It’s been a long time coming and it’s finally here.
With the No. 23 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls selected European big man Nikola Mirotic. Rather than bringing him over from Spain, Chicago was forced to watch as he developed into a star overseas.
On Monday, July 14, Mirotic took to Twitter to reveal that the wait has ended. He’s finally signing with the Bulls.
I am very happy and excited to announce that next season I will be playing with the @chicagobulls . Today I fulfill a dream. #BullsNation
— Nikola Mirotic (@nikolamirotic12) July 13, 2014
It’s about time.
Mirotic will join a crowded and star-studded frontcourt that includes Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson and 2014 Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah. On paper, that could be the best interior in the league.
That’s all a part of Chicago’s plan.
The key will be Gasol, who shares Spanish heritage with Mirotic. He could be a mentor to the 23-year-old, who has followed in Gasol’s path as a top performer in Europe.
Together, the duo could make serious noise for a Bulls team that actually lacked interior depth a season ago.
For those unfamiliar with Mirotic, he’s the 2014 Spanish Cup MVP, 2013 Spanish League MVP and a two-time EuroLeague Rising Star award winner. Past winners of the Spanish League MVP award include Marc Gasol, Luis Scola and Arvydas Sabonis.
In terms of his style of play, he’s quite similar to a Kevin Love or Paul Millsap type of player. He’s a dangerous weapon as a jump shooter with 3-point range, but he can also post up or take his man off the bounce.
As for his upside, Mirotic could be a future All-Star.
There’s mountains of hype surrounding the Spaniard. In Chicago, he has the perfect cast of veterans to help him live up to it.
Patrick Ewing Rips Cody Zeller
Patrick Ewing is one of the greatest players to ever grace the hardwood. A 2012 inductee into the Hall of Fame, Ewing was an 11-time All-Star in the NBA after putting together a storied college career that included the 1984 National Championship.
Now an assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets, Ewing is showing something else that’s made him a legend: unabashed honesty.
Charlotte has a promising, yet crowded frontcourt with All-NBA center Al Jefferson and a trio of young big men: Bismack Biyombo, Noah Vonleh and Cody Zeller. Both Vonleh and Zeller, former University of Indiana stars, were selected in the Top 10.
Rather than vigorously competing for for the starting power forward job, Steve Aschburner of NBA.com reports that Zeller’s lack of urgency has rubbed Ewing the wrong way.
“[Zeller] played like he just came off the plane,” said Patrick Ewing,
“We need for [Zeller] to do it on both ends, not just look to score,” Ewing said. “I told him a couple times, ‘If we’re gonna go to you and you don’t have anything, and there’s a man right there, pass the ball to the open man.’ [Play] the way that he’s gonna have to play during the season. Even though this is summer league, this summer league is important to all three of those guys – him, P.J. [Hairston] and Noah [Vonleh]. We still need for them to make plays.”
Admittedly, it’d be hard to blame Zeller if he were harboring feelings of dejection.
Zeller went No. 4 overall in the 2013 Draft and was named to the second-team All-Rookie. Mere months later, the Hornets selected Vonleh at No. 9 overall.
The issue: Vonleh and Zeller both play power forward.
For as understandable as Zeller’s feelings of ill-will may be, Ewing has hit the nail on the head. Rather than supposedly accepting defeat, Zeller needs to prove that he is the man to beat for the starting power forward job in Charlotte.
He’s certainly capable.
Many are quick to forget this, but Zeller tested as one of the most athletic big men in the history of the NBA Combine. According to Chad Ford of ESPN Insider, his 35.5-inch standing vertical was the highest of any player 6’9″ or taller over the past decade.
Guard Markel Brown, 6’3″, and small forward Glenn Robinson III, 6’6″, were the only members of the 2014 draft class who ripped off a 35.5-inch vertical or better.
Unfortunately for Zeller, it’ll take more than a big vertical and a mid-range game to make his mark. He’s competing with a physical monster, Vonleh, for a spot alongside one of the best centers in the league.
It’s time to flick the switch and take over.
Emmanuel Mudiay Going Pro?
Entering the 2014-15 college basketball season, few players or NBA prospects are garnering as much hype as incoming freshman Emmanuel Mudiay. The 6’5″ point guard is a dynamic playmaker with incredible bounce and All-Star potential at the next level.
Mudiay will also be the latest big name to come out of high school and head directly overseas.
Mudiay had been committed to play for Larry Brown and the SMU Mustangs. Due to issues of academic ineligibility and a desire for reasonable compensation, however, he’s chosen to depart before his tenure could begin.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Mudiay will hire an agent and head overseas to play professional basketball.
The nation’s No. 1 high school guard, Southern Methodist University signee Emmanuel Mudiay of Dallas, will hire an agent and take a job playing basketball overseas next season.
Hours after Yahoo Sports reported that Mudiay was considering the move, SMU coach Larry Brown issued a statement that his top recruit planned to bypass college and turn professional.
“This is not an academic issue, since he has been admitted to SMU, but rather a hardship issue,” Brown said in a statement.”
Wojnarowski proceeded to state that his sources have said that this is an academic issue.
Regardless of why he’s doing it, one of the nation’s top prospects will be headed overseas. Much like Brandon Jennings, who spent time in Italy for Pallacanestro Virtus Roma, Mudiay will go from a potential Top 5 pick to an enigmatic prospect.
Jennings ended up going No. 10 overall in 2010. Mudiay has a chance to do the same, but he’ll need to improve his jumper to go with his explosiveness and creativity as a ball-handler and facilitator.
Perhaps more important than the impact it will have on Mudiay’s career is what it will do for a future generation.
At a time in which college athletes and the NCAA debate a pay-for-play system, Mudiay could be a trend-setter. Players going overseas would be unconventional, as well as relatively specific to basketball, but it’d also provide something that the NCAA cannot: a salary.
It may also require paying for rent, cable, heat, food and other resources that universities claim to provide via scholarship.
There’s no guaranteeing that this will become a trend, but it’s still a significant move. As a top-tier prospect with a seemingly guaranteed starting job at a strong school with a legendary head coach, heading overseas is a drastic move by Mudiay.
It could be an isolated incident. It could be a monumental development.
Regardless of what happens next, Mudiay is leaving SMU and searching for employment as a professional basketball player.
Around The League
- Washington Wizards star John Wall will not be included on Team USA’s preliminary 19-man roster, per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. He could be added at a future date for the World Cup. Wall accounted for 40.6 points per game in 2013-14—more than any point guard not named Chris Paul or Stephen Curry.
- A potential Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers trade has hit a standstill. According to Chris Broussard of ESPN, “Minnesota’s current stance: No Wiggins for TWolves, No KLove for Cavs.”
- Marc Stein of ESPN reports that the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets are targeting Mike Miller. Per Stein, both squads are, “Trying to keep LeBron’s sharpshooter buddy from choosing Cleveland.”
- Per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Pau Gasol’s contract with the Chicago Bulls will be worth roughly $22 million over three seasons. Many expected Gasol to receive more than $10 million per season, but he has accepted a pay cut for a chance to win.
Maybe for the combines in the 2010s before the 2014 combine, I’m pretty sure you’re misinterpreting what Ford meant by “last decade.” Just to name a few, Julius Randle, Aaron Gordon and Noah Vonleh all had stationary vertical leaps at the combine both meeting and exceeding that stiff…uh, I mean Zeller. How many players at the combines are measured 6’9″ without their shoes in the first place. He was being compared against hardly anybody.
Also, you’re not even half-truthing it. In point of fact, at the 2013 combine, including every player that had their leaps measured, regardless of their position, Zeller was the very WORST in the difference between his stationary standing vertical leap and his vertical leap taking steps before the leap. Of the 52 players tested, Zeller was 52nd. Bottom of the barrel.