The Rise Up of NBA International Players in the Olympics & My French NBA Draft Big Board

Working in the NBA

One of my favorite things about watching Olympic basketball is seeing bit players on NBA teams star for their international teams.

NBA scouting when it comes to international players has been all over the map. The Draft in general is a crapshoot but when it comes to international players, that goes to another level.

When people ask me what my greatest miss on the Draft was, I usually say Jan Vesely. He was one of the first intentional players I scouted. I watched him knock down 3’s and dunk on people… over and over and over again. I was hooked.  I had him #2 on my big board. Lesson learned. But at that time, I didn’t really know how to evaluate international players. I didn’t understand the levels they played at or even the differences in the game.

But one thing, again, that I love about the Olympics is watching those players I thought I had missed on… because, maybe I didn’t.

Maybe they were simply in the wrong system, on the wrong team.

It can be hard for a college athlete to adjust to the NBA, let alone, an international player.  And when you’re dealing with contracts, FIBA rules, etc, sometimes by the time the players makes it over to the NBA, they’re playing for a team where the GM didn’t draft them and the franchise does not have a large investment into their development.

I was and am a huge fan of Victor Claver. He was #10 on my big board and the Trail Blazers ended up drafting him at #22.

I got a firsthand look at some of the challenges an international player faces when joining an NBA team.

When Victor arrived to the franchise, we had a new Coach and new GM from the time he had been drafted.

Typically, first round picks are going to get every chance to succeed and fail before finally being moved on from.  The GM’s record is attached to a 1^st Round pick so they will make sure that either the Coach plays the player or they’ll clear roster space so that the Coach is forced to play the player (ie: what the Denver Nuggets are currently doing).

But Victor didn’t get much a chance for multiple reasons.  Other than coming over to a new regime… there was something else that had happened.

We had drafted a 2nd round pick with a whole lot of moxie, Will Barton.

Will was very raw coming into the NBA. A thin, wiry athlete who could play in the open floor and get to the rim but couldn’t shoot or function in an offensive system.

What Will had that a lot of others don’t… an exuberant amount of confidence and an extreme love for the game.  A love of the game that is probably only found in around 2% of NBA players.

Victor got 1st team reps, or rep I should say. Because after 1 rep, Will would check Victor out and not let him come back in. Practice after practice after practice. Will got 90% of the reps. Will checked himself into every scrimmage, every moment of practice. When most players are looking to get out of practice, Will found a way to get in, and usually it was through the unassuming rookie from overseas who didn’t yet have the confidence to go back at the 2nd round pick to wait his turn. And due to the changing of regimes, there wasn’t anyone pounding the table for Victor to get his turn either.

In fact, Will never left the court.  He would stay on the court until every coach had left.  It was the Video Coordinators who would stay on the court and chase balls for Will.  And when he was done, he’d go across the street and play pick-up ball. 

Will knew what it took to go from a 2^nd round pick that not many cared about to a 10+ year NBA career.  Victor, who had all the physical tools and capabilities to play in the NBA, lasted 3 seasons. 

I still think in the right system, with the right franchise, Victor could have been an excellent NBA player.  But sometimes, players never get into the right situation or opportunity to show what they’re capable of.  But in the Olympics, oftentimes, the curtain gets peeled back and you find out how good a Guerschon Yabusele really is. 

2008 Nicolas Batum, personal Big Board #27, NBA Draft #25

2009 Nando De Colo, personal Big Board #52, NBA Draft #53

2012 Evan Fournier, personal Big Board #32, NBA Draft #20

2012 Andrew Albicy, personal Big Board #NA, NBA Draft #undrafted

2013 Rudy Gobert, personal Big Board #21, NBA Draft #27

2016 Guerschon Yabusele, personal Big Board #23, NBA Draft #16

2016 Isaia Cordinier, personal Big Board #45, NBA Draft #44

2017 Frank Ntilikina, personal Big Board #13, NBA Draft #8

2017 Mathias Lessort, personal Big Board #41, NBA Draft #50

2022 Matthew Strazel, personal Big Board #NA, NBA Draft #undrafted

2023 Victor Wembanyama, personal Big Board #1, NBA Draft #1

2023 Bilal Coulibaly, personal Big Board #10, NBA Draft #7

If you’d like to join our GITG101 Book Club… send me an e-mail at john@getinthegame101.com or message us here with your e-mail and we will add you to our Slack Channel. We just finished Chapter 1 of Atomic Habits by James Clear and will be doing Chapters 2-3 this week with Zoom meet-ups at the end of each month.