VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - It's all happening in European basketball these days. The sport is well and truly alive here judging from events the past couple of weeks.

Four European national teams have for the third time in a row claimed spots at the Summer Games via the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT).

Spain, Turkey and France cruised into the Rio de Janeiro Olympics with three wins in as many games and Belarus, thumped by China in a Quarter-Final at the WOQT, bounced back impressively with wins over a completely overmatched Argentina and a decisive triumph over a red-hot Korea.

Several days after the WOQT in Nantes, France, plenty of internationals were selected in the first round of the NBA Draft and many were Europeans. There were also plenty of Euros taken in the second round. More on that later.

As for the WOQT, is there a more exciting young talent in European basketball now than 21-year-old Marine Johannes of France? She has got a chance to be special.

Marine Johannes (FRA) dazzled for France at the WOQT in Nantes

Johannes played with panache and wasn't afraid to step up and make plays in difficult situations for France. She really is a budding star and will be fun to watch at the Rio Games. Since moving to Europe in 1996 from the United States, I've not seen a player in the French uniform with the sort of moves that she has. 

The competition is going to be tougher at the Olympics for all of the European teams, but there is a good chance we'll see one of the sides from Nantes get to the podium as France did four years ago after claiming a berth in Turkey.

From an international basketball standpoint, it was good to see China play great basketball against Belarus and also sad to see Korea fall at the last hurdle. If you want to see how badly the Koreans' 17-year-old center, Park Jisu, had wanted to be in Rio, look at her post-game press conference.

As for the NBA Draft, here's how it shaped up from a European standpoint. Austria's Jakob Poeltl went to Toronto and Greece's Giorgios Papagiannis was selected by Phoenix before having his rights traded to Sacramento.

Croatians Dragan Bender went to Phoenix as the fourth pick overall, Ante Zizic to Boston, Ivica Zubac to the LA Lakers, Lithuania's Domas Sabonis to Orlando (his rights were traded to Oklahoma City), Spain's Juancho Hernangomez to Denver, France's Guerschon Yabusele to Boston, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot to Philadelphia and David Michineau to New Orleans, Turkey's Furkan Korkmaz to Philadelphia and Serbia's Rade Zagorac to Boston.

It's one thing to be selected and something else entirely to make a team and be successful. And just because a player is taken in the second round does not mean he will not blossom into a star.

Spain's Marc Gasol wasn't taken until the 48th pick of the 2007 draft by the Los Angeles Lakers and we all know what happened after that. Gasol remained in Europe and ended up having his rights traded to Memphis with his brother, Pau Gasol, moving in the other direction. Memphis center Marc Gasol is now one of the premier centers in the league, and the world.

Another example is that of Nikola Jokic of Serbia. The 41st pick in the 2014 draft, Jokic waited a year before joining the Nuggets and enjoying a very impressive 2015-16 rookie season.

It will be interesting to see which of the draft picks end up playing at this summer's Olympics. Sabonis, the son of legend Arvydas Sabonis, played for Lithuania at EuroBasket 2015 and should feature in Rio de Janeiro unless he were to withdraw from the squad to focus on his first season in the NBA.

Sabonis, who played for Unicaja Malaga and then crossed the Atlantic for two years of American college basketball action at Gonzaga, has seen his star rise very quickly.

Ditto for Kormaz, who played for Turkey at EuroBasket 2015 last year and is in their preliminary squad for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Manila. Korkmaz is a high-flier who played to rave reviews at last year's FIBA U19 World Championship in Crete.

It would have been understandable for an NBA team to draft him on these highlights alone after he made the All-Star Five.

Last year's U19 tournament certainly helped raise the profile of Zubac, who got additional playing time after Zizic got hurt. The 2.14m center averaged 17.6 points and 7.9 rebounds and raised eyebrows in Croatia's 79-71 overtime defeat to the USA in the Final.

He scored 12 points, corralled 13 rebounds and swatted 3 shots in that game. I would not be surprised if Zubac ended up being the most influential of the Croatians that were drafted. If it's up to Zubac, he'll be on the Lakers roster this coming season.

Interestingly, Zubac has been likened to Marc Gasol.

"I like that comparison because I'm trying to look up to his game and trying to translate his game to mine with my moves," he said. "I'm just trying to get the best of his game and trying to do things."

Some of these draft picks will go immediately to the NBA while others will stay put and get some extra seasoning on the old continent. Timing is important, so I hope everyone gets it right.

Zubac, who owns Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum Lakers jerseys, doesn't want to wait around.

"I want to come right away and I hope that's gonna happen," he said.

Congratulations to all and good luck.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

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