NBA Draft night is upon us and Interbasket wants to keep you informed.

We recently did a quick, unscientific roundup of several mock drafts on the ‘net to determine the top-12 international players you should know about in this year’s draft, and where they’re likely to be selected.

The consensus #1 pick is NBA-ready power forward Blake Griffin. After that?  No one is sure.  It all really comes down to a team’s need and their selection that will set off a domino effect.

Just a month ago, it was near-certain the second pick would be Spanish point-guard prospect Ricky Rubio, but in the last two weeks, James Harden and Hasheem Thabeet have climbed up the mock drafts.

Is it because of Rubio’s demands to play in California or because the 6-4 point guard is truly overhyped?

Thabeet moving up
Thabeet is used to making huge strides, such as he did in his three-year career at UConn.  Thabeet has ursuped Rubio as the first international player to be picked in this years’s draft, but just by a hair.  In our analysis, Thabeet is going to go anywhere from #2-3 and Rubio will be drafted #3-4.

After the fifth pick or so, International basketball fans will then have to sit on their hands for next twenty-odd picks. Then around pick #24-26, Omri Casspi of Israel is slated to be selected.  Following Casspi is 5-11 Aussie speedster Patrick Mills, who is pegged to go around pick #28-30.

1. Hasheem Thabeet, Tanzania (#2-3)
2. Ricky Rubio, Spain (#3-4)
3. Omri Casspi, Israel (#24-26)
4. Patrick Mills, Australia (#28-29)
5. Jonas Jerebko, Sweden (#28-29)
6. Rodrigue Beaubois, France (#33-35)
7. Victor Claver, Spain (#35-36)
8. Sergio Lull, Spain (#38-39)
9. Nando de Colo, France (#54)
10. Henk Norel, Netherlands (#54-55)
11. Vyacheslav Kravtsov, Ukraine (#55-56)
12. Emir Preldzic, Slovenia (#57-58)

Other international players that could hear their names called: Joe Ingles (Australia), Sergii Gladyr (Ukraine), Milenko Tepic (Serbia), Christian Eyenga (Congo), Goran Suton (Bosnia), Luke Nevill (Australia)

According to the eleven mock drafts we looked at, Thabeet and Rubio are the only surefire first round picks.  As with most mock drafts though, take this with a grain of salt.  With less than three days remaining, that’s a lifetime and there will certainly shuffling yet to be done.

Links and Resources: Patty Mills in, Greivis Vasquez out (Interbasket), Jonas Jerebko: First Swede drafted in NBA’s first round? (Interbasket), Patrick Mills, Joe Ingles among four Aussies in NBA Draft (Interbasket), Spain’s Victor Claver joins Rubio in 2009 NBA Draft (Interbasket), Ricky Rubio declares for 2009 NBA Draft (Interbasket), Hasheem Thabeet vs. Goran Suton, Foreign Centers to clash in Final Four (Interbasket), After UNC Loss, Goran Suton’s Future Looking Up (Interbasket)