Chad Ford on Brad Newley

ESPN's Chad Ford wrote about the NBA prospects that played for their respective countries at the FIBA World Championships in Japan. Here is what he had to say about our own Brad Newley:

Brad Newley, SG, Australia (currently ranked No. 73)
Stats at Worlds: 20.5 mpg, 8.2 ppg, 46-percent shooting, 43 percent from 3

Newley declared for the 2006 NBA draft, worked out for a half-dozen teams and played in the Orlando pre-draft camp this spring. Scouts raved about his toughness, basketball savvy and his quickness off the dribble. However, he was unable to distinguish himself at the draft camp and made a quick decision to pull out of the draft and try things again next season.

I personally was impressed with what I saw over a one-week period of his training at Tim Grover's ATTACK Athletics in Chicago alongside Shannon Brown, Rajon Rondo, Dee Brown and other top prospects. While the game was clearly more uptempo than what he was used to, he fit in.

Newley made another important step toward the NBA this summer with a solid performance for Australia. Like several of the other prospects on the list, his best game was also against the U.S. He posted 15 points and knocked down three 3-pointers against the U.S. in a blowout loss.

Another year fine-tuning his jump shot and another spring getting acclimated to the speed of the NBA and Newley is a likely second-round pick with a shot at the late first round.

To read the whole article, check out: Chad Ford Blog.