Chicago Bulls: 3 rising international prospects to target at No. 38

Rising international prospects for the Chicago Bulls to target: Juhann Begarin

Not only one of the fastest rising international prospects in this draft class, but one of the youngest is the 18-year-old French 6-foot-5 and 190-pound shooting guard Juhann Begarin. This young and potential budding star is one of the most exciting prospects overseas that could possibly fall in the second round of the 2021 draft.

Begarin seemingly came out of nowhere in the past couple of months to come to the forefront of French prospects in this draft class. His insane physical tools and athleticism caught the eye of NBA scouts and the media almost right away during the draft scouting process of late.

A vertical leap that could be north of 40 inches and a wingspan of 7-foot shows just how elite the physical tools of Begarin are. And that, above all else, is likely what will get him drafted at such a young age this year.

Most of the parts of Begarin’s game are still developing. He is still improving his shot selection and shooting stroke from outside of the paint. His insane physical tools do allow him to already effectively drive to the rim and get to the free-throw line often.

The good news in regard to the improvement in his outside shot is that he has greatly progressed in three-point shooting percentage in the past three seasons. He shot a career-best 34.2 percent from beyond the arc with Paris Basketball in LNB last season. That is way up from a 29.0 three-point field goal percentage with Paris Basketball the prior campaign. And he shot 20.8 percent from beyond the arc two seasons ago.

Begarin needs a better feel for the game before his court vision and on and off-ball defensive ability start to progress. He’s showing signs of life in his defensive ability, but his decision-making on offense still needs work. Begarin worked up to averaging 1.4 steals per game and 0.5 blocks with Paris Basketball last season.