Jonas Jerebko

I hope you had a chance to see our story Tuesday on NBA draft prospect Jonas Jerebko.  If you’re still watching Thursday’s draft after Jonny Flynn gets picked, keep your eye out for Jerebko to be picked late in the first round, somewhere around the 25th pick.

Jerebko’s story is a classic Buffalo sports story, even if didn’t grow up here.  He’s got the local connection of his family, the local connection of almost playing for U.B., and the connection every Buffalo sports story must have….What if?

There’s a couple of other facts about Jonas that I did not have time to include in our TV story. 

*Jonas’ dad, Chris, was a standout HS player at St. Francis.  He played at Syracuse for Jim Boeheim in the late 70’s.  Then, he went to Sweden to play professional basketball.  He married a Swedish woman, who was also a basketball player.  They decided to raise their family in Sweden, and that’s how a guy from Depew has a son who’s from Sweden.

*Jonas at one point decided he wanted to play American college basketball.  When UB’s Reggie Witherspoon and his coaches (who knew Jonas’s uncle Pete, the ECC Athletic Director) heard this, they offered him a scholarship on the spot.

*Jonas also had offers to play at Syracuse (his Dad’s alma mater) and West Virginia (coached then by John Beilein, who was uncle Pete’s coach at LeMoyne College in Syracuse).  He chose UB to be closer to his relatives in Buffalo.

*Jonas has been playing for Biella, a team in the Italian Pro League.  His is under contract next year, but his buyout is not large.  So whichever team drafts him could have him stay in Italy and play, or could immediately bring him to the NBA.

CBSSports.com has an excellent profile of Jonas.  They have him as the 33rd best prospect.  One of their mock drafts has him going to the Lakers with the 29th pick.  That’s the team the family seems to be hearing about the most.

Its been fun doing some stories on the NBA Draft connectins this year.  We don’t usually cover the NBA much, because we’ve never gotten the sense that it means a lot to the majority of sports fans in WNY.  Do you agree?  Are you interested in the draft only because of Flynn, Jerebko and Paul Harris?