Until recently, it looked like the Brooklyn Nets and other NBA clubs wouldn’t get a chance to get close up looks at some of Europe’s top draft talent. Many of them play for the continent’s best teams and in several cases, those teams will be playing right up to the nights of the NBA Draft at Barclays Center on June 25-26.
Now, reports Erik Slater of Clutch Points and Locked On Nets, the NBA will accommodate their teams and have set up a special “predraft activities”, presumably including workouts, for seven such situated Euros Wednesday in Treviso, Italy, near Venice. Treviso is the home of the Adidas EuroCamp, the last of the big combines which took place over this past weekend…
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Each of the seven prospects have been linked to the Nets at some point by media outlet mocks. Both Bleacher Report and Yahoo! Sports currently have Essengue, the 6’10” French PF who plays in Germany, mocked to the Nets at No. 8. Gonzalez, the 6’6” Spanish SF, has been linked to the Nets everywhere from No. 19 through No. 36. Saraf, Essengue’s teammate, too,
In fact, in ESPN’s latest Top 100, all but Bogoljub Markovic, a 6’11” Serbian PF, are listed in the worldwide leader’s top 30 with Markovic close behind at No. 38.
Who will represent the Nets in Treviso? They’re not saying but a number of the team’s scouts were in Treviso over the weekend. At least Simone Casali, the team’s director of international scouting, could be expected to attend.
Other than Sean Marks and B.J. Johnson, his No. 2 and draft guru, another possibility is Kyle Hines. Hines is not listed officially as a scout — his title is player development assistant — but he is seen at Nets scouting sessions in SCOUT, the Nets multi-part docu-series. More importantly, Hines was a Euroleague legend during a 16-year career overseas and was prominent at the Adidas EuroCamp where he served as “mentor” for that group which was mainly younger players, not 2025 Draft prospects.
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Hines, a New Jersey native, posted several pictures on Instagram Tuesday morning from his time in Treviso working with players.
He listed his location Tuesday as “Treviso. Italy,” a strong indication he’ll be there Wednesday.
The big prize NBA scouts are likely to be looking at is Essengue. As Slater notes:
Essengue is the most notable of the group. The 6-foot-9 forward has been rising up draft boards while putting together one of his most productive stretches of the season in Germany’s top professional league…
Essengue measured 6-foot-9 and 198 pounds with a 6-foot-11 wingspan at Basketball Without Borders last year. He also recorded an incredible 9-foot-3 standing reach, four inches shorter than Victor Wembanyama’s. His measurements, athletic testing and shooting drill results will be storylines to monitor on Wednesday.
A number of draftniks have been posting clips of his games with Ratiopharm Ulm in the German league playoffs, each seeming more impressive than the last…
Perhaps the second most interesting player in the group is Hugo Gonzalez. As we wrote about him in our analysis of five top Euros, four of whom will be in Treviso:
He’s an intriguing piece. A few years back, when playing internationally, he was compared favorably to Cooper Flagg. As Stephen Gillaspie of No Ceilings wrote recently in one of their extensive takes, back in the 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup, Gonzalez helped Spain earn a silver against Team USA, leading Spain with 16 points to Flagg’s 10. (If you’re interested in watching, here’s the tape including a nice dunk by Gonzales 23:00 in.)
Indeed, scouts think Gonzalez’s FIBA footage may be give you a better read of his potenial than his more recent time with Real Madrid. where he has been behind a lot of NBA-level wing talent, He’s been getting only 10 minutes a game this season. It would seem to make individual workouts essential for teams trying to grade him.
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Traore’, a speedy 6’3” French point guard, is another favorite of draftniks and is seen as rising in the minds of NBA execs. He had some difficulty early in transitioning from one level of French basketball to another, but of late, he like Essengue and Gonzalez has been more productive. Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer wrote this of him
Traoré oozes upside with his size, blazing speed, and shiftiness off the bounce. And it’s starting to manifest into actual production: In his last game, he dropped 21 points with seven assists to only two turnovers. And he continued to shoot the heck out of the ball too. Over his last six games, he’s made 50% of his 3s. And over his last 10 games, he’s made 82% of his free throws. Inefficient scoring and erratic decision-making are the big concerns with Traoré, but if he keeps this up there’s a chance he won’t even make it to this pick for Brooklyn to pair him with a French teammate in Essengue.
How much of the workout might we see? Maybe a little, but these workouts are normally closed. No doubt though word will leak out as to who excelled and which teams seemed to have the most interest.
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