A 17-year-old French point guard with a lightning-quick first step has given a tantalising taste of his potential, pouring in 37 points in a Perth Wildcats Academy game as the NBL courts the potential future Next Star.
Nolan Traore emerged on talent guru Liam Santamaria’s radar while he was scouting another player on France’s INSEP Academy team that has produced Ousmane Dieng and Rayan Rupert, both Next Stars who became NBA draft picks.
He’s been in Perth training with the Wildcats main group for the past month and the ultra-impressive 191cm floor general gave a glimpse of his speed, talent and unselfishness, playing a starring role in a Wildcats’ Academy game on Friday night.
“He’s super young, still only 17-years-old, but what he did a really good job of is he’s just lightning quick so his ability to play off the first step and get two feet in the paint whilst also being unselfish was so impressive,” Wildcats Academy coach Keegan Crawford told Code Sports.
“He did a great job of finding some of the other Academy kids, getting some good combinations with guys like Josh Ibukunoluwa and just making plays at the rim.”
Traore averaged 8.6 points and 3.1 assists for the fourth-placed French at last month’s U18 European Championships and, with down time between then and his return to INSEP, the opportunity to spend time with the Wildcats emerged.
“We’ve been talking with Nolan’s agent over a period of time and told them he’s on our radar and a guy we’re watching,” Santamaria said.
“We saw an opportunity in conversation with his agent to partner up and work together to bring him out here for a month, both for his development and to get a bit of a taste of what this level is like and also a chance for us to get a closer, more intense evaluation period of time with him.
“We’re going to look to bring other prospects out where it’s possible.”
Santamaria said the Wildcats were ultra impressed with the teenage baller’s attitude and abilities.
“The Wildcats have enjoyed having Nolan and he’s enjoyed his experience here over the last couple of weeks,” Santamaria said.
“He’s got a lightning-quick first step and good size.
“Talking with (Wildcats’ coach) John Rillie in particular, Nolan’s been able to show that on the practice floor over the past month and they’ve been really impressed with how he’s handled himself.
“John, specifically was talking about ‘man, he’s so explosive when he’s trying to go by guys, he’s really hard to stay in front of’.”
Perth boss Danny Mills said having Traore involved was a no-brainer for the club.
“For us we are always going to be forward thinking in regards to our talent ID and evaluation, so when opportunities like bringing Nolan down to Perth to spend a month with us during our training camp present themselves, we will always be open to them,” Mills said.
Santamaria said the league would continue to track Traore’s development, with the view to making him a Next Star in NBL25.
KID INCREDIBLE AND THE NEW WILDCATS ACADEMY
The new incarnation of the Wildcats Academy is loaded with young elite local talent between the ages 15-19, with an inaugural class of 29 in this year’s intake.
Ibukunoluwa, who had 21 points alongside Traore on Friday night, was one of the most-impressive kids in WA’s victorious U20 National Championships team earlier this year.
With Traore on the plane back to France on Sunday, the 6’10” Hale School student dominated for the Red Academy team with 37 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks in a 107-96 win.
Not yet 18, Ibukunoluwa made 17 of his 23 shots and, off the court, he is one of the most intelligent young men you will meet. He should have his choice of any high academic college program in the US, should he decide to go down that path.
“We would have our Academy sessions Tuesday and Thursday mornings before school and Josh would have his blazer and school uniform ready to go to school,” Crawford said.
“He’s a super-well-educated kid from a great family.”
Supporting Ibukunoluwa for Red, Tom Gerovich had 24 points and seven dimes, while sharpshooter D’Ante Woods drained four treys on his way to 20. Malieny Chob led the way for the Black squad with 27 points and 13 boards.
The Wildcats have had previous versions of an Academy program, but nothing as in depth and focused as the one under Crawford’s auspice.
“We’ve rebranded it and had a significantly different operating scheme,” he said.
“In conjunction with Basketball WA and a couple of different stakeholders, an inaugural academy class was put together of kids from different backgrounds
“We would train twice a week in our off-season and now that we’re in season, we host monthly camps where kids come in for longer training sessions.
“Then we also provide them with lectures and seminars with some of our Wildcats resources.”
In last week’s first camp, Academy members were given an insight into fuelling their bodies from the Wildcats’ nutritionist in a bid to help them stay healthy in school, but prepare them for a path into professional basketball.
Crawford said the benefit of the program was mutual for both club and kids.
“The original idea and reward of the academy is you’re always looking at it for guys who could be potential NBL or development players but the social good and the different things that have happened from it for these kids have been fantastic,” he said.
“Some of these kids might not end up being NBL players, but now they have coaches in their corner trying to help them get to college or helping them just be better people and take different life skills out of it to help prepare them for whatever pathway they choose.”
SARR FAR, SARR GOOD
The Wildcats have a Next Star on the books for NBL24 in 216cm giant Alex Sarr, who Santamaria was in Perth to visit this week.
“He has some physical tools that are pretty rare within our league in terms of his height, his length and his athleticism — they are genuine NBA measurables,” Santamaria said.
“When our teams go over and we play NBLxNBA pre-season games, our guys will often talk about ‘man, just the size, the length, the athleticism of those NBA guys’ — that is what he brings to the table.
“The challenge for him is to build his capacity to play within a physical style of game in the NBL, but he can already do some things not many other NBL players can do, so he will be fun to watch this season.”
Perth played a pair of pre-season friendlies against an NBL1 West Select team and Sarr’s abilities were on show, especially in the second game Sunday, when he had 13 points, nine rebounds and a couple of blocks in 25 minutes.
Sarr was confident putting the ball on the floor and he hit from deep in both games, showing range that will make him a huge problem for the league’s less mobile bigs.
New import Jordan Usher came as advertised with 16 points in each game, former Melbourne United big man David Okwera showed he will have an impact with a packed line of nine points, nine rebounds, three blocks and three assists in game two, where development player Michael Harris caught fire with 23 points. Bryce Cotton was Bryce Cotton with 30 points across the two games.
The Wildcats soon board a plane bound for Las Vegas, with two clashes against G League Ignite on September 6 and 8 as part of a nine-day pre-season trip to Nevada.
Plenty of NBA eyes will be on the game with Sarr a projected first-round pick and Ignite’s Matas Buzelis and Ron Holland potential top-five talents.
The Red Army can watch the games live and free on the NBA app, from 9am WA time (11am AEST) on September 7 and 9.
WILL NEW IMPORT AWAKEN NBL’S SLEEPING GIANT?
He’s played all over the world, spent time in Russia with South East Melbourne star Allan Williams and that’s helped consummate pro Will Cummings has fit in seamlessly in the Heartland.
The 30-year-old scoring machine is already forming a serious one-two ball-handling partnership with fellow import Gary Browne in an offence that will be powered by the two guards and big men Williams and Mitch Creek.
Straight into training after landing in Australia last Friday week, Cummings is a natural hooper with a sky-high basketball IQ who makes elite decisions and has no qualms deferring to his teammates. A Mike Kelly type who doesn’t care if he scores 30 or 13, just that the end result is a tick in the win column for his team.
“I kind of just go play it to win in a sense,” the Jacksonville native said on SEN.
“It’s kind of just based on you like to have two playmakers on the floor.
“I can kind of do it in different ways. If I need to go out and just fill it up, I can do that just based on my track record.
“I can become a pass first (player). Like if somebody else is going like if you have Gary that’s going or Mitch is going or Alan’s going, you know, I can make sure they’re going to get their touches.
“I’m not just that guy who is going to keep putting it up.
“Just whatever you’ve got to do to get the win is more a sense of how I’m at in my career.”
The Phoenix believe they have had a sneakily good off-season — and they’re happy to fly under the radar in new coach Mike Kelly’s first season at the helm.
With key pillars Creek, Williams and Browne all returning, Cummings has completed the big four. But they’ve fortified defensively with both big man Gorjok Gak and wing Matt Kenyon arriving off the back of Defensive Player of the Year gongs in their NBL1 conferences.
Former Melbourne United and Sydney King forward Craig Moller and Rhys Vague add extra dimensions and the guard group is rounded out by former Taipan Ben Ayre and upgraded development player Owen Foxwell.
It’s a nucleus Phoenix boss Tommy Greer believes can take his club to the promised land for the first time in its young history.
WHY CJ BRUTON BELIEVES 36ERS HAVE UNCOVERED NEXT GIDDEY
CJ Bruton has all but entrusted his coaching future at Adelaide to 18-year-old Trentyn Flowers, hoping his new Next Star can be the second coming of Josh Giddey.
The 36ers coach, in the final year of a three-year deal, is yet to make the playoffs and has handed the Baltimore native the keys to the offence in a new-look line-up that relegates high-priced Aussie guard Mitch McCarron (31) to the bench.
“Yeah … 100 per cent,” Bruton said this week when asked if Flowers would start at the point.
“Anyone with that sort of athleticism and youth, you want to let them do their thing. There’s a time where we need to slow him down and a time to let him go.
“You’ve watched Josh Giddey and you’ve watched LaMelo Ball be first round picks, for someone like Trentyn and his build, his size and his athleticism, he’s on the trajectory to be there as well.”
Flowers, who arrived in Adelaide this week after causing a stir in the US when he decommitted from Louisville, is a huge kid at 203cm, with a silky smooth game whose athleticism and length allows him to get to the rim and be a pest on defence.
But there are question marks over his ability to run the point when the game slows down and his decision-making in halfcourt sets will be make or break, given it’s been several years since he’s run a team.
Flowers addressed concerns that he wouldn’t be prepared to play the point in a pro league.
“I grew up playing the point guard since I was younger, I just had a growth spurt 6-7-8 inches going into high school,” he said.
“I was just able to expand my game just a little bit but now I’m back in my comfortable position.”
Like Giddey, who, in his 2020-21 stint in Adelaide became the youngest Australian ever to record an NBL triple-double, expect Flowers to give that mark a nudge on a nightly basis.
Flowers, who models his game on Giddey, has already served notice on the league.
“Coming out here I want to be a successful NBA player, so being able to get that bump a little bit early, I thought it would be better for me and my game,” Flowers said.
“I’m expecting for it to be physical, but I’m a physical player myself. I’m going at everybody just as hard.”
Asked about McCarron, Bruton flagged a change of roles for the former Melbourne United champion.
“I think Mitch has proven over his career and his time here, yes, he can run our team, he also plays off the ball, when he was playing with Craig Randall or when he was playing with anyone else so playing multiple spots for him will be good,” he said.
How the Sixers’ revamped roster gels is among the most intriguing questions of NBL24, with bigger men Isaac Humphries and Jacob Wiley surrounded by a gaggle of wings and guards who Bruton hopes will be able to slide up and down the positions.
“Right now, all our guys will play a part on the floor, try to be dynamic, and have guys play multiple positions,” he said.
WHY TRIP TO TASSIE COULD BE LIFE-CHANGING FOR ONE UNITED YOUNG GUN
Melbourne United’s trip across Bass Strait provides an enormous opportunity for its young guns to snare a coveted roster spot.
Melbourne is the only team in the NBL yet to complete its full contingent of local roster content and, as the season draws near, it’s become increasingly likely the spot will be filled by one of its development players.
That means sharpshooter Zac Triplett, defensive dynamo Malith Machar and teen powerhouse Campbell Blogg will be engaged in a battle within the battle when United takes on Tasmania in a pair of friendlies Monday in Ulverstone and Wednesday in Launceston.
With both Matthew Dellavedova and Luke Travers nursing niggles and a trio of United players in action at the FIBA World Cup with Australia and New Zealand, United will take just the four fully-rostered players to face the JackJumpers.
“We are really taking a team that’s full of youth and a lot of training players and development players (who) get a great opportunity to find out what they’re like at NBL level,” coach Dean Vickerman said.
“There’s still a roster spot we have to sign and we believe that will potentially come from one of our development players.
“So these games, for those guys to advance a little bit in their careers, is huge.”
Knox NBL1 national champion and finals MVP Ke’Jhan Feagin gets a well-deserved reward for his efforts in the second-tier, while Sandringham pair Tom Coppens and CJ Asuncion-Byrd.
Plucky teen point guard Joel Foxwell, younger brother of South East Melbourne’s Owen, gets another chance to impress after he suited up for United against California Baptist, earlier this month.
UNITED SQUAD FOR PRE-SEASON TASSIE TRIP
Brad Newley
Tanner Krebs
Kyle Bowen
Ariel Hukporti
Zac Triplett
Campbell Blogg
Malith Machar
Joel Foxwell
Tom Koppens
CJ Asuncion-Byrd
Ke’Jhan Feagin