By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
There were hopes for a better night for European players, but as it was rumored for a very long time only one player from the old continent got to be picked in the first round of 2012 NBA draft. Evan Fournier, the 19 years old point guard from France, heard his name being called at number 20 by the Denver Nuggets.
The guard of Poitiers seems ready for the next big leap in his career as he said to leguipe.fr: “I am not surprised. This is what I wanted and I had the means to achieve my goal. Today is just the beginning and certainly not the end”.
Eight more players from Europe were selected in the second round of the draft with Czech guard Tomas Satoransky who finished last season in Banka Civica Sevilla in Spain, ending up to Washington Wizards with the number 32 pick.
Euroleague champion and Greek international Kostas Papanikolaou had to wait until New York picked him at 48 and got… booed by the Knicks fans who were present, Turkish center Izzet Turkyilmaz was picked by Denver at 50, Bosnian center Ognjen Kuzmic by Golden State at 52, Turkish power forward Furkan Aldemir at 53 by the Clippers, Croatian small forward Tomislav Zubcic at 56 by Toronto and last but not least Turkish power forward Ilkan Karaman at 57 by Brooklyn.
There is also half Swedish Jeffery Taylor from Vanderbil picked by Charlotte in number 31, but after playing basketball in the US since highschool, he is a player formed outside the European borders.