Top 10 (Over 22) International Prospects

[Bruno]

http://www.nbadraft.net/velkavrh001.asp

The following is a list of the top European players (at or near their prime) who NBA teams could look at to bring over next year or in the future:

1. Nikola Vujcic - Macabi Tel Aviv, PF, C, 6-11 (1978)

2. Luis Scola - Tau Ceramica, PF, 6-9 (1980)

Drafted by San Antonio as a late second rounder. It was written in the stars he would join them this year, but his club's unwillingness to lower the buyout clause and San Antonio's ability to sign his countrymen Oberto have postponed his move to the NBA. Strong like a bull but also agile, he has a variety of offensive moves which makes him a very tough defensive assignment. He's a tough player mentally, that fights on every possession, which can sometimes get him in foul trouble, but considering the NBA style of game is more physical, he could very well excel with his combination of strength, quickness and finesse.

3. Robertas Javtokas - Lietuvos Rytas, C, 6-11 (1980)

Was drafted #56 in 2001 by guess who, the San Antonio Spurs. An absolute steal back then, he was on his way to becoming the best defensive center in Europe when his motorcycle accident happened. It was questionable if he would ever walk again, much less play. But today, it's as if it never happened, Javtokas is the best defensive bigman in Europe. He has an NBA body and athleticism, a very good vertical leaper and he uses all these attributes to his advantage, especially on the defensive end. His offense is steadily improving, he's developed a nice hook shot that he's hitting with regularity and is good finisher around the basket. He can be erratic from the FT line and need a more consistentcy on his jumpshot from 15 ft out. He might be a better center than any current center San Antonio has, which considering the group (Mohammed, Oberto, Nesterovic) speaks for itself. The rich have options to become even richer.

4. David Andersen - CSKA Moscow, C-PF, 7-0 (1980)

5. Kristof Lavrinovic - Dynamo Moscow, PF-C, 6-11 (1979)

6. Juan Carlos Navarro - Barcelona, SG-PG, 6-4 (1980)

7. Florent Pietrus - Unicaja, PF-SF, 6-7 (1981)

8. Darjus Lavrinovic - Zalgiris Kaunas, C, 7-0 (1979)

9. Milos Vujanic - Barcelona, PG, 6-3 (1980)

10. Ramunas Siskauskas - Benneton Treviso, SG-SF, 6-6 (1978)

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Negative comment about Scola from Ducks in 3... 2... 1...

[Solid D]

I noticed guys like Walter Hermann or stars from Eurobasket Finals Papaloukis and Diamantidis weren't listed until I read the article in the link. This suffix to the article clarifies the reasons for the players listed:

There are others International players with as much talent or more I choose the players above as the 10 whose skills best transfer to the NBA style of play, and most likely to succeed in adapting to the American style of basketball. You could argue some of my choices as I left out many good and proven players (Turckan, Basille, Rakocevic, Popovic, Bagaric, Drobnjak, Papaloukas, Diamantidis, Hermann, Smodis… to name a few), but the criteria I used was age (players at beginning of their prime), need (big men are much more sought after than guards) and ability to transfer to more physical and individual style of play.

I also would like to mention that I didn't consider players that were drafted this year and opted to stay in Europe. I think this years class will surprise many, in contrast to previous years where you had players that actually showed their worth in meaningful games and had gained some experience at this stage of their careers. I would especially point out these players to keep an eye on:

Fran Vasquez
Erazem Lorbek
Mile Ilic
Mickael Gelabale
Roko Leni-Ukic

[Bruno]

I really think Javtokas will be a spurs next summer.

[10-tka]

Some slovenian prospects: (young and younger )

Erazem Lorbek
Domen Lorbek
Saso Ozbolt
Hasan Rizvic
Mirza Begic

[Solid D]

Lorbek will probably come over next year for the Pacers. The Pacers scored big-time in the off-season with Sara Jasikevicius and the fortunate drafting of Danny Granger and Lorbek. The Pacers in the East are loaded and could well be playing at the end of June.

[SlovenianGuy]

The author of this article is Slovenian scout.

[batman2883]

SCOLA will ROCK the NBA and win Rookie of the year hands down...Scola=sick mofo

[RobinsontoDuncan]

Im pretty suprised, from what I've read and after what people in the know here have said, I thought the Spurs had no interest in Javokotas. The things I heard were he would be a bench warmer here and woul be able to transfer his sytle of play to the US game. Is this still true?

[Kamnik]

Some slovenian prospects: (young and younger )

Erazem Lorbek
Domen Lorbek
Saso Ozbolt
Hasan Rizvic
Mirza Begic

out of these players the Lorbek brothers stand out by far

Erazem was just unbelivable for such a young player in EC and Domen is scoring up to 40 points a game sometimes.

[Mr. Peabody]

What ever happened to that Greek player that everyone called the next Shaq? I think his name was Sofaklis and he was drafted by the Clippers.
________
CALIFORNIA DISPENSARY

[SLOVENIAN 8]

He might be a better center than any current center San Antonio has, which considering the group (Mohammed, Oberto, Nesterovic) speaks for itself.

[Gino2882]

It will probably still be Scola that comes over next year, because Scola has no buyout correct?

[Solid D]

What ever happened to that Greek player that everyone called the next Shaq? I think his name was Sofaklis and he was drafted by the Clippers.

Sofoklis Schortsanitis - "Baby Shaq". He signed multi-year (2 + 2 option yrs) deal with Olympikos Greek & Euroleague.

[Marcus Bryant]

2. Luis Scola - Tau Ceramica, PF, 6-9 (1980)

Drafted by San Antonio as a late second rounder. It was written in the stars he would join them this year, but his club's unwillingness to lower the buyout clause and San Antonio's ability to sign his countrymen Oberto have postponed his move to the NBA. Strong like a bull but also agile, he has a variety of offensive moves which makes him a very tough defensive assignment. He's a tough player mentally, that fights on every possession, which can sometimes get him in foul trouble, but considering the NBA style of game is more physical, he could very well excel with his combination of strength, quickness and finesse.

3. Robertas Javtokas - Lietuvos Rytas, C, 6-11 (1980)

Was drafted #56 in 2001 by guess who, the San Antonio Spurs. An absolute steal back then, he was on his way to becoming the best defensive center in Europe when his motorcycle accident happened. It was questionable if he would ever walk again, much less play. But today, it's as if it never happened, Javtokas is the best defensive bigman in Europe. He has an NBA body and athleticism, a very good vertical leaper and he uses all these attributes to his advantage, especially on the defensive end. His offense is steadily improving, he's developed a nice hook shot that he's hitting with regularity and is good finisher around the basket. He can be erratic from the FT line and need a more consistentcy on his jumpshot from 15 ft out. He might be a better center than any current center San Antonio has, which considering the group (Mohammed, Oberto, Nesterovic) speaks for itself. The rich have options to become even richer.

All the more reason why the Spurs will deal Mohammed or let him walk. Ditto for a Radoslav trade if they can find it.

[nkdlunch]

why is that funny? he was complimenting those 3 guys

[Solid D]

Who would defend the bigger post players better, Nazr, Scola or Javtokas?

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

I agree with you Slovenian8.