Draft Prospect: Nathan Jawai

[Marcus Bryant]

http://www.nba.com/media/playerfile/nathan_jawai.jpg

Full Name: Nathan Jawai
Position: Forward
Height/Weight: 6-10 / 280
Birthdate: October 10, 1986
High School: Australian Institute of Sport
College: Midland (Tex.) College
Team: Cairns Taipans
Country: Australia

NBA (http://www.nba.com/draft2008/profiles/NathanJawai.html)
NBADraft.net (http://nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/nathanjawai.html)
DraftExpress (http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Nathan-Jawai-1404/)

[Vinnie_Johnson]

UpJszNGHjNA

I like this kid plays big

[mystargtr34]

Ive seen him play a few times when he came over to Perth... and i worked with his first cousin on my uni last year... well so she says but she did seem to know alow about him for a 20 year old girl.

He's playing against some stiffs in the league here and but he looks awfully atheltic compared to them... and he has a massive wingspan and even decent athleticism for the NBA given his size.

I think he would be a good pick.

[timvp]

I'd pass. The Australian league is one of the worst leagues on the planet. A lot of scrubs have dominated that league. Jawai's stats aren't that impressive and when he played college ball at some no-name school in the US, his stats were equally unimpressive.

He especially doesn't make sense for the Spurs because the Spurs need to get more mobile ... not thicker and slower.

[AFBlue]

I think the Spurs will probably go for a big with long-term potential and this guy fits that bill.

It could be Riek, Ajinca, Tomic, or this kid.

[spursfan98]

I think the Spurs will probably go for a big with long-term potential and this guy fits that bill.

It could be Riek, Ajinca, Tomic, or this kid.

Tomic sux

[A.H 21-50]

How to translate his game from the australian league to the nba
Looks that he uses a lot his body and against a weaker competition so i don't know if he can play like that in the league

maybe a man to look at

[AFBlue]

He especially doesn't make sense for the Spurs because the Spurs need to get more mobile ... not thicker and slower.

He's apparently a pretty good athlete and a smooth player with a soft touch. That's not to say he doesn't have conditioning issues, but I think his size is a bit overblown....based on what I've read/seen.

[mystargtr34]

I'd pass. The Australian league is one of the worst leagues on the planet. A lot of scrubs have dominated that league. Jawai's stats aren't that impressive and when he played college ball at some no-name school in the US, his stats were equally unimpressive.

He especially doesn't make sense for the Spurs because the Spurs need to get more mobile ... not thicker and slower.

Oh god no not for the Spurs.. i was replying to Vinni_Johnson.

And yea the Australian League is a joke... Julius Hodge came here and put up LeBron James numbers.

But i think hes worth a first rounder... he only started playing basketball really late.

[AFBlue]

Tomic sux

I think all the guys I mentioned are incomplete players at this point, and I'd bet only one makes his way to the NBA....not saying who that'll be.

If I had my pick of them I think I'd go with Ajinca, though I'd have to question his BBIQ....

With a high IQ and some work he's got LaMarcus Aldridge potential.

With a low IQ and some laziness....he's Francisco Elson.

[spursfan98]

Ajinca sux too

[Mr. Body]

If they pick this guy in the 2nd when, say, Joey Dorsey is still available, I'll punch myself in the balls.

[mystargtr34]

Fran Fraschillia has Jawai going at #14 to the Warriors :lol

I need some of what hes got.

[hsxvvd]

Jawai should not even be considered in the 2nd round. He will not be playing in the NBA any time soon, some poor team is going to have to pay him to dress in street clothes and sit behind the bench for 3 yrs.

He has been playing against hacks here in Australia. Slower, weaker, smaller players that make him look great. He isn't 6'10" & he isn't strong, he's fat.

The only plus is that he hasn't played basketball that long and might get better, but giving this guy a gauranteed contract would be a mistake.

If he played in the NCAA he wouldn't even raise an eyebrow.

[hsxvvd]

UpJszNGHjNA

I like this kid plays big

Ok, some perspective. This game is against Ben Pepper.

http://www.realgm.com/src_playerfile/1075/ben_pepper/

Had a good rookie year on 97 and was drafted by Boston, never played a game for the Celtics (Even when they were terrible).

[manufor3]

Here's realgm's analysis- http://realgm.com/src_fromtherafters/184/20080612/draft_report_nathan_jawai_of_cairns_taipans/

[MI21]

Please no. This would be a wasted pick.

I've seen him play live a few times and he is quite limited. He is unique in the NBL in that there is no one his size that can actually run and jump like he can. He has huge hands and huge wingspan from what I can tell from watching live, but measurements would obviously help there.

Lacks NBA mobility and would struggle on defense. Can not see him becoming a rotation level 12-20mpg guy, ever.

[timvp]

Nathan Jawai, F/C, Australia
Jawai hurt his groin in a workout in San Antonio. He's unlikely to work out again before the draft and that's a big blow to a player who needed to get in front of as many teams as possible. This probably pushes Jawai into the second round.

This better not mean the Spurs guaranteed him 26 so he decided to pull out of other workouts. Jawai has bust written all over him. The Spurs scouted him in Europe and now brought him in for another workout? At 45 I wouldn't be too unhappy with his selection ... as long as other bigs such as Dorsey, White and Hendrix are off the board.

[Marcus Bryant]

:td

[SPURSGOAT]

This better not mean the Spurs guaranteed him 26 so he decided to pull out of other workouts. Jawai has bust written all over him. The Spurs scouted him in Europe and now brought him in for another workout? At 45 I wouldn't be too unhappy with his selection ... as long as other bigs such as Dorsey, White and Hendrix are off the board.

Maybe they are looking at him for the 57th pick...

[Mr. Body]

DX has moved him all the way up to pick 28, a huge move of 20 spots or so. They may have caught word of a promise somewhere, or else better than expected work outs.

Since Jawai has shut down with a groin injury, one might be suspicious and think a promise in fact has been made.

[AFBlue]

I look at the description for this kid and I think Nene....without the injury questions. So I can see the appeal.

He's got size, length, athleticism, and touch. If he spends a year or two in the D-League, he could be a legit prospect. If he manages to slip to the second round, perhaps the Spurs should take a look at him....but he's too risky at #26 for sure.

[Marcus Bryant]

Yeah, the interesting thing is that the injury happened in SA. Hmmm. I can see them using #26 and 45 to draft a PF and a PG, in either order. Jawai has bust written all over him, IMO. But hey, it's a low 1st round pick.

[AFBlue]

Yeah, the interesting thing is that the injury happened in SA. Hmmm. I can see them using #26 and 45 to draft a PF and a PG, in either order. Jawai has bust written all over him, IMO. But hey, it's a low 1st round pick.

At least he wouldn't be offered enough jack in the Australian League to keep him overseas for another 4 years....

[DieMrBond]

They interviewed him a while back on a local radio station, and he reckoned he was going to go at the middle of the first round...

Somebody better slap that boy.

[angelbelow]

would like at 45.

[KidCongo]

I don't think he would handle moving away from Australia.

[kobyz]

he has alot of upsite but he is not ready to contribute

[timvp]

Jawai worked out for Denver, Utah, Houston and San Antonio last week and while he was not as pleased with his Denver and Utah performances as his opening showings at Golden State, Seattle, Sacramento and Phoenix, the feedback was still encouraging.

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2008/06/17/4670_local-sport-news.html


According to that new Aussie article, Jawai will continue working out. It doesn't mention any injury. I guess we can assume Jawai wasn't promised 26.

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

According to that new Aussie article, Jawai will continue working out. It doesn't mention any injury. I guess we can assume Jawai wasn't promised 26.


But Jawai has had to put the brakes on his NBA trials as well after aggravating a thigh injury during a workout with the San Antonio Spurs.

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2008/06/18/4681_local-sport-news.html

[Ocotillo]

Please don't draft this guy.......even in the second round.

[timvp]

Accompanied by Cairns Taipans assistant coach Aaron Fearne and agent Daniel Moldovan, Nathan Jawai traversed the country showcasing his skills.

After an initial two-week period acclimatising in Las Vegas, Jawai worked out in front of scouts from the Golden State Warriors, Seattle, Sacramento, Phoenix, Denver and Utah.

Then there was a combined workout in front of key personnel from Houston and Minnesota, followed by talks with San Antonio Spurs assistant and former Sydney Kings coach Brett Brown.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23896867-2722,00.html


Jawai meets with Brett Brown. Jawai stops all workouts after getting "hurt" in San Antonio.

Oh hell no :hang

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Jawai meets with Brett Brown. Jawai stops all workouts after getting "hurt" in San Antonio.

Oh hell no :hang

That does seem rather bad, but if Jawai is getting all this attention in the first round, he has to be doing something right.
If he's as bad as most people are saying here, why isn't he in the mid-2nd round or around that area?

[MI21]

Jawai meets with Brett Brown. Jawai stops all workouts after getting "hurt" in San Antonio.

Oh hell no :hang

:lol

I can feel it...

[kobyz]

Jawai meets with Brett Brown. Jawai stops all workouts after getting "hurt" in San Antonio.

Oh hell no :hang

maybe it's not a bad option, we will not have a lot of good player to choose from in the 26 pick, i think the only legit wings that will be on the board are Lee and Walker and if the spurs dont like them they will prefer to go big and maybe Jawai is the most impressive big

[SPURSGOAT]

maybe they are looking at this guy to be a big bruiser to replace Kurt Thomas? And maybe he has really been that impressive in workouts...

[MoSpur]

Oh heck no!!!!

[AFBlue]

Jawai looks like he could very well end up in a Spurs uni when all is said and done. I'm not sure it's the best thing because he looks about 2 years and 20 shed pounds away from contributing...that's IF he develops well.

It's hard not to like the measurables and skill-set, but there's definitely a ton of risk with this guy. To illustrate my point...

Upside: Nene Hilario w/o injuries

Downside: Jackie Butler

[Bartleby]

After the Spurs draft and sign him they can use their rights to Splitter to unload him.

[loveforthegame]

Jawai meets with Brett Brown. Jawai stops all workouts after getting "hurt" in San Antonio.

Oh hell no :hang

This is the kind of pick I've come to expect though I still hold a little hope the Spurs will surprise us on draft night.

[Marcus Bryant]

He looks like Shaq in the above video. I was almost going to reconsider my initial opinion until I remembered those were clips from the ABL. Or maybe I'm sobering up already.

[Marcus Bryant]

Well, perhaps part Shaq and part Malik. In the NBA he'd be lucky to be Malik.

[timvp]

Jawai really might be who the Spurs are targeting. Pop said in an interview today that they are looking for a long-term investment. Considering Jawai has only played basketball for about four years, that'd be a long-term investment.

The Spurs also sent scouts over to Australia during his regular season to take a look at him. Jawai also got "injured" following a workout with the Spurs.

Add in the fact that Brett Brown likely has a lot of contacts in the Australian league and I wouldn't be surprised at all if Jawai is the pick. If Mahinmi is going to be on the Spurs next season, the Toros will need a big and Jawai will likely have no problem playing for the Toros for two years. He also plays in a league where the players barely make any money, so there's no buyout concerns.

His YouTubes are pretty impressive but I think it'd be a bad pick. The Australian league is a really weak league and he didn't dominate. He played at some community college in Midland a couple years ago and his stats weren't good. He has good size, good athleticism and seems to have good toughness ... but it'd shock me if he ever amounted to anything. A guy who picks up the game late and doesn't dominate weak competition by the age of 22 likely isn't going to turn the corner.

If I had to bet money, I'd say this is the guy the Spurs are targeting :depressed

[timvp]

fSmcGQaqR3w

He looks like he's lost a good amount of weight and comes across as a really nice kid ... but I think it'd be a wasted pick.

[Marcus Bryant]

+ the Spurs' bigman rotation will likely be full for the next two seasons, with Mahinmi getting the first shot to crack it next season.

Thomas will probably sign a 2 year deal. Oberto's deal is also up in two years. Mahinmi and Bonner will fight over the backup 4 minutes.

I guess they're pleased with how Mahinmi has progressed in Austin, but he's got the prototypical body and game for the 'new' NBA.

I think Jawai could make it as a reserve hustle big. In the NBA most of his post game would be shut down.

[objective]

Jawai really might be who the Spurs are targeting. Pop said in an interview today that they are looking for a long-term investment. Considering Jawai has only played basketball for about four years, that'd be a long-term investment.

The Spurs also sent scouts over to Australia during his regular season to take a look at him. Jawai also got "injured" following a workout with the Spurs.

Add in the fact that Brett Brown likely has a lot of contacts in the Australian league and I wouldn't be surprised at all if Jawai is the pick. If Mahinmi is going to be on the Spurs next season, the Toros will need a big and Jawai will likely have no problem playing for the Toros for two years. He also plays in a league where the players barely make any money, so there's no buyout concerns.

His YouTubes are pretty impressive but I think it'd be a bad pick. The Australian league is a really weak league and he didn't dominate. He played at some community college in Midland a couple years ago and his stats weren't good. He has good size, good athleticism and seems to have good toughness ... but it'd shock me if he ever amounted to anything. A guy who picks up the game late and doesn't dominate weak competition by the age of 22 likely isn't going to turn the corner.

If I had to bet money, I'd say this is the guy the Spurs are targeting :depressed

If the Spurs draft him in the first I'll be furious if guys like CDR, Batum or even Walker are available. I'm already nauseated. His highlight videos that I've seen only make him look like he'd be an NBA scrub, and that's footage of his best work!

[TDMVPDPOY]

dude dont read anything in the aus media relating to players....they tend to overrate them alot and jump on the bandwagon of overpromoting a player and when he/she becomes a bust, the media jumps off the bandwagon.

[NuGGeTs-FaN]

dang it.........then id have to semi-root for the spurs :lol

Bring the Aussie to Denver! not by using the 20th pick though :lol

[duncan228]

dang it.........then id have to semi-root for the spurs :lol

You already semi-root for the Spurs. :)

[NuGGeTs-FaN]

You already semi-root for the Spurs. :)

:lol true.........any time they aren't playing the nuggets.

[objective]

comments from the Jazz on Jawai. the Jazz have the 23rd pick and had him in for a workout.

Kevin O'Connor, GM:


“He’s a young man that is obviously from Australia and played in Australia. We got tape on him and
contacted his agent about midway through the year. We realized he would be coming over during this
process. He is intriguing obviously because of his size. When you look at the length of his arms and the
size of his hands he is certainly not a finished product, but he is somebody that is intriguing.”

Jerry Sloan:


“He’s big. I thought he worked hard. I know he’s a young player. Let’s take a look and see who’s there
and what’s there ahead of him. I’m sure Kevin would be able to analyze that much better than I can.”

jazz quotes pdf link (http://www.nba.com/media/jazz/08Draft_Day2_Quotes.pdf)

[Marcus Bryant]

He’s a young man that is obviously from Australia and played in Australia.

Awesome. Is that what it takes to be a NBA team exec these days?

[KidCongo]

Awesome. Is that what it takes to be a NBA team exec these days?

Some Aussies do play in Europe..

[AFBlue]

If the Spurs draft him in the first I'll be furious if guys like CDR, Batum or even Walker are available. I'm already nauseated. His highlight videos that I've seen only make him look like he'd be an NBA scrub, and that's footage of his best work!

I think Jawai could really be the impetus for the Spurs looking to acquire another first round pick.

I get the feeling they went into this draft looking solely for a wing player, but when Splitter decided to stay with Tau, they decided to look at bigs in the first or early second as well.

[objective]

I think Jawai could really be the impetus for the Spurs looking to acquire another first round pick.

I get the feeling they went into this draft looking solely for a wing player, but when Splitter decided to stay with Tau, they decided to look at bigs in the first or early second as well.

I also speculated earlier about the Spurs wanting another pick to take a center to replace Splitter in the eventual Spurs lineup.

I just hope Jawai isn't that guy.

First his height and wingspan numbers look like crap and are probably faked without him having official measurements. He sure doesn't look 6-10 with a 7-5 wingspan to me, maybe 6-9.5 in big shoes, but I'm highly skeptical of it all because there's nothing official. He looks like a slimmed down Tractor Traylor (6'7.5" w/o shoes) minus skill.

Ignoring the level of competition for a second (which is like playing against the cast of the movie "Hoosiers"), even in the highlights he's not too impressive. His vertical is unremarkable, even on his 'monster' dunks he barely gets above the rim on most of them. I wasn't impressed with his full, 3/4 or 1/2 court speed at all (unlike say DeAndre Jordan's highlight reels) and his lateral speed looked like nothing special. All of his jumpers were flat footed and looked like they'd be easily blockable at the NBA level, and his move inside were marginal against flopping defenders who didn't even look like they were trying.

He just looks like a fringe NBA player.

[Bruno]

Jackie Butler 2.0 ?

[kobyz]

Jackie Butler 2.0 ?

he is more athletic than Jackie Butler and he have better work ethic, i really high on him after i saw his video, i hope that he will be available with the #26 pick

[Mr.Bottomtooth]

Jackie Butler 2.0 ?

Even worse. He doesn't have a cool beard. :depressed



No, but really, I think Jawai has a better shot at playing NBA ball than Butler.

[timvp]

I'll be pissed if Jawai is the pick. The only reason to pick him is if the Spurs are so worried about the Toros having a capable big who wouldn't mind staying in Austin for a few years. He'd probably be pretty good on the D-League level, since it is pretty similar to the Australian league.

He could possible turn into something but the chances are so slim and he's so far away from helping that it makes no sense to use a first rounder on him.

[NuGGeTs-FaN]

the Nuggets need to get another lower pick and get him. They pick Chalmers with the #20th (assuming he is still there) and get Jawai with an early 2nd rd pick (also assuming he is still there)

Jawai only needs to play sparingly off the bench.

[AFBlue]

I'll be pissed if Jawai is the pick. The only reason to pick him is if the Spurs are so worried about the Toros having a capable big who wouldn't mind staying in Austin for a few years. He'd probably be pretty good on the D-League level, since it is pretty similar to the Australian league.

He could possible turn into something but the chances are so slim and he's so far away from helping that it makes no sense to use a first rounder on him.

Doubtful that the Spurs are worried about the Toros enough to spend their first round pick and millions of guaranteed money on a big guy...

I know it's probably just dramatization, but they have to see SOMETHING they like in this kid to be willing to spend a first rounder on him.

[Marcus Bryant]

-Nathan Jawai will also be conducting a group workout on Tuesday, this time in New York City. The workout will be conducted by the Detroit Pistons, and will be attended by the Knicks, Nets, Grizzlies, Wizards and possibly others. 10 players will be there, including Jonathan Wallace and Novica Velickovic.

link (http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Word-on-the-Street-Rounding-Up-2940/)

[hsxvvd]

:bang

Is it not a sign that every Australian on Spurstalk who has ever seen the guy play live is saying that he is a spud?


PLEASE DO NOT DRAFT THIS GUY!

Since when are we drafting for the Toros?

[TDMVPDPOY]

dude i dont even watch NBL anyway...

everytime a bogan gets mention of the possibilities being drafted, the media jumps over there nutts over hyping the players, like they are going to be drafted.

[timvp]

How high (or low) will the top prospects go?

Nathan Jawai: Sonics at 24, Rockets at 25, Spurs at 26, Celtics at 30, Timberwolves at 31. Jawai is big and strong. But right now, it looks like he's more likely to go in the early second.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2008/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=DraftWatch-080625

Please no at 26. I'd rather the Spurs draft Ryan Anderson. At 45, Jawai is fine.