Fan Since '70
- OBS, Florida
US recruiting services 247, Rivals, ON3 ESPN, etc obviously do not track young foreign players like they do those in US. You can bet the NBA teams do and often consequently draft young foreign players ahead of heralded US players including lottery players even while those foreign players are not represented in those US recruiting services. I don't even think NBA staffs rely on those services much. Same for good college coaches who rely on their own or staff observations and rate players themselves. NBA has had Jacucionis in their sights for years (Kasparas has played high level BB since age 12), same with Demin, Hugo Gonzalez, Nolan Traore, etc. If Jacucionis came to US earlier and played here for awhile, he would be rated 5* no doubt on most of the recruiting services. Guarantee you, NBA teams already know about him. Jacucionis and Riley may become Illinois' highest draft picks since DWill. IMO, Ivisic has opportunity to play well, be noticed and drafted in 1st 2 rounds as well.The fact that none of us have seen him play and this is the first real exposure that he's getting within the States....what would you expect? If he puts in 20 PPG, shows NBA athleticism, that will rise. Keep in mind, troubles aside, TJ only snuck into the first round and we saw 100 times more of TJ than KJ. Honestly, that goes for any of the European players.
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