FIBA U17 Scouting Notes: International Prospects

Which international prospects stood out most for NBA scouting at the U17 World Cup?

While many international prospects are ‘out of sight, out of mind’, scouts do relish the opportunity to see domestic players go head-to-head with some of the best from around the globe. The matchups from FIBA’s youth World Cup games provide great starting points for comparisons, for growth long-term and have become a staple of the pre-draft community.

For the international prospects themselves, it’s a great opportunity for them to open the eyes of scouts while they have a captive audience on a stage with American eyeballs trained on them. The crop of international prospects at the FIBA U17 games in Malaga last week was awfully impressive and contained many future draftable talents, many of whom we’ll breakdown below.

Jan Vide - PG, Slovenia

We have a theory here at The Box and One: if you’re asked to do way too much offensively on a bad team, it’s difficult to be efficient. That theory pretty much sums up how we felt about Jan Vide watching him and Slovenia play at the U17 games. Vide took 26 shots against the United States — twenty-six! He was unable to be efficient and had seven turnovers in that game, but holding those marks against him is complaining about a player going against the teeth of the defense literally every possession.

Vide is a big point guard who relies on strength, angles and craftiness to get to his spots.

Two areas to keep working on are the reliability of his outside jumper and the playmaking for others on a consistent basis. That second point will come with more capable teammates, but at Real Madrid this upcoming year, those excuses will be removed. Vide has all the makings of an NBA scoring guard in his future.

Izan Almansa - F, Spain

Named MVP after a strong performance in the championship game for the Silver Medalists of Spain, Almansa had a very steady week in Malaga. Playing for Overtime Elte, Almansa will have the opportunity to be developed more in the United States. Almansa is about 6’10” and came away averaging a double-double throughout the event: 12.1 points and 11.9 rebounds.

His defining effort came in the quarterfinals against Australia, going for 13 points, 9 rebounds and 7 blocks. He had 4 blocks in the other 6 games combined, so the outing is definitely looking like a bit of an outlier. But the defensive showing was solid, especially for a guy who has limited lateral quickness. He showed glimpses of being better with angles, both in space and in pick-and-roll coverage.

What impressed us most with Almansa’s play was his combinations of athletic burst, soft touch around the rim and really functional passing traits. You can see there’s a level of skill he possesses that other big men his age don’t.

Long-term, Almansa needs to develop a perimeter jumper. If he catches the ball outside of 18 feet, he’s looking to move it to someone else automatically and doesn’t look comfortable firing from deep. If that comes around, he’ll be a really well-rounded offensive piece.

Almansa turned 17 during the tournament, so he’ll likely be a 2025 NBA Draft candidate. The Overtime Elite program was represented very well at this tournament and has some legitimate top-tier talent in their program over the next few drafts. Almansa will either benefit from having the pathway paved for him in 2023 and 2024, or the awareness to go to college/ overseas for a year to salvage his draft stock.

Alexandre Sarr - ATH, France

Speaking of Overtime Elite, they had another star-making showcase at the U17 tournament. At 7’0”, Sarr has the size to be the next in a recent string of super-skilled seven-footers to grace the NBA. He’s not quite Chet Holmgren or Victor Wembanyama, but the usage can be the same: play with the ball in his hands on offense, thrive in the open floor, and guard multiple positions while offering rim protection traits.

Sarr is farther behind on the defensive end than the two elite unicorns, but the upside to develop on that end is evident. What narrows the gap for Sarr is the strong offensive performance, where he showed fluidity in the full-court with the ball in his hands, smooth and polished touch with his right hand on offense, some off the dribble juice, a workable jump shot and the natural tools to become so much better.

Sarr’s jumper is the intriguing part of his game. He was 4/9 from 3 during the tournament — a fairly low volume, but nothing flawed mechanically and some very apparent flashes of touch. If he can shoot it on a higher volume, the ability to space the floor and play a perimeter-bound position will be strongly realized. He needs to work on his left hand a bit, as his scoring arsenal is evidently strong-hand oriented, but we’re really impressed with this as an initial showing just two years away from when he’d be draft eligible. Sarr has all the makings of a lottery talent.

Rocco Zikarsky - P, Lithuania

Speaking of insanely big prospects, the 15-year-old is incredibly young for this international tournament yet is already seven feet tall — and probably still growing. Zikarsky is more of what you’d expect from such a towering teenager. He doesn’t move in a very fluid fashion yet, but he competes his ass off and shows dexterity on the offensive end.

His size allows him to catch lobs super easily, he does a decent job moving his feet, and the skill he shows dribbling to his left is enough that you can buy into a little bit of perimeter upside. Right now, his impact is so high because he physically towers over everyone his size. He’ll need some more physical maturity and quickness to hang at the next level, though. Impressed by the start here.

Other names to note: Ladji Coulibaly, Mali; Malick Diallo, Mali; Lucas Giovannetti, Argentina; Filip Jovic, Serbia; Aday Maria Gomez, Spain; Hugo Gonzalez, Spain; Christian Nitu, Canada; Zaccharie Risacher, France; Justas Stonkus, Lithuania.