prestes
Kevin Seraphin
Tibor Pleiss
Alexey Shved
Nemanja Bjelica

The Top International selected will be Kevin Seraphin.

24th June – 20h40

Newest rumors about Oklahoma City Thunder trading their picks 18+21 to New Orleans for 11 make the Tibor Pleiss to OKC at #18 rumor impossible. Sources are @draftexpress and @WojYahooNBA

24th June – 20h33

The New York Knicks are considering Tibor Pleiss in the 2nd round according to the New York Post.

It’s probably not the greatest public-relations pick considering the Knicks’ history with 7-foot European centers, but the Knicks are pretty high on Germany’s 7-foot Tibor Pleiss.

Unless you count oft-injured Eddy Curry, the Knicks don’t have a center on their roster. Unless they can get Earl Barron back for the minimum, it will be tough to get a piece in free agency.

If Pleiss falls to 38 of 39, the Knicks are ready to snatch him and sources have indicated they would look to move up a few notches to get him.

Pleiss played for Brose Baskets Bamberg, averaged 8.3 points and 5.7 rebounds. He needs to get a lot stronger but has some offensive skill around the basket, improving as a finisher. He can rebound and defend.

“Obviously if there’s a guy with size, we’ve got to look at it,” Donnie Walsh told The Post. “We don’t have a lot of size.”

The good news about Pleiss is he’s not French.

24th June – 20h01

Canis Hopus has Kevin Seraphin also as only European mentioned in the Wolves Big Board.

I’m on Mplax’s Seraphin train. Everything I know about him screams “late round steal.”

24th June – 20h00 – 5 hours left to the NBA Draft 2010

Ridiculous Upside organized a Mock Draft among the different SB Nation Bloggers. Without any surprise, the European players were not taken very high in this Mock. In fact, the only European that came up in the first round was Kevin Seraphin at #21 for the Oklahoma City Thunder. With the limited number of Thunder-Fan blogs, this pick had to be done by the author of Ridiculous Upside himself. Below are his thoughts on this pick and here is the full Mock Draft of Ridiculous Upside.

As someone with absolutely no affiliation with the Thunder or the city of Oklahoma (Do I have to say city here? sounds redundant), I take great pride in selecting Kevin Seraphin for the millions and millions of Thunder fans reading this. My first instinct was to go Hassan Whiteside here, but since the Spurs grabbed him, Seraphin is the guy. For these reasons:

  • He’s foreign
  • He’s high character
  • He’s got worlds of development left in him
  • Serge Ibaka is from France (SIC!)
  • He’s probably better than Byron Mullens.

At 6’10 and a chiseled 258, Seraphin is definitely a project. But the Thunder probably aren’t drafting anyone to step in right away, so it’s all good. I think they pay the Frenchies their buyout, get the kid to learn some post moves, and make him a stud along the lines of a stronger David West. His defense is already top-notch for a 20-year-old and his willingness to learn and improve in only his 5th year of basketball is something Thunder fans (myself included) will be able to see very quickly.

24th June – 19h44

NBADraft.net confirms what we have thought about already yesterday evening when we wrote the following about Oklahoma and Tibor Pleiss.

23rd June – 23h52

The Oklahoma City Thunder is getting a third 1st round pick at #18 in a trade with Miami Heat. This is what different sources report at the moment. This is interesting as the Thunder are apparently high on Tibor Pleiss and he could move up if the Thunder feel other NBA Franchises are interested as well.

Now NBADraft.net’s Aran Smith write

7-foot-1 German bigman Tibor Pleiss has long been rumored to be a target for Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti at the 26th pick. The latest rumor is that he is considering taking him as high as 18 because he’s afraid San Antonio and former boss RC Buford will take him at 20. Pleiss shows a soft touch and great length at 7-foot. Though not the most athletic bigman, Pleiss can run the floor and has good fluidity. He is a strong candidate to leave in Europe for another year or two of seasoning and keep off the books until he’s completely ready to contribute.

24th June – 19h23

Xavier Henry talks about Ryan Richards on the Sports Illustrated NBA Draft day blog.

He showed me a lot of things. He’s a Euro-type of player, but he’s real smart and all of his moves are fast-paced. He can also shoot. That’s something he can do really well. The 6-foot-11, 230-pound Richards played a year in a professional league in Belgium and then six games with BBC Monthey in Switzerland before a shoulder injury ended his season. Richards, 19, was at one of Henry’s last workouts, and the Kansas freshman came away impressed. “He’s nearly 7 feet and when you have a 7-foot guy that can shoot and plays smart, I think that’s someone who can do some good things in the league.”

24th June – 18h55

In today’s print edition of Basketnews, there are several interesting infos concerning Thomas Heurtel. Here is a recap of the main thoughts in the article of Antoine Lessard.

Thomas currently surfs on a real wave of confidence and hype, says his agent Jeremy Medjana. He surprises people . He was dominating in the workouts guys that are predicted to be drafted in the 1st round.

The players mentioned in the article are Jerome Randle during the New Jersey workout in front of about 20 NBA Franchises and Eric Bledsoe during a workout in Toronto. His buyout with ASVEL, where he is under contract for three more years, is not a problem for NBA teams. It all depends on which team will draft him on what is going to happen in the future. His agent continues,

There are very big French teams who want to sign Heurtel but also big European teams, especially in Spain, which compete to get the French PG

Maybe, Heurtel will follow the route of Nando de Colo and sign with an ACB team after getting drafted in the 2nd round last year.

24th June – 18h20

The always excellent “Painted Area” goes through the different European prospects of this year’s Draft. They have both Kevin Seraphin and Tibor Pleiss in their 1st round considerations. On the Frenchman, they think that

The first thing you notice about Seraphin is his thick frame. When initially watching him, had to do a few double-takes because it seemed I was watching a 30-year-old veteran. He’s built like a man, not a developing 20-year-old (so much so that you wonder if his birth certificate is fudged). The kid ain’t roly-poly either–he’s tightly packed onto his frame.

For Pleiss, their opinion is the following

Tibor is definitely a few years away from being NBA-ready and have to imagine he will be a stash pick. Not sure he’s starting-caliber center in the NBA but has the skills to be at least a quality reserve. If he works on his post game and his body, a starting spot could be in his future because his shooting, rebounding, shot-blocking and hands are already quality.

Read their full Scouting Reports on these two picks here.

For the 2nd round, The Painted Area considers that Alexey Shved, Miroslav Raduljica, Nemanja Bjelica and Paulao Prestes have some chances to hear their name being called.

Shved could be the sleeper of the 2nd round, maybe the sleeper of the entire draft. Really impressed with what we’ve seen of Shved on tape. If Shved played college ball this year, no doubt he would be generating more buzz.

Raduljica damaged his draft status by skipping out on a workout for NBA folks at the Adidas Euro Camp. This decision might indicate Miroslav prefers to stay in Europe. Or he might have want to control his own NBA destiny. If he goes undrafted this year, he can sign with any NBA team as a free agent in the future.

Bjelica is a solid athlete for Europe but likely to have some issues keeping up laterally with NBA SFs. Needs to add weight, especially if his NBA team wants to play him at the 4. A tendency to be too passive during stretches and which keeps him from being a sure-fire 1st rounder.

Prestes projects to be a reserve center at best, but that’s what you’re hoping to find in the 2nd round. He could give you some rebounds and the occasional hook shot in the 8-10 minutes per game he’s suited for in the NBA.

Read the full reports on the 2nd round prospects here.

24th June – 18h04

What counts for the German Press and Pleiss is of course also true for the British Media and Ryan Richards. Mirror.co.uk reports on the Ten things you need to know about the Draft and says about Richards

6ft 11in British teenager Ryan Richards could be one of the surprise picks of the NBA Draft. The Kent-born youngster has been impressing scouts in recent weeks with his athleticism and useful jump shot.

They also mention some other “non-Americans”

Ryan Richards is not the only non-American who may be drafted. Frenchmen Kevin Seraphin and Thomas Heurtel as well as German Tibor Pleiss and Serb Nemanja Bjelica are also in contention of being selected.

Basketball 24/7 has also some information on Richards with a short portrait of the Kent-native.

24th June – 18h00

Another Russian in the process is Artem Zabelin. He had his final workout yesterday with the Milwaukee Bucks.

24th June – 17h57

ClipsNation is intrigued by Alexey Shved from Russia.

He’s got great size for a point guard at 6’5″, and came up through the best club team in Russia, CSKA Moscow.  Unfortunately he never got a chance to play much for CSKA, who loaned him to cross town Dynamo this season where Shved finally got some burn and put up solid numbers.  The success of guys like Beno Udrih and Goran Dragic has me convinced that European point guards can play in the US – and Shved is still only 21 years old.  He may be off the board by 54, but if he’s still there, he’s the player I’d take.

24th June – 17h47

@WojYahooNBA confirms that Ryan Richards will stay in the United States to play NBA or D-League whatever happens on Draft night.

24th June – 17h45

The German Press is of course looking forward to the Draft as well as Tibor Pleiss seems to have good chances to get a look at in the 1st round. Gruebelei.de brings a long paper with the review of several previous interviews of Pleiss while Spox also talks about him in their Draft Preview. Crossover-Online will have a Live Chat covering the Draft in German from tonight at 22h00. FIVE Mag is of course also mentioning the German Center in their Draft Preview and consider that he be could one of the surprises of this year’s draft.

24th June – 17h41

The French Newspaper l’Equipe reported this morning that Kevin Seraphin should be drafted in the 1st round. At least, this is the info that his agent Bouna N’Diaye is spreading. ‘The most interested franchises are apparently Oklahoma City at #21, Portland at #22, Atlanta at #24 and Washington at #30.

24th June – 17h36

Back home and ready for the latest updates, rumors, news and opinions. Let’s start with the rumor that Nemanja Bjelica had signed a three-years deal with Benetton Treviso including NBA buyouts of 1.000.000USD every year. Will this hurt his draft stock?

24th June – 7h51

Sporting News comes up with a new Mock Draft as well. Kevin Seraphin and Ryan Richards are appearing in the first round here.

22. Portland. Kevin Seraphin, F, France. A lot of teams like Seraphin in the second round, and Portland appears to be his best chance to land among the first 30 picks. The Blazers can leave him abroad if need be.

27. New Jersey. Ryan Richards, C, England. This may be too high for Richards, but there are so many GMs saying positive things about the multidimensional big man that it seems he has to sneak into the first round.

24th June – 7h48

Jan Vesely, who was supposed to enter the Draft already this year but did not declare was rumored to go to a Spanish top team this summer lately. His father now confirmed us that Jan will stay with Partizan Belgrade next season.

for 99,9% Jan will stay in Partizan

Ok, there is still 0,1% room for those who want to speculate.

24th June – 7h44

The French press remains skeptical on the Draft chances of  Thomas Heurtel. They would consider it as a surprise as it would be a surprise to see Ludo Vaty getting draft. However, they confirm the trend of Kevin Serpahin going to get drafted in the early 20s. Seraphin has visited approximately 5-6 franchises this week according to l’Equipe and will most likely play in the NBA right from next season.

24th June – 7h42

Kevin Seraphin met the Hawks on Monday and Soaring Down South has a few words on this meeting.

I’ve mentioned Kevin Seraphin in the past thinking that he is the likely pick for the Hawks.  Of the center prospects that could be available for the Hawks, he’s probably the most functional basketball player among them.  Kevin is around 6′9″ with a 7′3.5″ wingspan.  I can already hear it now.  He’s not a true center at that height.  Please check my last entry for my thoughts on that.  Everything I’ve read on Kevin says that he is a strong interior player that can defend and rebound.  He has drawn comparisons to Serge Ibaka, and in the article linked, Michael Cunningham mentions that some executives think he is potentially another Nene.

Kevin Seraphin is a player that makes sense for the Hawks in many ways.  One, he’s a big body which is something they don’t really have an abundance of inside.  Two, he’s versatile enough to play both interior positions defensively.  Another reason he makes some sense is because they don’t necessarily have to sign him and bring him in right now.  They can draft him, hold his rights, and stash him overseas until they think he is ready to contribute on this team.  The fact is, if the Hawks do draft him, he’s going to have a tough time getting playing time as a third string center behind Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia.  He could possibly contribute some minutes as a power forward, but overall, I think the Hawks will spread most of the minutes in the two low post positions between Josh Smith, Al Horford, and Zaza.

24th June – 7h39

One of the last Europeans still working is Thomas Heurtel. He visited the Phoenix Suns yesterday and here is what the azcentral.com has on his visit.

Out of today’s group, Heurtel and Collins would be the most likely Suns fits, particularly with Heurtel at No. 60 because it would be ideal to draft a player for the roster at No. 46 and do a draft-and-stash at No. 46.

Heurtel was a player Quinter said the Suns did not expect to stay in the draft and he and outgoing Senior VP of Basketball Operations David Griffin saw him at Eurocamp in Treviso, Italy, three weeks ago. Quinter likened his quickness and behind-the-back, between-the-legs ball handling to Orlando’s Jason Williams but said his assist-to-turnover ratio is good because he is a quality passer. Quinter said Heurtel has to work on his defensive game. But at 21, he could be an ideal draft-and-stash to do so.

24th June – 7h32

Good Morning on the NBA Draft 2010 day. Here we go for some quick first updates, before coming back stronger tonight.

NBA Draft.net did a new extended Mock Draft of the 1st round. The only European that is among the 30 first picks is still Kevin Seraphin at #21 for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Here is what they say about this Pick

Seraphin is said to have a promise in the early 20s. It has been speculated to be San Antonio, OKC or Portland. Although his agent would like him to play in the NBA next year, his inability to play summer league will make that more difficult. After all, the team that drafts him holds the cards on that decision.

23rd June – 23h55

Time to day Good Night for me. Next updates will be tomorrow Thursday morning and afterward all evening to the NBA Draft.

23rd June – 23h54

Get an inside look to the NBA Draft War-Room of the Houston Rockets through nba.com


23rd June – 23h52

The Oklahoma City Thunder is getting a third 1st round pick at #18 in a trade with Miami Heat. This is what different sources report at the moment. This is interesting as the Thunder are apparently high on Tibor Pleiss and he could move up if the Thunder feel other NBA Franchises are interested as well.

23rd June – 23h35

Serbian Media B92 reports a strange story around potential NBA Draft pick Miroslav Raduljica. We are not sure if we understood everything right as we read the article through Google Translate.

The transfer of Miroslav Raduljica to Efes Pilsen as it has been rumored over the last days seems dead. Efes Pilsen had already paid a 150.000 Euro buy-out advance in 2009 which apparently is not valid anymore today as it was revealed that Raduljica has a contract until 2013 with Reflex Belgrade. Additionally, the 150.000 Euro have “disappeared” and nobody knows where they are.

23rd June – 23h24

I took a look at the Mock Draft 4.1 from the 21st June at Real GM. Some interesting picks there: No Tibor Pleiss, no Miroslav Raduljica but Nemanja Bjelica in the 1st round and Ryan Richards in the second.

  • Nemanja Bjelica at #23 for the Memphis Grizzlies
  • Kevin Seraphin at #24 for the Atlanta Hawks
  • Ryan Richards at #32 for Oklahoma City Thunder

23rd June – 23h18

Telekom Baskets Bonn coach Mike Koch told the local press he is “nearly sure” that Tim Ohlbrecht stays plays for his team next season, even in the case he gets drafted.

23rd June – 23h10

2010 Early-Entry Withdrawal Luc Louves moves to Gent in Belgium after a year without playing any competition at all. Catch&Shoot spoke with him today in French. The main messages are the following:

I want to play and earn minutes.

The NBA Draft remains my primary goal for next season.

23rd June – 23h07

Sam Neter from Hoopsfix.com just sent me the link to Adrian Wojnarowski’s Draft Buzz from yesterday saying the following

British center Ryan Richards isn’t expected to get past the Kings with the 33rd pick

We will see tomorrow the value of this statement as currently, Richards is not present in the Draftexpress or nbadraft.net Mock Drafts.

23rd June – 22h47

Luka Bassin, who is the head coach of the Union Olimpija U18 Team, provided us with scouting reports on the two major Serbian prospects in the NBA Draft 2010.

Nemanja Bjelica

His career is very strange and I always admired players with great character. He was member of Partizan Youth teams and after that, as a junior, he went to Austria and when he came back to Serbia (Crvena Zvezda), he  was a prospect. Before, he was even thinking about quitting basketball.

He played very good at the Universiade 2009 and after that coach Ivković let him play at European Championship in Poland. He played a lot.

He is very modern player with great sense for basketball. He can play from point guard to power forward. He had some problems with injuries this season but at the end he played brilliant in Serbian league. He made very huge progress this year. Bjelica can run the floor very good, he can shoot from downtown and he can penetrate. He has a lot of steals but on the other hand, he has to be better considering turnovers. He has great feeling for assists. I think he makes his team mates better and that is what is all about. He can still progress physicaly. He lacks aggressiveness and from time to time, he looks like he doesn’t care but in the very next moment, he looks like from another planet.

I think that he has to stay in Europe for couple of years and play on Euroleague level. For me, we can compare him to Toni Kukoc and he could be very important player even in NBA. But not right now.

I know that some teams from NBA are interested in him and maybe someone will pick him in second round around place 50-55. But considering all draft predictions, it would be big surprise. In the end, I must admit that 2 years ago when I saw him for the first time, I had no feeling how good he can be and I was thinking that he is just another big guy on perimeter position who cannot do anything in the future.

Miroslav Raduljica

First of all for me he is born to play NBA.

He is playing for FMP from the beginning. He was a member of all Serbian Youth national teams and he won two European gold medals and gold on junior World Championship. He was also MVP of U20 European Championship in 2008.

He has a great powerful body and he can use his power under the backboard in the paint. He is good follower and he finishes almost all possessions with dunks but on the other hand he is skilled to pivot under the basket. He has many back to basket moves but he struggles with face to the basket. He is a very good passer from low or high post position. He is not shooting threes at all but he is good FT shooter. He can even run the floor very good despite looking a little bit slow.

He made great progress this year and I mean not just statistically. I watched lots of games this year and it looks like sometimes, he is just not interested to play (like it was in Ljubljana vs Union Olimpija) but on the very next game he explodes. Even he was known as very intelligent player who likes to read books and watch National Geographic and Discovery Channel, I think he is not very smart. Or he is too smart-we know that it is just small difference between genius and idiot. And this is the big problem considering going to NBA.

His out of field move in Treviso this year showed us that he is not really interested to play in NBA. There are also a lot of rumors that he has signed with some European power house. I’m sure that he could play NBA (better version of Kendrick Perkins from Boston Celtics or Greg Ostertag ex-player from 90′ from Utah Jazz). He is definitely NBA potential but “his head” does not allow him to be considered one of the candidates for the first round and I doubt that there is a team in NBA who can gamble with its draft pick by picking Raduljica. You can earn some great bucks in the future but you can also lose everything.

When asked who is European guy who is the top prospect for NBA from this year’s generation, I answer: No doubt-Miroslav Raduljica!

23rd June – 22h00

ESPN Live Mock Draft with Chad Ford vs. Bill Simmons. Result is Kevin Seraphin goes to the Trailblazers at #22 and Tibor Pleiss goes to the Memphis Grizzlies at #28

23rd June – 21h29

@osb1846 sent us a nice link to a San Antonio Spurs fan blog including some typical US comments on European players that might be drafted by the Spurs.

Kevin Seraphin – 6′10″ PF, Cholet Basket (France)

The third-ranked international prospect (Chad Ford, ESPN.com) a number of NBA general managers still have Seraphin ranked as a mid-to-late first round pick. If he can get a guarantee, his agent, Bouna Ndiaye, said Seraphin will stay in the draft. Do the Spurs ever dabble in overseas draft negotiations? I’ll have to check on that and get back to you.

You know how Pop loves “dem for’ners.”  Seriously though, he’s a steal.

Tibor Pleiss – 7′1″  C,  Brose Baskets (Germany)

Young, long, pro experience overseas. Played for Da Mütherland. Is there a ‘Brose before lederhoes’ joke there???

What? You want more details?  J-Ro had this idea after the 3rd bottle of Jack Daniels.  I’m honestly surprised he spelled his name right (wait, it is spelled right, right?)  If we get Splitter, and pick up a role player/scorer in the first round I like this guy.  He’s from West Germany right, I’m just sayin….

23rd June – 21h01

Pegasusnews collected Mock Draft information on the Dallas Mavericks and the result is that the Mavs are looking into the Serbian Nemanja Bjelica for their 50th Pick tomorrow.

Bjelica is capable of playing three positions, ranging from point guard to small forward — often using his tall stature and 210-pound frame to his advantage against smaller defenders in the European ranks. Most often compared to Toronto Raptors star Hedo Turkoglu — for his ability to operate with the ball in pick-and-roll settings — Bjelica is projected as a natural three man, though he also saw time as a power forward with his Red Star and Crvena zvezda (sic!) squads in the EUROCUP and ADRIATIC leagues during the 2009-10 campaigns. Suiting up for 20 games with the Crvena zvezda team, Bjelica averaged 15.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, while also collecting 2.4 steals in his 25.1 minutes of play.

23rd June – 20h54

Automatically eligible PG Stefan Markovic from Hemofarm Vrsac in Serbia moves to Benetton Treviso and signs a 2 year deal. This looks like the NBA is not in his mind as he does not speak about in the quote of the Press Release.

23rd June – 20h33

NBA.com ranks the Point Guards of this year’s Draft and has Alexey Shved as #10. No Europeans in the SG and SF rankings.

23rd June – 20h29

NBA.com ranks the Power Forwards in this year’s Draft. Kevin Seraphin out of France comes at 4th place and compares him to Brazilian Nene.

France’s Kevin Seraphin is the only international player who seems a lock to be taken in the first round. Big and rugged, the same name comes up over and over as a comparison for the 20-year-old: Nene, the Nuggets’ center, who needed time to overcome injuries and inexperience but is now one of the better pivots in the league. Seraphin is raw, but he’s got an NBA body already.

Said an Atlantic Division exec: “It’s a 100 percent fair comparison to Nene. He’s strong, he’s got big hands, got that athletic ability. Slightly mechancial. You know how Nene is. You can almost tell what he’s going to do. Seraphin might turn out to be a better rebounder. He tracks the ball. It’s going to take a while for this kid to get there [offensively]. Nene’s pretty good and this kid is going to turn out like that.”

Seraphin was uncertain about whether he’d stay in the Draft after suffering a slight meniscus tear in his during his French team’s playoffs, but the injury is not serious; he couldn’t work out for NBA teams that traveled overseas to see him earlier this month at the Adidas Camp in Italy, but he more than passed the eyeball test.

“I wasn’t disappointed in what I saw,” said a Southeast Division personnel man. “He can play some five [in the NBA] like Al Horford. I was not disappointed in the size. He was pretty thick.”

23rd June – 20h23

Some advanced statistical analysis on 5 potential Draft picks via the advanced stats databases of In-The-Game.org and Draftexpress. The best numbers are highlighted to compare the 5 most probably NBA Draft picks of this year’s edition. There are no advanced stats available for Alexey Shved.

  • Kevin Seraphin: per 40 minutes pace adjusted in Eurocup: 12.5pts 12.5rebs (4.2 off) 2.2blks 5.4pfs
    per 40 minutes pace adjusted in French League: 16.2pts 10.8rebs (5.0 off) 2.2blks 4.8pfs
    PER: 17.5 (French League), 14.8 (Eurocup)
    Possession ratios: 1.03 Pts/Pos – 0.26 FTAs/Pos (French League), 0.98 Pts/Pos – 0.10 FTAs/Pos (Eurocup)
  • Tibor Pleiss: per 40 minutes pace adjusted in Eurocup: 19.4pts 13.3rebs (4.1 off) 2.0blks 5.9pfs
    PER: 21.9 (Eurocup)
    Possession ratios: 1.13 Pts/Pos – 0.38 FTAs/Pos (Eurocup)
    Net 40 minutes +/- ratio: +2.37
  • Nemanja Bjelica: per 40 minutes pace adjusted in Eurocup: 14.5pts 10.0rebs (3.3 off) 3.4asts 1.7stls 0.4blks 3.7pfs
    per 40 minutes pace adjusted in Adriatic League: 15.1pts 6.9rebs (1.8 off) 3.7asts 2.4stls 0.6blks 4.7pfs
    PER: 17.8 (Adriatic League), 15.7 (Eurocup)
    Possession ratios: 1.06 Pts/Pos – 0.41 FTAs/Pos – 0.26 Asts/Pos (Adriatic League), 0.94 Pts/Pos – 0.28 FTAs/Pos – 0.22 Asts/Pos (Eurocup)
  • Thomas Heurtel: per 40 minutes pace adjusted in French League: 15.8pts 3.4rebs 8.0asts 1.9stls 4.7TOs 2.5pfs
    PER: 15.6 (French League)
    Possession ratios: 0.96 Pts/Pos – 0.14 FTAs/Pos – 0.49 Asts/Pos (French League)
  • Miroslav Raduljica: per 40 minutes pace adjusted in Adriatic League: 20.2pts 9.5rebs (2.8 off) 0.4blks 3.8pfs
    PER: 21.9 (Adriatic League)
    Possession ratios: 1.17 Pts/Pos0.41 FTAs/Pos (Adriatic League)

23rd June – 19h40

Thomas Heurtel is featured in a Video Interview at the official website of the Indiana Pacers. He said that yesterday’s workout with the Pacers was his 16th workout in a row and that he has one more left with visiting Phoenix today.


23rd June – 18h48

The Boston Herald has an interesting story about the International Players in the upcoming Draft. Quote of the Article

International flavor in this year’s draft will be like the taste found in low-carb beer — that is, not much.

They see an interesting reason why the number of potential International first round picks is limited this year compared to previous drafts.

Mostly, experts figure the rookie salary scale is going to be altered next summer when the league and players renegotiate the collective-bargaining agreement. For that reason, a lot of American players who wouldn’t normally have entered the draft, did. And international players usually have more options in other leagues.

The article mentions Kevin Seraphin as most likely 1st International pick and see a “dramatic drop-off” in terms of talent behind him. The writer sees chances for Tibor Pleiss but also mentions Vladimir Dasic, Boban Marjanovic or Ryan Richards when they speak about the first round. When it comes to second round considerations, the Boston Herald names Nemanja Bjelica and Ludo Vaty. But the most intriguing International prospect according to the Herald is Denis Clemente from Puerto Rico!! I must admit, I never heard of him at all so far.

23rd June – 18h31

Our French friends at Basketsession.com gave an excellent recap on the chances of the two early entrants from France. Here you can find the full article in the language of Molière. The main thoughts are the following:

  • Thomas Heurtel seems to be an 80% Draft pick at the moment. He has been ranked as 5th best PG in terms of Basketball QI according to NBA Draft.net and Chad Ford of ESPN has added him to his Mock Draft at #48 for the Miami Heat.
  • The case of Kevin Seraphin is seen a bit more ambiguous. The Blazers seem to prefer now Alabi over Seraphin and the cancellation of the meeting with the Milwaukee Bucks is seen as a sign that most of the teams have already concluded their internal Rankings which would mean that Seraphin started his interviews too late. They also estimate that Tibor Pleiss with his more “original” game may interest more NBA Franchises as he could be associated to the more typical athletic PFs. In general, the competition for big guys around the spots #20 to #30 seems rude.
  • Additionally, the knee injury of Seraphin is of course always a bit of a question mark for several teams according to Basketsession.com
  • They do not have any additional information on the automatically eligible French players like Ludo Vaty, Pape Sy or Rudy Jomby.

23rd June – 17h50

The Mavericks are apparently trading up as well according to the Dallas News. Could this also be in order to draft the German Center Tibor Pleiss? According to DallasBasketball.com, Donnie Nelson likes the German player.

He’s a 7-footer, he’s from Germany and when I recently asked Donnie about him, he said, “The kid can shoot it.’’

One more hint at the Mavs interest here: DallasBasketball.com is being told that Donnie himself recently traveled to Europe – and that Pleiss was among the sites he visited.

23rd June – 17h42

@goodmanonfox reports that

Sources told FOXSports.com the Knicks trying to get into 1st round & buy the 23rd overall pick. 3 guys on radar: Hobson, Brackins, Sylven.

This pick could also be used for Tibor Pleiss who is currently seen at #26 as the Knicks are looking for a Center as reports the New York Post.

They realize their desperate need for size on the roster, even if not a certified rotation player. The Knicks are high on German center, 7-1 Tibor Pleiss, Radcliffe’s Artsiom Parakhouski and haven’t ruled out Greg Zoubek, Duke’s burly pivot.

23rd June – 17h35

I made a count on the different workouts that the European Draft candidates have made according to our NBA Draft workout page. By far the most active was the English Ryan Richards who worked out for at least 9 times. He is followed by Ludo Vaty who did 4 workouts, Nemanja Bjelica who had 3 as well as Tim Ohlbrecht, Thomas Heurtel did 2 workouts so far but has yet another one on his schedule. Marko Keselj also did 2 workouts, while both Artem Zabelin and Pape Sy did one single workout. Nobel Boungou Colo did one group workout during the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso.

23rd June – 16h58

Le Figaro gives more information on the French Draft prospects. Kevin Seraphin has a NBA Buyout of USD 750.000 and the article confirms the major interest of the Portland Trailblazers for the French Center. He would join another Frenchman in Oregon with Nicolas Batum who has been drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2008 and traded to Portland. The chances of the other Early Entry Thomas Heurtel are estimated very low while Ludo Vaty is currently not a target of the NBA Franchises in the Draft 2010.

23rd June – 16h49

Currently, the two main Mock Draft websites have the following Europeans in their boards.

Draftexpress.com: Kevin Seraphin at#22 for the Portland Trailblazers; Tibor Pleiss at #26 for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Paulao Prestes at #44 for the Washington Warriors, Miroslav Raduljica at #45 for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Alexey Shved at #49 for the San Antonio Spurs, Nemanja Bjelica at #50 for the Dallas Mavericks, Thomas Heurtel at #53 for the Atlanta Hawks.

NBADraft.net: Kevin Seraphin at #22 for the Portland Trailblazers, Nemanja Bjelica at #34 for the Portland Trailblazers, Tibor Pleiss at #39 for the New York Knicks, Thomas Heurtel at #51 for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Alexey Shved at #58 for the Los Angeles Lakers

6 responses so far ↓

  • 1 JRo // Jun 24, 2010 at 12:54 am

    Open Thread for the draft on IceMen (http://icemen.fantake.com) tomorrow night. Tune in for more ‘typical US comments’ on what goes down at the Garden.

  • 2 Tibor Pleiss – wanted by the NBA? « gruebelei.de – Ansichten eines Basketballfans // Jun 24, 2010 at 2:37 pm

    […] Entweder man geht ganz drin verloren oder findet nie den Zugang. Aber wenn man zum Beispiel eine sonst ganz ruhige Website mit eigenem fiebrigen Countdown sieht und auch anderweitig so ein wenig rumschaut im Internet, ist schnell klar, da ist ganz, ganz […]

  • 3 All Around the World News // Jun 25, 2010 at 2:30 am

    NBA Draft 2010: Countdown ? EuropeanProspects.com…

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