I like this Anderson Varejao

[KB21]

He's 6-10, 230 lbs and played very well against the Dream Team yesterday.

16 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocked shots while showing the ability to defend his man and some perimeter skills. Varejao was 3 for 3 from behind the arc and showed some ball handling skills.

He's very athletic and had at least 2 monster dunks during the game. One was on a play where stole the ball from Iverson and took it the length of the floor for the flush.

Obviously, he needs to hit the boards harder, but his NBA position may be as a small forward with his lean frame.

I also liked Rafael Arajou. He played at BYU last year with Travis Hansen. Arajou is a space eater who has good touch on his shot. He can board, but he isn't a shot blocker.

Brazil has some nice looking players coming up. Tiago Splitter is an 18 year old that will likely be a top 5 pick next summer. He's 6-11, very athletic, can defend, and has an offensive game similar to Dirk Nowitzki's.

There is a player playing for Puerto Rico that I want to see play named Peter Ramos. He's a 7-2, 240 lbs center that could be a lottery prospect for next summer.

[Traceman]

If Varejao had stayed in the draft, there was a lot of speculation that he would have been our man at #21 if available.

Many people (including me) thought that Barbosa should have been our pick at #21 if he was still on the board. I HOPE that Diaw turns out to be the better player but I liked Barbosa better because many reports said that he was VERY aggressive while many reports said that Diaw was not aggresive enough. I think Diaw has more upside because of his size but we'll see who ends up being the better player. I also think that Diaw would be the better IDEAL fit in the backcourt with JT, IF he pans out.

Splitter certainly sounds good and the big guy from BYU sounds like he has a chance to be a solid NBA player as well. No wonder Brazil played the USA tough for a while. I think that Brazil would wax a USA team made up of college guys on most nights.