Now that we know the Lakers have the 7th overall pick for sure, there's been a flurry of discontent in Laker Nation. Pretty much anything that was not a top three pick was met with comments such as "waste of a tank" and whatnot. Yeah, high expectations and all that.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
NBA MOCK 7.0: WITH HISTORICAL PRECEDENCE
In previous mocks, say, 5.0 and before, we used predictive markers (steals, rebounds, two-point percentage, mutual exclusion properties, among many others) to paint the canvas and equate a player with a specific number. These predictive markers, drawn from established approaches, often can tell whether a player has the goods to translate their work to the NBA level. And, for the most part, it works. But there is something invisible--like the dark matter of the universe--that can't be seen through general stats. Namely, this affects athletic point guards and athletic centers, usually in a the proper range (say, 6'10" to 7'1"). So I've incorporated conditions where incorporating numbers where PGs or Cs have to meet a certain barometer in order to get the raise that's needed for the NBA. As you'll see, there are names in the third chart below where there is very little chance, statistically, you can construe, say, a Taj Gibson, a Russell Westbrook, a Lance Stephenson, a Taj Gibson, a DeAndre Jordan, an Andre Drummond or a Chandler Parsons as first round picks. It's just incredibly hard to find that medium. I've created enough conditions in my algorithm where all of them land as first round picks, although many of them become centralized in the mid-first round (or for Stephenson's and Westbrook's case, a very early 2nd rounder).
Thursday, May 15, 2014
NBA MOCK DRAFT 6.0: NOW, WITH DUNKS
Okay, I'm going to freely admit that this next draft is going to be a little bit polarizing. But it gets the consensus about the players as far as scouting is concerned. I've found there to be a very tight correlation between the number of dunks a player gets and their overall draft rank (of course, provided the player is competent to be in the top 100 of most mocks).
Saturday, May 3, 2014
NBA MOCK 5.0: OH, THE PAYNE
Yep. Found the combination that really helps Adreian Payne. Without further ado:
Monday, April 28, 2014
NBA MOCK DRAFT 4.0 (UPDATED: MORE NAMES ADDED)
Yep. Another update. Hopefully it's the last one (likely is in terms of algorithm changes). I feel very comfortable that I've addressed many of the key issues with NBA-translatable skills.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
NBA MOCK DRAFT 3.0, AND AN EARLY LOOK AT THE 2015 DRAFT
Yeah, I know it's just a one-day turnaround from the previous post. But I got some twitter advice from well-informed stat geeks, and I've decided to add a potential rating to my previous algorithm--while my previous algorithm already emphasized this to some degree, this magnifies categories such as 2-point percentage, steals, blocks, rebounds, assist rate and age. This gets a more accurate reflection of where the prospects seemingly stand now; previously my algorithm hated guys like Elfrid Payton, Aaron Gordon, and a few others. Without further ado:
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
USING STANDARDIZED REAL PLUS MINUS (RPM) TO ANALYZE TWO-WAY AND ONE-WAY PLAYERS
So we've used Stephen Ilardi's published RPM stats on ESPN, adjusted by position (to create a more even distribution among ranks) to get a consolidate ranking of top offensive and defensive players. These players may not have the stats, but when they step on the court, they spatially warp the floor in ways that prove beneficial to their team. The top players are in the top 100 for offense, defense, or both categories (in the case of two way). It is out of 430 total NBA players. Years remaining includes this year as well.
Without further ado...
Friday, March 28, 2014
Monday, January 27, 2014
INTERNATIONAL BASKETBALL TEAM RANKINGS
United States is obviously #1, but what other countries are representing:
Listed after Player Name: (Height Weight Position--Age)
2) SPAIN
Ricky Rubio (6'4" 185 PG--23)
Jose Calderon (6'3" 211 PG--32)
Sergio Rodriguez (6'3" 176 PG--27)
Rudy Fernandez (6'6" 185 SG--28)
Juan Carlos Navarro (6'4" 200 SG--33)
Alejandro Abrines (6'6" 200 SG/SF--21)
Daniel Diez (6'8" 216 SF--21)
Serge Ibaka (6'10" 245 PF/C--24)
Nikola Mirotic* (6'10" 236 PF--22)
Victor Claver (6'9" 224 PF--25)
Marc Gasol (7'1" 265 C--28)
Pau Gasol (7'0" 250 C--33)
This is a well constructed team with key youth (Rubio, Ibaka) and many veterans (Gasol brothers, Calderon, Navarro) with a lot of playmaking and shooting on the side. Look for next generation Nikola Mirotic, who has an asterisk because he might play for either Montengro or Spain. There are a few incubator prospects with Abrines and and Diez who may get some run in some of the blowouts.
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3) FRANCE
Tony Parker (6'2" 185 PG--31)
Nando De Colo (6'5" 200 PG/SG--26)
Evan Fournier (6'6" 200 SG--21)
Mickael Pietrus (6'6" 215 SG--31)
Nicolas Batum (6'8" 200 SF--25)
Livio Jean Charles (6'9" 217 SF--21)
Boris Diaw (6'8" 250 PF--31)
Kevin Seraphin (6'10" 278 PF--24)
Ronny Turiaf (6'10" 241 PF/C--31)
Joakim Noah (6'11" 232 C--28)
Ian Mahinmi (6'11" 230 C--27)
Alexis Ajinca (7'2" 248 C--25)
France has always fielded deep teams in the past, and this is no exception, with a bunch of NBA talent and several clear leaders (Parker, Batum, Noah). There is a lot of depth and ballhandling here. Mix of young players and veteran leaders. They should go far. Rodrigue Beaubois, Johan Petro, and Rudy Gobert are some key omissions, as well as future NBA prospects like Leo Westermann, Boris Dallo, Mam Jaiteh, and possibly Damien Inglis.
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4) BRAZIL
Marcelo Huertas (6'3" 205 PG--30)
Scott Machado (6'1" 205 PG--23)
Raul Neto (6'1" PG--21)
Leandro Barbosa (6'3" 194 SG--31)
Alex Garcia (6'4" 225 SG--33)
Marcus Vinicius (6'10" 225 SF--29)
Nene (6'11" 250 PF/C--31)
Anderson Varejao (6'11" 267 PF--31)
Vitor Faverani (6'11" 260 PF/C--25)
Tiago Splitter (6'11" 245 C--29)
Lucas Noguiera (7'0" 220 C--21)
Fab Melo (7'0" 255 C--23)
Brazil is knee-deep in bigs, both power forwards and centers, and have three veterans (Varejao, Nene, Splitter) who are the clear leaders of the team and several incubating prospects (Machado, Neto, and especially Noguiera). Their guards are noticeably weaker but Huertas, Barbosa and Garcia have been around and Barbosa, even with several lost steps, can bring needed scoring punch. This is a deep team that should definitely be a contender. A key omission is Cristiano Felicio, a 21 year old PF prospect.
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5) CANADA
Tyler Ennis (6'2" 180 PG--19)
Cory Joseph (6'3" 185 PG--22)
Olivier Hanlan (6'4" 188 PG/SG--20)
Nik Stauskas (6'6" 205 SG--20)
Andrew Wiggins (6'8" 197 SF--18)
Tristan Thompson (6'9" 238 PF--22)
Anthony Bennett (6'8" 259 PF--20)
Andrew Nicholson (6'9" 250 PF--24)
Dwight Powell (6'10" 212 PF--22)
Kelly Olynyk (7'0" 238 C--22)
Robert Sacre (7'0" 260 C--24)
Samuel Dalembert (6'11" 250 C--32)
This is a deep team with a lot of talented youth--most of their players are in their late teens to early 20s, and the centerpiece is Andrew Wiggins. But don't underestimate Tristan Thompson, Tyler Ennis, and Kelly Olynyk. Dalembert brings the sorely needed veteran leadership, although perhaps Dwight Powell will get replaced by a proven leading guard like Andy Rautins. The assumption is that Steve Nash can't play, and Joel Anthony is omitted due to his rapidly decaying game. This team might just be too green as of yet.
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6) AUSTRALIA
Dante Exum (6'6" 188 PG/SG--18)
Patty Mills (6'0" PG--25)
Matthew Dellavedova (6'3" PG--22)
Ryan Broekhoff (6'7" SG/SF--22)
Brad Newley (6'7" SG/SF--28)
Joe Ingles (6'8" SF--25)
Ben Simmons (6'8" SF--17)
David Andersen (6'11" PF/C--33)
Nathan Jawai (6'10" PF--27)
Andrew Bogut (7'0" C--29)
Aron Baynes (6'10" C--27)
Luke Nevill (7'2" C--27)
If only they had Kyrie. Just kidding. Team Aussie has rapidly improved from even about a decade ago when they were considered laughingstocks. With the addition of lead guard Exum to combine with Bogut, that's lethal, and Patty Mills and Aron Baynes are already viable NBA players under the San Antonio system, along with seasoned NBA veteran David Andersen and another NBA type in Dellavdeova. Newley and Ingles, along with Jawai were also considered NBA prospects. This team from top to bottom is competent, but we'll see if they can be a major sleeper.
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7) RUSSIA
Alexey Shved (6'6" 187 PG/SG--25)
Anton Ponkrashov (6'7" PG/SG--27)
Sergey Karasev (6'7" 196 SG--20)
Dmitry Kulagin (6'6" 196 SG--21)
Vitaly Fridzon (6'5" SG--27)
Andrei Kirilenko (6'9" 235 SF/PF--32)
Sergei Monia (6'8" 218 SF--30)
Yaroslav Korolev (6'10" 245 PF--26)
Viktor Khryapa (6'9" 235 PF--31)
Timofey Mozgov (7'1" 250 C--27)
Sasha Kaun (6'11" 256 C--28)
Artem Klimenko (7'1" 228 C--20)
Russia is a team that is ran by a bunch of length--Kirilenko, an NBA mainstay, is the clear leader in this, but NBA busts like Yaroslava Korolev, Viktor Khryapa and Sergei Monia all have ample length and defensive reputations as well. Timofey Mozgov, Kirilenko and Shved are the clear leaders of this team. The team is ran by two tall PGs in Shved and Ponkrashov, and there's enough talent to be a major sleeper here.
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8) LITHUANIA
Mantas Kalnietis (6'5" 205 PG--27)
Tomas Dimsa (6'4" 185 SG--20)
Reinaldas Seibutis (6'6" SG--28)
Martynas Pocius (6'5" SG--27)
Linas Kleiza (6'8" 234 SF--29)
Marius Grigonis (6'6" 195 SF--19)
Donatas Motiejunas (7'0" 222 PF--23)
Kristof Lavrinovic (6'11" PF--33)
Jonas Valanciunas (7'0" 240 C--21)
Darjus Lavrinovic (6'11" C--33)
Robertas Javtokas (6'11" C--33)
Martynas Andriuskevicius (7'2" 240--27)
Without Jasikevicius and Songaila, both of whom are likely too old to compete here, there's a certain lack of leadership lost, especially since their very old players have zero NBA experience. Still, they have very viable young NBA players, like Motiejunas and Valanciunas, and older leadership and NBA viability in Kleiza, so this is a decent team. Kalnietis is an underrated PG who has never made it to the NBA, and they have special incubator players coming up in Dimsa and Grigonis. They have some draft washouts like Seibutis and Andriuskevicius, as well. It's a bit lacking in point guards, but there's enough talent here.
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9) GREECE
Vassilis Spanoulis (6'4" PG--31)
Dimitirs Diamantidis* (6'5" 220 PG/SG--33)
Nick Calathes (6'6" 213 PG/SG--24)
Nikolaos Zisis (6'6" 215 SG--30)
Giannis Antetokoumpo (6'10" 205 SF--19)
Kostas Papanikalaou (6'9" SF--23)
Thanassis Antetokoumpo (6'7" 200 SF--20)
Antonis Fotsis (6'10" PF--32)
Linos Chrysikopoulos (6'10" 218 PF--21)
Giorgos Printezis (6'9" PF--28)
Kosta Koufos (7'0" 265 C--24)
Ioannis Bourousis (7'0" C--29)
Greece actually has major sleeper potential. In the past, they had major players who had NBA talent (Diamantidis, Theodoros Papaloukas, Spanoulis) who never came over stateside, and had major success. Now, Paps and Diamantidis have retired, although with the resurgence of Greek talent I might assume that Diamantidis could come back, since he's still an active player but just has supposedly retired from the national team. Spanoulis and Fotsis are the heart and soul of the team, but Calathes, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Koufos bring in the young certifiable NBA talent across all positions. They also have a slew of NBA former draft prospects like Zisis, Chriskopoulis, Papanikalaou, Printezis, and Bourousis, as well as the older Antetokounmpo. This team could make noise with clear leaders and fairly good balance, both positionally and young and old.
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10) TURKEY
Dogus Balbay (6'1" 180 PG--24)
Ender Arslan (6'3" PG--30)
Kenan Sipahi (6'4" 180 PG--18)
Sinan Guler (6'4" SG--29)
Emir Preldzic (6'9" 220 SF--26)
Serhat Citin (6'6" SF--27)
Hedo Turkoglu (6'10" 220 SF--34)
Ersan Ilyasova (6'10" 235 PF--26)
Kerem Gonlum (6'10" PF--35)
Omer Asik (7'0" 255 C--27)
Enes Kanter (6'11" 248 C--21)
Semih Erden (7'0" 240 C--27)
Turkey is a very big man loaded team, with four 6'10" and above players (Turkoglu, Ilyasova, Kanter and Asik) leading the ropes. Also, really watch out for young Turkish phenom Kenan Sipahi, who can give Turkey a new generation of ballhandler. Other than that, there's really not much to be impressed, but former Texas PG Dogs Balbay is good at pressuring the ball on defense, and Emir Preldzic was a draft prospect in prior years.
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11) GERMANY
Dennis Schroeder (6'1" 168 PG--20)
Per Gunther (6'0" PG--25)
Paul Zippser (6'6" 195 SG--19)
Lucca Staiger (6'5" SG--25)
Robin Benzing (6'10" 210 SF--24)
Elias Harris (6'8" 239 SF--24)
Dirk Nowitzki (7'0" 245 PF--35)
Tim Ohlbrecht (6'11" 255 PF/C--25)
Jan Jagla (7'0" 231 PF--32)
Chris Kaman (7'0" 265 C--31)
Tibor Pleiss (7'1" 269 C--24)
Philipp Neumann (6'11" 240 C--21)
Germany has a ton of big men, including those who can shoot, but has been awful at producing any sort of guards, but especially wings. Nowitzki is the clear leader, with Kaman, Ohlbrecht and Schroeder on the sides, the latter two adding the young blood, and a few NBA draft washouts like Benzing, Harris, and Pleiss. This is an imbalanced team that will only go as far as Nowitzki takes them.
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12) SERBIA
Milos Teodosic (6'5" PG--26)
Nemanja Nedovic (6'3" 192 PG/SG--22)
Vasilje Micic (6'5" 203 PG--20)
Milenko Tepic (6'8" SG/SF--26)
Bojan Bogdanovic (6'6" 205 SG--21)
Nemanja Bjelica (6'10" SF/PF--25)
Milan Macvan (6'9" PF--23)
Zoran Erceg (6'11" PF--28)
Nenad Krstic (7'0" 267 C--30)
Miroslav Raduljica (7'0" C--25)
Nikola Milutinov (6'11" 220 C--19)
Dejan Musli (7'0" C--22)
Serbia has a very interesting team completely laden with prior NBA prospects who for whatever reason has not found success in the NBA but found success in the Euroleague, but it also has many young next generation prospects coming up like Micic, Bogdanovic, and Milutinov. There might be a lack of wing play here but there are a ton of bigs here. Teodosic, Nedovic, and Krstic are the likely leaders here, and Raduljica has done well with the Bucks. It's hard to make noise with no current NBA players playing heavy minutes, but we'll see. Too bad they can't combine with Montenegro and add Nikola Pekovic and Vucevic.
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13) ITALY
Travis Diener (6'1" PG--31)
Daniel Hackett (6'6" PG--25)
Andrea Cinciarini (6'4" PG--27)
Marco Belinelli (6'5" 195 SG--27)
Pietro Aradori (6'4" SG--24)
Alessandro Gentile (6'6" 200 SF--22)
Danilo Gallinari (6'10" 225 SF/PF--25)
Luigi Datome (6'8" 215 SF/PF--26)
Stefano Mancinelli (6'8" PF--26)
Nicolo Melli (6'9" PF--22)
Andrea Bargnani (7'0" 250 C--28)
Marco Cusin (6'11" C--26)
Not exactly a deep team, as it's led by Gallinari, Bellinelli and Bargnani at each of the SG, SF and C positions, but there is a distinct lack of a playmaking PG and proper depth as well.
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Others:
14) Montenegro has the combination of Nikola Pekovic and Nikola Vucevic, with a few NBA draft prospects like Bojan Dubljevic and Vladimir Dasic, but otherwise lack the talent, particularly in non-center positions.
15) Croatia has several NBA prospects of interest: Dario Saric and Mario Hezonja, but otherwise their best players are NBA draft washouts like Roko Ukic and Ante Tomic.
Listed after Player Name: (Height Weight Position--Age)
2) SPAIN
Ricky Rubio (6'4" 185 PG--23)
Jose Calderon (6'3" 211 PG--32)
Sergio Rodriguez (6'3" 176 PG--27)
Rudy Fernandez (6'6" 185 SG--28)
Juan Carlos Navarro (6'4" 200 SG--33)
Alejandro Abrines (6'6" 200 SG/SF--21)
Daniel Diez (6'8" 216 SF--21)
Serge Ibaka (6'10" 245 PF/C--24)
Nikola Mirotic* (6'10" 236 PF--22)
Victor Claver (6'9" 224 PF--25)
Marc Gasol (7'1" 265 C--28)
Pau Gasol (7'0" 250 C--33)
This is a well constructed team with key youth (Rubio, Ibaka) and many veterans (Gasol brothers, Calderon, Navarro) with a lot of playmaking and shooting on the side. Look for next generation Nikola Mirotic, who has an asterisk because he might play for either Montengro or Spain. There are a few incubator prospects with Abrines and and Diez who may get some run in some of the blowouts.
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3) FRANCE
Tony Parker (6'2" 185 PG--31)
Nando De Colo (6'5" 200 PG/SG--26)
Evan Fournier (6'6" 200 SG--21)
Mickael Pietrus (6'6" 215 SG--31)
Nicolas Batum (6'8" 200 SF--25)
Livio Jean Charles (6'9" 217 SF--21)
Boris Diaw (6'8" 250 PF--31)
Kevin Seraphin (6'10" 278 PF--24)
Ronny Turiaf (6'10" 241 PF/C--31)
Joakim Noah (6'11" 232 C--28)
Ian Mahinmi (6'11" 230 C--27)
Alexis Ajinca (7'2" 248 C--25)
France has always fielded deep teams in the past, and this is no exception, with a bunch of NBA talent and several clear leaders (Parker, Batum, Noah). There is a lot of depth and ballhandling here. Mix of young players and veteran leaders. They should go far. Rodrigue Beaubois, Johan Petro, and Rudy Gobert are some key omissions, as well as future NBA prospects like Leo Westermann, Boris Dallo, Mam Jaiteh, and possibly Damien Inglis.
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4) BRAZIL
Marcelo Huertas (6'3" 205 PG--30)
Scott Machado (6'1" 205 PG--23)
Raul Neto (6'1" PG--21)
Leandro Barbosa (6'3" 194 SG--31)
Alex Garcia (6'4" 225 SG--33)
Marcus Vinicius (6'10" 225 SF--29)
Nene (6'11" 250 PF/C--31)
Anderson Varejao (6'11" 267 PF--31)
Vitor Faverani (6'11" 260 PF/C--25)
Tiago Splitter (6'11" 245 C--29)
Lucas Noguiera (7'0" 220 C--21)
Fab Melo (7'0" 255 C--23)
Brazil is knee-deep in bigs, both power forwards and centers, and have three veterans (Varejao, Nene, Splitter) who are the clear leaders of the team and several incubating prospects (Machado, Neto, and especially Noguiera). Their guards are noticeably weaker but Huertas, Barbosa and Garcia have been around and Barbosa, even with several lost steps, can bring needed scoring punch. This is a deep team that should definitely be a contender. A key omission is Cristiano Felicio, a 21 year old PF prospect.
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5) CANADA
Tyler Ennis (6'2" 180 PG--19)
Cory Joseph (6'3" 185 PG--22)
Olivier Hanlan (6'4" 188 PG/SG--20)
Nik Stauskas (6'6" 205 SG--20)
Andrew Wiggins (6'8" 197 SF--18)
Tristan Thompson (6'9" 238 PF--22)
Anthony Bennett (6'8" 259 PF--20)
Andrew Nicholson (6'9" 250 PF--24)
Dwight Powell (6'10" 212 PF--22)
Kelly Olynyk (7'0" 238 C--22)
Robert Sacre (7'0" 260 C--24)
Samuel Dalembert (6'11" 250 C--32)
This is a deep team with a lot of talented youth--most of their players are in their late teens to early 20s, and the centerpiece is Andrew Wiggins. But don't underestimate Tristan Thompson, Tyler Ennis, and Kelly Olynyk. Dalembert brings the sorely needed veteran leadership, although perhaps Dwight Powell will get replaced by a proven leading guard like Andy Rautins. The assumption is that Steve Nash can't play, and Joel Anthony is omitted due to his rapidly decaying game. This team might just be too green as of yet.
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6) AUSTRALIA
Dante Exum (6'6" 188 PG/SG--18)
Patty Mills (6'0" PG--25)
Matthew Dellavedova (6'3" PG--22)
Ryan Broekhoff (6'7" SG/SF--22)
Brad Newley (6'7" SG/SF--28)
Joe Ingles (6'8" SF--25)
Ben Simmons (6'8" SF--17)
David Andersen (6'11" PF/C--33)
Nathan Jawai (6'10" PF--27)
Andrew Bogut (7'0" C--29)
Aron Baynes (6'10" C--27)
Luke Nevill (7'2" C--27)
If only they had Kyrie. Just kidding. Team Aussie has rapidly improved from even about a decade ago when they were considered laughingstocks. With the addition of lead guard Exum to combine with Bogut, that's lethal, and Patty Mills and Aron Baynes are already viable NBA players under the San Antonio system, along with seasoned NBA veteran David Andersen and another NBA type in Dellavdeova. Newley and Ingles, along with Jawai were also considered NBA prospects. This team from top to bottom is competent, but we'll see if they can be a major sleeper.
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7) RUSSIA
Alexey Shved (6'6" 187 PG/SG--25)
Anton Ponkrashov (6'7" PG/SG--27)
Sergey Karasev (6'7" 196 SG--20)
Dmitry Kulagin (6'6" 196 SG--21)
Vitaly Fridzon (6'5" SG--27)
Andrei Kirilenko (6'9" 235 SF/PF--32)
Sergei Monia (6'8" 218 SF--30)
Yaroslav Korolev (6'10" 245 PF--26)
Viktor Khryapa (6'9" 235 PF--31)
Timofey Mozgov (7'1" 250 C--27)
Sasha Kaun (6'11" 256 C--28)
Artem Klimenko (7'1" 228 C--20)
Russia is a team that is ran by a bunch of length--Kirilenko, an NBA mainstay, is the clear leader in this, but NBA busts like Yaroslava Korolev, Viktor Khryapa and Sergei Monia all have ample length and defensive reputations as well. Timofey Mozgov, Kirilenko and Shved are the clear leaders of this team. The team is ran by two tall PGs in Shved and Ponkrashov, and there's enough talent to be a major sleeper here.
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8) LITHUANIA
Mantas Kalnietis (6'5" 205 PG--27)
Tomas Dimsa (6'4" 185 SG--20)
Reinaldas Seibutis (6'6" SG--28)
Martynas Pocius (6'5" SG--27)
Linas Kleiza (6'8" 234 SF--29)
Marius Grigonis (6'6" 195 SF--19)
Donatas Motiejunas (7'0" 222 PF--23)
Kristof Lavrinovic (6'11" PF--33)
Jonas Valanciunas (7'0" 240 C--21)
Darjus Lavrinovic (6'11" C--33)
Robertas Javtokas (6'11" C--33)
Martynas Andriuskevicius (7'2" 240--27)
Without Jasikevicius and Songaila, both of whom are likely too old to compete here, there's a certain lack of leadership lost, especially since their very old players have zero NBA experience. Still, they have very viable young NBA players, like Motiejunas and Valanciunas, and older leadership and NBA viability in Kleiza, so this is a decent team. Kalnietis is an underrated PG who has never made it to the NBA, and they have special incubator players coming up in Dimsa and Grigonis. They have some draft washouts like Seibutis and Andriuskevicius, as well. It's a bit lacking in point guards, but there's enough talent here.
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9) GREECE
Vassilis Spanoulis (6'4" PG--31)
Dimitirs Diamantidis* (6'5" 220 PG/SG--33)
Nick Calathes (6'6" 213 PG/SG--24)
Nikolaos Zisis (6'6" 215 SG--30)
Giannis Antetokoumpo (6'10" 205 SF--19)
Kostas Papanikalaou (6'9" SF--23)
Thanassis Antetokoumpo (6'7" 200 SF--20)
Antonis Fotsis (6'10" PF--32)
Linos Chrysikopoulos (6'10" 218 PF--21)
Giorgos Printezis (6'9" PF--28)
Kosta Koufos (7'0" 265 C--24)
Ioannis Bourousis (7'0" C--29)
Greece actually has major sleeper potential. In the past, they had major players who had NBA talent (Diamantidis, Theodoros Papaloukas, Spanoulis) who never came over stateside, and had major success. Now, Paps and Diamantidis have retired, although with the resurgence of Greek talent I might assume that Diamantidis could come back, since he's still an active player but just has supposedly retired from the national team. Spanoulis and Fotsis are the heart and soul of the team, but Calathes, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Koufos bring in the young certifiable NBA talent across all positions. They also have a slew of NBA former draft prospects like Zisis, Chriskopoulis, Papanikalaou, Printezis, and Bourousis, as well as the older Antetokounmpo. This team could make noise with clear leaders and fairly good balance, both positionally and young and old.
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10) TURKEY
Dogus Balbay (6'1" 180 PG--24)
Ender Arslan (6'3" PG--30)
Kenan Sipahi (6'4" 180 PG--18)
Sinan Guler (6'4" SG--29)
Emir Preldzic (6'9" 220 SF--26)
Serhat Citin (6'6" SF--27)
Hedo Turkoglu (6'10" 220 SF--34)
Ersan Ilyasova (6'10" 235 PF--26)
Kerem Gonlum (6'10" PF--35)
Omer Asik (7'0" 255 C--27)
Enes Kanter (6'11" 248 C--21)
Semih Erden (7'0" 240 C--27)
Turkey is a very big man loaded team, with four 6'10" and above players (Turkoglu, Ilyasova, Kanter and Asik) leading the ropes. Also, really watch out for young Turkish phenom Kenan Sipahi, who can give Turkey a new generation of ballhandler. Other than that, there's really not much to be impressed, but former Texas PG Dogs Balbay is good at pressuring the ball on defense, and Emir Preldzic was a draft prospect in prior years.
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11) GERMANY
Dennis Schroeder (6'1" 168 PG--20)
Per Gunther (6'0" PG--25)
Paul Zippser (6'6" 195 SG--19)
Lucca Staiger (6'5" SG--25)
Robin Benzing (6'10" 210 SF--24)
Elias Harris (6'8" 239 SF--24)
Dirk Nowitzki (7'0" 245 PF--35)
Tim Ohlbrecht (6'11" 255 PF/C--25)
Jan Jagla (7'0" 231 PF--32)
Chris Kaman (7'0" 265 C--31)
Tibor Pleiss (7'1" 269 C--24)
Philipp Neumann (6'11" 240 C--21)
Germany has a ton of big men, including those who can shoot, but has been awful at producing any sort of guards, but especially wings. Nowitzki is the clear leader, with Kaman, Ohlbrecht and Schroeder on the sides, the latter two adding the young blood, and a few NBA draft washouts like Benzing, Harris, and Pleiss. This is an imbalanced team that will only go as far as Nowitzki takes them.
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12) SERBIA
Milos Teodosic (6'5" PG--26)
Nemanja Nedovic (6'3" 192 PG/SG--22)
Vasilje Micic (6'5" 203 PG--20)
Milenko Tepic (6'8" SG/SF--26)
Bojan Bogdanovic (6'6" 205 SG--21)
Nemanja Bjelica (6'10" SF/PF--25)
Milan Macvan (6'9" PF--23)
Zoran Erceg (6'11" PF--28)
Nenad Krstic (7'0" 267 C--30)
Miroslav Raduljica (7'0" C--25)
Nikola Milutinov (6'11" 220 C--19)
Dejan Musli (7'0" C--22)
Serbia has a very interesting team completely laden with prior NBA prospects who for whatever reason has not found success in the NBA but found success in the Euroleague, but it also has many young next generation prospects coming up like Micic, Bogdanovic, and Milutinov. There might be a lack of wing play here but there are a ton of bigs here. Teodosic, Nedovic, and Krstic are the likely leaders here, and Raduljica has done well with the Bucks. It's hard to make noise with no current NBA players playing heavy minutes, but we'll see. Too bad they can't combine with Montenegro and add Nikola Pekovic and Vucevic.
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13) ITALY
Travis Diener (6'1" PG--31)
Daniel Hackett (6'6" PG--25)
Andrea Cinciarini (6'4" PG--27)
Marco Belinelli (6'5" 195 SG--27)
Pietro Aradori (6'4" SG--24)
Alessandro Gentile (6'6" 200 SF--22)
Danilo Gallinari (6'10" 225 SF/PF--25)
Luigi Datome (6'8" 215 SF/PF--26)
Stefano Mancinelli (6'8" PF--26)
Nicolo Melli (6'9" PF--22)
Andrea Bargnani (7'0" 250 C--28)
Marco Cusin (6'11" C--26)
Not exactly a deep team, as it's led by Gallinari, Bellinelli and Bargnani at each of the SG, SF and C positions, but there is a distinct lack of a playmaking PG and proper depth as well.
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Others:
14) Montenegro has the combination of Nikola Pekovic and Nikola Vucevic, with a few NBA draft prospects like Bojan Dubljevic and Vladimir Dasic, but otherwise lack the talent, particularly in non-center positions.
15) Croatia has several NBA prospects of interest: Dario Saric and Mario Hezonja, but otherwise their best players are NBA draft washouts like Roko Ukic and Ante Tomic.
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