The upcoming NBA draft is light on international prospects, but that could be good news for French shooting guard Evan Fournier. The 19-year-old, one of the top European players in the draft, is trying to show he is worthy of being a first-round selection June 28. He made a stop at the Cousins Center on Saturday to take part in a four-guard Milwaukee Bucks workout that also featured Memphis' Will Barton, Temple's Ramone Moore and Long Beach State's Larry Anderson.
Fournier is 6-foot-7 with a nice shooting touch and plenty of confidence. He believes he can make the leap from the first division of French basketball - he averaged 14.0 points for Poitiers last season - to the NBA. "I can play point guard sometimes to help the team, because I like to have the ball in my hands," Fournier said. "But I'm a shooting guard." San Antonio Spurs star Manu Ginobili has served as a role model for the French player.
"I don't have a favorite player but I love his game," Fournier said. Bucks assistant general manager Jeff Welman and general manager John Hammond saw Fournier play in the 2011 Nike Hoop Summit game in Portland, and director of player personnel Dave Babcock scouted Fournier last week in the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso, Italy. "Anyone that can shoot the ball like that can help you," Weltman said after Saturday's workout. "So I think you start there and then you say, 'OK, now he's young. Where is he on his curve?'
"You never pin an expectation on a kid and say he's going to help us this year. But who knows?" Fournier started his series of NBA team workouts in Indiana on Friday and moved on to Milwaukee. He also has scheduled workouts with Memphis, Dallas, Chicago, New Orleans and Denver.
Mentally, you can see that this young kid may not be ready. However, in two or three years he will be amazing. That is probably why the Spurs believe in keeping these talented Euros oversees, in development for a couple of years.
06-18-12, 04:58 AM
good one grizzly_bexar!!
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