NBA Draft and great expectations

PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - The 2014 NBA Draft was full of talent, sons of former players, international players - especially Canadians - the expected and the unexpected.

Drafting has become more and more scientific and analytical over the years but, as in sports in general, the beauty of it all is that surprising things still do happen.

Scouts, computers and psychological tests are fine and dandy and quite useful but there is still an important dose of mystery and gut instinct that comes into play (especially when the San Antonio Spurs are making choices!).

We expected two sons of former NBA players, Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker, to be drafted in some order with the top two choices and it was the unbelievably lucky franchise (concerning the ping pong balls) of Cleveland that drafted a Canadian first for the second year in a row by choosing Wiggins.

His profile reflects this draft in general for me. Many feel that this draft competes with 2003 for the overall level of the talent but I wonder if we are not overrating it somewhat. Only time will tell us if Wiggins is the new surefire superstar with his Jordanesque leaping ability or not. He can fly but he looks wispy thin to me and his wrist lazily breaks to the left on his outside shot.

His work ethic and desire to improve will decide what level he attains in his career but I feel it will take some time. In the short run, if he can produce near a DeMar DeRozan's level that would already be pretty good!

On the other hand, everyone seems convinced that Parker is the most NBA-ready of the top prospects-along with the Los Angeles Lakers' seventh pick, Julius Randall - as a Carmelo Anthony stretch 4 type player and on a weak, rebuilding team like the Milwaukee Bucks he will have plenty of playing time and touches to show off his talent.

He can shoot the three and post up or run the court and rebound. He is saying all the right things about Milwaukee, a team a lot of players didn't want to go to, and with new, ambitious owners and eventually Jason Kidd in the mix, the Bucks look like an up and coming team now. Barring injury, Parker is my favorite for Rookie of the year.

The third choice was Joel Embid by the Philadelphia 76ers, a team willing to take a big risk on a fragile giant who had serious back and foot problems this season.  Let's hope that Philly has better luck with Embid than with Andrew Bynum!

Some see Joel as the next Hakeem Olajuwon and others fear he will be the next Greg Oden or Hasheem Thabeet. He'll be able to count on big brotherly advice from Joakim Noah who also has roots in Cameroon.

Of the 10 internationals chosen in the first round, the most unexpected events were seeing Australia's Dante Exum chosen as high as fifth by the Utah Jazz and Brazilian raw talent Bruno Caboclo picked 20th by the Toronto Raptors, a team that's been pretty sly in its recruitement under Masai Ujiri.

Exum's father won the title at North Carolina with Michael Jordan in 1982 and Dante has been brilliant in international youth competitions but has played essentially in Australia up to now so his high selection proves that today's scouts leave no stone unturned!

Caboclo is a Giannis Antetokounmpo-type project with amazing length and physical attributes who is probably a few years away from actually playing in the NBA.

Similarly, the Houston Rockets also look to want to wait on the 25th pick from Switzerland, Clint Capela, who might be persuaded to play another year in Europe. Capela should model himself after Serge Ibaka and work endlessly to improve his mid-range shooting because he's already a great shot blocker, dunker off the pick and roll and rebounder.

Dario Saric from Croatia is a great all-around 6ft 10in (2.09m) talent who reminds me of Danilo Gallinari. Although he was chosen 12th by the Orlando Magic (before being traded to Philadelphia), he hasn't created much buzz which is surprising because he is the best European player of his generation winning many MVP trophies in international youth competitions but more importantly in ADULT club competitions too! The truth is that he has had the most successful career up to now of ALL the draftees.

Even more under the radar than Saric is Serbia's, Bogdan Bogdanovic, who averaged 15 points a game for Partizan Belgrade and was only chosen 27th by the Phoenix Suns despite being voted the Euroleague's rising star this past season.  He'll pair up nicely with the NBA's Most Improved Player, Goran Dragic, and the Suns. It would seem logical to me that players who shine at the highest level in Europe are more NBA-ready than players coming off one season in the NCAA which is the equivalent of junior competition elsewhere in the world despite the NCAA's mega arenas,TV contracts and media attention.

In the second round, Italian scorer Alessandro Gentile and Cape Verde's Walter Tavares, the best shot blocker in Spain, seem like potential bargains to me.

Concerning the US players, Miami was smart to get LeBron James' favorite point guard in the Draft, Shabazz Napier,the  two-time NCAA champ, because this might help sway LeBron to stay! Shabazz has a bit of Stephen Curry or Damian Lillard in him after four years of NCAA experience but he's only 6ft 1in (1.85m) which might be a hindrance at the NBA level.

As usual, San Antonio got a good player with a very late first round pick in UCLA's Kyle Anderson. He'll go to camp competing for a roster spot with one of the Euroleague's best up-and-coming players this season, DeShaun Thomas, an amazing shooter who played for Nanterre in France.

In the final analysis, this talented draft will be remembered for all the things mentionned above but also for the fact that four Canadians were chosen which means that in coming years Steve Nash will have some great players at his disposition with the national team.

George Eddy

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