This topic contains 6 replies, has 2 voices, and was last updated by AvatarAvatar mikeyvthedon 13 years ago.

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  • #27045
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    mikeyvthedon
    Participant

    The entire international team has yet to be announced, but so far, scrounging around, I have found a few names of who will be going up against some top US HS prospects in PDX April 9. I have heard some names of some of the players who have accepted invites to the game and will list some names of people who could possibly fill out this roster. Really hope for a good competitive game and can not wait to see which prospects leave us buzzing!

    Those who have been offered and are more than likely playing:

    PF 6’10 Kyle Wiltjer, Canada: Won his 3rd Oregon State Title with Jesuit this past year, a McDonald’s All-American and of course going to Kentucky.  Has a nice low post game, and can stroke from outside at a nice rate. Will of course need to add weight, but has held his own against some of the best in his class. Will figure to be a key role player for Kentucky next year and will be able to go up against future front court teammates Michael Gilchrist and (more than likely directly defending) Anthony Davis.

    C 7’0 Lucas Riva Nogueira, Brazil/Playing pro in Spain: Of course gained significant buzz after this summer where he played for the Brazilian U-18 team in the tournament of the Americas, averaging 15.6 points, 10 rpg and 5.6 bpg. Has also played in the fourth spanish division this year for Asefa Etudiantes farm team averaging 11.4 points (56% on twos), 9.1 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 18.0 valoration in 25 minutes. Has been on draft radars, but is still very much classified as a project center. Has great length, nice athleticism, but is incredibly thin. Seen as being at least 2-3 years from contributing in the NBA, but could be a potential first round pick when he enters the league.

    PG 6’4 Nenad Miljenovic, Serbia: Seen as being one of the top 1993 born prospects, currently rated as #1 by Eurohopes. Supposedly is incredibly advanced for a player his age, and is almost seen as the Serbian version of Ricky Rubio. Is playing with FMP serbian junior team, leading the standings with Hemofarm averaging 19.8 points, 7.5 assists, 5.3 rebounds. He is awaiting confirmation from his team on whether he can travel to the US, but is a very intriguing prospect and could potentially face some solid US PG’s in Quinn Cook and Marquis Teague.

    C 7’0 Przemek Karnowski, Poland: Was part of a surpringly strong U-17 Team for Poland, one that eventually finished 2nd in the tournament behind the US. Jonathan Givony compares him to Brad Miller, and from everything I have seen seems to have a nice shooting touch for a player his size and a solid IQ. Is absolutely huge, and could more than likely stand to loose some weight to maybe gain a little in the departments of athleticism and conditioning. Still, a massive center prospect at only 18 years of age. Also, their are rumors that he may play NCAA ball, which would be pretty cool. He averaged 14.5 ppg, 11 rpg, 2.5 apg and 2 bpg in the U-17 Championships over the summer.

    SG 6’5 Mateusz Ponitka, Poland: The other major player for the U-17 Polish team and the leading scorer. Averaged 19 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 2.4 apg and 2 spg, shooting about 50% from the field. Do not know much about him at this point, but know he will be going up against the most stacked position on the US team, with Austin Rivers, Bradley Beal and Tony Wroten Jr. Usually a position that the international team struggles with, and if he can hold his own, than he will no doubt be getting some serious buzz.

    Link: http://www.eurohopes.com/news/1268/riva-miljenovic-more-talent-for-the-nike-hoop-summit/

    Others rumored:

    Enes Kanter: It is a wonder why he would, but he could potentially top his previous year with a thin US front line. 34 and 13 in the 2010 Hoop Summit, broke Dirk Nowitzki’s scoring record and established himself as one of the top prospects for this years draft. Has beasted and bulled through everyone he has faced as part of Turkey’s U-16 and U-18 teams and unfortunately was declined eligibility to Kentucky this past year. The announcements of Karnowski and Nogueira, plus the fact he already played and dominated makes you wonder if he will be on the roster, but the team is usually heavy on big men, so it is still a possibility.

    Jonas Valanciunas: The young Lithuanian has yet to play in the game, and would be a very interesting edition henceforth, as he is being thrown around as a possible lottery pick. Really hope he gets clearance and plays, but he is playing pro right now and that can sometimes put a wrench in things.

    Raul Neto: 6’0 PG from Brazil, played very well for Brazil’s U-18 this summer with Lucas Nogueira. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress is saying he has been invited to the game. Also, in his profile on DX it said he had a 34/8 board and 7 assist game against Canada, who featured Myck Kabongo. Again, the guards are always the mostly highly contested position in these games, so it will be interesting to see if he steps up to the pressure.

    Some who could fill out the roster:

    6’9 C/PF Khem Birch, Canada: McDonald’s All-American and a top rated 4/5 in the class of 2011 (originally 2012). Has incredible hops and athleticism, nice rebounder and shot blocker. Going to Pitt next year, really hope he gets to play in the game because he has ability at either post position.

    6’2 PG Myck Kabongo: The last and maybe best of the Canadian McD’s All-Americans, Myck lead a solid Findlay Prep team this past year and looks to do big things at Texas in 2012. Really hope Myck is in the game, as he could probably play 2 at times for the Internationals and has the speed that US players usually kill the internationals with. Three Canadians may be too many for the Hoop Summit, so it could be that Birch or Myck may not play, but I hope they both do.

    6’0 PG Kevin Pangos: Another possible Canadian addition. Since the previous have played in multiple All-Star games, and Kevin actually played HS in Canada, they could go the route of choosing Pangos. He has been called "the Next Steve Nash", which is of course a ton of pressure, but he has played very well in International competition and notched 48 against super prep Andrew Wiggins this year. You may say, "well Wiggins was not guarding him", but in actuality he was quite a bit. Going to Gonzaga to play with the college version of Team Canada, though some would argue it has become Texas.

    As per usual, not much is known of who the wing prospects will be for the game, but these are some of the names that should appear on the International team when the rosters are announced. A lot of interesting draft prospects in this group most definitely, going up against some players who will undoubtedly be top picks in the 2012 draft, Anthony Davis, Austin Rivers, Mike Gilchrist and James McAdoo.

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  • #511303
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    SwatLakeCity
    Participant

    I’d really like to see how well Noguira does and if he has gained weight or not. A little more 200lbs is not enough to compete in the NBA at the Center Position. Also I’m interested to see if Kanter or Jonas are invited or not and I’m sure they will be. Finally Kanter will be able to play. Lets just hope he doesn’t struggle after so much inactivity.

    Let’s go Noguira, Kanter, and Jonas.

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  • #511647
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    mikeyvthedon
    Participant

    Latest probable roster seems to be:

    C Przemek Karnowski, Poland

    C Lucas Nogueira, Brazil/Playing pro in Spain, 4th division

    PF Bismack Biyombo, Congo/Playing pro in Spain, ACB

    PF Kyle Wiltjer, Canada

    SF/SG Evan Fournier, France

    SF Dario Sarcic, Croatia-Top rated European prospect in the 1994 age group

    SG Mateusz Ponitka, Poland

    PG Nenad Milijenovic, Serbia

    PG Myck Kabongo, Canada

     

    So that is 9 out of 11 that will be there (I read they have 11 as opposed to the US having 10). Ailun Guo of China is a wing possibility and Raul Neto as a guard as well. Looks like they probably are not getting Valanciunas, but Kanter is still a possibility, though on the same Draft Express twitter, Jonathan Givony’s "sources" tell him Kanter wants to hide out before the draft. It definitely makes sense, as he probably would do little to his stock or hurt it by playing. As is he is probably a lock for the top 10, and will likely be a top 5 or so. 

    Still, some awesome prospects. A few possible first rounders here, and maybe even some lotto picks down the line. Their are quite a few guys here who will probably be in the NBA at some point or another, or at least in draft discussion. For Saric, who turns 17 a day before the game, you may remember him from this NBADraft.net article http://www.nbadraft.net/node/14020.

     

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  • #511651
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    The lake show2

    They say Lucas is alot like Marcus Camby

     

    Something i realized that people dont bring up. When they say this star was guarding that star they dont take into account that most of the time the star isn’t the best defender on his team. The best defender on these High school teams are usually a guy who isn’t that good on offense and plays 100 percent on defense for the whole game. So its actually a bigger accomplishment when you are dropping buckets on the non star of the team.

    The Star of the team, for the most part, doesn’t play very good defense for most of the game. Usually they play good defense near the end of a close game or for spurts during the game but as far as the whole game they tend to not dig in and commit to it

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  • #511662
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    mikeyvthedon
    Participant

    Can you point out where you gained this epiphany? From the Pangos being guarded by Wiggins, who is 6’7 and was more than likely one of the better defensive presences on his team? Neto being guarded by Kabongo, who is also known for his defensive intensity? I mean, you can not just randomly say, "Well, the star wasn’t guarding him, so he really had to work." A lot of these prospects are known for their defensive skills even more so than offensive ability, and even more so to be a top player you are more often required to play both ends of the floor. Yes, teams usually do have specialists, but at the HS level, these guys are usually head and shoulders above the other players they are playing with and would need to be major defensive presences for their teams to win. I mean, Mike Gilchrist is definitely a fantastic defender and Rakim Christmas is pretty much all defense at this point. I see what you are getting at, but when you put up a good performance against a top player, it is usually something worth noting. But, many things are taken into account when a player plays well or badly, but when someone plays well against top players or in international play, that is usually commendable.

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  • #511664
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    The lake show2

    Common sense from watching H.S games. You should try it sometimes and you too can gain that ability to see the obvious.

     

    Of course there are exceptions to that rule and there are star players who play goo defense. But being the tallest strongest or quickest does not make it more likely that a guy is a good defender. If that was the case guys like Derrick Rose, Amare, Vince Carter ( when he was jumping out the gym) Blake Griffin would be great defenders

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  • #511676
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    mikeyvthedon
    Participant

    Man, I do not get you sometimes Quincey. You just throw out the most general rationalization and make it seem like you have made some incredible point. At the HS level, I am sure those players had HUGE defensive impact. They are not going up against NBA competition, so when they go up against top prospects, that is usually the closest thing to it. But, you did not watch those games and gave me no examples of ANYTHING you are talking about in what I wrote. Yes, some top prospects may be more offensively oriented, but top prospects tend to have athleticism and ability that make them very dominant at both ends of the floor.

    Common sense, try it sometime. It gives you the ability to see the obvious and possibly not just make radical assumptions without listing examples of any players I have written about in this thread. 

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