[qDizzle32Participant]

Team USA announced their roster earlier today which was loaded with Top 20 ranked players in the espn100 but on the website it says the World Team’s roster won’t be announced until late February or March. Andrew Wiggins, the MVP of last year’s game is basically a lock to play in this year’s as well. Wiggins stated in an interview that he was upset that he didn’t get to go head to head against Jabari Parker in the Nike EYBL tourney last summer. Well this could finally be that matchup that Wiggins has been wanting and that many of us would enjoy to see. Since the World Team always consists of the best Under 20 players in every country but the United States, two of the other main prospects we could see playing are Illmane Diop and Mario Hezonja. Last year they allowed Andrew Wiggins to play in the Hoop Summit who was then a sophomore in high school and then 17 years old which means they could this year invite Karl Towns to play this year. Towns the New Jersey native who represented the Dominican Republic’s National Team last summer even got to play against the the Senior Team USA that competed in the London Olympics and is currently the #3 ranked junior prospect.

I would want to see Team USA go against:

C Illmane Diop (Senegal)
F Karl Towns (Dominican Republic/Kentucky ’14)
F Andrew Wiggins (Canada/Undecided)
G Mario Hezonja (Croatia)
G Tyler Ennis (Canada/Syracuse)

Livio Jean-Charles (France)
Mouhammadou Jaiteh (France)
James Birsen (Turkey)
Dante Exum (Austrailia/Undecided)
David Taylor (Germany)

I am NOT projecting who will represent the world team in the game but that would be a very exciting game to watch with Wiggins vs. Parker, Randle vs. Diop and the Harrisons against Hezonja. After Team USA lost to the World Team last year led by Wiggins who is likely to play in this year’s game again, this could be the best Nike Hoop Summit game yet.

[pohani komaracParticipant]

there are better and more talented players in europe then Livio Jean-Charles, Birsen or Taylor. So far Birsen is just huge hype, does not stand out even at his age. He is more bust like Zubcic then “new Hedo”

Denis Schroder, Sergey Karasev, Nedim Buza, Djoko Salic, Nikola Milutinov, Hernangomez, Jusuf Nurkic, Emir Sulejmanovic and so on and on, players that actually play some basketball and producing

[peZt93Participant]

Yeah as a Turk myself Birsen is looking to be a huge disappointment. Always seems like he doesn’t care on the court.

Denis Schröder comes from my city so it would be great to see him there. He has been improving immensely the last few years. But hes 1993 born but Kasey Hill is the oldest of the US team being born in 93 so maybe they’ll put 1 or 2 93 born players in the international team too.

Anyway this is going to be a really really good game, can’t wait.

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

There is no reason for a competitive high level club (New Yorker Phantoms, Triumph, Partizan, etc) to release a player they utilize to participate in what is essentially a high school all-star game. Livio Jean-Charles was a developmental player for ASVEL up until 5 games ago. If he keeps being a 20-25 minute guy for them, then he probably will be told to back out. If you think back, this was what originated the Biyombo-Fuenlabrada mess (though please remember the massive amounts of nonsense that surrounded his game and subsequent two years of anchoring a historically inept Bobcat defense… I digress). The other guys in the game are playing in second division leagues or lower. The opportunity for them to be seen and compete in this type of setting comes without the same cost for the club.

Plus, a guy like Karasev has played CSKA (9-1 in the Euroleague and 1st place in Russia), Khimki, Spartak, Zalgiris (1st place in Lithuania), LeMans (tied for 1st in France), and Budivelnyk (1st in Ukraine) this season, and getting ready for Banvit (tied for 1st in Turkey). These are the top clubs in five different countries. What does he have to prove by leaving that club to play against high schoolers?

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

Diop received a ton of praise for his U16 play last summer, but has had a mostly non-descript season so far in the LEB Silver. He had a two-week stretch where he put together back-to-back double-double games (10 points, 11 rebounds, 1 block in one, and 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 1 block in the other). That said, he is still averaging 4.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, .9 blocks, 2.3 fouls, and 1.4 turnovers in 13 minutes per over the 10 games he has played.

Here are his two big games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FucsILhdZMs&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG4vjfNCmeg&feature=youtu.be

Jaiteh came on in December and was putting up huge numbers in the second division in France. He got up to 15 points and just under 10 rebounds per game before breaking a bone in his foot.

Here are the highlights of the final few games prior to his injury.

SOMB – Aix-Maurienne 22-12-2012 by SOMBOULOGNE

SOMB Rouen 24-11-2012 by SOMBOULOGNE

SOMB – HTV 08-12-2012 by SOMBOULOGNE

[pohani komaracParticipant]

twitter quote

eurohopes According to @GabrielPJ_CandS Livio Jean-Charles (’93), Mam Jaiteh (’94) and Clint Capela (’94) will play at Nike Hoop Summit. 4 hours ago · reply · retweet · favorite

[KingWPParticipant]

No huge names other than Wiggins and Towns, but those two are solid. Both #1 in their class, but I don’t know much about the other guys. This game is always one of my favorites, because you don’t know what to expect from the World Team. Do you guys see any possible Biyombos this year?

[European BasketballerParticipant]

Adetokunbo better be invited.

[King CaluchaParticipant]

I have to agree with EB. I want to see that guy against better competition.

[European BasketballerParticipant]

What do you mean by better competition? Compared to Greek 2nd division? Greek 2nd division teams went 3-0 against the D-League all star team.

Greek 2nd division is way higher level than Nike Hoops Summit. When Pappas played in Nike Hoops Summit he was playing in Greek junior level, which is 3 levels below Greek 2nd division.

[pohani komaracParticipant]

Rumored Hoop Summit invites except Jaiteh, Jean-Charles, Ivanovic: Andrew Wiggins, Mario Hezonja, Dennis Schroeder, Dante Exum, Wang Zhelin.

[McDunkin]

[Author]

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