[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

What’s up everybody? Have a little time before the next US practice at 5, so I thought I’d give everyone some quick hitters on what has been going on this week with the Hoop Summit practices. From Monday-Wednesday, butidonthavemoney and I were at every International team practice. Here were the measurements handed out for those who have not seen them:

PG Aleksandar Cvetkovic, Serbia: 6’2 (all heights w/shoes), 165 (pounds), 6’2 (wing span)

PG Leo Westermann, France: 6’7, 199, 6’4 (do not know if his arms are that tiny, but he is a pretty big PG)

SF Tauras Jogela, Lithuania (fill in for Dimitry Kulagin/Evan Fournier): 6’7, 198, 6’5

SG Michal Michalak, Poland: 6’6, 194, 6’6

SF Andrew Wiggins, Canada: 6’7, 195, 6’11 (I feel he is taller than Anthony Bennett, if you are asking how legit his size is)

PG Vytenis Cizauskas (fill in for Dmitry Kulagin/Evan Fournier), Lithuania: 6’3, 191, 6’3

PF Anthony Bennett, Canada: 6’7, 239, 7’1 (Really long arms compared to his body size, would not be surprised if his wing span was longer)

PF Dario Saric, Croatia: 6’10, 223, 6’10 (He has been working out with the bigs, but I could see him as a SF)

C Marcos Delia, Argentina: 6’10, 226, 7’0 (Seems like a 4, but is probably mostly a post for this game)

C Patson Siame, Zambia: 6’11, 215, 7’2 (Going to Loyola Marymount next year)

C Wang Zhelin, China: 7’0, 251, 6’11 (Big dude)

 

NoMoney will have more of a direct breakdown, but here are some rough notes:

• First day not many scouts, second two days packed. Wednesday had about every team, including some GM’s
• Not a lot to be overly impressed with. I am not sure if anyone on the International team was drafted this year.
• The guy who I think is getting the most buzz, bar none, is Andrew Wiggins. His shooting stroke has improved a great deal and was making past international range with relative ease. Effortless athlete who could be fantastic on both sides of the floor, definitely not an easy guy to score on. After seeing the US practice this morning, I think those might be in trouble when they play Wiggins. He still tends to drift to the corner a bit on offense, but he has lived up to the hype as a monster prospect and if he is not the best player on the team, he is definitely top 3 right now without question.
• Dario Saric is the next best prospect on the International team and has maybe been slightly more aggressive than Wiggins. Dario has also shown a great shooting stroke and some of those point forward abilities at times. He should have a much more prominent role on the team this year and could give the US team problems stretching the floor. Very smart player, he is just about the only player past Wiggins who looks like a sure fire first rounder. Could see him going in the top half of the 2013 draft.
• Anthony Bennett is a tank and has shown monster athleticism at times, but has looked tired. His shot seems flat, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt as he had both the McDonald’s Game and NHSI right before this. He did not compete in the scrimmage portion on Wednesday and the word is he has been stricken with injuries quite a bit. His size could be cause for concern at the NBA level as he definitely does not appear to have close to prototypical PF size, even with his long arms. Nonetheless, his body is certainly college ready, he is ripped.
• Leo Westermann has been a pretty pleasant surprise. He may very well be the starting PG for the game and has led stretches for most of the practices. Against a team with Saric and Wiggins, he single handedly kept his team in it for a while. Not an explosive athlete, but he has been a good leader. No idea about his NBA prospects, but he is a big PG who fellow countryman Nicolas Batum came out to support.
• Aleks Cvetkovic is tough and cerebral as well, though again am not sure about his potential as a NBA player. He has been scrappy and has worked hard and definitely has the ability to run the point, but it will be interesting to see him guard more athletic players.
• Michael Michalak is a guy money and I definitely liked. He is probably the best pure shooter here and he seems to have a good idea of where to be. Dark horse for top scorer for the Internationals on Saturday, he should get plenty of time at 2 and the US team better not leave him open.
• The case in the past has been that the big guys at the Hoop Summit have been the most intriguing players. This year, that is not the case. The three players listed at center are incredibly raw and may get eaten alive by the pace of the game. Certainly, Mitch McGary and Kaleb Tarczewski should feast on these guys. If they don’t, than they might not be the prospects we think they are.
• Delia is more of a 4 but has a hard time establishing position. He has usually been gotten the better of by Wang Zhelin. Wang is a guy I kind of cheer for, but is very raw and sometimes does not exactly know what’s up. He was much more aggressive on Wednesday and has Yao Ming like legs, but he is nowhere close in skill set or athleticism. Still, huge human being. Patson Siame has a bad left ankle (think it is left), so he did not practice Monday. He can block shots with his length, but was a tad timid and did not always know where to be. Odds are, he is a bit of a project for LMU, but could pay dividends as he is a decent athlete for a player his size.
• Evan Fournier and Dmitry Kulagin missing this is a bummer. They got a couple Lithuanian replacements who have not exactly stolen headlines. Cizauskas is kind of a combo guard who is scrappy and has decent range. He is probably the most athletic of the PG’s here and he plays hard. Definitely like him more than Jogela, who seems like a nice guy but has mostly been blanketed by Wiggins. Jogela had a good last half of Wednesday’s scrimmage, but has not impressed much.

Well, hope that gives a little insight. Went to US practice at Nike Campus today, no scrimmages, just drills. Was hard to evaluate much, just that Shabazz Muhammad definitely stands out on the team. Nerelens Noel was NOT present and there were two schools of rumor. One was that he had school to deal with (the worst case scenario) and the other that he was indeed coming tomorrow (the much more hopeful scenario). He would make things much more interesting.

Marcus Paige was hurt (or just not playing, but he was the sidelines). James Robinson, the PG who is committed to Pittsburgh and played for DeMatha HS, seems to be a late addition. Still, not really blown away by anybody. As much as I love Kyle Anderson and thought he stood out most besides Shabazz, it is a wonder as to what his NBA prospects will be. 

Now that I look closer, Robinson appears to have flat out replaced Paige on the roster, which is kind of a bummer. Not that I do not like Robinson, just wanted to see what Paige could do. Well, Paige is here, just not playing. Noel still is not, will keep y’all posted tomorrow. Any questions you have I will try to answer as well as I can, though probably not until later this evening or tomorrow. Hope this was a decent pre-cursor and hope most of you check the game out on Saturday.

[HaleParticipant]

I’m so pumped to see what Wiggins can do. Dude’s going to be an absolute monster.

[chocboywndrParticipant]

 Wiggins

http://www.oregonlive.com/hoop-summit/index.ssf/2012/04/andrew-wiggins-nike-hoop-summit.html

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