K.C. Rivers

K.C. Rivers - Rivers has toured Europe over the last few years, and was in the Euroleague last year with Khimky, one of the best teams in it. Yet he has eschewed that to come back to the D-League and join the Reno Bighorns in a fairly blunt attempt to get a call-up. He might, too - having expanded his game and his range since his college days, and although he is less than the ideal size for his position, he is sufficiently proven in other comparable leagues to merit an NBA call-up as a scorer and shooter.

- K.C. Rivers

Rivers started the year in Italy's LegaDue, but did not last long. He averaged 24.5 points and 5.7 rebounds for Associazione Basket Latina, and Benetton Treviso quickly took note and signed him up. In 15 subsequent Serie A games for Benetton, Rivers has averaged 11.3 and 4.0 rebounds per game, shooting 44% from three point range.

By being called up to Serie A mid-season, Rivers became the only American rookie in the whole of Serie A. The only other one is Rivers's Benetton team mate, former USC guard Daniel Hackett, and yet Hackett does not count as an American player because he holds an Italian passport. The division is flooded with American players, but they're all veterans; the unwritten rule of the league says that players must earn their bones in other leagues before Italy will give them a chance. The same is true in Spain, where only one player in the ACB was an American rookie this year (Ahmad Nivins). So if any undrafted rookies sign in Serie A or the ACB this year, they've done all right for themselves. As has Rivers.