NBA Rumors: San Antonio Spurs Interested In Brazalian Rafael Hettsheimeir

The San Antonio Spurs have a history of success with international players and are reportedly currently interested in Brazilian Rafael Hettsheimeir.

International basketball guru David Pick (via Twitter) is reporting that the Spurs are planning to work out Hettsheimeir.

Spurs to workout Brazilian hulk Rafael Hettsheimeir, agent told me. Liked him at PanAm games.

— David Pick (@IAmDPick) August 26, 2015

The Spurs interest in Hettsheimeir dates back to 2012, according to Project Spurs, but it was his impressive Pan Am Games performance that really piqued their interest.

Brazil went 5-0 in the tournament and defeated Canada 86-71 to win the Gold Medal as Hettsheimeir tallied 13 points. Overall, the 29-year-old finished third on the team in scoring with 10.2 points a game in 18.0 minutes of action. He shot 47.0 percent from the floor for the tournament, including 46.0 prcent from beyond the arc (12-of-26). He also grabbed 2.6 rebounds per game and blocked three shots.

Hettsheimeir, who went undrafted in 2008, has played professionally since 2003. He played for Barau of the Brazalian NBB last season, averaging 16.5 points and 6.0 caroms while seeing 30.7 minutes of action per game in 40 contests. Hettsheimeir also shot 48.3 percent from the floor, 38.2 percent from the three-point line, and 81.1 percent from the charity stripe.

In 2013-14, Hettsheimeir played for Unicaja Malaga of the Spanish ACB League, where he averaged 5.2 points along with 2.2 caroms a game.

According to a scouting report from Basketball-Scouting, Hettsheimeir is a legitimate stretch-five — half of all the shots he took for Barau last season were from beyond the arc. While his perimeter shooting has improved, Hettsheimeir’s interior game has deteriorated due to his decline in athleticism.

“He is able to establish deep position with his back to the basket but is quite mechanical with his post moves and exhibits iffy touch on turnaround jump-hooks. The jump-shot is his best option even here, as he looks more natural taking step-back fadeaway jumpers than trying to back opponents down.

“Hettsheimeir is a black hole, unable or unwilling to pass out of the post – assisting on just 5% of Bauru’s scores in his 1,640 minutes on the floor last season and recording just one assist in 89 minutes in Toronto last week.

“He is not built to attack closeouts, even with escape-dribbles to set up one-dribble pull-ups, and is also not much of a good option out of the pick-and-roll, lacking the quickness to dive down the lane with the sort of speed that sucks in attention and can potentially open up shots for others around the perimeter. He also can’t play above the rim as a target for lobs at this point of his career.

“Due to his role as a floor spacer, Hettsheimeir doesn’t bring anything to the table as an offensive rebounder either.”

Defensively, he does a decent job guarding the low-post but is not agile enough to guard anyone on the perimeter. He is also not a great defensive rebounder.

San Antonio currently has 17 players on their roster for training camp — this includes 13 players with guaranteed contracts and four partial/nonguaranteed contracts — so the Spurs have room if they decide to sign him.

Tony Parker, Tiago Splitter, Manu Ginobili, Beno Udrih, Boris Diaw, Patty Mills, HedoTurkoglu, Rasho Nesterovic, Tim Duncan, and Nazr Mohammed are among the international players who have had a tremendous amount of success with the Spurs. San Antonio also currently owns the rights to 11 international players who are currently playing overseas including Nikola Milutinov — the Spurs’ 2015 first round draft pick — along with Nemanja Dangubic (Philadelphia 76ers’ 2014 second round selection) and the team’s 2013 first round draft pick Livio Jean-Charles.

[Photo by Harry How/Getty Images]