Euro Final Four

If you get the chance today, and you have NBA TV, the Euro Final Four is on. If nothing else hit it with your Tivo or DVR (6 pm I believe Oklahoma time). It will be maybe your first chance to see one of our players hit the court.

Yotam Halperin was the Sonics’ second round draft pick in 2006 and he is in the backcourt for Olympiacos along with Josh Childress, formerly of the Atlanta Hawks and Jannero Pargo, most recently for the Hornets.

Yotam wanted a guaranteed contract to come to America after the draft, and as you may know, 2nd rounders aren’t assured of guaranteed contracts, so he opted to stay in Europe. His rights still belong to the franchise however.  The dude can really stroke it.  He’s shooting 52% on his threes this season, but it’s not a fluke, the last three seasons he’s been over 44% from downtown, and north of 60% on his two pointers. He’s number 1 in all of Europe in true shooting percentage at 80%, and also in points per possession at 1.49!

He’s a 6’5″ combo guard from Israel who has been playing pro ball for a few years now.  According to Draftexpress, he’s ranked at #18 among international players whose rights are held by an NBA franchise.  I believe he has three Euroleague championships under his belt at 25 years old.

I’ve been waiting to see this kid play since that 2006 draft and am looking forward to seeing him against Europe’s top dogs. I’d love to see this kid in our summer league this year, or at training camp. Lord knows we could use somebody to fill up the basket from deep. I’ll have a short write up about the Olympiacos-Panathinaikos matchup tomorrow.

Here and here are the links for Yotam over at Draftexpress.