NBL Blitz 2023: An early evaluation the top NBA Draft prospects in Australia this season

Publish date: 2024-04-26

The 2024 NBA Draft cycle has kicked into full gear, with the G League Ignite having already played five games and international teams starting preseason play. The FIBA World Cup had a few draft prospects worth evaluating, and scouts have been out and about already to get eyes on potential NBA talent at various events.

One of those events occurred last week at the Gold Coast in Australia, as the NBL Blitz offered an opportunity for scouts to see the talent that the National Basketball League has accumulated. This season, the NBL has eight Next Stars — its program accentuating young players worldwide — more than ever before, and general managers did a great job of accruing high-end collegiate talent who aren’t in the Next Stars program, but are still draft-eligible. All told, there are about 11 players in the league I believe are on NBA radars entering the season with a real chance to be drafted in June – and that doesn’t include potential 2025 first-round pick Rocco Zikarsky.

NBA evaluators plan to making treks to Australia throughout the season. The Blitz ended up with more than 40 credentialed evaluators from teams coming over to scout, and they didn’t leave disappointed. Here are some in-depth thoughts on seven key players, plus a few other notes that caught my eye.

Alex Sarr | Perth Wildcats | 7-1 big | 18 years old

Early grade: Top 10

Alex Sarr has been the preseason breakout star this draft cycle and is a contender to go No. 1 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft. He was terrific in Perth’s two games against the G League Ignite in Las Vegas and has followed it by being one of the few Next Stars in Australia to carve out a clear, positive role on his team. It’s rare for teenagers to be useful in the NBL, but Sarr looks ready to make an impact from day one for Perth. He played between 22 and 27 minutes per game in three games at the Blitz, averaging 11 points, seven rebounds, 2.3 assists and two blocks. The team clearly tried to experiment with him in different lineups, playing him as a standalone five at times and as a supersized four next to All-NBL big Keanu Pinder at others.

The reason for the experimentation is two-fold. First, Sarr is further ahead than anyone expected when he committed to play for Perth as a Next Star. Second, his defense is just that good. The key phrase for NBA executives in regard to Sarr is “ground coverage.” He is 7-foot-1 with long arms and moves like a wing in a way that is quite rare.

He’s fluid through his hips and has really quick feet. That allows him to fly around the court and be an exceptionally versatile chess piece on defense. You can play him in drop coverage or switch him on ball screens, and he can defend in space. Perth sometimes uses him to hard hedge and recover on screens. He also flies around and defends in help situations off the ball. His scramble instincts are superb, and he knows how to cut off angles and use his length to cover space.

Here’s a sequence showing him combining a few of those skills together in the game against Cairns. He switches a screen onto Taran Armstrong and cuts off the angle, then after the ball reversal, he helps down to cut off the drive from Lat Mayen and helps to force the turnover with his length. Pay special attention to how big Sarr stays in these moments. His arms are outstretched, and he flips his hips with ease.

Length, athleticism, instincts and fluid movement are the tools NBA teams seek to identify potential all-league defenders, and Sarr has that kind of upside. It’s hard to over-emphasize how important that is in today’s NBA. The shooting revolution has made guys like him more essential than ever, as there’s more area on the court in the NBA to cover. To find success, NBA teams need athletic guys with length who can close out and make multiple efforts on that end of the court.

On top of it, Sarr is a little bit more ready to contribute offensively than expected. He’s been largely a double-figure scorer thus far, and he’s active as an out-of-area rebounder. He’s made a few 3s in his preseason games, showcasing some ability to run dribble-handoff turn-downs where he’ll rise and fire, as well as pick-and-pops out of ball screens. He can grab and go on the break as a ballhandler and has shown some driving ability.

So what are the concerns? It comes down to what exactly his role is. He’s clearly gifted, but despite his size, Sarr tends to operate most as a perimeter player, and his offensive skills aren’t quite good enough yet to be one in the NBA. While his handle is comfortable in space and impressive for a 7-footer, he can’t really dribble effectively in half-court settings or in tight spaces yet. He’s working through his jumper, but mechanically, there is still a lot going on and he’ll need to refine his form. All of this could make you buy into Sarr as more of a limited roleplaying big who rim runs, picks-and-pops and acts as a versatile center defender. However, he’s also quite skinny and can struggle a bit to anchor against bigger bodies inside. His rebounding is best when crashing in, but he sometimes struggles to box out and keep his man off the glass. On offense, his finishing as a dunker is strong, but he has been a bit hit or miss with his touch.

A lot of the Sarr evaluation comes down to how his body and skills will develop. Right now, Sarr is about 215 pounds, which is about what Evan Mobley was at USC and Nic Claxton was at Georgia during their pre-draft years. I think Sarr has wider, bigger shoulders that make you believe his frame will handle quite a bit more weight and strength without losing too much of what makes him special athletically. As long as that happens, his floor is pretty high. Claxton feels like the strongest point of comparison right now to Sarr’s game, given all of the impressive things he did with the ball in his hands in college. However, Claxton’s ball skills haven’t quite translated to the NBA, and he instead became more of a limited offensive player who defends at an elite level. At 24 years old, Claxton is, in my opinion, a top-10 defensive player in the league and finished third among centers in All-Defense voting last year behind Brook Lopez and Bam Adebayo.

But for as good as Claxton is, if that’s the kind of player Sarr becomes, it’s not exactly the sexiest outcome for a potential No. 1 overall pick. That’s what teams are trying to reckon with. There is just not a lot of enthusiasm among NBA executives and scouts about the players expected to be at the top of this draft. NBA personnel appreciate players such as Sarr, Ron Holland and others, but they don’t really see a surefire top-three pick in a normal draft right now either.

But that shouldn’t diminish what Sarr has done thus far in the preseason. He’s poised to be in the conversation at the top all year, and his season starts this weekend in Australia. NBA evaluators place him comfortably in the top 10 right now, and I would have Sarr at No. 3 on my personal board at this point.

Bobi Klintman | Cairns Taipans | 6-10 forward | 20 years old

Early grade: mid-first to mid-second

Klintman had a largely positive experience last week, playing in his first professional games after what turned into an acrimonious departure from Wake Forest where his former coach, Steve Forbes, called a bizarre news conference to rail against Klintman’s representation through the pre-draft process. I don’t know what the intent was, but the whole thing came off as sour grapes that a player left to turn professional in a new environment of player movement and optionality. Regardless, Klintman is happy, and his teammates seem happy to have him. It was clear watching Klintman’s interactions with his teammates on the sidelines that they enjoy having him around.

The feedback from scouts on his play was more hit or miss. Some scouts like Klintman’s potential and upside as a big wing who can dribble, pass and shoot. Others are more skeptical about his overall athleticism and defensive awareness, and will nitpick some of the skill-based parts of his game. Still, Klintman had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists in his first game, as well as 18 points, four rebounds and three assists in his second game. He had eight steals in three games and was active all over the court.

Let’s start with the good, which came mostly on offense. Klintman was largely confident and aggressive in this setting, driving and cutting at every opportunity and earning a ton of foul shots. One question scouts had about Klintman entering the season was his willingness to drive into contact after playing a largely perimeter-based game in college. The early signs were positive, as he was willing the pressure the rim. In particular, he was quite good playing off his guards and cutting toward the hoop. Here’s a great example late in Cairns’ game against South East Melbourne, where he reads his man in the corner and perfectly times a backdoor, baseline cut for an easy dunk.

When Klintman can get a head of steam and dunk, he’s a good finisher. But this is where we start to get into the questions Klintman raised with his play. And by questions, I mean that word legitimately. Scouts do not have to make a decision on where to draft Klintman until June, meaning he has time to showcase the answers he needs to provide. At the rim, when he is surrounded by any traffic, things get more difficult. His touch can elude him a little bit, and he doesn’t quite have the vertical pop to create his own force to finish without that initial runway. He ended up making just 10 of his 20 shots at the rim in these three games, including just 46.7 percent of his layups.

A similar effect on Klintman’s touch occurs away from the rim too. When his motion gets sped up off movement or due to a tighter contest, his shot trajectory can flatten out a bit. In my opinion, this is because his base isn’t quite as strong underneath him in those moments. He’s at his best taking jumpers off the hop, where he can get the lower half of his body engaged. Below, you’ll see his feet are a little too close together and the ball comes out flatter.

On defense, Klintman really struggled in the first half of the first game, missing rotations and looking lost. After a stint on the bench, he was much better in the second half, and generally gave real effort and made action plays over the following two games. His overall defensive awareness needs to improve, but that can come with time, and there was already some reason to be positive. Where scouts have more substantial worries are with his hips, as Klintman seems to struggle to change direction and drop his hips to cut off driving angles, both when closing out on shooters and when defending smaller players in space. Scouts will be watching him intently to see if Klintman keeps showing he can make an impact with his athletic coordination and fluidity, even if he doesn’t necessarily have a ton of quick-twitch aptitude.

Still, Klintman went 2-for-3 in terms of producing on the court in games. For a 20-year-old rookie in a pro league, that’s all you can really ask. I would still project Klintman to go somewhere in the late first round right now. Considering he turns 21 this season, scouts will want to see sustained, genuine production from him as opposed to the leeway they will likely give the teenagers early. I think he’ll probably provide that, but Klintman’s draft range is wide. Some scouts really appreciate the archetype of a big wing with skill, whereas others are more inclined to point out the flaws and concerns.

AJ Johnson | Illawarra Hawks | 6-5 wing | 18 years old

Early grade: High-upside project; check back later in season

Johnson, a Next Star who chose to go to Illawarra instead of attending Texas this season, struggled during the Blitz. He is a wiry, explosive athlete with all sorts of burst and twitch. But his issues are easy to pinpoint and will work themselves out in time. Johnson is extremely skinny right now and doesn’t have any real degree of power in the way he plays. That was an issue for him as he tried to adjust in his first professional games. In the first game, I loved how aggressive he was attacking the basket while wearing a face mask after breaking his nose earlier this month, no less.

The issue is that he doesn’t have anything in the way of contact balance right now. Johnson can’t really take any bumps on the ball as a dribbler, and it’s a little too easy to cut off his angles. Defensively, it’s the same. In a league filled with grown men, Johnson just bounces off guys and ended up committing a few too many fouls. In the second game, he had three fouls within his first five minutes on the court. He ended up with four and didn’t play at all in the fourth quarter of Illawarra’s win over Brisbane.

Scouts still have interest in Johnson’s athleticism. He has quick, fluid hips that allow him to change direction on a dime. But it was hard to get a read on him doing, well, anything in this setting. I don’t think I would have Johnson as a projected 2024 first-rounder coming off this event, but I also believe he might look different later in the year after he figures out how to process the speed of the game and work around his lack of bulk.

Johnson’s issues reminded me a lot of former NBL player Terrance Ferguson during his pre-draft year. Ferguson ended up playing a bit better late in the season and became a first-round pick of the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2017. Johnson has a bit more ball skill than Ferguson did, so there is hope here. But the early part of the season probably won’t go all that well for him, and he’ll need to put together a strong back half. It’s possible he ends up not entering the draft for multiple years.

GO DEEPER

2024 NBA Mock Draft: The prospects you need to know next season

Trentyn Flowers | Adelaide 36ers | 6-7 wing | 18 years old

Early grade: Project, check back later

Before diving into Trentyn Flowers — and there is a significant amount to dive into — I want to say upfront that I don’t think what I’m about to write is entirely his fault. Sources around the league will tell you Flowers is a really nice, engaging player. Having said that, the team he joined, the Adelaide 36ers, was a mess at the Blitz. They lost both games I saw them play by more than 25 points. The team’s process on offense or defense did not look particularly sound. They’ve already cut one of their import players, former NBA first-round pick Jamaal Franklin, in what is the earliest I can remember a player parting ways with his club in this competition.

A significant part of the reason they were a mess, though, was the role they handed to Flowers, a 6-foot-8 teenager who left the Louisville program in August to join Adelaide. The 36ers gave Flowers the starting point guard spot over established NBL veterans Mitch McCarron and Jason Cadee. That decision was as big of a mistake as I’ve seen a team at any level make in a while. To be clear, league sources told The Athletic this was not a situation where the NBL pushed for a Next Star to play a certain role on the team. This was Adelaide’s decision. If you’re Flowers, and would like to be a 6-foot-8 playmaker at some point, I get asking for and accepting such a role to challenge yourself. But this was a clear misevaluation by Adelaide, one the 36ers will need to rectify in the coming days while looking to replace Franklin in their final import slot.

In the team’s first game against New Zealand, Flowers struggled immensely to get the ball over half court as Breakers coach Mody Maor employed a full-court defensive blitz for nearly the full game. (Yes, Maor pressed a teenage point guard for 40 minutes in a preseason game they led by 20 for nearly the entire contest. In other news, the always-animated Maor is among my favorite coaches in the NBL.) Former Arizona point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright — who is about a foot shorter than Flowers — defended him for a large portion of the game and pickpocketed Flowers in the backcourt multiple times. In total, Flowers scored eight points, had two assists and turned the ball over seven times, looking extremely flustered to the point that he allowed McCarron and import center Jacob Wiley to bring the ball up the court for large portions of a game his team lost by 26 points.

Flowers made a pair of 3s and had a nice back cut for a bucket, but also really struggled on defense. Former Warriors draft pick Justinian Jessup caught him ball-watching multiple times to get open jumpers. It was as rough a performance as I’ve seen a player have in a professional opener. Moreover, it looked like Flowers lost confidence.

Flowers played more on the wing against Sarr and the Perth Wildcats in Game 2 and saw a bit more success through stretches of the game. Flowers still only went 4-of-13 from the field, missing all four of his 3-point attempts and turning the ball over four times, but there were a few moments when he played with real verve and energy. In the second quarter, Flowers had a quick bucket and dished two sharp passes to the rim for a pair of assists, really showcasing what could be a successful version of himself.

The role here for Flowers should be simple: He should try to crash the defensive glass and push quickly to start the break before defenses are set. In half-court settings, he should look to play off the ball and try to attack gaps in the defense after it is bent and rotating, with those situations created by a primary initiator in ball screens. It wasn’t an awesome showing, but it showed hope for what could work as Flowers moves from the preseason into the regular season.

Despite those positive flashes, NBA evaluators in the stands were left talking more about something else outside of Flowers’ control: what one referred to as “the show within the show” during the game. Flowers’ father, Travis, was sitting courtside for his game against Perth and was extremely noticeable. Every time Flowers would do something positive, he’d get up to cheer in a very animated manner. Many times when Flowers would do something negative, his father would seemingly try to have conversations with him while he was on the court. Whether this is what was actually going through Flowers’ mind, two executives told The Athletic they believed Flowers was looking over at his dad when he made a mistake. Going back through the tape, I was able to find instances where Flowers’ father was standing up and making a scene.

Flowers’ father’s behavior, at the very least for some of the evaluators in the stands, overshadowed Flowers’ play. To say NBA evaluators don’t want to deal with distractions like this is an understatement, especially for a player who has yet to succeed at this level. Again, it’s worth noting that I’ve yet to hear anything bad about Flowers himself. You don’t want to take too much away from one tournament. But it would help everyone immensely if his father’s aggressive behavior was minimized moving forward.

All of this was in a pair of preseason games. No one should write off Flowers now. It’s totally fine for a 6-foot-8 teenage wing to not be able to play point guard in a professional league. Very few players can be expected to come in at that age and have any sort of success in such a role. Even though LaMelo Ball and Josh Giddey each had their own levels of success in the NBL, both of their teams really struggled. Flowers’ transition to wing should benefit him in the long run as he tries to re-establish himself as a prospect. I didn’t rank Flowers in my preseason mock draft in August, as I felt he was a bit of a project that would take time. That’s still how I feel. We’ll check back in with him later in the season and hope he takes well to the wing role.

In the meantime, the 36ers played much better in their third game at the Blitz, allowing McCarron to run the point. He had 16 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, while Flowers’ minimized role worked better for everyone involved.

GO DEEPER

Trentyn Flowers leaving Louisville to play in Australia

Lachlan Olbrich | Illawarra Hawks | 6-10 big | 19 years old

Early grade: Late first-round upside with wide range of potential outcomes

Olbrich was the breakout player of the Blitz. The 2023 Big West Freshman of the Year last season for UC Riverside, Olbrich decided to start his professional career early. Thus far, that seems like a good decision for the skilled 6-foot-10 big. He looks ready to contribute in a professional league now despite not turning 20 until Dec. 30. In a game against Brisbane and former NBA center Aron Baynes, Olbrich had 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting with three assists and two rebounds. In his finale, Olbrich went for 18 points on 8-of-8 shooting, with six rebounds, five assists and three steals. He was the best player on the court in that final game.

Olbrich excels with his handle and ability to create plays off the bounce at his size. No one is going to confuse Olbrich with being an elite athlete, but he is extremely functional in the way he moves. He has fluid hips on the ball to change directions in the open floor and soft hands to catch everything in his area. He often led the break for Illawarra, covering ground like a gazelle before driving into the paint or finding a guard for a dribble handoff into a screen. Olbrich can really take bigs off the dribble as a ballhandler for being a big teenager, and can also find the open areas in the defense off the ball. He finishes with both hands around the rim with speed when being contested and can really pass on the move for someone his size.

Here’s a fun example of him showing just about everything, as he calls out a defensive coverage, grabs the defensive rebound, leads the break and finds a backdoor cutter for an easy dunk.

On this play, you’ll see some of his shiftiness and change of direction mixed with his touch, as he grabs and goes following the defensive rebound, attacks with a slick behind-the-back dribble and tosses up a beautiful midrange floater.

For many evaluators, this was just a first impression on Olbrich. Scouts definitely had him on their radar as someone who needed a couple of quick notes, but he quickly emerged as a player who merited more attention than that.

Olbrich will need to prove himself in the coming months as a shooter and defender. He did make one 3 at the event and has a feathery touch that should allow him to knock down shots from distance. In the lower NBL1 after leaving college in the spring, he made his 78 3-point attempts at a 43 percent clip. Showcasing more of that will benefit him.

Given how wide open this draft is, I don’t think you can cap Olbrich as a second-rounder if he keeps playing like this. He looked drastically more impressive than Johnson did over these three games. Johnson’s ceiling athletically is greater, and as he gets more comfortable, he could flip back in front. But Illawarra no longer is just a one man show for NBA scouts. They’re heading over to Australia to see both Olbrich and Johnson.

Ariel Hukporti | Melbourne United | 7-0 big | 21 years old

Early grade: mid-to-late second round

I’ve been a touch higher on Ariel Hukporti than NBA scouts have been throughout his time in Australia, as he’s now entering his third season as a Next Star. Hukporti attended the 2021 NBA Draft Combine before choosing to withdraw from the draft and come to Australia to work on his game. However, after a promising 2021-22 season that set him up for a breakout 2022-23 campaign, Hukporti tore his Achilles and missed all of last season. It was incredibly disappointing, as Hukporti has done impressive work on his frame during his years in Australia, going from something of a doughy, below-the-rim figure during his teen years (when he won the MVP of the 2020 Basketball Without Borders camp during All-Star Weekend) to a relatively chiseled 7-footer who has unlocked real explosiveness in his game.

The Blitz was the first time scouts got a chance to see Hukporti since his injury, and he did not disappoint. Playing a relatively simple game, Hukporti has become an interesting rim-to-rim big who plays exceptionally hard and impacts the game on both ends of the court. Set to start for Melbourne United this season until Jo Lual-Acuil gets back from his own injury, Hukporti averaged nearly 12 points, seven rebounds and 1.3 blocks for United during the Blitz. On offense, he generated opportunities by beating his man down the floor in transition and running toward the rim. On defense, he contested everything at the basket with his enormous left hand and used his massive 9-foot-4 standing reach to become an impediment.

This is about as impressive a defensive possession as I saw anyone have at the Blitz. Watch as Hukporti contains the middle dribble-handoff and guards both the ballhandler and the rolling big, timing his recovery to the big perfectly to go up and swat him at the rim. After Illawarra gets the offensive rebound, Hukporti peels off his man on the interior to help at the rim against a cutting Tyler Harvey, sending him packing too by swatting it off of his body and forcing the defensive stop.

Hukporti is automatically eligible for the 2024 draft as an international player who turns 22 during the calendar year, and he’s set up for a big role on what figures to be one of the three best teams in the league. I had Hukporti getting picked in my way-too-early 2024 mock and would maintain that mid-to-late-second stash status for him moving forward. In my opinion, he’s still a bit too limited offensively with his decision-making and skills (everything is with his left hand at the moment) to be a first-rounder. If he’s putting the ball on the deck in any way, shape or form, bad things could happen. But teams could do worse than drafting-and-stashing an athletic big man with plus size (even by NBA standards) who will spend the season starting for a good professional team. I think he’s better than recent late draft-and-stash bigs such as Khalifa Diop, Yannick Nzosa and Karlo Matković.

Taran Armstrong | Cairns Taipans | 6-5 lead guard | 21 years old

Early grade: potential second-rounder

Highly engaged draft and mid-major college hoops fans will recognize this name, as Taran Armstrong starred over the last two seasons for California Baptist in the WAC. Much like Olbrich, Armstrong left college early to turn professional and won the WAC Freshman of the Year award. However, unlike Olbrich, Armstrong is departing the college game after a sophomore season that disappointed NBA scouts after such a dazzling first year in the U.S. Despite a lot of interest across the NBL (and from high-major teams the transfer portal), Armstrong decided to play for Cairns to play a bigger role and learn under a coach in Adam Forde who is considered one of the best developmental minds in Australia.

The first impression of that move undeniably is a positive one. At California Baptist, Armstrong was quite skinny and struggled at times with the physicality and condensed spacing of the college game. But the first thing that immediately stood out to me is that Armstrong has clearly gotten in the weight room this offseason and looks much stronger across his shoulders, chest and torso. It translated well on defense during these three games, where he used his length and strength to bother opposing ballhandlers. He was an aggressive out-of-area rebounder and good with his hands, forcing five steals in three games.

Beyond that, if you’re interested in Armstrong, you’re interested in his passing ability. Armstrong is one of the best ball-screen and quick-read passers on planet Earth already as a 21-year-old, and that’s not an exaggeration. His ability to process the game on the fly and figure out where defenders are going and how they’ll react to what he does on the ball is remarkable. He dished out 18 assists in three games last week, but the team’s first game against Perth was the one that really stood out. He only ended up with seven assists, but he should have had well over 10 had his teammates been able to finish. He can throw passes from any angle and off any footwork pattern, which allows him to hit his teammates before the defense (or sometimes the cameraman) can even react. He’ll throw them on the move, such as with this play where Armstrong drives off a heavy closeout, then hits the Steve Nash-like baseline hesitation on Jordan Usher and Keanu Pinder to get the rim.

We need to find Armstrong a Tyrese Haliburton-esque “Jump Passes Are Good Now” T-shirt because he thrives off them. He takes off, hangs in the air, waits for Klintman to cut to the rim then finds him so that Klintman can go to the line.

The other thing Armstrong excels at is manipulating defenders with his body language and eyes. Watch this set play from Cairns, where you can see Armstrong come up off the middle pindown screen up to the top of the key. The screener then goes to set a back screen for Patrick Miller, who brought the ball up the court. Watch how Armstrong holds the backside help defender, Pinder, with his eyes onto the corner 3-point shooter, then throws what is essentially a quick-look pass to the rim to Miller for the easy and-1 layup.

So why isn’t one of the best passers in the world a first-round pick? Right now, Armstrong does not really have a way to score in the NBA game. He has below-average explosiveness and twitch and hasn’t yet developed his jumper enough to where it’s a reliable weapon. He brings the ball a bit too far toward his face as he loads up and has a bit of an inconsistent release. Having said that, Armstrong displays some impressive moments of touch with high-arcing finishes on floaters. There’s potential he could become a real shooter in time. But it’s not there yet.

Armstrong strikes me as the exact kind of player a team should want to stash. For teams that believe in a model of drafting currently imperfect players with specifically elite gifts — in this case, his processing and passing abilities — Armstrong will have appeal if he enters the 2024 draft.

Other Notes

Perth guard Ben Henshall is a name that has caught scouts’ eyes in a substantial way following solid performances in Las Vegas against the G League Ignite and a couple of awesome games at the Blitz. Henshall is a 6-foot-5 scorer with terrific feel for the game and an inherent creativity with his on-ball change of pace and shiftiness that Australian guards often lack. I have a top-100 grade for Henshall on my personal board as of now, as he can knock down shots off pull-ups, both from behind the 3-point line and from the midrange. He’s quite skinny at the moment, but is aggressive and plays with a chip on his shoulder. I don’t know if 2024 is the draft class for Henshall given his frame, but he has every chance to get selected in the future. He has really impressed in the preseason, including a 17-point outburst against Adelaide and another impressive 17 points against Team Overtime in Las Vegas.

Alex Toohey was slated to go to Gonzaga, but shifted gears at the last minute to play as a Next Star for the Sydney Kings. A 6-foot-8 forward with a sweet shooting stroke, Toohey is seen by most as a multi-year player at this point while he works on improving his overall athleticism and flexibility. He got a lot of opportunity at the Blitz with sharp-shooting forward D.J. Hogg out and didn’t disappoint. Toohey had 12 points in the opener against South East Melbourne and played even better against Melbourne United with 19 points in 21 minutes. We’ll see what Toohey’s role looks like throughout the season when Hogg gets back, but any further breakout would warrant examination in 2024.

Brisbane forward Josh Bannan is a former standout in the Big Sky Conference for Montana who decided to start his pro career instead of returning to the NCAA this summer after a standout junior season where he averaged 15 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, shot 40 percent from 3 and earned first-team all-league honors. Bannan looked terrific starting at the four next to Baynes before injuring his left leg in the first game, forcing him to miss the final two. He had six points, 10 rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes, showcasing the well-rounded game that made him one of the hottest recruits in the NBL this offseason. He’s a rare player, with a weird-looking load-up into his jumper, better athleticism than you expect for a guy who largely plays with a hunch and sharp passing ability. He turns 23 in February, so we’re talking about a late second-rounder here, if anything. But Bannan got a few NBA workouts last year, and teams are definitely interested to see how he performs in the professional setting, as his game is tailor-made skill-wise to thrive.

Brisbane center Rocco Zikarsky was the final addition to the Next Stars program this summer, and he’s not eligible for the 2024 draft because he just turned 17 in July. At 7-foot-3, Zikarsky moves well for his size and has immense length. He also has touch around the rim with his left hand and looks comfortable in ball screens and in the dunker spot underneath the basket. The son of elite athletes — his father is German swimmer Bjorn Zikarsky, a bronze medallist at the 1996 Olympics, and his mother is former Australian ironwoman participant Kylie Zikarsky — Rocco is quite coordinated for a young player this big and has been a standout in youth-level competitions for Australia. NBA scouts are certainly excited by him, but there is a lot of curiosity surrounding how he’ll develop physically in the next two years. Right now, he’s still skinny and also plays with a bit of a hunch in his shoulders that results in situations where he doesn’t always access the full extent of his length and height. He’s not expected to play an enormous role this season, as Baynes will start for Brisbane at center, but Zikarsky will compete with New Zealand big man Tyrell Harrison for the backup role. The version of Zikarsky who is a draft prospect prior to the 2025 NBA Draft will likely look quite different from the one we all saw at the 2023 NBL Blitz. But he’s an important name to track, as many within the Australian basketball community consider him to be the next great big man to come out of the country.

Jaylin Galloway of the Sydney Kings has already gone through the draft process, so he is a bit of a different situation. But at 20 years old, Galloway is still extremely young and looks to be worth a significant look from NBA teams. Raised by an Australian mother, Galloway had a circuitous route to the Kings, as he played in Atlanta when he was young before getting into the Center of Excellence in Australia and landing with the Kings as a developmental player. Because of that pathway, Galloway was previously auto-eligible for the draft because he played high school basketball before coming to Australia, going unselected. Galloway went to Summer League with the Timberwolves this past year, but he looks to have taken another step forward this summer. He averaged 12 points, five rebounds and three assists while playing tough defense for the Kings at the Blitz and is an NBA-caliber athlete as a 6-foot-6 wing. He’s a freight train in transition, too. If the jumper comes along this season, I think there is a real case for an NBA team to give Galloway a two-way contract after the NBL season ends. It’s hard to find athletic wings who defend like Galloway does. And given his status, it’s an easy upside swing for a team looking to build depth.

(Top photo of Bobi Klintman, left: Russell Freeman / Getty Images)

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