From Taiwan to the NBA: The Joe Alexander Story
7 July 2008
The most improbable and certainly the most interesting story of the just concluded 2008 NBA Draft belongs to Joe Alexander, a 6-8 1/2 forward from West Virginia University.
Alexander's path to the lottery began in the hardcourts of Asia, growing up in Taiwan, Beijing and Hong Kong. He is literally a self-made player, getting to the NBA through hard work and by having an unwavering dream. His tale consists of endless rewinds of Michael Jordan and AND1 tapes, hours and hours in lonely gyms, mail order jump soles, and countless nights sleeping in locker room couches. The product is an NBA ready forward with a 40 inch vertical leap and a sweet mid range jumper.
Words frequently used to describe him are "freakish, "explosive", and also "obsessive" and "dedicated". His dunks and power drives to the hoop are now legendary YouTube highlights, and his soaring jumpers are a sight to behold. Those aside, Alexander's game is as raw as they come, thus scouts drool at his tremendous upside. He has played structured basketball and has gotten legitimate coaching only in the past few years and this added to the mix with his physical skills has led to his meteoric rise in draft boards.
His junior year stats at West Virginia were a modest 16.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists but he had an unreal 5 game stretch late last season where he scored 32, 32, 29, 22 and 34 points in Big East play. His range and his defense needs more work and he has lots to learn about the nuances of the game but already he has served as an inspiration to many. The white kid from Asia who worked on his leaping, and worked and worked until he jumped straight into the big leagues still isn't finished writing his storybook tale. Now he has to prove the Milwaukee Bucks made the right choice in drafting him 8th overall.
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