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John Butler deciding to stay in the NBA Draft left Florida State with an open spot, and they got right on it by landing international forward Baba Miller, who has spent time over the last year with Real Madrid. Miller visited FSU and Tallahassee last weekend before taking a visit to Gonzaga in Spokane as well, eventually deciding to sign with the 'Noles. Gonzaga still arguably got the better end of the deal having Drew Timme and Julian Strawther return to school and gaining one of the best transfers on the market in Chattanooga's Malachi Smith.
Miller is another raw prospect, but is considered one the better prospects to come through Real Madrid since Luke Doncic was drafted in 2018. Across all leagues in 2021/22 with the Real Madrid U18 team (about 8 total games), he averaged 5.6 PPG and 3.1 RPG while shooting 50% from the floor in about 20 minutes per game. He really needs to improve his outside shooting, but he's a really smooth athlete with great size at 6'10" and a ton of defensive versatility; this is a player who is going to progress quickly and has a great foundation to grow from.
Some may wonder why he is going from Real Madrid to college basketball, which is a fair concern. He didn't have the greatest showing, both statistically and emotionally, at the Adidas Next Generation Tournament in the middle of May that was held in Belgrade. Gonzaga has made their living on taking international prospects, but very rarely do you see players come from EuroLeague to college basketball. I think a lot of teams are going to try and do this in the future since the three best players in the NBA right now are all Europeans (you can argue all you want... Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Luka Doncic are, at minimum, three of the five best players in the league). There is a sense of more sound fundamentals coming from the Europeans than most American high school prospects.
This leaves FSU with a very young team for this upcoming season, with six first year college players (Miller, Chandler Jackson, Jeremiah Bembry, Cameron Corhen, De'Ante Green, Tom House), two players with college experience but it being their first year at Florida State (Jaylan Gainey, Darin Green), and the other five only being in their second season at FSU (Jalen Warley, Caleb Mills, Matthew Cleveland, Cam'Ron Fletcher, Naheem McLeod). The team has a ton of potential, but it may take them a little while to grow into form, and this should be the last addition to the team.
In a sense, Miller "reclassified" to be eligible for this upcoming season and gives some good news to the 'Noles.
Stick with NoleGameday for more coverage of Florida State Athletics throughout the summer.
More must-reads:
- Caitlin Clark's debut was most-watched WNBA game in more than 20 years
- Clemson’s Dabo Swinney gives smug response about not using transfer portal
- The 'Most career 40-point playoff games' quiz
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