NBA? No. But Europe beckons at Portsmouth tourney

PORTSMOUTH

Henning Harnisch, general manager of the premier professional basketball club in Germany, sat in the top row of the bleachers at Churchland High School, waiting for the first game of the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament to start.

Below him on the court, finishing warm-ups, were 16 college seniors, eager to impress several dozen NBA scouts sitting under one basket.

Harnisch, sizing up the scene, smiled knowingly.

"Those players don't know yet," he said. "They're so heated and hyped up, seeing those guys sitting there. They are not dreaming yet of Europe, but reality comes, and I'm guessing 50 percent of them will be there."

At least. According to the PIT's program, 50 of the 64 players from last year's tournament played somewhere overseas this season, most in Europe. Only four made NBA rosters, while several others played in the NBA Developmental League.

That makes Churchland High in April fertile ground for scouts like Harnisch, who has been coming to the PIT for five years.

"This is pretty much like a basketball market here," he said.

With buyers from all over the globe. PIT chairman Mahlon Parker estimated that about 75 international scouts and agents attend each year. The exact number is not tracked.

While NBA scouts sit at tables in credentialed isolation, foreign scouts have no badges hanging around their necks, and no official status. They buy tickets like the average fan and sit in the stands taking notes using their laps as desks.

In many ways, though, "This is their tournament," said Chris Ekstrand, a long-time draft expert and consultant for the NBA.

So they come - from Italy, Spain, Turkey, France and even China and Korea. Many are easy to spot, dressed a little differently - more skinny jeans and sport coats than the warm-up jackets and sweater vests favored by some of the NBA crowd. They can be heard conversing in their native tongues in the hallways at Churchland.

Claudio Coldebella, a scout from Milan, Italy, is making his first trip to Portsmouth, with two colleagues. A former player and assistant coach in the Greek and Italian leagues, he said the PIT is the best place to find players, though he said most will need seasoning before they can play for the top teams overseas.

"It might sound strange to say, but if they come to Europe, they have a chance to learn basketball," he said.

Not strange at all. It's a belief among many Europeans that their game is more cerebral, more fundamentally sound and team-oriented than the NBA, where raw physical gifts take precedence. Indeed, for the players at the PIT, making an elite European club can be harder than catching on as 12th man on an NBA team. Most of the Americans on clubs in the 24-member Euroleague, made up of the top teams from each country, already have NBA experience.

Harnisch, whose club, Alba Berlin, plays in the Euroleague, said he's not looking for rookies. He's scouting for two or three years down the road.

So is Walt Szczerbiak, a longtime New York-based scout for the Spanish League, or ACB, which is considered the second-best league in the world, behind the NBA.

"Very few are going to go directly from Portsmouth to the ACB - none," Szczerbiak said. "You're playing a very high level of competition, against veteran players who are Olympic-tested. You need to be an established NBA talent to make an impact."

Indeed, decades of cross-pollenization of players has narrowed the gap between the NBA and top European teams, Ekstrand said. Still, for the Portsmouth players, there are jobs available on those teams without as much money to spend, or in countries where the level of play is not as high.

Players have become increasingly aware of the overseas options they have. While no American boy grows up dreaming of playing in, say, Cyprus, it beats the alternative.

"Instead of getting a 9-to-5, I'd rather be playing basketball somewhere," said Scott VanderMeer, a 7-foot center from Illinois-Chicago playing in the PIT.

There's a world of opportunity. If Spain is acknowledged as the top league, Russia and Italy are just below. After that are Greece, Turkey and Germany. Below that: France, Belgium, Poland.

Nine Portsmouth players landed in Turkey last season, more than any other country. Omer Kert, a Turkish agent, said they signed with lower-budget teams, and probably make between $80,000 and $120,000.

Domonique Loueilh, a scout for Pau-Orthez, in France, found two players in Portsmouth by watching video last year and is here in person looking for more. His club was formerly in the Euroleague and is trying to rebuild, though without the financial resources of many of its competitors. That's why he came to Portsmouth, looking for an edge.

"We have to be smarter," he said.

Players looking to bank big money in Europe - a half-million or more for top Americans - would be smart to recognize they need to learn a new style of play and adapt to a different culture, several scouts said. The off-court transition is often more difficult than the on-court. Players who thrive "have to be open-minded to European culture," Kert said.

Or maybe Asian culture. Jerry Lee, a scout for Phoebus Mobis of the Korean League, said his country is an emerging alternative for players. He's here looking for power forwards and centers. Last year, two players from the PIT went to Korea, where r ookies can make up to $200,000 and are treated "very well" by teams, he said.

"In 10 years, I haven't seen anyone who doesn't like Korea," he said.

Ed Miller, (757) 446-2372 ed.miller@pilotonline.com