2024 NBA Draft Prospect Team Previews: Cairns Taipans
While Alex Sarr and the Perth Wildcats get many of the NBA Draft headlines from the NBL, there are plenty of other teams and prospects drawing attention.
A team that has two of the most interesting prospects is the Cairns Taipans who roster Bobi Klintman and Taran Armstrong.
Klintman is a well traveled young man that is from Sweden and then attended Sunrise Christian Academy before attending Wake Forest for his freshman year of college and then moving on to the professional league in Australia.
The 20-year-old had a slow start to last season for the Demon Deacons, but really burst onto the NBA Draft scene with his final 11 games where he shot 41% from the 3-point line on four attempts and pulled down over seven rebounds per game.
He did enter his name in the 2023 NBA Draft and there was even conversation about a promise from a team - something that has since been disputed by some – but ultimately withdrew his name before moving on to the NBL.
His three NBL Blitz games were probably a net neutral for his overall draft stock but he has really exploded with the start of actual regular season games.
Through the first three games he is averaging 14 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3 stocks per game while shooting 48% from the field and 50% from the 3-point line.
Klintman has got some on the ball usage – usually most fruitful when an advantage is created before getting a touch like in zoom actions — but is most effective in his off the ball role.
The floor spacing ability has already been discussed but what Klintman really does well is show an art for cutting at the perfect time.
This off the ball movement is an underrated skill for these off the ball archetype of offensive players.
Playing on the perimeter defensively at 6-foot-10, Klintman must really learn to use his length to be impactful.
His three stocks per game in the young season are a great sign of his growth in defensive playmaking.
The drawback for the amount of time he spends guarding on the perimeter is that he is put in a ton of situations to defend ball screens which he does currently struggle to navigate.
With that said, another area that has grown for him defensively is his off ball awareness where he has some highlight possessions with switches, rotations and x-outs.
Klintman is not the only NBA Draft prospect to take note of when watching the Taipans. Taran Armstrong is one of the more fun players you will watch.
When asked on a recent episode of The Game Theory Podcast, Sam Vecenie adamantly stated that Armstrong is the most high feel player in the 2024 NBA Draft class.
The former Cal Baptist guard is a highlight reel when utilizing ball screens which was on full display in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the NBL Blitz game vs Illawara.
Armstrong has every pass in the book from the right, or left, hand hook pass to the behind the back pass to a pick-and-pop big to making the perfect read on the baseline hammer action.
The intensity on the defensive end of the court really popped for the 21-year-old in those NBL Blitz games but an unfortunate foot injury has kept him out of any regular season action.
He really gets down in a stance and single handedly disrupted the first possession in that game versus Illawara. But even with his immense effort there is still some room for growth navigating ball screens and in some on the ball isolation possessions.
Barely averaging over 10 points per game on career shooting splits of 42-31-66 in college, Armstrong must answer the question of if he can put the ball in the basket himself.
It is noteworthy that he averaged just seven points per game in those three NBL Blitz games, shot over 50% from the field, but didn’t make a single 3-point attempt while shooting just 56% from the free throw line.
The amount of young, promising NBA Draft talent is abundant this year in the NBL with Klintman and Armstrong two of the more intriguing ones to keep an eye on.
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