The Miami Heat continue to fill out their roster prior to the start of training camp, with the acquisition of an international prospect offering some serious intrigue.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald pointed out that undrafted free agent 6-foot-8 forward Paul Eboua from Cameroon isn’t someone that the Heat would ordinarily invite to camp. That’s because they don’t usually make an effort to acquire players on the international market.
The 20-year-old Eboua has been on the scouting radar for the past four years and played the last three seasons in Italy.
Eboua’s rapid development was evident from the fact that he was playing in the top Italian league before announcing he was entering the NBA draft.
One Heat executive, Chet Kammerer, got a look at Eboua before the draft and was impressed by a number of assets possessed by the prospect.
One such asset includes his 7-3.5 foot wingspan, which is greater than that of Heat players Bam Adebayo and Mo Harkless, as well as the team’s top draft pick, Precious Achiuwa.
While the hype of Eboua’s agent should be taken with a grain of salt, Rade Filipovich did offer this rave review of his client.
“Overall, he’s the best athlete in this draft,” Filpovich said to Jackson. “He’s a very good defender and rebounder.”
As Goran Dragic’s agent, Filipovich is quite familiar with the Heat’s knack for developing players with raw talent into key contributors for the team. That’s why the Heat were able to acquire Eboua.
“We targeted Miami because we like the Heat’s success developing players,” Filipovich said. “They have an unbelievable development program, great coaches with Erik Spoelstra [and his assistants], a great shooting coach with Rob Fodor.”
Eboua and other free agents brought in by the Heat will be competing for the lone two-way contract, which means that it may be a while before Eboua is ready.
