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Every draft, a European prospect or two come out of nowhere to shoot up draft boards and cause general chaos on the night of the NBA Draft, as fans scramble to figure who the heck their team just picked up. It's safe to say German big man Tibor Pleiss, a Koln native who played for Bamberg last season, is the 2010 European man of mystery.Pleiss was one of few well-regarded European prospects to stay in the draft beyond the withdrawal deadline, joining decidedly non-household names like Kevin Seraphin and Miroslav Raduljica. DraftExpress currently pegs Pleiss at No. 26 in the first round, and has reported the Thunder (who own that pick) like him a lot. So who exactly is he?
Pleiss, nicknamed The Octopus, is a true 7-footer with great rebounding and shotblocking numbers in the Bundesliga. (He finished second in the league in blocks per game.) Unlike a certain other tall German player, Dirk Nowitzki, Pleiss isn't a dead-eye shooter quite yet, but DX reports his mid-range game is improving and he has soft hands. He joined the German men's national team for Eurobasket last summer, but made only spot appearances. He'll turn 21 in November.
He seems like one of the draft's prime stash opportunities, and the fact that Pleiss declared for the draft and stayed in even when he had the opportunity to pull out is promising: he apparently wants to be in the NBA. Of course, Minnesota wishes staying in the draft meant you wanted to play in the NBA so that they could have Ricky Rubio running the point in Summer League, but I digress.
The best players to stash are the ones who need physical development and seasoning simply playing the game at a high level. Few rookies (especially internationals) earn many minutes. Getting those minutes in the Bundesliga or ACB perhaps isn't as desirable as practicing against real live NBA players and hearing from real live NBA coaches, but it's certainly preferable than spending 200 days on the road in the United States, and 48 minutes a night plastered to the bench.
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