Anonymous
Years ago

Loeliger: NBA Lottery Picks in Next Stars (?)

As many of you may have seen, NBL CEO Jeremy Loeliger is talking up the chances of us having lottery level prospects in the league next season. Very exciting if true.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/nbl-ceo-confident-nba-lottery-picks-could-play-in-australia-this-season-20190512-p51mj1.html

It's certainly possible that some already committed guys rescind and take up an NBL offer, but a guy that has recently reclassified and isn't committed to an NCAA team is RJ Hampton.

According to reputable user of the draft board on RealGM, he is considering his overseas options, with China being the leading option right now. Made me think whether the NBL is in the cards for him also?

If the NBL landed RJ it would be a MASSIVE coup. He is a possible top 3 pick - an absolute star. My guess is that he'd have to be on cream of the crop import money to come over.. especially if he's getting offers in China which are likely to offer him more money.

If the NBL were able to land Hampton, LaMelo and even possibly have Bowen return if he does undrafted or draft+stashed, or another combination of legitimate 1st round U.S. prospects, it would add a completely new angle of intrigue to the NBL season and boost the talent/entertainment level to a whole new level.

RJ seems a bit too good to be true, but it's worth following. Are there any other 1st round, if not 'lottery' guys, who you could see coming to the NBL?

Would be awesome to see Josh Green come home for a year but I'm assuming he's happy and locked in to be playing with Mannion for a season in Arizona. Beyond that, it's anyone's guess in my eyes. Hard to imagine any 1st round guys coming over, but it's a bold claim by Leoliger that surely has some substance behind it.

LaMelo would certainly be interesting, and has the unique situation to justify him playing overseas, and obviously good luck to whichever team takes on him and the accompanying baggage, but he has legitimate lottery talent if he puts it together.

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Smith  
Years ago

Lets hope whoever comes is offered to all clubs this time.

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D2.0  
Years ago

I guess we will wait and see, but I remain sceptical.

This season, we managed just one "Next Star". A guy who had to play o/s because he was suspended, who is possibly not even going to be drafted, and he went to an already overloaded team.

So as I said, I'll wait and see, very interested to see how it works next season.

Would be great if the players contracted went into a "draft", and hopefully helped out the struggling teams.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Hawks, Cairns and Adelaide deserve priority

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Anonymous  
Years ago

The Kings killed Bowen's chance of being drafted

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Hogwash  
Years ago

Why do Adelaide deserve priority?

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Smith  
Years ago

Priority isn't the issue, it's a free market and like other imports should be allowed the choice to choose. All clubs should be given a fair crack though.

Reply #743800 | Report this post


proud  
Years ago

Talk of how much they should be paid is completely irrelevant with the NBL footing the bill for next stars.

However you'd like to think that Next Stars go to teams where they lack a player in that position (on the bench).

I'd love to have a player for all 9 teams

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WookieE  
Years ago

Didn't Bowen choose the Kings last season? Also, as for "all teams being given the chance" according to someone (JvG? can't remember) I remember it being said that only really the Kings showed any interest in him... Take that with a grain of salt, but until I hear from other teams that they went after him, I'm more likely to believe that...

I agree that they should really go to a team where they are more likely to play and contribute though... He did ok with his minutes, but imagine him playing for someone like a Bevo or in a team like Cairns where he would have been given more chance to shine... That being said, high school kids, they'd have to be top quality level to actually make a bigly consistent difference to an NBL teams chances...

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