Scouting SCOUT — International intrigue in Episode 3 of Brooklyn Nets Pre-Draft series

In the next episode, we’re able to see how the Nets approach overseas talent evaluation and pinpoint a few prospects they’ve been watching for months now

Oh, the places you’ll go…when you’re an international scout for the Brooklyn Nets.

In this latest installment of SCOUT, the team’s video series documenting its preparations for the 2025 NBA Draft, the Nets were anywhere but Brooklyn. The new episode focuses entirely on the team’s international evaluation efforts, once again piggybacking on Assistant GM B.J. Johnson’ running commentary. Johnson knows. He has been in charge of the Nets draft for the past five years.

“The game has become so global,” Johnson said to open things up. “To find a guy in some of these places could be massive for your franchise. You have to go wherever the talent is.”

That “talent” is arguably more widespread right now more than ever. At one point during the episode, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony called the 2006-born international class “one of the best that we’ve seen in a long time.”

Brooklyn’s understanding of that was clear — not just in their words but also their actions.

Who They’re Looking At

The team isn’t naming names in the docu-series. Indeed, they’ve been fuzzing out any video that might give anyone a hint of who they like … or don’t. That however is not going to stop us from doing a little foreign correspondent work, matching up mock drafts and top 100s with European team schedules with the video. Bottom line: their week long trip to Spain, Germany and France this fall was about early evaluation of some first round prospects whose names are now familiar as the draft, three weeks away from Wednesday, approaches.

The travelogue wasn’t exactly chronological but as Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot just by watching.”

Johnson and Simone Casali, the Nets director of international scouting, are first seen in Paris where the two sat in on a contest between Saint Quentin and Nanterre, two upper division teams in the LNB (French basketball league).

It’s a near certainty that the two were there to take a closer look at Nolan Traore, the 6’3” French point guard who plays for San Quentin and has been linked to the team in various mock drafts particularly their late first rounders at Nos. 19, 26 and 27. The speedy guard with 20/20 court vision turned in one of his best games with Johnson and Casali in attendance, putting up 20 points and three assists…

Staying in Paris, the episode highlighted a Euroleague game between Paris Basket and Saski Baskonia of Spain. While neither team has prospects directly tied to the Nets, there’s some chance Brooklyn was there looking at the latter’s Ousmane N’Diaye — a 6’11” 20-year-old sharp shooting forward, and the only draft eligible player on the floor. That, or they just wanted another look at Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot. (Okay, probably not.) However, Paris also features a top 2027 prospect, a 6’4”, 17-year-old guard, Illian Moungalla. SOOUT did not say. And in the game they attended, N’Diaye played only five minutes, Moungalla not at all.

This episode also took us to Ulm in Germany near Munich although in this case, we didn’t get any game footage, Ratiopharm Ulm is home two first round prospects: Noa Essengue, the 6’10” French power forward and Ben Saraf, a 6’6” Israeli point guard. Both have been mocked to the Nets, Essengue far more than anyone we’ve talked about thus far. In fact, he’s dominated draft conversations centering around the mid-to-late lottery with his athleticism and improved shooting of late…

While much of the hum right now centers on Essengue, Saraf is another well-touted draftee. He dropped 16 points on the Portland Trail Blazers during a preseason game last autumn.

An additional prospect Alec Anigbata, a 6’9” 20-year-old German power forward also plays for Ratiopharm Ulm.

A contest at WiZink Center in the Spanish capital, home of power house Real Madrid, was the final game shown. Again, there was nothing precise about the object of the Nets interest, but Madrid is home to 6’6” Spanish defensive wing Hugo González. He too was recently mocked to Brooklyn — at pick No. 26…

So, based on the video and our own sleuting, four games over a seven day stretch in late October and early November.

What They’re Looking At

Between the different leagues, venues and prospects, Johnson also made Brooklyn’s intention clear: to stick to their principles, whether scouting prospects in the NCAA or French League: listing a few few boxes all their potential draftees need to check.

“The games are different, the strategies are different, and the pace of play is different, but there are certain things that regardless, you need a player to have,” he said. “You know, size for position, versatility of skillset, the toughness, the competitiveness, the grit, those kind of things, all that kind of sets the baseline and then from there you can pick out the fine details.”

“Then also, how can they overcome the language barrier, the culture barriers, the things that they have to do when they come over to the United States, and are they mentally equipped to do that,” he wen ton. “We factor all those kinds of things into play.”

Casali pointed to another area the Nets scouts have to take into account: the differences among the leagues they scouted.

“It’s like comparing conferences in the NCAA,” he told the Nets media team producer. “Every team has a different style. The Spanish league is more physical. They play bigger. The German league they’re playing very very small. The French league is more athletic. Every league has their own personality.”

The international scouting game is simply not what it used to be, with a quarter of the league’s players foreign-born … and the winners of the last seven MVP contests hold international passports. While this all may seem like Brooklyn’s doing extra credit to the casual fan who watches March Madness every year and then calls it a day, there’s a common curriculum if you ask Casali. Just don’t expect the Nets or any other team to find a “Bo Cruz,” the fictional player in Adam Sandler’s “Hustle,” a kid who hoops in construction boots on some Spanish playground.

“Today it is essentially impossible to find a player who is not already in someone’s notebook,” he said in an interview just weeks after he and Johnson’s trip. “Today we can see games from every championship at every latitude and potentially it is an infinite job, it is almost impossible for a name to go unnoticed until the Draft.”

A good movie, he said, but not realistic. It’s more about hard work than crazy luck.

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This new entry to the series puts us a third of the way through it. Considering we have only two weeks to go until the NBA Draft yet six episodes still promised, maybe we’ll get a few after Brooklyn makes its selections. There seems to be plenty of b-roll. That could add another layer of intrigue to any watching experience. Get your popcorn ready.