NBA Draft: International backlash?
By Chad Ford
NBA Insider
Send an Email to Chad Ford Friday, December 5
NEW YORK -- The scene at Madison Square Garden was something out of a Kofi Annan or Tony Ronzone perfect dream -- the UN of NBA hoops.
Standing alone on the court taking jumpers an hour and a half before the Knicks-Pistons game on Monday was 18-year-old Darko Milicic, the youngest and highest-drafted player ever from Europe.
Within minutes he was joined by fellow Serbian Slavko Vranes, a 19-year-old, 7-foot-6 center for the New York Knicks. Right behind him was 18-year-old Polish big Maciej Lampe, another rookie with the Knicks.
They stopped, hugged, laughed and asked each other the most important question of the evening.
"Hey, why aren't you playing Maciej?" Darko says with smile.
For rookies Milicic, Lampe and Vranes, earning playing time as been an uphill battle.
"What are you talking about?" Lampe replies. "You're the No. 2 pick, why aren't you playing?"
Vranes, who towers over both of them, just shrugs his shoulders and smiles. He wasn't playing even before he reached the NBA. For this 7-foot-6 giant, this is nothing new.
"I'm watching," Vranes tells Insider. "I'm watching, waiting and hoping. This is what I do."
This is what they all do. The international revolution may have taken place this summer when a record eight foreign players were taken in the first round. But, six weeks into the regular season, only three international studs -- the Suns' Zarko Cabarkapa, the Jazz's Aleksandar Pavlovic and the Hawks' Boris Diaw -- are actually getting any playing time on the court.
All of the big names -- Milicic (No. 2), Mickael Pietrus (No. 11), Zoran Planinic (No. 22), Leandro Barbosa (No. 28), Lampe (No. 30), Vranes (No. 39) and Zaur Pachulia (No. 42) -- are wasting away on the bench.
Much like the heralded super high school class of 2001, the international class of 2003 looks too young and too raw to make the type of impact experts thought they would this season.
"It's our own fault," one NBA GM said. "We keep taking kids younger and younger and expect more and more for them. We strip-mined college basketball, and now we're doing it internationally. The fact that these kids aren't ready shouldn't be a surprise. At their age, and with their lack of experience, they shouldn't be ready."
Great fundamentals, killer outside shots, and long legs haven't been enough to get these heralded prospects in the game. No one knows this more than Milicic, who wears the burden of being drafted ahead of Carmelo Anthony like a millstone around his neck.
Darko Days Ahead
Pistons coach Larry Brown still cannot take his eyes off Darko. It's two hours before the Pistons take on the Knicks in Madison Square Garden. Numerous preparations still need to be made, but Brown has parked himself 10 feet from Milicic and is watching his every move.
"Use your pivot foot, Darko," Brown yells as Milicic works on post drills with Zeljko Rebraca and Darvin Ham.
Darko Milicic
Forward-Center
Detroit Pistons
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
7 0.0 0.4 0.0 .000 .000
Darko fakes once to the left, then spins around and shoots a nice floating fade away over Ham's outstretched hand.
"No, Darko," Brown yells. "You have six inches on him. Take him to the basket, shoot over him."
Brown is now on the court, showing Darko the proper move. "Do you understand?" Brown says as Darko begins to walk away. There's a subtle nod by Darko.
"Does he understand?" Brown says turning to assistant coach Dave Hanners. Hanners shrugs his shoulders. Darko keeps walking.
Next drill. Darko grabs the ball, pivots and takes Ham hard to the basket. "That's it Darko," Brown says. Then he mumbles under his breath, "I guess he understood."
Despite all of the reports swirling around talk radio in Detroit, Brown likes Darko. "He's a great kid," Brown tells Insider. "He works so hard, and he's just so skilled."
Brown ticks off Darko's best attributes: Sweet shooting touch, great passing ability, high basketball IQ.
Teammate Ben Wallace gushes with praise for the kid he calls "the Russian Rocky."
"He's working his butt off. That's how you earn respect with us," Wallace says later, as Darko sits on the locker room floor doing sit-ups and push ups.
Sounds like a No. 2 pick in the draft. So why isn't Darko getting playing time?
"He wants to play out here," Brown says, motioning to the 3-point line. "I want him playing in there," he says pointing to the paint.
For the next half hour, Darko plays exclusively in the paint. His moves look strong. He plays with confidence. And he has little difficulty scoring against the likes of Ham and Rebraca.
"He looks great," Brown admits. "He looks great here. The problem is, the kid hasn't played. He just doesn't have the game experience to throw him out there. I want him to play the right way before we throw him to the wolves."
And here is Brown's dilemma. He's got a kid with a ton of talent and very little knowledge about how to use it in the NBA game. Brown could throw him out there now, and Darko would learn. But the team would suffer. Or, Brown can keep him off the court and let him learn by watching. At some point, however, Brown concedes that watching will only get Darko so far.
"It's a strange tightrope you have to walk."
Darko's Not Alone
Brown isn't the first to walk it. The NBA has been drafting teenagers for years. While there are success stories here and there (like LeBron James or Amare Stoudemire), in most cases it has taken the kids years to develop.
"This has nothing to do with what country a kid is from," Pistons president Joe Dumars told Insider. "The history of drafting kids at 18 is that these kids aren't ready. Kobe, KG and McGrady weren't ready. You could see the flashes here and there, but they weren't ready for the league. Period."
Tim Floyd coached Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry their rookie years. He was quick to tick off the attributes that 18-year-olds lack when they make the jump.
“ This has nothing to do with what country a kid is from. The history of drafting kids at 18 is that these kids aren't ready. Kobe, KG and McGrady weren't ready. You could see the flashes here and there, but they weren't ready for the league. Period. ”
— Joe Dumars
"Maturity, experience, physical strength, focus," Floyd told Insider. "There are huge expectations on these kids, and most of them aren't equipped with the tools to live up to them right away. When you think about it, what 18-year-old, in any job, really is?"
International teenagers are proving to be not so different from their American counterparts.
Last year, the Nuggets got the first taste of the phenomenon when they drafted 19-year-old Nikoloz Tskitishvili with the No. 5 pick. Skita wasn't even getting playing time overseas. The jump to the NBA was just too much for the 7-footer from Georgia to handle.
Skita laid a major egg his rookie year, averaging just 3.9 ppg on 29 percent shooting from the field. The skinny 7-footer spent all of his time hanging out on the perimeter launching 3s, struggled defensively and was the source of much derision after the Nuggets passed on rookies like Caron Butler and Amare Stoudemire to draft him.
"Last year, he was the equivalent of a high school senior coming into the league," Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe said. "He didn't play much in Europe and lacked the strength and the experience to really compete in the league. But he's a talented kid. When you see a kid work that hard in the summer and combine with his obvious physical gifts, I have no doubt he's going to be really good."
"Last season was hard for me," Skita told Insider. "Everyone wants to come into the NBA and play well. I was disappointed with my performance. I sometimes wondered what was wrong with me."
That's why Dumars isn't sweating. He claims he knew what he was getting into when he drafted Darko No. 2.
"You have to have the appetite to draft kids who aren't ready right away," Dumars said. "I'm trying to balance what I give to the coach. We've given Larry a team that he can win with, even without Darko. So you look long-term and try put a roster in place that will help you win now and down the road."
While Dumars admits drafting Darko over Carmelo would have been a more difficult decision had the Pistons not had such a talented roster, he claims he probably would have made the same decision.
"Carmelo's a talented player and was worthy of a No. 2 pick," Dumars said. "But you win with size in this league, and we think that in a few years, Darko will be just as good, only he'll be doing it at 7-foot-2."
How Milicic handles the pressure will go a long way in determining what type of career he has.
"I'm having fun," Milicic told Insider. "I just do what the coach asks me to do. That's my job. I cannot control what everyone else thinks. I'm just glad to be a Piston."
He does and doesn't mean it. Darko is competitive and is dying to get into the game. But he's also mature enough to know that unlike in Europe, he's not better than the guys he practices against every day. Not yet anyway.
"I have a lot to prove," Darko says. "A lot to learn. I'm just playing hard and trying not to keep making the same mistakes."
Brown goes out of his way to praise Milicic's work ethic and dedication. He tells the story of Milicic hiring his own driver on an off-day to take him to the gym so he could practice alone. He defends the 18-year-old with passion.
"He doesn't speak our language; he doesn't understand our culture; he doesn't know the NBA; he doesn't even shave or drive; and we expect him to be something I don't think he can be right now," Brown said. "He's still learning how to live. The basketball will come."
"He's worked as hard as any guy on the team," Dumars said. "He's light years ahead of where he was. It's only a matter of time now."
They keep getting younger
The dilemma with Darko and Skita has raised eyebrows among some NBA GMs. The last few years, the prospect of finding the next Dirk Nowitzki probably caused a few teams to reach too far for a young prospect who just wasn't ready.
So forgive them if they're a little leery this year when they see the age of some of the top international prospects being bandied around.
Players like Predrag Samardzski (17), Manuchar Markoishvili (17), Andris Biedrins (17), Damir Omerhodzic (18), Pavel Podkolzine (18), Tiago Splitter (18) and Kosta Perovic (18) are all projected as possible top-15 picks in next year's draft. With the exception of Perovic and, to a lesser extent, Splitter, none of them are even playing with their European teams.
"There are no bigs in this years draft, so guys start gazing overseas," one scout said. "But what they are finding is kids who should be seniors in high school. These kids aren't ready. They aren't even getting the playing time that Darko was in Serbia. But they have so much talent and are so tall that teams push right on past that. Guys like Biedrins and Omerhodzic have no business being even mentioned as possible draft prospects. They have a talent but still haven't had a chance to use it. You think they'll get playing experience in the NBA? Look around, it's not happening."
The same could be said of America's top draft prospects. The early consensus No. 1 is Dwight Howard, a skinny 18-year-old high school kid who scouts concede is closer to Kwame Brown than to Stoudemire. Right behind him is Josh Smith, a skinny 6-foot-9 high school swingman who also happens to be 18. On the college side, scouts are raving about Luol Deng, who at 18 has played just five games of college basketball. UConn's Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon are the only college athletes mentioned in the lottery right now who are older than 19.
Now you know why David Stern is pushing so hard for an age limit in the NBA.
The nature of the draft is continuing to evolve. Ten years ago, the lottery was meant to restock bad teams with good players who could come in and immediately turn around fortunes. Now, it's only a matter of time before KinderCare jumps aboard as the official sponsor of the 2010 NBA Draft.
"Again, it's about having the appetite to draft 18-year-olds," Dumars says. "Some teams are comfortable, some aren't. Americans. Europeans. Chinese. Doesn't matter. If you can put your team in a position where you can be patient and don't need the pick right away, the reward can be very, very high. If you need the kid now? Good luck."
Draft Cards
Of the top international prospects actually getting playing time, no one is having a better season than Serbia's Kosta Perovic. Subbing for injured Nets first-round pick Nenad Kristic, Perovic has stunned some scouts with his strong play in the Yugoslavian league.
Now that Partizan is playing Euroleague games, his numbers have dipped slightly, but that's to be expected with the increase in competition. The 18-year-old, 7-foot-2 lithe center dropped 16 points on 8-for-10 shooting vs. Pau Orthez recently. He also grabbed six rebounds and blocked four shots in 26 minutes. Some scouts claim Perovic's inclusion on the Serbian national team this summer really helped in his progression.
"He's got a sweet shooting touch and great hands," one scout told Insider. "He's very long. He reminds me a little bit of Pau Gasol. He doesn't have the strength or the body to bang at all, but he's so skilled, he finds other ways to get it done around the basket. He's still a little raw offensively, but he's really taken a big step this year."
Scouts are split on exactly how good a prospect Perovic will be. Several think he's got a shot at being a top-three pick should he choose to come out. Others think that because he's so thin and raw, teams will shy away from him this season.
The other young international prospect getting some playing time is Brazil's Tiago Splitter. Playing with Spain's Tau Vitoria, Splitter is averaging 4.4 ppg and 3.4 rpg in just over 17 mpg in Euroleague play.
Splitter has been on scouts' radar screens for a few years, but he really made a name for himself with his strong play for the Brazilian national team at the Tournament of the America's in Puerto Rico this summer. Splitter played extensive minutes vs. Team USA, and despite being just 18, looked like he was ready to play with the big boys.
He's got a nice body and, at 7-feet, 245, is the right size for the NBA. Splitter is more physical than many of the international players, but he still has the ability to play three positions in the pros. His outside shot isn't as good as Darko or Dirk, but it's improving.
Most scouts believe that if he comes out this year, he's a lock for the top 10 and could go as high as the top five.
Speaking of Brazilians, Anderson Varejao is making the most of his strong play vs. the U.S. in Puerto Rico this summer. For the past two seasons Varejao has been unable to play much with his team, F.C. Barcelona, because of Spanish league rules. Now that things have changed, Varejao has become a more important cog for the defending Euroleague champs.
He recently had 15 points and 10 rebounds vs. Cibona and seems to be developing a more consistent perimeter shot. While Varejao will never be the offensive force that scouts like, he's long, athletic and aggressive around the boards.
A few scouts still feel like Varejao can play his way back into the lottery this season. The rest think he's a mid-to-late first-rounder.
Sergei Monya and Viktor Khryapa continue to split minutes for CSKA Moscow and are putting up almost identical numbers. Monya is averaging 9.2 ppg and 2.8 rpg on 75 percent shooting. Khryapa is averaging 9.0 ppg and 2.0 rpg on 90 percent shooting.
Still, scouts have grown to favor Monya over Khryapa based almost entirely on Monya's more aggressive attitude and better athleticism. Right now Monya is projected as a mid-first-round pick. Most scouts are currently projecting Khryapa as either a late-first-round or early second-round pick.
Around the League
Jerry West is convinced Bonzi Wells is basically a "good kid" and that he'll behave himself in Memphis. "Hubie [Brown] and I both talked to him before the trade was made," West told Insider. "We were pleasantly surprised with how charming he really was. I think he's a good kid who was in a tough situation. We believe things will be different here."
Bonzi Wells
Shooting Guard
Memphis Grizzlies
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
13 12.2 4.7 2.7 .389 .778
Wells does as well. "I'm going to come in and play my game," Wells told reporters on Thursday. "Whatever (Brown) wants me to do, I'll do. Whenever he tells me my role, I'm going to try to do it to the best of my ability. ... You've got a lot of guys here who can really play. Hopefully, I can just fit in."
And if he doesn't fit in? "We won't put up with any nonsense here," West said. "He knows that. He's going to play our way and with the type of professionalism we expect from our players, or he's not going to play."
Given Wells' rocky history, isn't that a risk? West claims it really isn't. "We did our homework and knew what type of player we were getting," West said. "We think in the right system, whatever problems he's had in the past won't be an issue."
If that's true, then the Grizzlies got a steal. While the team is loaded with talent, they don't really have many players who can create their own shot and get to the line in the fourth quarter when the team needs a bucket. Bonzi can. An aging Wesley Person and a mid-first-round pick is a small price to pay for a player like Wells, if he keeps his head on straight.
Are the Nets considering trading Jason Kidd? That's the thesis behind a New York Times article this morning that actually makes some sense. With the team struggling to win, draw fans and find an owner, has Kidd's six-year, $103 million deal become a problem?
Jason Kidd
Point Guard
New Jersey Nets
Profile
2003-2004 SEASON STATISTICS
GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT%
17 16.6 6.4 9.1 .387 .802
While the story makes it clear that there is no evidence that Kidd is on the trading block, it's an interesting problem for the Nets and Rod Thorn. Kidd isn't happy and probably wishes he would've signed with the Spurs. The Nets are struggling to find a buyer. The Nets still can't generate any fan support. The team probably can't afford to re-sign Kenyon Martin with Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo's contracts hanging over their head. Coach Byron Scott is on the hot seat. What's a team to do?
While trading Kidd seems like the most drastic course, it's possible the Nets would have to resort to that if they couldn't work out a trade that gets them something special in return for Martin.
Where would Kidd go? It's only speculation at this point, but the Spurs would seem like a logical destination next summer. They'll have the cap room to absorb his contract. A Tony Parker-for-Kidd swap would give the Nets a much cheaper alternative at the point and give the Spurs the point guard they coveted last summer.
Ignore the rumblings in today's New York Post about the Knicks going after the Hawks' Jason Terry. Terry is a base-year compensation player, making his contract almost impossible to trade until next fall.
No more Bull for the Hornets' Tim Floyd
By Chad Ford
NBA Insider
Send an Email to Chad Ford Friday, December 5
Updated: December 5
11:54 AM ET
Tim Floyd's coming back in Chicago. And he's feeling lucky.
Why is Floyd smiling? Because he survived three-and-a-half horrific years as the coach of the Terri-bulls to tell the tale. Jerry Krause, the guy who put together that monstrosity and fired him, didn't. Neither did coach Bill Cartwright, Floyd's replacement.
Floyd is now the head coach of the New Orleans Hornets. His team is 13-6 and owns the third-best record in the East and fifth-best record in the NBA. The Bulls? Their off to a 5-13 start are just now emerging from the dark ages of the past six seasons.
"It feels great," Floyd told Insider before the season. "I feel very fortunate. Very lucky. The opportunity to coach a team that has a chance to win means everything to me."
Floyd"Those four years [in Chicago] seemed like they lasted a 100," Floyd said. "I wasn't sure if I'd get another chance."
In reality, this isn't Floyd's second chance. It's his first.
"I was in a situation where what we were talking about was next year, or the next two years or three years down the road. Two of the teams were the youngest teams in the NBA. Three of the teams were the lowest salary-cap teams in the league ... Anytime you go into the lottery, it's a six- or seven-year process. The plan was to be bad."
By the time Floyd's tenure in Chicago was done, he was on the record books as the worst coach in the history of the NBA. Most of the folks who watched him struggle in Chicago felt like the numbers didn't lie. We'd seen the last of Floyd.
For the past two years Floyd has been laying low. Waiting and watching. Hoping for an opportunity that made sense. He claims that he was offered jobs as an NBA assistant and as a college head coach. But his eye was still on the NBA.
When jobs came up, they were almost always for bad teams that had just scapegoated the coach. Floyd had had enough of that in Chicago. What he wanted was a chance to win. When the Hornets came knocking, Floyd jumped at the chance.
"It's so rare that a coaching opportunity comes up on a good team," Floyd said in the preseason. "It was a unique situation here. Typically, the jobs that open up are the ones that are beaten down. I was fortunate. I wanted the chance to prove what I could do if given the talent. There's no more excuses now. I've been given the horses. It's up to me to get them to where they need to be."
Eight weeks later, folks are rewriting the book on Floyd. His new motion offense seems to fit the Hornets better than the more traditional half-court sets that Paul Silas put in place. Hornets players, who were distraught when Silas was let go, have warmed to Floyd. Winning still masks most faults, and with a 13-6 record, Floyd doesn't seem like such a bad coach after all.
“ There's no more excuses now. I've been given the horses. It's up to me to get them to where they need to be. ”
— Tim Floyd
Floyd's had some help along the way. Baron Davis showed up to camp in the best shape of his career and has put on an MVP performance the first month of the season. The rest of the Hornets' veterans have all put up solid numbers, and soon more help will be on the way.
"We haven't even been able to see what we can do with Jamal [Mashburn]," Floyd said. "The offense we put in place was really meant maximize his and Baron's strengths. I can't wait to see them at it together."
Meanwhile, the Bulls are singing the same song they did three years ago when Floyd was fired. Too young, too inexperienced, too selfish. Their immaturity eventually cost Krause and Cartwright their jobs.
New GM John Paxson is trying to make sure that he isn't the next to go. Since being brought on board he's moved shoot-first players like Jalen Rose and Donyell Marshall and replaced them with blue collar veterans with good leadership abilities like Scottie Pippen, Antonio Davis and Jerome Williams. He hired tough-love coach Scott Skiles to whip the kids into shape.
The early results are encouraging, but Floyd knows all too well that the Bulls still have a long road ahead.
"Kids like Tyson and Eddy came into the league too young," he said. "And coming to a young team like this, they didn't have a lot of example around them of the right way to play. There are huge expectations on these kids and most of them aren't equipped with the tools to live up to them right away. When you think about it, what 18-year-old, in any job, really is? Without the right influences and examples around, it just takes longer to finally get it."
Six years after Krause blew up the Bulls, Floyd finally gets it. How long will it take for the rest of Jerry's kids to see the light?