2008 NBA Draft Analysis – European Angle - Betus

[Shame About Ray]

NBA Draft Betting Analysis – Take out the Euro Trash!

In the past five years of NBA Draft betting, the only two players to come out of Europe or Asia in the first round that have produced are Mickael Pietrus (France) and Yao Ming (China). Other than that, the rest have either disappeared off the face of the NBA online wagering radar, or are so irrelevant, that nobody even knows that they still play in Memphis (suck it, Darko!).

Andrea Bagnarni.
Saer Sene.
Thabo Sefolosha.
Fran Vasquez.
Darko Milicic.
Tiago Splitter.

Do you know who fun it was to compile that list? I’d completely forgotten about Saer Sene! Where is this guy? Is he sipping mojito's with Fran Vasquez somewhere? I need to know these things. I seriously do. They’re keeping me up at night.

Andrea Bagnarni had everyone in Toronto wet after scouts compared him to Dirk Nowitzki. That turned out great. And by “great” I mean “complete and utter disaster”. Now Toronto is trying to dish a player that barely nets 10 and 5 per game.

Last year, Yi Jianlian wowed scouts by posting up a set of folding chairs and driving the lane. Excuse me if I wasn’t awe inspired by those YouTube performances. The performance was good enough to amaze the executives in Milwaukee and net Yi the sixth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.

That brings us to Danilo Gallinari, the goofy looking Italian who’s apparently the Italian version of Magic Johnson. Of course, that’s if Magic Johnson was a massively overrated foreign phenom that nobody’s seen play in regular play. And look who he’s being compared to! That’s right – Dirk Nowitzki!

Let’s get one thing straight, NBA betting community. Dirk Nowitzki is one of a kind. He will never be imitated because nobody can replace his ridiculous intensity and his shooting touch. Nobody will ever produce that combination. Ever. It’s not happening. Get over it already!

So what’s the big deal about Danilo? Apparently his basketball IQ is off the charts, and his overall skill level is graceful. Fantastic. He’s playing in Europe! Yes it’s a high level of technical basketball, but that has rarely translated on to the NBA hardwood because everyone in the NBA is a freakish athlete.

To stoke the fire some more, Danilo’s agent is pulling the Italian from the draft if he isn’t guaranteed a top-10 spot. Who threatens a league with a boat load of talent in a draft? An agent who isn’t certifiably comfortable with his client’s readiness for the NBA. That’s how.

Whomever takes Danilo will be won over by his sweet shot, his ability to handle the ball, while being blinded by his performance against the lack luster Europeans. Whomever’s dumb enough to take the guy is the team you should be running away from in our NBA futures wagering.

Meanwhile, you can be assured that Danilo will go in the top-10. If there’s something that we know about the NBA, it’s that they love Europeans more than Dirk likes David Hasselhoff. Hey, everyone makes bad decisions. Just keep your fingers crossed that it isn’t your favorite team (psssst! New Jersey! You’re screwed!).

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