MANILA (Enzo Flojo's Asia on my Mind) - It's rare for even the very best basketball players in Asia to make headlines outside of the continent, much less in the United States. 

But three rising stars are doing exactly that.

For all intents and purposes, 2015 is going to be an interesting year in Asian basketball. 

The 2015 edition of the FIBA Asia Championship will be the last of its kind as far as having the winning team qualify for the following year’s Olympic Games.

As of 2017, with FIBA's new calendar and competition system coming into effect, we will have the FIBA Pacific Championship featuring the Asian teams and the Oceania powerhouses Australia and New Zealand will be part of the mix as well.

Lebanon are bent on making a splash, too, after missing the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship, 2014 FIBA Asia Cup and 2014 Asian Games.

For their part, teams such as China and the Philippines are also in a state of transition, with new coaches and players being called up to the national side.

Amidst the din of these developments, however, three Asian-born players will vie for their own time in the spotlight. They are: Jeff Wu of Chinese Taipei, Kobe Paras of the Philippines and Yuta Watanabe of Japan.

Jeff Wu (Wu Yong-Sheng)
Standing 1.88m (6ft 2in) tall and weighing only 77 kilos (170 pounds), Wu won't turn many heads when he walks into a gym. After all, he isn't the biggest, most chiseled and imposing figure on the Modesto (California) Christian Crusaders basketball team.

If would be folly, though, to get fooled by his seemingly scrawny figure, especially when he starts showing his impressive ball handling skills and swishing jumpers. As the starting point guard for the Crusaders, the native of Taipei City's Xinyi district has impressed a lot of people, especially his coach, Richard Midgley.

"I think Jeff has excellent court awareness and a good feel for the game," he said. "He makes the right play most of the time, and he shoots really well."

For the record, Wu is scoring 10.5 points a game and shooting 37.6 percent from beyond the arc for the Crusaders.

At this point, Wu seems headed to California State University where he will play for the Sacramento State Hornets in the NCAA Division 1's Big Sky Conference. 

If, indeed, Wu continues to develop into a reliable playmaker and knock-down shooter, he can definitely be a terrific addition to future editions of Chinese Taipei's senior men's national team, which prides itself in great speed and shooting.

Kobe Paras
If you caught glimpses and higlights of the 2013 FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, then you should know who this kid is. Kobe, the Manila-bred son of former Philippines national team center Benjie Paras, wowed crowds and peers when he won the Honda Dunk Contest in that tournament. 

Just check out his highlights below and you can see why he took top honors.

Fast-forward to 2014 and 2015 and Kobe is now one of the most popular high school players in the State of California, continuously filling gymnasiums with fans eager to witness his high-flying act. 

Lest you think that Paras is a one-dimensional above-the-rim artist, though, don't forget that he was also a key piece of the Batang Gilas Pilipinas team that came in fifth at the 2014 FIBA Asia U18 Championship in Doha, Qatar. 

In that competition, the 1.98m (6ft 6in) wingman ranked second on the team in scoring with 11.6 points per game. He was also second in rebounding (6.0 per outing) and was the team's top shot-blocker (1.0 per contest) - proof that his game goes beyond just dunking.

Recently, Paras has attracted a lot of attention from NCAA Division 1 scouts, especially after impressing in his current tour of duty as a member of the Cathedral High School (Los Angeles) Phantom. He is putting up 14.6 points and 2.6 steals. 

He has committed to play for the storied UCLA Bruins of the Pac-12 Conference, coached by Steve Alford, who once compared him to Minnesota Timberwolves rookie and NBA Slam Dunk champion Zach Lavine.

If and when Paras decides to don the tri-colors of Gilas Pilipinas, his entertaining and well-rounded brand of play will surely draw in throngs of fans and give the Philippines maybe its most athletic wing player in recent history.

Yuta Watanabe
Whereas Wu is a sniper from long range and Paras is a youthful human highlight reel, Japan's Yuta Watanabe seems to represent the happy balance of both skill-sets. And the 20-year-old has his sights set on the big time.

"My dream is to play someday in the NBA," he said in a 2014 interview.

With impressive size, length, athleticism, and range, Watanabe certainly has the raw materials to someday be the first Japanese-born cager to make it to the NBA straight from the US NCAA.

The 2.04m (6ft 8in) wunderkind dubbed "The Chosen One" by Japanese media has been solid so far in his inaugural NCAA campaign at George Washington University, averaging 7.0 points and 3.5 rebounds in 21.3 minutes.

His current coach for the Colonials, Mike Lonergan,  has only good things to say about the native of Japan's Kagawa Prefecture.

"Yuta is a very versatile player who can play several positions. He has the ball-handling and shooting abilities of a guard and the athleticism and height of a forward," he said.

One thing that sets Watanabe apart from both Wu and Paras is that he has, in fact, already seen action at the senior level of FIBA Asia's main competitions. 

He was one of the youngest players in the field at the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship in Manila, seeing action in four games. 

His best outing was against a veteran Hong Kong side, where he tallied 13 points and 4 rebounds, shooting 5 of 8 from the field. He was an 18-year-old thrown into the fire back then. 

It's reasonable to expect him to be one of Japan's main weapons moving forward, maybe even as early as the next East Asia or FIBA Asia senior-level tournament.

With the way Wu, Paras and Watanabe have been playing and getting attention in the US, their hometown fans are definitely pining for the day these three budding young stars represent their respective countries. Who knows? They may be the next bona fide stars of Asia in the next FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Enzo Flojo

FIBA

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