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I just read this article thing on him, and it said best case...Beno Udrih. I'll pass.
http://www.draftexpress.com/viewprofile.php?p=1273
I just read this article thing on him, and it said best case...Beno Udrih. I'll pass.
http://www.draftexpress.com/viewprofile.php?p=1273
You read one article and want to pass on him?
To be honest I don't know. I guess I would have to see him play. I just got it into my head that if Beno Udrih is your best case scenerio, then your not first round pick worthy.
Another article compared him to Hinrich. Guess that means you want him now.
I've only seen like two videos of this guy. All I can conclude is he would automatically become the best alley-oop passer on this team.
But that doesn't mean I want to use the 1st rounder on him..
Agreed.
A little off topic....
BUT,
Does anyone know if Nemanja Aleksandrov is in the draf this year?
If so, I can see the Spurs drafting Aleksandrov with either of the three picks.
He is the long and elusive SF the Spurs have been missing.
If Aleksandrov is in the draft the Spurs should definitely pick him, and have everyone saying "who?" just like when they took Ian.
And yes, I know Aleksandrov has not played in nearly a year due to injury.
I want Zabian Dowdell.
Earlier stuff
Petteri Koponen: scouted by the NBA?
by xtf_no4 @ 2007-01-30 - 00:04:42
I was somehow surprised when I got a mail today from Finland about Petteri Koponen, a 1988 born Finnish PG I covered very briefly in September last year when he played with the Finnish NT in Luxembourg. I saw him there playing for the first time, I even did not know anything about him before I saw him during that game. He impressed me there as he was very young but showing good skills.
So today I got the information that Jerry West will go to Finland to scout him. You must admit that Koponen is putting up good stats so far in the Finnish league as he averages 11.4ppg 4.2apg and 2.4rpg. I definitely need to follow him on a closer basis, but he will probably sign with a bigger European club for next season.
Jerry West impressed by Koponen
by xtf_no4 @ 2007-02-06 - 01:27:40
Today, Jerry West was in Finland to see the top game of the Finnish league and to scout the young PG Petteri Koponen (1m93 PG 1988). I got some comments on the game and the press conference after the game from Finland. Here is what they say:
Petteri Koponen’s performance was nothing spectacular, but he was the most consistent player of his team with 18 points, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 5 turnovers in 40 minutes (2P 5-7 3P 2-7 FT 2-3). ToPo’s point guard Mookie Thomas played very physical defense against Koponen and managed to make Koponen look pretty bad at the beginning. In the first half Koponen took only three field goal attempts, but because his teammates couldn’t respond at all, he had to take more shots of his own. Excluding one bizarre three-point airball in the 4th quarter, Koponen took good, stable shots. He even had his first dunk attempt of the season, but his right-handed tomahawk over ToPo’s 6-9" Shawn Simpson rattled the rim and bounced away.
Jerry West’s comments about Koponen:
”He has a very high basketball IQ, something very rare for someone his age. It is clear he loves the game, is serious about it and truly wants to improve. He is a lot like Steve Nash, he must be a fun player to play with. From now on, experience will be his best teacher. It is already a big accomplishment that he plays in this level at the age of eighteen, but he has the tools to go much further.”
The press conference continued when Nike Global Basketball director Rich Sheubrooks entered the stage and told that Petteri Koponen was named to the “Team World” to play against USA at the Nike Hoop Summit (FedEx Arena, Memphis, TN, April 7th). Here’s what Sheubrooks had to say about Koponen:
“There is a saying, that where there is a player, a coach will arrive. Petteri Koponen was the player and Mihailo Pavicevic (Honka) seems to be the coach. Koponen has improved tremendously while playing with Honka and we will be happy to see him play in Memphis. Nike Hoop Summit is a great way for young prospects to show their skills. Nobody in the USA knew Dirk Nowitzki or Tony Parker before they played in Nike Hoop Summit. Last year, Mohamed Saer Sene earned himself a place in the NBA Lottery after his performance there.”
Here’s briefly some comments by Koponen himself:
”We couldn’t find the rhythm today and I am far from satisfied with my own performance. We have lost three in a row and with playoffs approaching, we have to find the way to stop losing. Nike Hoop Summit is a great possibility for me and my career. Still, the NBA hasn’t yet crossed my mind. Right now I’m focused to win the championship with my team in Finland. We’ll see what happens then. The former Nike Hoop Summit players is a very impressive bunch. It feels great to be a part of something like that."
Koponen will graduate from high school in the beginning of June and most likely he will play Euro-Qualifiers with Finnish National Team in the summer of 2007.
Take your pick.
Door #1 , Kirk Hinrich.
Door # 2, Steve Nash or . . .
Door # 3, Beno!
Win For Finn in '08
I could used to koponen to white...
True Hoop article about Koponen....mostly general conversation, but not a bad read.
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/...i-Koponen.htmlJust Pick Me Already: Petteri Koponen
June 25, 2007 11:23 AM
This is an INSANE time of year for those players hoping to be picked in the NBA draft. The logistics alone are pretty bad: most are running from city to city trying to put on the basketball show of their lives in private team workouts, while spending hours and hours stuck on crazy flights and in strange hotels. Normal patterns of eating and sleeping are abandoned entirely. On top of all that, they're about to become millionaires. Or not -- if they mess up these workouts. And they're about to move somewhere, to some city, where they will take orders from coaches they are in most cases just meeting for the first time now. Through all the stress, pressures, and miles, the players are supposed to be majestic, undaunted, and charming. It's exciting, it's bizarre, and it's weird. Starting now, and through the draft, TrueHoop will be following the emotional experience -- with repeated interviews -- of a handful of draft hopefuls. We're calling it "Just Pick Me Already."
So far we have heard from Zabian Dowdell twice, Morris Almond, Jared Dudley, This is our first visit with Petteri Koponen.
Teenaged Finnish point guard Petteri Koponen entered the draft process facing some long odds. Finnish league experience? NBA teams barely care, especially as he had only OK numbers. Of course, big men can get a second look no matter where they're from, but little point guards? They had better be lights out shooters to get anyone too excited. Koponen, however, is a serviceable shooter by all estimations, but he's not coming to the NBA to nail threes all night. He's not here as a specialty player at all. If he makes it in the NBA, it'll be as full-on basketball player.
And, despite those long odds, he is in the mix to be a mid to late first-round pick. ESPN Insider Chad Ford wrote on Friday that Koponen is good enough that he might cause one team to pass up their shot at Mike Conley, Jr.:
Part of the reason that the Grizzlies are leaning toward [Joakim] Noah is that both Jerry West and Wallace are very high on a point guard they can get much later in the draft -- Petteri Koponen. West was the only GM in the league who actually went to Finland to see Koponen work out. Wallace fell in love during Koponen's workout in Orlando for around 10 teams.
The problem is that the Knicks, Suns and Spurs also like him as a prospect for the late first round. That means that if the Grizzlies really want him, they'll likely have to pry a pick away from a team in the 20s -- maybe a team with multiple picks, such as Philadelphia or Charlotte.
Chad Ford has watched Koponen work out, and has also recorded a podcast interview with him. In the 4.0 version of his mock draft, Koponen is predicted to be heading to San Antonio with the 28th pick. DraftExpress has him one pick later, to the Suns.
I asked Koponen's agent, Marc Cornstein, how a player who averaged 13 points and four assists for the, I'm not making this up, Honka Espoo Playboys, could wow NBA front offices. Cornstein was quiet for a moment and then said, thoughtfully: "He's really good."
He also must be putting on a pretty good show for executives. Near the tail end of a string of workouts, Koponen was nice enough to answer some of my questions, by email, over the weekend.
Have you spent much time in America? This must be the strangest kind of tour: gymnasium, airport, restaurant, hotel, gymnasium, airport, restaurant, hotel ...
I have been here about a month. First two weeks I was in New York, where I´m staying, preparing for workouts. And after that all these workouts started ... he he ... Yes, it has been an interesting experience and I have been in many different cities, or actually different hotels and airports. :/
And everywhere everybody is asking which city do you like most. It´s a hard question to answer because I haven´t actually seen anything, except New York.
How are the workouts going? Who have you played against? Do you get nervous? (They say Bill Russell used to puke before almost every game.)
Well, workouts have been good. Some of them a little bit better and some of them not as well as I would have liked, but I think that is normal. It has been nice to play against players who I have seen on TV, players like Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey from Florida. Of course I´m a little nervous before workouts, but I think it´s better like that because I know that I concentrate much better then. But I just go there and try to do my best and show what I can do. I´m working hard to achieve my dream (to play in the NBA). Will see on Thursday what will happen.
Linus Torvalds (the guy behind Linux), Aki Kaurismaki (did you ever see "Leningrad Cowboys Go America" speaking of crazy tours of the US), Nokia, fine glassware, berry pies ... that's about all I know about Finland. Can you help? What should we Americans know about your mother country that we do not?
He he, you know a lot about Finland. Well I think sauna (it's from Finland) is one thing that people should know, and also that Santa Claus is from Lapland -- which is a northern part of Finland -- not from North Pole, as you people think here in America.
Did you watch a lot of NBA as a child? Which teams?
They don´t show the NBA games in Finland, but I downloaded games from the internet, and usually tried to watch and learn something from point guards like Steve Nash and Jason Kidd.
Where is home these days? Where are all your possessions?
Well that is a good question. I can say that New York has been like a home this last
month, but we'll see what will happen and where I will end up.
If it was ever obvious that this guy is a teenager...
He sounds 15 years old.
lol, to think that Koponen wouldn't be where he is today if he hadn't illegaly downloaded NBA games from which he was able to learn from.
Tony Parker was said to be 5'11 1/2" when he was drafted.
Yep. And as a young guy, Koponen could still grow.
Mahinmi was only supposed to be 6-8 at first, then bumped to 6-9, then 6-10, he might get listed at 6-11 now.
From a Finnish poster at another site: link
I wrote this on another thread already, but: His agent and he have said that most likely he will be drafted between 23 and 35. So they have a promise of somekind. Maybe even from the Knicks? I sure hope it's not the Knicks, with Marbury, Francis and Robinson on the roster he would not get playing time and his rolemodels aren't that good either... By the way his agent said that it is completely possible and likely so to say that Petteri Koponen is going to play in the NBA anyway next year...
Given a promise?? Most likely yes, Koponen has been saying all the time that without a first round promise he's out of the dreaft. He came down a bit and said that a promise in the first five of the second is okay as well. So my bet is that yes, he has been given a promise.
He isn't acting like a player with a promise. He's been working out as much as any player. Whoever asks, he'll go workout for them.
Do you trust Jerry West to know something about guards? I do.
at 18, I think we take him at 28 if he is there and let him play somewhere in Europe, assuming he doesn't come in and blow Beno and Vaughn out of the picture during training camp.
One more
Lances Two Final Prospect Profiles
By Lance Walton
06.26.2007 - Updated on 06.26.2007
Petteri Koponen is 6’4,195 pounds and is becoming real popular with scouts. He is a pass first point guard with excellent court vision and he is always able to find the open man. He is a great slasher, who is not afraid to drive to the basket and draw contact. He has a great at ude, is very coachable, likes to learn the game, and works real hard to improve. He has a quick high arch release on his jump shot that is pretty decent. He is a good defender that can guard in the lane, at the top of the key, off the ball, as a help defender, or man to man. He has great mental toughness and doesn’t let things get to him.
Petteri tends to force shots and makes a lot of mistakes starting out. He struggles against more athletic players and also against great defenders that are more physical than him. He needs to improve his half court sets on offense, and his one on one on defense. He does make bad passes and turns the ball over frequently against good defensive teams. As a PG he needs to be more vocal. He is also still very young, so he struggles to play against top veteran compe ion. He’ll need at least two years before he’s ready to run an NBA team. At his best I believe he could be like Kirk Hinrich, and at his worse Sarunas Jasikevicius.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2924136
The Blazers summer league team is gonna be fun to watch with Oden, Aldridge, Sergio Rodriguez, Koponen, etc.Petteri Koponen, the Finnish point guard who was the final pick of the first round, signed a waiver that allows him to play in the summer league.
I hope Rudy Fernandez plays. But somehow I don't think he will. Hes more polished than all those guys on the team...what does he have left to prove?
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