Skip to main content
Inside The Huskies

What They're Initially Saying About Hannes Steinbach

The first mock draft since the German's NBA intentions became publicly known pegs him for an ironic landing spot.
Dan Raley|
Hannes Steinbach averaged an 18.5-point and 11.8-rebound double-double for the UW.
Hannes Steinbach averaged an 18.5-point and 11.8-rebound double-double for the UW. | Dave Sizer photo

Hannes Steinbach is a teenager for just nine more days. On May 1, he will celebrate his 20th birthday. His gift to himself is an NBA career.

For the time being, the 6-foot-11 big man from Wurzburg, Germany, and the University of Washington will contemplate what comes next, such as possibly living in a place like Oklahoma City, which would be ironic enough considering all of the previous basketball benefits Seattle has provided that Southwest city.

Two months until the NBA Draft, one of the first mock forecasts supplied by Bleacher Report puts Steinbach out there as the 17th player pick -- going to the Thunder. who were known as the Sonics through 2008, or two years after this European talent was born.

For the next nine weeks, people will praise Steinbach for all of the things he does right, while at the same time picking him apart and looking for something to criticize, which will be laughable.

Steinbach is the perfect player with his size, smarts, desire and understated athleticism. He is family friends with fellow German and retired NBA standout Dirk Nowitzki. Don't be surprised if Steinbach becomes the next Nowitzki.

Hannes Steinbach looks for a shot against UCLA in Seattle.
Hannes Steinbach looks for a shot against UCLA in Seattle. | Dave Sizer photo

Bleacher Report finds one supposed wrinkle in Steinbach's game -- rim protection? -- before climbing all on board with his skill set in its overall assessment:

"Hannes Steinbach's freshman year ended after he averaged 21.1 points and 12.9 rebounds over Washington's final eight games. There will be teams uninterested in a center who doesn't offer added rim protection. But Steinbach's skill, hands, nose for the ball and IQ are advanced for a 6'11" teenager. And there have been enough signs of athleticism/footwork in the open floor and shotmaking for scouts to picture another level of offensive upside."

The problem with the pros in getting an accurate read on Steinbach is his Husky guards failed him during a 16-17 season.

They should have done everything they could to feed him the ball, even while he was double-teamed, and it might have been worth four or five more wins.

Instead, the first-year power forward had to watch his UW backcourt players hoist 3-pointers that weren't going to drop or dribble forever before driving into traffic and throwing up some low-percentage shot when he was always a high-percentage option.

Steinbach, with his nimble feet and clever moves, was always a 25- to 28-point game waiting to happen had he got sufficient touches.

Instead, he'll prepare for an NBA career that should be highly beneficial to him and the right franchise -- for Seattle's sake, don't make it Oklahoma City -- once he settles in somewhere.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Basketball