Gianluca Pascucci: ‘The U.S. is going to have the edge, but it’s not granted anymore’
After a six-year hiatus, adidas Eurocamp was back in Treviso, Italy, as the only sanctioned NBA pre-draft camp outside of the United States. As HoopsHype has already spoken to Jabari Smith and Bennedict Mathurin at Eurocamp, basketball executive Gianluca Pascucci, who serves as the scouting director for the event, was nice enough to talk about the event, give insight to draft preparation, and more.
You were with NBA teams like the Rockets, Nets, and Timberwolves in the past. Leading up to a draft, can you talk about your mindset and process?
Gianluca Pascucci: Some of that depends on which organization you work for, the leadership role, either the general manager or the president of the team is dictating a little bit of how you want to approach the draft. But, ideally, I think the draft is a process that starts like a month or two months before the stage right there in Barclays Center in Brooklyn, sometimes the third Thursday of each June.
The majority of the teams, they’ve been already collecting information of this kid like three, four or five years ago, either in college or when they were in high school or internationally. It’s a long process, it’s a marathon.
When you get closer, like in the last couple of months, you start to intensify your efforts. You ramp up the work like workouts, interviews, the Chicago combine, and the mindset. Try to be prepared for every scenario that can happen the day of the draft. The day of the draft seems longer when you are watching it, but the reality is each team has a few minutes to make a pick, and the amount of work of that year and also in the past, you just have a few minutes to make a decision that can impact the organization. You have to be ready for everything. So, you kind of take the emotion out of the moment, and if you have scenarios A, B, C, D, then you probably are going to try to make the best decision for the organization at that time.
The second round goes fast, and the first round goes by a little bit slower, but still is incredibly fast, because maybe in those minutes you will receive like a call for a trade. Someone is calling you to try to pick because there’s a guy that they want. And so at that point you really need to be prepared and evaluate the trade. Talk to the staff, talk to the owner. There are some templates of scenarios that you can really properly prepare, and then you’re going to help make those decisions in a very short amount of time.
Guys like Luka Doncic, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic are all in the top echelon of stars in the NBA. What do you think has helped the international level catch up with the game in the States?
GP: You mentioned all the pinnacles with those guys, but we should not forget that for maybe six or seven years in a row, we have more than 100 players outside of the U.S., which is an incredible accomplishment because it doesn’t mean that you have only the outliers like [Nikola] Jokic, Giannis [Antetokounmpo], or Luka [Doncic], but also a good amount of the roster of the NBA teams is made over international players. I think it’s evolved over the years. I was lucky enough to actually get hired in my first experience with the Rockets when the first real wave of international impact in the early 2000s. My first draft was the Yao Ming draft just to give you an idea. That’s really when teams were starting to hire international scouts. Almost one for each team. In the past that was not the case.
Obviously, you cannot discount the incredible job done by some of the early international guys with success in the NBA, like [Drazen] Petrovic, [Sarunas] Marciulionis, [Vlade] Divac, and Yao Ming. All of these players basically gave the international player a reason to really try. They think that they could believe it to make it. Second, the approach of NBA personnel people changed a little bit when they saw that some of these international players can really be successful. They start to appreciate a little bit what these international players could do, instead of just looking at what they could not do on the basketball court, which is easy to say, but when you evaluate, sometimes, all of us make the mistake of like, hey, this guy cannot do this, cannot do that, but maybe if he cannot do this, there’s something that he can really do, maybe better than others.
And third, I would say also the evolution of the game. All of these international guys are always been regarded as incredibly skilled offensively and shooting, which makes those international league players really valuable for the franchises. So, think of the different factors. In the past, we had NBA teams not having international scouts, but now, it’s pretty much all the NBA teams have multiple international scouts, which speaks for the importance of international basketball.
In the future, do you think we will see even more international players in the NBA?
GP: If you look at the numbers and the growth, it’s going up. In the last few years and so, I mean, we should probably think that that is going to keep growing because the new generation now they’re gonna see the Giannis, the Jokic. The NBA has done an incredible job as a league to expand internationally. In the past, you cannot even see all of the Finals if you are outside of the United States. And now, thanks to social media and the job that the NBA has done, all these new kids now can see their player, the international player, on a daily basis. So, it makes them believe that actually they can make it. That’s an important part because if you don’t think that you can make it, if you don’t see anybody that you can emulate, it becomes much tougher of believing you can make it.
USA basketball comes up with a different roster every summer going up against other teams that have played together for years. It’s difficult for USA to build a consistent model to continue to be dominant at every FIBA competition. What are your thoughts on how the international game has changed?
GP: USA Basketball has done such a good job the last few years of reinventing themselves [at] almost every big competition. Whether it be the Olympics, or even the FIBA windows, where they have to put together a team basically made up of G League players.
The international game is very hard. I talked to some of those coaches on USA Basketball, and say, hey, it’s hard, but for the reason that you said, there’s a lot of proud international players looking to compete for the international team. They grow up basically playing for their Under 18, Under 20, and then the senior national team for several years. So, there is the camaraderie, and it’s a big challenge for the U.S. Those teams, they push the U.S. to compete harder every time which is nice for them. And I think it’s nice for the competition and for the fans.
U.S. is going to have the edge, but it’s not granted anymore. So they know that they need to compete every game. They know that if they are not going to compete 100 percent, the Spains of the world, the Australia, the Serbia, and those countries, they are right there and they are going to play at their maximum. So they are going to give their best effort, and they are ready to take advantage of any kind of slippage from the US for whatever reason.
When you see guys on the Heat who have so many undrafted guys, does it really matter for fringe draft guys if they get drafted?
GP: I remember when I had a chance to talk to these kids for a draft, we always say to them there is not a unique path to make it to the NBA. Everyone has his own path. Someone could be drafted in the first round, someone could be drafted in the second round, and someone could be undrafted. So just don’t stop doing what you’re doing and be a professional and work hard every day because at the end, you’re gonna pay off.
There are only 60 players every year [drafted], and I guarantee that they’re gonna be more more than 60 players but between college, between international, and now, G League Ignite, and now Overtime Elite. All these platforms are gonna be more than 60 players. But there are only 60 spots, right? Sometimes, you are not drafted, which doesn’t mean that you are not a very good player. You [just] have to just take a different path. So, focus on that, focus on what you can control, be a professional and work hard.
The example from the Miami Heat is a good example that the NBA teams know what they are doing. If you’re good, they’re gonna find you and they’re gonna develop you and help you become a very good NBA player. So don’t stop. [Getting] drafted is a very good accomplishment in a kid’s career, but you get drafted only one time. So, you have to enjoy that part, which sometimes will work, sometimes it doesn’t go as planned, but that’s not the end, that’s actually the start. If you get drafted, you have to prove that you deserve it. To be like an NBA player, you may have some money guaranteed. And if you don’t get drafted you should just work and do your thing to prove that you belong.
Can you talk about your involvement with adidas Eurocamp as the scouting director?
GP: [This is] my first year of involvement, and I experienced all the other previous past editions of the camp on the other side as a guest, as an NBA executive scout coming in and evaluating the kids. So, in the past, actually, I always thought like, hey, you know, it would be cooler at some point, to try to get involved in the Eurocamp, and sure enough this year, I was contacted and I was super excited about that.
What in particular has stood out to you as you prepare for this edition of Eurocamp?
GP: The amount of work that has been done by other innovative people behind the scenes leading to pretty much the day before the camp in our long weeks, meetings, that stuff, trying to coordinate everything. As you can imagine, there are a lot of moving pieces, and you try to put together the best product on the court, and they also run the camp, the venue, and everything else.
In the past, I was showing up the day before the camp, and then just go into the gym, look at the roster, and be there to wait. Now, I saw all the incredible work that these people have been doing for all those years, which makes me appreciate everything even more.
When I used to come here for the front office as a scout, the real work starts on the Friday morning when the camp starts. So instead of being involved probably when the camp starts, that’s the least of the work for all the people because there’s so much more going on before that. That’s to me what really stood out.
There’s still going to be work on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday because we want the camp to run smoothly. Things can happen for these events, and you have to react quickly. Also, when you put the work in on such a big event, and everything starts on Friday morning yet, you kind of feel like a reward, right? You have the adrenaline but also you have the excitement to see all the work that the bunch of people put together for several months.
What sort of advice do you give young players in the Eurocamp?
GP: The camp is an important stop for kids in the draft or for kids who would like to be considered for the future draft. The two words of advice I have to say is first, to enjoy. And second, be yourself.
For some of these kids, this could be just a one-time opportunity, right? So like, hey, we are here. You are in a great city. You’re in a great event. You have NBA people in front of you. You have to enjoy the moment, maybe it’s not coming back. It’s a big step in the career of these kids. And the second, I will say is to be yourself. Probably they [NBA scouts] know these kids. They know that there is a lot at stake in it. At the same time, the evaluation process of the NBA teams is not just stopping for you at these camps.
That’s why you have to be yourself, try to be the player that you are, not just trying to play in a different way, because the executive and the scouts at the camps, they have already seen this kid playing several times, and they know who they are. They just want to see this kid in a different environment, and how they react. So I would not ever try to play in a way that you usually don’t play. [Be] the player who you are because that’s the only way that you’re going to shine, and that’s how you make sure people notice you. The bottom line is that NBA people can recognize the talent, and they recognize which kind of player you are.
What’s next for you? Are you looking to get back with an NBA team soon?
GP: I took this year off [for the] first time in my life. I refresh myself, I started to gain a different perspective. A good year of growth for me. During the NBA season, it’s very hard [to take a break]. The rhythm is so intense, so it was good, but yes, I’m refreshing. I’m ready. You know, after three months, I wanted to go back! I’m looking forward to be back. If there’s an opportunity, yes.
