Nike Hoop Summit

[by Christophe Ney] - This weekend was held the Nike Hoop Summit in Memphis, an annual meeting of the top talent from the US and the rest of the world. The age group is High School seniors and 1988 born or younger players. The selection of the Rest of the World team had several very bright young talents that wanted to shine in the US and show a good performance to increase their stock for the upcoming NBA Drafts. As most of the European players are already pretty well known by the observers this side and on the other side of the Ocean, there was one young player coming from the North that impressed a lot of observers. His name is Petteri Koponen and he is from Finland.

Finland is not the biggest basketball country in the world, but it looks like the basketball is in a rising period around Helsinki and the other cities in the Nokia World. There are a few Finnish players around in the different European leagues, but Koponen is creating the biggest hype at the moment, in a country that glorifies more commonly his Hockey players, Nordic Skiers or Death Metal bands. So why is this young blond guy, who looks like any Finnish guy you might meet on the street of Helsinki, such a big thing in his country?

I saw Koponen for the first time last year playing with his national team. I did not know before going to that game that there was such a big talent on the Finnish roster. I did not even know until after the game when I came back home and checked the stats of that game. I remembered the PG of the Finnish team who played a good game, doing nearly no mistakes and giving good passes and taking good shots. I thought that this is an experienced player who knows pretty well his teammates and knows what to do to have his team running the offense. Then I saw his birth date, he was born in 1988. I was surprised by the age of this kid. He was only 18 years old and already playing like a pro.

 I tried to follow somehow his progression and got the information this spring that Jerry West in person was traveling to Finland to scout him. By that occasion, there was the announcement that Koponen was selected to the Nike Hoop Summit.  After the official announcement of the rosters, I remember having read on several Internet pages comments about his selection. People were questioning why a "Finnish guy" was selected, why not this one or that one, that this selection is "a joke". I was thinking by myself once again that people were already judging a player without even having seen him, just on his name, look or nationality.

I was then waiting for last weekend to see how he will do against the much quicker and physical American guards. And what happened? Well, all the Internet sites that followed the weekend in Memphis were amazed by Koponen's play, even considering him now as a NBA prospect. What an effect after having him seen only once, playing an exhibition game. I just hope now that he will go to the Finnish Finals and also show his skills in close games. His name is now common in the States too, and Koponen will now have to get used to see his performances followed more closely by the different Draft sites in the United States. The hype has now passed the ocean...