Dieng, Besson, king, mikhailovskii drafted.

Digbeu, Sotto, travers, hukporti, travers to miss out.

Sotto and hukporti might need 2 years especially given there are already so many bigs in next years draft.

Dieng, Besson, king, mikhailovskii drafted.

Digbeu, Sotto, travers, hukporti, maker to miss out.

Sotto and hukporti and maker might need 2 years especially given there are already so many bigs in next years draft.

Dieng: Top 10 pick, can see the paul George comparisons
Besson: 2nd rounder
Digbeu: Agree could work himself into the first round,nice physical profile
King: Same as Digbeu has the physical tools for the NBA. Good season and he will be a first rounder.
Hukporti: Late 2nd to undrafted
Nikita Mikhailovskii- 2nd Rounder, Tall Lights out shooters will always have a role in the NBA
Mukur Maker: Undrafted, will get a 2way, Gleague
Travers- Undrafted, Europe, NBL possibly NBA down the line like Ingles
Kai Sotto- I think he doesn't even finish his 2 year deal. Walks out early like his gleague ignite stint and ends up playing in the Japan BLeague.

Did King struggle with the situation and lose his confidence? Or was he overrated to begin with? He just looked small last year, for a supposedly good athlete never regularly saw him demonstrate that (compare say RJ Hampton whose jumper was ugly but the physical gifts were surreal), and he lacked an elite skill. I can see him improving, but enough to get drafted? I dunno. I agree with Givony's assessment that he’s just like many good players in college that never end up in the NBA.

Breakers could have a nice international profile and if both Dieng and Besson get drafted. May get a few more eyeballs on WMW to get back to the NBA too.

The WMW -> NBA ship sailed a long time ago.

I don't understand the Next Stars program.

It seems a little all over the place and 'see what sticks' in terms of player eligibility, quality draft prospects, NBL team interest, heck even the purported NBL-paid contracts and odd marketing (that "documentary").

I thought the program was to attract top five-star talent who were using their one-and-done year to build a profile and stock? They don't have to be Americans per se, but the draft is going to be dominated by Americans. The program (NBL HQ) hasn't recruited any top American talent since Lamelo, which makes me wonder if the NCAA endorsement rule passing has all but sealed the deal for American prospects, hence pushing the Next Stars program into another direction with the incoming EU talent as a signal. If that is the case, I wonder how many top 10 picks the program will be able to produce year in, year out.

In saying all this, Giddey going #6 does prove it is possible, but trying to find the next Luka and then recruit him over is unlikely, unless the NBL has a scouting/recruitment arm to the program which I doubt.

If the program was robust and built for longevity, I'd see each NBL team having a Next Star each season for fairness, announcement of players early and preferably at the same time, potential combine/try-outs for locals, scouts/coaches recruiting international prospects, transparency over salary/benefits (there were reports Lamelo/RJ earned > $500k), and to some extent acknowledgment of failures (undrafted players) in order for future program betterment.

It's a promotional tool for the league, and a very good one so far.

I'm not convinced about the kids playing in the G League ignite or whatever. Let’s face it, the G League plays no defence, the games are meaningless, and there’s little adversity to test character. But it’s definitely sucked away some top tier talent that the NBL would have secured. The NBL needs to consider how it can get at least 1-2 Americans similar to LaMelo who people are curious about but maybe not totally sold on for whatever reason.