The second round of the NBA draft was held Thursday morning after the first round ended the day before, and two Israeli prospects were in the spotlight. Emmanuel Sharp was selected 45th overall by the Sacramento Kings, while Noam Yaacov was left off the board through both rounds.
Sharp, 22, completed four seasons at Houston and was widely projected in the early part of the second round in some mock drafts. John Hollinger, the respected analyst and former Memphis staffer, rated Sharp as the 32nd-best prospect in this class and praised him as a strong 3-and-D candidate, noting that Houston regularly assigned him to defend the opponent’s best player and that the Cougars were among the best defensive teams in college basketball during his time there. He said Sharp “looks like one of the safest players to succeed among those picked at this stage of the draft.”
Sharp averaged 15.5 points, 3 rebounds and 1.7 assists in his final season at Houston, shooting 37.2 percent from three-point range. He trained for 13 NBA teams before the draft and could play in the league next season.
Yaacov, 21, was not among the 60 players chosen in the draft, although he has already committed to Utah, where he will play next season and try to impress scouts. He finished a strong year with Ostend in Belgium, averaging 18.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in the Belgian league, plus 15 points, 3.5 rebounds and 7 assists in the Basketball Champions League. Hollinger ranked the point guard 57th and said his production came in a relatively small pool, that he was ordinary in combine play against bigger NBA athletes, and that he still has time to develop.
The article also noted that second-round picks are not guaranteed NBA contracts. Teams can offer standard, partially guaranteed, non-guaranteed or two-way deals, or leave a player overseas or in college while retaining his rights. It cited Boston draft pick Yam Madar as an example of a player who was selected and played in Summer League but never made his NBA dream come true.
