[RioRepParticipant]

 Well… I’ve been looking for this site’s information on NBA basketball and many posts/debates from you guys, for some years now. Today, for some commom reason, or another I decided to Log In.

The main reason? Well, I’ve been following NBA bball for too long, now. It´s been a while. I always had the feeling that I should learn and observe first, before I should venture into some real exchange of ideas of mine, which ever they shoud mean.

In this internet days, I really find it hard to stumble upon chats that people aren´t trying to outsmart eachother all the time. But I really guess it´s not the case in this here site nbadraft..com. After observing and reading many, many inputs, I realized that the fellows here really love and respect the NBA league and the game of basketball. 

So, before you guys keep wondering about my profile, who I am, where I come from, I come straightforward to inform that I’m a 42 years old, brazilian, Rio de Janeiro guy, who´s been following the NBA closely since the days of Bird and Magic, and have witnessed all the greatness and golden age of Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson and many other guys… I´ve followed Shaq, Duncan, Kobe, Dirk, Kidd, Lebron form the beggining, and still continue to be mesmerized from all the wonderful players performing and showing their skills today. 

But enough of introductions for whatever, if any, it is worth.

What have finally made me decide to throw my opinions at you, probably, most young guys, is the wrongly perceptions you have upon foreign players. No, it’s not so because I’m foreign. NBA game has long seized from being exclusively from being american. For a while it has been the epitome of what the game of basketball is about: the best players form around the world showcasing their talents in the grandest stage, the greatest league, in the greatest basketball nation in the world. Yes, it´s the NBA, it´s America. Thank god. I love it!

So, since it´s my very first post, and that´s what i’m really about here, I’d like to come staright forward and point to you all that Emannuel Mudiay is the greatest player, and the foremost star of this year draft class. Six teams passed on him. Mostly because they don´t trust someone that forfeited american college NCAA basketball to go play professionally in China. My point is, what many of you, and most NBA GMs fail to grant, is what it really means for a congolese youngster, that along with his family, struggled to make America his home, and against many hardships, luckily was to find himself blessed with a superior talent to be an outstanding basketball NBA star, the talent he was so sure, despite of his young age, to be able to go, against all odds, to play in strangest of China. and even so have the certainty that the NBA was his place.  What this young man has been through, what he´s learned, how much he loves this oportunity to shine, how much he respects the game, how he cares for winning is unparalleled with anything no rookie has ever faced. 

But… that wasn´t enough to convince many of you guys, GMs, and scouts. So Denver got the luck to see him slip into their lap. Mudiay will be a star. He’ll be better than John Wall. He’ll fight to win, He´ll fight to make his name remembered.

And then… it takes us to Porzingis. Have you noticed how well this guy speaks english? Some of you may think that it´s not too hard. Since swedish, danish and finnish find it easy to really dominate your language, I must warn you that Porzingis is nothing of the lattest. He´s not sacandinavian. He´s lithuanian. He´s baltic. These people have been playing basketball for as long as americans have. Sabonis, Marciulionis, Kurtinaitis, some of the greatest european players of all time come from this proud basketball country. They have nothing to do with Serbian Milicic or italian Bargnani. This guy have been dreaming to go against the NBA best, so that he can show that he belongs for as long as he was a kid. Some of you might say that it´s the same for the young high school stars in America. Well, it´s not. Guys like Stanley Johnson, Justise Winslow, Jahlil Okafor have been praised and projected as possible and future milionaires since they were fourteen. They´ve always known as growing up that, as many guys before them that, someway the fortune was just a question of time. For a guy like Porzingis its completely diferent. Everything is a dream come true. He knows houw much he´s doubted. He knows that noone believes in him. He knows people will make stupid comparisons, but he´s sure he´ll succeed. Simply because he´ll bust his tail off. Simply because he knows he’s good. He´s loving it already. He knows he´s talented. He´s smart, he has the desire, he’s willing to put in the hardest work. He´s hungry. He´s nineteen. He´s huge. Phil Jackson made the right pick. He knows a guy like this doesn´t come up so often. So don´t understimate someone who is humble and wants to be the best. 

Well… I´ve said too much guys, What I wanted form this my first post was to showcase what I think of the very freshest NBA talent who will burst into the league this year. Those two guys whom I think haven´t been treated as they should by our best NBADRAFT comunnity.

Hope some of you could give me your feddbacks.

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Anton123Participant]

Not meaning to be negative, but Porzingis is not Lithuanian, he’s Latvian. Latvia has never been known as a basketball country and its population, as far as I have heard from Latvians themselves, much prefers hockey. Still Baltic though.

I would argue that Serbia has much richer basketball traditions than Latvia, I don’t see how Kristaps not being from Serbia helps him. Also, I’m pretty sure Milicic wasn’t a bust because he was Serbian, his weirdness transcendes nationality.

I think it’s really all about infromation, GMs pick the players they’re most sure of, and they’re most sure of the players that they’ve been tracking closely for the last 5+ years, they’ve seen them go against NBA players in camps, seen them play in the same league (NCAA) as hundreds of other NBA players. 

European players, on the other hand, play in a very different setting with different rules and far away, where they are harder to track, so there is less available information, so people are more cautious in picking them.

 

[Anton123Participant]

Not meaning to be negative, but Porzingis is not Lithuanian, he’s Latvian. Latvia has never been known as a basketball country and its population, as far as I have heard from Latvians themselves, much prefers hockey. Still Baltic though.

I would argue that Serbia has much richer basketball traditions than Latvia, I don’t see how Kristaps not being from Serbia helps him. Also, I’m pretty sure Milicic wasn’t a bust because he was Serbian, his weirdness transcendes nationality.

I think it’s really all about infromation, GMs pick the players they’re most sure of, and they’re most sure of the players that they’ve been tracking closely for the last 5+ years, they’ve seen them go against NBA players in camps, seen them play in the same league (NCAA) as hundreds of other NBA players. 

European players, on the other hand, play in a very different setting with different rules and far away, where they are harder to track, so there is less available information, so people are more cautious in picking them.

 

[sitlbitoParticipant]

 I’m sorry but yeah being from Lithuania and Latvia is completely different. 

[sitlbitoParticipant]

 I’m sorry but yeah being from Lithuania and Latvia is completely different. 

[Rip255]

Mudiay was #1 in the class for a long time. He only dropped because he went overseas. He could easily be the best guard in the class. 

Nice post man. You could probably say more with less but I gotta give you credit for the polite manners.

 

[Rip255]

Mudiay was #1 in the class for a long time. He only dropped because he went overseas. He could easily be the best guard in the class. 

Nice post man. You could probably say more with less but I gotta give you credit for the polite manners.

 

[TripleDoubleScoutParticipant]

 I’m not gonna be one of those people on here that claim they always knew something after the fact, but I did think that Mudiay was at least a top 5 prospect this year. Him falling to Denver at 7 was a bit of a surprise, but ultimately I think it will be a good fit for him if Mike Malone is as good a coach as I think he is…

[TripleDoubleScoutParticipant]

 I’m not gonna be one of those people on here that claim they always knew something after the fact, but I did think that Mudiay was at least a top 5 prospect this year. Him falling to Denver at 7 was a bit of a surprise, but ultimately I think it will be a good fit for him if Mike Malone is as good a coach as I think he is…

[froggyParticipant]

Considering recent draft history, I think it’s legitimate for US scouts and GM to question euro players mental toughness (and I’m also european so no euro bashing here). It’s harder to come and play while not being a fluent english speaker and being used to play a different kind of basketball (much slower, much more zone defense, set plays..). You also don’t need top atheticism in Europe but you need it in the NBA (as defense is much more 1vs1 oriented).

Nando de Colo have been a superstar in Europe this year, arguably a top ten player in whole Europe, whereas he struggled to find a spot in NBA teams, for this precise reasons. 

So i understand the "bust" suspicions about Euro players. 

Now for Mudiay and Porzingis : 

I agree that Mudiay is a steal in my opinion. I don’t see him having a worst career than D’angelo Russell. Maybe GM think he is injury prone. (he just played 10-15 games last year). I also think that the guy is mentally tough, he was a competitor before going to China, and this experience surely helped (he played against former NBA players)

About Porzingis, I think he will be efficient from day 1 in NY. He played two years (actually 3 but did not play much the first year) in the ACB which is (I think) the most dense basketball championship in Europe and showed great improvement between year 1 and year 2. He’s probably the best player in the draft. I hope NY fans will realize that soon 🙂

[froggyParticipant]

Considering recent draft history, I think it’s legitimate for US scouts and GM to question euro players mental toughness (and I’m also european so no euro bashing here). It’s harder to come and play while not being a fluent english speaker and being used to play a different kind of basketball (much slower, much more zone defense, set plays..). You also don’t need top atheticism in Europe but you need it in the NBA (as defense is much more 1vs1 oriented).

Nando de Colo have been a superstar in Europe this year, arguably a top ten player in whole Europe, whereas he struggled to find a spot in NBA teams, for this precise reasons. 

So i understand the "bust" suspicions about Euro players. 

Now for Mudiay and Porzingis : 

I agree that Mudiay is a steal in my opinion. I don’t see him having a worst career than D’angelo Russell. Maybe GM think he is injury prone. (he just played 10-15 games last year). I also think that the guy is mentally tough, he was a competitor before going to China, and this experience surely helped (he played against former NBA players)

About Porzingis, I think he will be efficient from day 1 in NY. He played two years (actually 3 but did not play much the first year) in the ACB which is (I think) the most dense basketball championship in Europe and showed great improvement between year 1 and year 2. He’s probably the best player in the draft. I hope NY fans will realize that soon 🙂

[Rip255]

Id love to see a US vs The World game. A mid season classic would be good in All Star Weekend. 

[Rip255]

Id love to see a US vs The World game. A mid season classic would be good in All Star Weekend. 

[Bed HeadParticipant]

However, I notice you didn’t mention the other top 10 "foreigner". Just curious if you have any thoughts on Mario Hezonja?

At any rate, the burden of expectations (while true of any high pick) is far greater for the "internationals", imo, as the american mainstream media is much quicker to label them "busts" (falling back upon the old stereotypes you mention). Though, in fairness, "foreigners" do often tend to be more naive/sensitive than their U.S. counterparts.

[Bed HeadParticipant]

However, I notice you didn’t mention the other top 10 "foreigner". Just curious if you have any thoughts on Mario Hezonja?

At any rate, the burden of expectations (while true of any high pick) is far greater for the "internationals", imo, as the american mainstream media is much quicker to label them "busts" (falling back upon the old stereotypes you mention). Though, in fairness, "foreigners" do often tend to be more naive/sensitive than their U.S. counterparts.

[sheltwon3Participant]

 I think Mudiay dropped because Sacramento has a terrible front office and there was a lot of talent in this draft.  This past draft will go down as one of the best.

You could make a argument that every team but Sacramento made a legit pick.  Bigs like Okafor and Towns don’t come often.  Lakers liked Russel’s shooting and passing over Mudiay who they also liked.

Orlando already has Oladipo and Payton who both can play but have trouble shooting which was said to be Mudiay’s problem.

 

Knicks wind up with a nice veteran point in Jerian Grant and they picked up a big that in a few years could be the best foreign player and that is a rare thing.  Also you need shooters in the triangle because the triangle is not made for every kind of point guard.

Sacramento could have and should have taken Mudiay but then again they have been trying to get Rondo for a while and there are only a few teams that really need a starting point guard.  Denver had a quality point guard who just has other issues but is still talented. I think Philly may be the only other team that really needs a point guard.  Knicks could use  a vet but they did draft Grant and Calderon is still there so I think unless you are a can’t miss prospect in a average to weak draft over the next couple of years, you could drop.

 

We saw how going overseas helped Jennings produce early on and despite his size issues and shooting, he had a great season for detroit until he got hurt.  People forget he went on a tear and Detroit was winning most of the game then he got hurt and the went back to losing.  Reggie Jackson helped but he put up numbers but did not manage the game like Jennings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sheltwon3Participant]

 I think Mudiay dropped because Sacramento has a terrible front office and there was a lot of talent in this draft.  This past draft will go down as one of the best.

You could make a argument that every team but Sacramento made a legit pick.  Bigs like Okafor and Towns don’t come often.  Lakers liked Russel’s shooting and passing over Mudiay who they also liked.

Orlando already has Oladipo and Payton who both can play but have trouble shooting which was said to be Mudiay’s problem.

 

Knicks wind up with a nice veteran point in Jerian Grant and they picked up a big that in a few years could be the best foreign player and that is a rare thing.  Also you need shooters in the triangle because the triangle is not made for every kind of point guard.

Sacramento could have and should have taken Mudiay but then again they have been trying to get Rondo for a while and there are only a few teams that really need a starting point guard.  Denver had a quality point guard who just has other issues but is still talented. I think Philly may be the only other team that really needs a point guard.  Knicks could use  a vet but they did draft Grant and Calderon is still there so I think unless you are a can’t miss prospect in a average to weak draft over the next couple of years, you could drop.

 

We saw how going overseas helped Jennings produce early on and despite his size issues and shooting, he had a great season for detroit until he got hurt.  People forget he went on a tear and Detroit was winning most of the game then he got hurt and the went back to losing.  Reggie Jackson helped but he put up numbers but did not manage the game like Jennings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TRC1991Participant]

RioRep,

Are the favelas as prevalent, morbidly incredible, and overwhelming as Fast Five made them seem? 

 

 

[TRC1991Participant]

RioRep,

Are the favelas as prevalent, morbidly incredible, and overwhelming as Fast Five made them seem? 

 

 

[m0sc0w1teParticipant]

media is bust YES!

porzingis > hezonja> manimal > nba <euro

vladimir Putin destroy obama 1 on1

 

[m0sc0w1teParticipant]

media is bust YES!

porzingis > hezonja> manimal > nba <euro

vladimir Putin destroy obama 1 on1

 

[RioRepParticipant]

 First, I must apologize for the confusion between Latvia and Lithuania. You´re right… But I think you’ve gotten my point. Kristaps Porzingis should not be judged by the failures of other european big man like Darko and Bargnani. He´s another player, another human being. And he´s gonna be great. Just because he´s talented enough and he wants it enough. 

And Mudiay will be a superstar. 

For Bed Head:

I like Hezonja, mainly he´s attitude. He´s a shooter that believes he can be more than that. We´ll see if he can. And I really think that naivity can be a good thing for a young man coming from overseas. Until it´s not… Like Giannis. It was really refreshing to see a kid so delighted to have the oportunity to crack in to the NBA against so many odds. Hezonja really think he´s great. That´s halfway to being successful. For to be sensible is terrible, being confident is crucial.

For TaylorCondrin:

I don´t know what is Fast Five. The stupid car chasing movie? But I can assure you that favelas are not "prevalent", "incredible", nor "overwelming". 

How do you like Ty Lawson to the Rockets?! I think that the West is so stacked, it´s frightening! Great trade by the Rockets! More room for Mudiay to grow!

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RioRepParticipant]

 First, I must apologize for the confusion between Latvia and Lithuania. You´re right… But I think you’ve gotten my point. Kristaps Porzingis should not be judged by the failures of other european big man like Darko and Bargnani. He´s another player, another human being. And he´s gonna be great. Just because he´s talented enough and he wants it enough. 

And Mudiay will be a superstar. 

For Bed Head:

I like Hezonja, mainly he´s attitude. He´s a shooter that believes he can be more than that. We´ll see if he can. And I really think that naivity can be a good thing for a young man coming from overseas. Until it´s not… Like Giannis. It was really refreshing to see a kid so delighted to have the oportunity to crack in to the NBA against so many odds. Hezonja really think he´s great. That´s halfway to being successful. For to be sensible is terrible, being confident is crucial.

For TaylorCondrin:

I don´t know what is Fast Five. The stupid car chasing movie? But I can assure you that favelas are not "prevalent", "incredible", nor "overwelming". 

How do you like Ty Lawson to the Rockets?! I think that the West is so stacked, it´s frightening! Great trade by the Rockets! More room for Mudiay to grow!

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gabriel_akvaParticipant]

Good to see another brazilian here! Welcome!

Bom ver que não sou só eu de brasileiro por aqui! hahaha Bem-vindo, camarada!

[gabriel_akvaParticipant]

Good to see another brazilian here! Welcome!

Bom ver que não sou só eu de brasileiro por aqui! hahaha Bem-vindo, camarada!

[cjwParticipant]

There is no way mudiay reaches the level of john wall. Mudiay’s athleticism is a very ovverated athlete and he cant shoot well at all.

[cjwParticipant]

There is no way mudiay reaches the level of john wall. Mudiay’s athleticism is a very ovverated athlete and he cant shoot well at all.

[RioRepParticipant]

 Mudiay is not going to reach John Wall. He´ll surpass him like a lightining bolt.

Wall still can´t shoot and he´s 5 years older. He´s a great athletic player and a great competitor. But most of all, Wall is dumb. You can´t cure dumbness. 

Gabriel, 

muito prazer. Onde você mora? Sua idade?

Abs

Tande

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RioRepParticipant]

 Mudiay is not going to reach John Wall. He´ll surpass him like a lightining bolt.

Wall still can´t shoot and he´s 5 years older. He´s a great athletic player and a great competitor. But most of all, Wall is dumb. You can´t cure dumbness. 

Gabriel, 

muito prazer. Onde você mora? Sua idade?

Abs

Tande

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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