NBA Draft 2013: Who is Janis Timma?

With two weeks until the 2013 NBA Draft teams are scrambling to get last minute workouts with international players. One international player to keep an eye on is Janis Timma.

Janis Timma is a  6′-8″ 220 pound Latvian small forward, who has declared for the 2013 Draft and sparked intrest from numerous teams. He will work out for the Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies, Golden St. Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, and Phoenix Suns.

Thats a lot of workouts!!

He has until June 17th to pull out of the draft if the workouts don’t go as planned. He will then head to Impact Basketball in Las Vegas, until Latvian Nation team training starts in July.

Scouts have noticed him immediately on court, especially after the somewhat poster dunk during EUROCAMP 2013 in Treviso, Italy. From the video below, Janis shows off a wide array of abilities. Like many europeans he has great finishing abilities, and also three-point range as well. In many ways he reminded me of Chandler Parsons, who is an inch taller, and 4 years older.

If Janis is drafted there is a high possibility he gets sent back to Europe for a year or two to hone his skills and then return when he is ready to play at the NBA pace. Similar to how the Rockets stashed Donatas Motiejunas over seas, the same could be on its way for Janis.