Who is John Riek?

High School, NBA, NBA Draft / May 30, 2008 / 11:44 am

John Riek is 7-2, 240 pounds, and is going straight from Winchendon Prep (Mass.) to the NBA Draft. HighSchoolHoop has the story on the NBA Draft’s biggest unknown talent and his decision to keep NBA GMs guessing by not participating in the Orland Pre-Draft Camp.

Posted in High School, NBA, NBA Draft |

17 Responses to “Who is John Riek?”

May 30th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
doc says:
He better than some bigs on my Sixers probaly. I’d give him a shot.
May 30th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
rkirby2 says:
Nah…my bsketball team played his team earlier this year. We got punished, but it wasn’t because of him. He is defensively oriented. There were other people on his team that were amazing though. He should go to college.
May 30th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
yallallreadyknow says:
who?
May 30th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
rkirby2 says:
and he’s definitely not good enough to avoid orlando pre-draft camp…wow
May 30th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Big Freeze says:
He’s 7’2″ and plays D. He won’t have a problem finding a spot in the NBA
May 30th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
InItToWinIt says:
Lottery?
May 30th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Chuck...Haters come in all fashions and forms so bear arms says:
Nope! Whoever drafts this dude will be sorry.
People will learn to stop drafting height!!
Dalibor Bagaric
Ruben Boumtje boumtje
A.J. Bramlett
These are all pretty much legit 7’0 players we have never heard of, or care to hear of. No why? Because they suck!!!
The teams that drafted these players were intelligent enough to know they were wildcard, just like this kid and they drafted them in the 2nd round. If you are going to take a chance on the kid, fine, please save it for the second round though.
May 30th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Kobeef says:
Remember Saer Sene? This guy wishes he could be that good.
Apparently he’s been “injured” and has not participated in a few camps.
You need to keep in mind that everything you hear about this kid has been crafted by his team of “investors” and PR people who spent a lot of money training him and banked on making a buck off him when he gets drafted. It is actually a pretty sad situation.
May 30th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
dagwaller says:
this is kind of embarrassing, but i don’t understand how he can be going straight from school to the nba? again, sorry if i’m being ignorant.
May 30th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Kobeef says:
@Dag
Don’t apologize – it’s complicated. On top of that, most people think that his handlers are lying about his age and that he is actually more like 25.
May 30th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Austin Burton says:
Riek came to America in ’07 and was originally classified as a senior in the ’08 class. He went to the LeBron camp and the Nike Hoop Summit and other camps for high schoolers, but then later on it was discovered that his high school class in Africa had actually graduated in ’06, which changed him to a post-grad in America. That made him eligible for the NBA. I’ve seen Riek in person and I liked him. He’s a defensive-minded center who I was hoping would be a great recruiting catch for Georgetown (they were on his list), but I wouldn’t have said he was pro material yet. But anyone who’s 7-2, 18/19 years old and can block shots will always get a chance in the League.
May 30th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Big Freeze says:
Kobeef
That’s a great point on post 8. His agent or manager or PR team is doin a decent job of gettin his name out there. Shit, I never heard of him till i saw this release. He is a poor man’s DeSagana Diop
May 30th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
dagwaller says:
Thanks kobeef/Austin.
May 30th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
zach says:
What I want to know is if he “graduated” in Sudan how in the hell was he allowed to play ball for a HIGHSCHOOL team in America (I get why he can go into the draft) seems like that would make him ineligeble in american HS
May 30th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
AY says:
can i please see his birth certificate. An 18 year old versus a 21 year old is going to make a big difference.
May 30th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
andre says:
I’m worried though, cuz I’ve heard a lot of comparisons to Manute Bol. Never a good comparison, haha. This dude could definitely benefit from a couple years in college, like Hasheem Thabeet did
May 30th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Austin Burton says:
@Zach — I think when he got to America no one was quite sure what his academic status was, so he played a season of high school ball before the graduation from his African school was confirmed. And I would guess kind of like if you were trying to transfer colleges, they had to make sure the school you came from was “legit.”