If the Rocks trade up, down, or just go international...

hooroo · May 29, 2008

"...it sounds like teams are a little more open to trade this year," says VP of Basketball Operations Sam Hinkie. "As we talk to teams around the league it sounds like there are a lot of teams with picks in the late lottery or picks in the twenties that are willing to trade. There's a lot of pressure for teams to get better in a hurry and that's usually not going to happen with a rookie. There are a lot of teams that have a lot of youth already, have played the youth card well, and have a young developing team that needs veteran assets, as well.There may be an opportunity to move around and we may be a part of that."

"We're going to be aggressive in looking for those opportunities to move up, to move back, to get more players, to get one player who's more significant, so we're sort of in that market right now," says Hinkie. "My guess is we'll see a lot of movement on draft night and we might see teams move out of the lottery in ways we haven't seen before for these other reasons and these other pressures. They see how competitive the West is and they decide they don't want to wait two years for a lottery pick to be able to contribute at this level. A player who you might believe is going to be a good player just might not reach his potential in time. That gives us more hope that teams might be willing to deal."
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Morey scouting a game featuring Ante Tomic where he mentions visiting Barcelona, Serbia, and Milan:
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http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Jonas-Jerebko-1403/

...6-9 Swedish forward Jonas Jerebko. The 1987-born player has been starting consistently over the past few weeks at the small forward position, but has usually played strictly in the 1st quarter, between 6-8 minutes per contest.

Slowly but surely improving from game to game, Jerebko was able to play 23 minutes this time around, scoring 12 important points (4/6 FG) and grabbing 10 rebounds. He outplayed the more heralded Danilo Gallinari in the matchup of small forward NBA draft prospects, and surely gained a great deal of both confidence and notoriety around Europe in the process. ...the Houston Rockets (Sam Hinkie and Gianluca Pascucci), who were actually the first NBA team to come watch him practice this season...
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http://www.settimanasportiva.it/index/it/news.show/articolo.html?sku=653

Abbiamo la massima stima per gli scout NBA. Guardano migliaia di partite l'anno e conoscono tutti i giocatori del mondo. Alcuni scout di stanza in Europa sono italiani. Dopo aver visto giocare bene nella squadra juniores dell'Olimpia Lubiana un polacco di nome Kamil Pietras chiedemmo al pesarese Gianluca Pascucci dei Rockets se lo conoscesse. Prontissimo, snocciolò dati, caratteristiche, provenienza, tendenze, difetti. Ma quando ci dicono che nel ranking dei migliori giocatori europei nati nell'88 il numero 1 è Nicolas Batum (foto) del Le Mans la sensazione che gli americani guardino troppo al potenziale, all'atletismo, ai margini di progresso dei giocatori e troppo poco a quello che possono fare nell'immediato. Batum è 2.03, nero, gioca sul perimetro, salta come un'anguilla. Ma è meglio di Danilo Gallinari? Gallinari che tira meglio, passa meglio, commette meno errori, è più maturo, prende i rimbalzi, segna 27 punti in una semifinale di Coppa Italia? Per favore...
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Google's translation:

We have the greatest esteem for the NBA scouts. Guardano migliaia di partite l'anno e conoscono tutti i giocatori del mondo. Looking thousands of matches a year and know all the players in the world. Alcuni scout di stanza in Europa sono italiani. Some scouts stationed in Europe are Italians. After seeing the team play well in juniors dell'Olimpia Ljubljana a Polish name Kamil Pietras asked to Pesaro Gianluca Pascucci of the Rockets if they knew. Prontissimo, snocciolò data, characteristics, origin, trends, defects. But when we say that in the ranking of the best European players born nell'88 the number 1 is Nicolas Batum of Le Mans the feeling that the Americans look too potential, all'atletismo, on the edge of progress of players and too little to what can be done immediately. But it is better than Danilo Gallinari? Gallinari that pulls better, pass better, committing fewer errors, is more mature, take the bounces, marks 27 points in a semifinal of Italian Cup? Please ...
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So from all that. The international players mentioned or playing in places mentioned and have entered the 2008 draft are:

Danilo Gallinari
Nicolas Batum
Serge Ibaka
Ante Tomic
Jonas Jerebko
Mladen Jeremic

saleem · May 29, 2008

I don't know if Jawai has entered the draft yet but if gets a 1st round guarantee from someone I think he will put his name in the draft.

hooroo · May 29, 2008

saleem said:

I don't know if Jawai has entered the draft yet but if gets a 1st round guarantee from someone I think he will put his name in the draft.
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Jawai's an automatic entry since he went from NCAA to pro basketball.

I haven't seen any mention of the Rockets scouting him or inviting to him to a workout yet.

smoothie · May 29, 2008

ibaka and batum really intrigue me.

whatever morey does we can be sure of one thing, speed and athleticism is priority #1.

hooroo · Jun 2, 2008

It looks like Ante Tomic is out as a 1st round option for the Rockets. They could still use a 2nd rounder on him if they like him enough.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft...umnist=ford_chad&page=Orlandodraftnotes080529

A number of players in this year's draft including Croatia's Ante Tomic and Serbia's Nikola Pekovic have signed significant deals in Europe. They won't be available to come to the NBA for a couple of years. If they are drafted in the first round, they'd have to take a large pay cut to play in the NBA someday. That has some agents pushing NBA teams to pass on their players in the first round and, instead, take them in the second round because the NBA rookie scale only applies to first-round picks. A team could theoretically pay a second-round pick much more money if they have cap space or use their mid-level exception to pay him.
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jump shooter · Jun 2, 2008

Hooroo, thats some damn good research and work you did. Keep it up.

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