RealGM

French prospect Mouhammadou Jaiteh will declare his name into the June NBA draft and gauge feedback to frame a decision on whether to stay, a source told RealGM.

Jaiteh had submitted eligibility in last year’s draft, before pulling out late in the withdrawing window. Multiple teams late in the first round and early in the second round expressed a significant interest in selecting Jaiteh, but under the condition of stashing the 6-foot-9 forward overseas.

Jaiteh, 19, possesses one more year in which he could withdraw from the draft and plans to approach the process as if he will most likely remain part of the 2014 class.

Jaiteh has experienced inconsistent play in the European League and Eurocup with JSF Nanterre, where he’s received an escalation in competition. He’ll return to the U.S. once his team’s playoffs end.

For the season, Jaiteh has averaged 5.2 points and 3.9 rebounds.

Via Shams Charania/RealGM

I saw him play a few weeks ago, and apart from being tall, I didn't see anything in him. He looked like the poor man's Rudy Gobert playing against a Ukrainian team.

Yeah, he sounds RAW. Nobody is going to waste a 1st round pick on him. If they do, that GM needs to be fired.

I don't really get why some of these guys who have bench roles in Europe think they're good enough for the NBA, and why teams validate this belief by drafting them. Sure, they all have upside, and you get potential gems like Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the majority of these raw types either don't pan out or never even see the NBA after getting drafted.

It's great to have ambition and dreams, but actually do something at the level you're at before trying to jump higher.

Watch out league, I also happen to be declaring for the NBA draft

Damon_3388 wrote:I don't really get why some of these guys who have bench roles in Europe think they're good enough for the NBA, and why teams validate this belief by drafting them. Sure, they all have upside, and you get potential gems like Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the majority of these raw types either don't pan out or never even see the NBA after getting drafted.

It's great to have ambition and dreams, but actually do something at the level you're at before trying to jump higher.

Or just jump to the higher level and get a million bucks so your family is set for life, lol. For a lot of these guys their value is at it's peak at 19, the longer they put it off the less likely they'll ever make the league.

Damon_3388 wrote:I don't really get why some of these guys who have bench roles in Europe think they're good enough for the NBA, and why teams validate this belief by drafting them. Sure, they all have upside, and you get potential gems like Giannis Antetokounmpo, but the majority of these raw types either don't pan out or never even see the NBA after getting drafted.

It's great to have ambition and dreams, but actually do something at the level you're at before trying to jump higher.

You will rarely see young European starting anyway. A lot of Euros who panned out had very small roles in Europe prior.

I really doubt Antetokoumpo would have played much if at all if he was on some tier 1 European team last season. It doesn't manner now is it? You have to judge everyone individually, and purely from NBA perspective. There are young European players who play much more, and contribute more to their teams on high European level, but they will not be drafter, or will be drafted in second round. On contrary, guy like Jaileh might be drafted sooner.
It will not make sense for casual fan, but talent evaluation is not linear nor easy. Just because guy doesn't play much in Europe, doesn't necessarily mean his chances of making it in the different league are smaller. It doesn't mean the guy who starts over Jaileh for example, would necessarily make a better NBA Pro... He most likely would not.