4254
| PLAYER | POS | HGT/WGT | DATE OF BIRTH | HIGH SCHOOL / COLLEGE | HOMETOWN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Gordon | PF | 6-9 / 210 | September 16th, 1995 | Archbishop Mitty / Arizona | San Jose, CA |
| Aaron Harrison | SG | 6-5 / 205 | October 20th, 1994 | Travis / Kentucky | Richmond, TX |
| Andrew Harrison | PG | 6-5 / 205 | October 20th, 1994 | Travis / Kentucky | Richmond, TX |
| Kasey Hill | PG | 6-0 / 170 | December 3rd, 1993 | Montverde Academy / Florida | Eustis, FL |
| Rondae Jefferson | SF | 6-7 / 205 | January 3rd, 1995 | Chester / Arizona | Chester, PA |
| Demetrius Jackson | PG | 6-1 / 165 | September 7th, 1994 | Marian / Notre Dame | Mishawaka, IN |
| Jabari Parker | SF | 6-9 / 201 | March 15th, 1995 | Simeon / Duke | Chicago, IL |
| Bobby Portis | PF | 6-9 / 225 | February 10th, 1995 | Hall / Arkansas | Little Rock, AR |
| Julius Randle | PF | 6-9 / 225 | November 29th, 1994 | Prestonwood Christian / Kentucky | McKinney, TX |
| Noah Vonleh | PF | 6-8 / 220 | August 24th, 1995 | New Hampton School / Indiana | Haverhill, MA |
ASSISTANT COACH: Cory Alexander, Boo Williams AAU, VA
| PLAYER | POS | HGT/WGT | DATE OF BIRTH | INTERNATIONAL TEAM | HOME COUNTRY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Schroeder | PG | 6-1 / 180 | August 15th, 1993 | NY Phantoms Braunschweig | Germany |
| Nikola Ivanovic | PG | 6-2 / 185 | February 19th, 1994 | KK Buducnost | Montenegro |
| Gabriel Deck | PF | 6-6 / 180 | February 8th, 1995 | Asociacion Quimsa | Argentina |
| Dante Exum | SG | 6-5 / 170 | July 13th, 1995 | Australian Institue of Sport | Australia |
| Andrew Wiggins | SF | 6-7 / 200 | February 23th, 1995 | Huntington Prep (WV) | Canada |
| Sergey Karasev | SF | 6-7 / 205 | October 264th, 1993 | Triumph Lyubertsy | Russia |
| Mario Hezonja | SG | 6-6 / 200 | February 25th, 1995 | Regal FC Barcelona | Croatia |
| Mouhammadou Jaiteh | C | 6'9 / 200 | November 27th, 1994 | SO Maritime Boulogne | France |
| Livio Jean-Charles | SF | 6-8 / 210 | November 8th, 1993 | Asvel Lyon-Villeurbanne | France |
| Karl Towns, Jr. | C | 6'10 / 225 | November 15th, 1995 | St. Joseph HS (NJ) | Dominican Republic |
| Tomas Dimsa | SG | 6-4 / 185 | January 2nd, 1994 | Zalgiris-Sabonio | Lithuania |
| Joel Embiid | C | 7-0 / 245 | March 16th, 1994 | The Rock / Kansas | Cameroon |
ASSISTANT COACH: Marin Sedlacek (Serbia) 13th Nike Hoop Summit
The World Team is highlighted by the #1 recruit in the 2013 high school class, Andrew Wiggins, who is making his second Nike Hoop Summit appearance. Wiggins helped the World team defeat the USA squad 84-75 (boxscore) in Portland last year, scoring 20 points on 7-18 shooting despite being the youngest player on the court at just 17 years old.
He will have a great deal of help alongside him this year, as Nike appears to have assembled the strongest group of international prospects we've seen in our nine years covering the event.
2012 London Olympian Sergey Karasev is considered one of the most productive draft-eligible prospect in European basketball and a potential first round pick in this year's draft. The 19-year old Russian small forward averages 17 points per game for Triumph Moscow against extremely high-level competition in the Russian league, VTB league and EuroCup this season, and will be a handful for the American wings to handle with his versatile skill-set. We produced the following scouting report video on him earlier this season:
At point guard, World team head coach Roy Rana will have a plethora of options at his disposal, all offering a different skill-set for how he wants to play at any given moment.
6-1 German Dennis Schroeder is a long and extremely athletic guard who is excellent in the open floor and a solid outside shooter. He averages 12 points and 3.3 assists per game in 25 minutes in the strong German league, despite being just 19 years old. With a strong showing in Portland, he could be someone NBA teams need to account for heading into the 2013 draft. We produced the following scouting report video on him earlier this season:
6-4 combo guard Dante Exum is only 17 years old and thus one of the youngest members of the squad, but is still a very interesting prospect as he showed last summer at the U17 World Championship, leading his Australian national team to the Finals, where they lost to a loaded USA squad. He is likely to follow in his father's footsteps and attend college in the US, as he's drawing heavy interest from Indiana University and other schools at the moment.
6-3 Montenegrin point guard Nikola Ivanovic has been seeing consistent playing time with Buducnost in the Adriatic League and EuroCup the past two seasons. He garnered significant experience with the Montenegrin senior national team last summer, helping them qualify for the European Championship with a 10-0 record, which was highlighted by this buzzer beating half-court shot in Belgrade to take down archrival Serbia:
On the wing, Mario Hezonja is considered arguably the top international prospect in the 1995 class, as he possesses ideal size at 6-6 to go along with superb athleticism and outstanding scoring instincts. NBA scouts will be watching closely to see how he fits in with the rest of the group, as there are few questions about his talent, but some wonder about his ability to fit into a team setting. His rights are owned by Barcelona and he's already seen some minutes for them in the Euroleague this season, which is quite an accomplishment considering he just turned 18 years old last month.
Mouhammadou Jaiteh has impressed many this year with an extremely productive season in the French second division (Pro B), averaging 17 points and 10 rebounds in just 27 minutes per game. These are relatively unprecedented numbers for a player his age, and he's made it fairly clear that he intends on entering his name in the 2013 NBA draft and staying in if he's likely to be selected in the first round. This will be a big week for him because of that. We produced the following scouting report video on him earlier this season:
French forward Livio Jean-Charles made a name for himself last summer with strong showings at the U16, U18 and U20 European Championships with his national team, and has become a starter for playoff-bound ASVEL Villerbaune in first division France this year. While he's been seeing most of his time at small forward at the senior level as of late, he may have to go back to his roots and play more at power forward on this roster considering the amount of depth the team displays. At 6-8, he has a good physical profile with long arms and solid athleticism, and is a fairly versatile and intelligent player who is known more for his work on the defensive end at the moment.
Argentinean Gabriel Deck was also one of the most productive players at the U17 World Championship last summer along with Dante Exum, averaging a stellar 22 points in 30 minutes on an outrageous 67% from 2-point range. He's a highly unconventional player without great size or athleticism, but is extremely smart, skilled and mature, being very difficult for opposing forwards to defend as he's constantly in motion and is extremely competitive. He didn't see much playing time this season in Argentina for Quimsa, so it will be interesting to see how he fits in on this roster.
Last but not least, Karl Towns is based in the US and committed to play at Kentucky already, but has Domincan roots. He saw some playing time under Coach John Calipari on the Dominican Republic senior national team this past summer as they attempted to qualify for the Olympics, which was surely an unbelievable experience. He brings this team some real size, but appears to be more comfortable playing on the perimeter. It will be interesting to see how he fares here at age 17, as he's likely the most inexperienced player on the roster.
Lithuanian Tomas Dimsa, an athletic, hard-working shooting guard with excellent finishing ability and defensive skills was a late addition to the roster. He will potentially be replacing Mario Hezonja who may not make the trip according to reports. Hezonja's club team, Barcelona, is in the middle of a brutal schedule due to the Euroleague Playoffs and ACB league slate, and was forced to add him to their practice squad and the fringe of their rotation due to injuries.
Kansas big man recruit Joel Embiid is another player that reportedly received a late invite to participate at the Nike Hoop Summit after a strong showing at the Jordan Brand Classic practices and game. The late-blooming 7-footer brings some much needed size to this undersized international squad, and should provide plenty of intrigue with his shot-blocking instincts, tremendous physical tools and overall upside. NBA scouts expressed a lot of interest in him after watching him play in New York in the Jordan Brand settings, and he'll surely be watched closely in Portland.
As always, DraftExpress will be attending and covering the Nike Hoop Summit in full force. Stay tuned for more analysis from Portland.
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