PLEASE DRAFT ME: Petteri Koponen

Some prospects aren't getting enough respect on draft boards. PLEASE DRAFT ME aims to change that.

If you are a faithul FanHouse diner, you'll remember an earlier ode to Finnish point guard Petteri Koponen -- a tribute centered around one silly alley-oop and a trunk of hype from Chad Ford. You probably expected Koponen's stock to hover a while, then drop once more teams got ahold of him and realized he's years away from contributing to an NBA roster.

That ebb is still missing. Koponen has wowed scouts all over the place -- Memphis, Phoenix and about a dozen teams who showed up to his workout last week in NYC. He newly seems a lock for Round 1, and could go in the top 20.

Pro scouts aren't the only fans, though.

The mere idea of Koponen had three FanHousers namedrop dude in the local mock draft. Famed basketblogger Billups screamed "Finland on smash!" at Free Darko. And a commenter there named Padraig made the following poignant insight:

[H]ow can you not love the giant, gangly Finnish PG? It's like Shaun Livingston redesigned as an Aryan elf!

Whether Koponen goes Tony Parker on us (30 min/game as a 19-year-old on Pop's team?!) is irrelevant -- the kid's already becoming a cult legend in America. And we've barely seen anything of him.

Sergio who?

(Oh, actual insight. Hmph. He seemed a lot more draftable when he was projected at #30-45. But based on the reports of his daft shooting and given his size and YouTube-proofed court vision, I think he's a star. But yeah... the Finnish league isn't exactly stacked: Petteri's Honka teammates include Vonteego Cumming's less talented brother. Tough call.)