There was a sigh of relief from both sides of the pond.

From Thessoloniki, NBA teams will disperse. Some already have been to Crete to check out the other 17-year-old phenom in this draft, Sofaklis Schortsianitis, whom agent Marc Fleisher confirmed has declared officially. Schortsianitis' nickname is Baby Shaq, which is good, considering his real name sounds like some strange affliction Jerry Krause caught as a kid.

Schortsianitis scored 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field in 20 minutes of play against Hemofarm. But the most important news was that scouts seem to be starting to concur that he's a legit 6-foot-10 with shoes. That alone will cause his stock to rise.

If that doesn't help it enough, Sofaklis is getting a pretty intense personal trainer to work him out for the next few weeks. Pacers guard Ron Artest is flying to Greece next week to work out Sofaklis and get him battle tested for the NBA. Lets just hope it only makes him tougher, not crazier.

Other GMs will be off to Yugoslavia this week to get another good look at several other top Yugoslavian players, including sweet-shooting two guard Alexsandar Pavlovic and 7-foot-6 giant Slavko Vranes.

Still others are off to France to check out super-athlete Mickael Pietrus and his teammate Boris Diaw.

If you've been reading Insider since December you've already been there and done that.

I'm here, again alongside Pistons international scouting guru Tony Ronzone, to get up close and personal with several other young players who could end up making a major impact in this draft.

Monday night I'll be in Milan, Italy. From there, we'll travel up to Varese to get a look at the "Russian Bear," 18-year-old Pavel Podkolzin. As you may recall, Pavel was the mysterious 7-foot-4, 300 pound Siberian prospect Insider first reported on in December.

Back then he was unknown to anyone outside of Clippers scout Fabricio Bensati, who worked in Italy. Since the report, 18 NBA teams have trekked to Italy to watch Pavel play. Tony and I are spending the day with Pavel, watching him work out and hearing his story.

Tuesday, we're splitting up. Tony will be off to Latvia (yes, Latvia) to check out a hot point guard prospect named Kristaps Valters. I'll travel from Varese down to Bologna, Italy, to check out Argentinian shooting guard Carlos Defino's miraculous rehab. Delfino tore ligaments in his ankle a little more than a month ago but reportedly is ready to play again. He's a likely late first-rounder if he gets a clean bill of health.

Wednesday, Tony and I will meet up again in Madrid, Spain, to spend the afternoon with 18-year-old prospect Maciej Lampe. Lampe's agent Keith Kreiter, claims he received calls from more than 20 NBA teams after an Insider story on Lampe a few weeks ago.

What was originally set up as an interview and workout for this story appears to be turning into something much bigger. While most NBA scouts had heard of Lampe, they hadn't scouted him extensively. His decision to declare for the draft this year caught them with their pants down. A solid showing this week in Madrid could make Lampe a lock for the lottery.

Thursday, Ronzone and I fly back to Barcelona to attend the Euroleague Final 4. We'll catch up with Brazilian big man Anderson Varejao, widely considered the top international prospect in the draft behind Darko. His team, F.C. Barcelona, will play in the Euroleague Final 4.

We'll also get the chance to check out several other top prospects here, including Russia's Victor Khryapa and Sergei Monya. We'll also see a kid who might be the best 16-year-old player in Europe -- Manuchar Markoishvili, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard from the country of Georgia who is already getting meaningful minutes on one of the top teams in Europe, Benetton Treviso.

We'll also catch up with former Wake Forest star Darius Songailia, who has become the star of the Russian team CSKA Moscow. The Celtics drafted Songailia in the second round last year, and it's looking like GM Chris Wallace may have gotten a steal. Several international scouts claim that had Songailia skipped college and played in Europe the way he has this season, he'd be a lottery pick in the upcoming draft.

After the Euroleage Final 4 ends Sunday, we're not resting. On Monday morning we'll drive from Barcelona to Bilbao, Spain, to check out the next Darko, 18-year-old Brazilian big man Tiago Splitter. Splitter's agent, Herb Rudoy, is keeping his client out of this year's draft, but watch out for him in 2004. If David Stern doesn't get his age limit, many scouts feel Splitter will be a candidate to be the No. 1 overall pick in next year's draft.

After a few hours with Tiago, we'll drive from Bilbao to Pau, France, to get a closer look at Diaw and Pietrus. Both players have the potential to end up in the lottery after the smoke clears.

After that, we collapse.

Posted by Caseloads:

Who said this draft isn't deep? This draft is SOOOOOO deep.

Thanks martin. And it sounds as if Greek Baby Shaq is 6-10. And he's only 17 right now, and he's been doing well over there.

Martin, can you keep posting the Insider stuff regarding the European Guys to be Drafted this year?

I will, no need to ask.