[JunkYardDogParticipant]

Here is a nice story from J.Givony and DE : from a bball point (a us prospect coming at an early age in europe) and from their lineage point (history of his grand father)

http://www.draftexpress.com/blog/International-Blog/#Nike-International-Junior-Tournament-Kaunas-Best-of-the-Rest-3852

Khadeem Lattin, 6-9, PF/C, Canarias Basketball Academy, USA 1995

Surely one of the most interesting stories at this event,Khadeem Lattinis a rare prospect who elected to take the diametric opposite route most players here are looking to—leaving the US for Europe at the tender age of 16. Lattin and his support group were reportedly not happy with the pace of his development in Texas and the grassroots world of summer basketball and opted to spend his final two and a half years of high school at Canarias Basketball Academy.



Located in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco, but officially a part of the territory of Spain, the CBA is a basketball academy run by an American coach named Rob Orellana. The academy recruits prospects around Europe who are interested in playing NCAA basketball, helping them get academically eligible for college and giving them exposure through tournaments such as this.



Khadeem is the grandson of Dave Lattin, the starting center of the famed Texas Western Miners team (featured in the movie “Glory Road”) that broke down racial barriers as the first all-black starting five in NCAA history.



Standing around 6-9 with big hands, very long arms, and a frame that will likely fill out nicely in time, most of the intrigue surrounding Lattin revolves around his strong physical profile. He is a solid athlete who can make his presence felt in the paint on both ends of the floor, even if he lacks significant polish at this stage.



Offensively, Lattin is fairly limited, getting most of his production at this tournament by running the floor, crashing the offensive glass, and finishing any plays his guards were able to create for him around the basket. Not very aggressive in this setting with the ball in his hands, his post moves, jump shot, and overall ball skills appear to be unpolished. He scored 17 points total in his four games here, playing only 15 minutes on average, still seemingly adjusting to the very different style of play of European basketball and even looking a bit passive at times.



Defensively is where Lattin is able to make more of an impact at the moment. Although his intensity level was up and down at this tournament, he’s capable of blocking shots, getting deflections and coming up with some extremely impressive rebounds when he’s fully dialed in. His quick feet and excellent length allow him to step out occasionally to the perimeter, even though he still has a long ways to go in terms of gaining experience and improving his instincts and overall feel for the game.



A year younger than most of the prospects here—not turning 17 until this April—Lattin is clearly still in a very early stage of his development both physically and skill-wise. He has some nice tools to work with, and is surely a prospect worth keeping track of in the future, especially if he grows another inch or two.

J.GIVONY From DraftExpress.com

 

 

 

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

It is an unwritten rule that we do not post DX stuff. It is kind of a sore subject as they are a competitor sight and I think you get the rest. You can go there, you can read it, you can reference it but people have gotten kicked off the sight for posting too much DX.

That being said, Lattin is definitely an interesting subject. Kind of what you would expect from a skinny, 6’9 kid with some famous genes. Still think it is cool that he went to Europe for HS, definitely first time I heard a major American HS prospect do so. I posted about it a few months ago:

http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/khadeem-lattin-enrolls-canarias-basketball-academy

 

[JunkYardDogParticipant]

 ok thanks…. didn’t know that "territory battle"…. 

thanks for the link, I was thinking too, his story was interested also to see if one day, one us prospect could come into an  european team and develop a game mixing the 2 cultures.

Tyler, jennings, dunnigan were relative failures.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

They went for pro ball, Khadeem is actually technically still going to school. Plus, I would not say that Dunigan was a failure as much as his eligibility came into question and he went to Europe as an alternative. He actually looked MUCH better after the year in Europe than he ever did at Oregon and I was never 100% about his draft prospects to begin with.

Jeremy Tyler was a maturity issue (the Israeli league was a rude awakening for a 17 year old kid) and Brandon Jennings was apparently on the wrong kind of team. Still, both made the NBA and seem not so much worse for wear. Will be interesting to see if Khadeem develops a "European type game", but I have a feeling it is more about the type of player than the type of skill set. We will see if it gives him a possible competitive advantage and I am hoping that we can see what Canarias did for him in a couple years at the NCAA level. Odds are, he is still at least going to a year of college, he does not necessarily have to play European pro ball.

[river09Participant]

 glory road great movie.. This is an interesting story though.. As a sixteen year old I’m not sure how I would respond to having decided to hinge my entire future on basketball… It would be interesting how they make "students" at CBA "academically eligible"… CBA isn’t a place colleges really would look for "students"… I’ve posted about this before. But colleges are a place for academics. Every time a high schooler who barely got his high school diploma gets a scholarship to a great school it is insulting to a student who has to scratch just to get enough money for tuition every semester. I actually go to my school for (guess what) school, I swim for my university, but I don’t get paid for it and don’t think I should be, not because I’m bad (I am actually a very very good sprinter) but because it’s something I enjoy. All of my small scholarships come from academics. The chances of me being able to fully cover my last couple semesters is laughable (you know…. laugh entil you start crying type of laughing). Yet basketball and football players get full rides (sometimes literally, on some campuses they get their own mopeds, free of course) to the school of their choosing. Rant over. I have homework to do. 

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