Toronto Raptors draft: 5 best international prospects to look at

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Antwerp’s Vrenz Bleijenbergh and Mons’ Arik Smith BELGA PHOTO JASPER JACOBS (Photo by JASPER JACOBS/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images) /

2. Vrenz Bleijenbergh (Belgium)

Player Comp: Aleksej Pokusevski

The history of these foreign unicorns is spotty for sure. You could get Giannis, Porzingis, Gasol, Gasol, or Jokic. Or you could get Darko Milicic. So, if the Raptors are in the mood for a high-risk, high reward prospect, look no further.

Bleijenbergh (and I’ll give you $5 if you can pronounce that) on paper looks like a Durant-Esque offensive player. Long and lean at 6’10, real shooting range, point guard skills, and the potential to be a real offensive virtuoso.

Compare and contrast his game to Thunder star Aleksej Pokusevski. They have very similar positives and negatives. A giant with an outside game and point skills. Athletically, weight is his biggest concern. He leans toward the lighter side, but he’s not as rail-thin as Poku is.

Vrenz doesn’t have quite the flair and wow factor Poku does offensively, but he has better fundamentals and a higher floor entering the league. With quicker feet defensively, already more muscle mass, and a deceptively fast first step. Vrenz might be less entertaining than Poku, but he is already more polished. His game isn’t as weird, but that’s actually a good thing.

https://twitter.com/RowanNBA/status/1387530605882011649

Now, he’s still a project, but it’s his deceptive speed that will keep him alive in the league next year. It will allow him to play small forward where his weight discrepancies won’t be as exposed.

Imagine a jumbo line-up of Bleijenbergh, Yuta Watanabe, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, and Khem Birch.

Or a scoring lineup of five true creators in VanVleet, Malachi Flynn, Anunoby, Siakam, and Bleijenbergh. Having a player as unique as Vrenz allows Nurse to fully flex his imagination.

He’s risky for sure, but if Bleijenbergh pans out he could be a top-level talent. He may not be the safest pick for a Raptors team trying to get back on the playoff horse, but if the front office wants a guy with star potential they can’t do any better than this. If Masai Ujiri can snag him in the second round, he’d be getting a player with a sky-high ceiling at very little cost.