In terms of performances from individual European players at the Nike Hoop Summit, two in the history of the annual game stand out from the rest: Those of Dirk Nowitzki in 1998 and Enes Kanter last year.
Dirk’s monster 33-point, 14-rebound performance in a 104-99 International Team win was all the proof the Milwaukee Bucks (and surely a few other would-be suitors) needed to draft the big German. And the video below shows why: Nowitzki displays an already-developed game at the age of 19 against Team USA’s college and college-bound crowd which included the likes of Al Harrington and Rashard Lewis.
But Nowitzki’s record scoring show would be topped in Portland 12 years later when Kanter was seen by many American basketball enthusiasts for the first time. In an absolutely dominant performance, Kanter went 13-of-21 from the floor for 34 points to go with 13 rebounds, breaking Nike Hoop Summit records for field goal attempts, field goals made and points scored – in just 24 minutes of court time.
Like Nowitzki, NBA scouts will have little more to go on when researching Kanter than the Summit game; unfortunately the Turkish player’s stock is sure to drop from what might have been after a year’s worth of ball with the University of Kentucky. No matter; BiE feels confident that Kanter will one day go down as a Nike Hoop Summit success story with a long career in the NBA.
Leave a Reply