Vlad Moldoveanu Gearing Up For NBA Draft

After the Eagles lost to Lafayette in the second round of the Patriot League Tournament this past March, Vlad Moldoveanu took a week off. He began synthesizing his workout plans, because the NBA draft was just over three months away.

On June 23, Moldoveanu will look to accomplish something no Eagle has done in 38 years: be selected in the NBA Draft.

Bulking Up

When Moldoveanu looked at the average size of a power forward in the NBA, he found that he had some work to do.

"One of my goals is to get stronger, and that's a long process,” Moldoveanu said. “I looked at the list of the average weight of the power forward in Europe it's about 230-235 punds, and in the NBA it's about 240-245. So I want to get to that 235 range."

He’s been working out six times a week ever since spring break ended with Eagles Assistant Coach Lamar Barrett. And team managers Ryan Eskow and Tiana Hakimzadeh have helped him practice shooting. He works out mostly at Bender Arena, but when that’s in use, like it was during graduation weekend, he goes to St. John’ High School, where he played before going to college.

Moldoveanu had a few goals heading into the spring besides gaining muscle. Among them, he wanted to improve his free throw shooting (he finished last season with an 83.2 percent success rate at the line) to around 90 percent.

He’s also been trying to quicken his release time and altering his footwork. He’s found inspiration from his favorite player.

"I like watching Dirk [Nowitzki], and the way he uses his feet. It looks weird, but I've been working on those fade-aways," he said. He’s tried them during pick-up games and says that the move works for him.

But Moldoveanu will need to be more than a shooter for the NBA to come calling.

“It’s Pretty Much a Job Interview Right Now”

Moldoveanu has been making the rounds at NBA workouts the last few weeks. His first came with the Milwaukee Bucks on June 3, then the Washington Wizards the following week. Then, on Wednesday, he worked out with the New York Knicks.

But Moldoveanu doesn’t appear on any first-round mock drafts. And some of his results at the NBA Draft Combine, an event that gathers most of the eligible players for the draft to work out in front of all teams at once, were below average in most categories when compared against other power forwards.

Still, Moldoveanu can bring one of the most important elements of the game: a scoring threat.

"You don't really know what to expect,” Moldoveanu said. “Some teams don't have workouts. Orlando hasn't had one yet. Phoenix hasn't had a workout yet. So it's like who are these guys going to take? Are they going to have a surprise pick, or are they going to pick the best available? It's not a draft you can easily figure out."

Most analysts believe this to be one of the weakest drafts in recent memory. ESPN’s Chad Ford recently put up a ranking of projected first rounders by tiers. There were no tier one players, and Duke guard Kyrie Irving and Arizona forward Derrick Williams were the only tier two prospects.

Whether this weaker class gives Moldoveanu an edge remains to be seen, but he has plenty of options across the Atlantic Ocean if the NBA doesn’t work out.

“I Don’t Consider Myself a Rookie”

Moldoveanu is considering a handful of offers to play in Europe if he doesn’t get drafted. He says the European style suits him better, and it is what he grew up on.

"I've shown that I can play with those guys,” he said. “I played with [the Romanian] National Team and I played with the Senior National Team which meant all the guys I was playing against were pros. I've shown I can play. I put up good numbers, we won games, the main thing for me is to win games with the National team, and if I can do it while playing well, then that's great.”

Moldoveanu says that there are competitive teams within most of Europe’s major basketball leagues that are inquiring about his availability. Some have already offered him a contract, but he wants to give the NBA a shot.

"I don't want to sign in Europe and then have a team in the NBA say, 'we really like you, we want to take you right now,'” he said. “Then on the other hand, if I sign earlier in Europe then that might help me get drafted. A team with the lockout coming up could pick me and say, 'we aren't going to worry about this guy for one or two or three years.'"

One of the things Moldoveanu is looking for from any European team is stability. He does not want to sign a one-year contract, nor does he want to play role-player type minutes. The other important ingredient is to find a team that is close to winning a title.

"I want to go to a team where the coaches want me, not the [General Manager],” he said. “I feel like that's a big difference. I don't want a GM to say, 'oh we really like you,' then hire a coach that is very guard-oriented."

Moldoveanu thinks that if he were to be drafted by an NBA team, the best fit would be a team that runs the triangle-offense. The style was developed by USC head coach Sam Barry in the 1940s and has been refined throughout the years. Instead of focusing on one-on-one match-ups, the main goal of the system is to create spacing to allow players room to get open and stretch the floor, which is Moldoveanu’s specialty.

The trouble is, with Phil Jackson retiring from Los Angeles, no team in the NBA runs a true triangle offense anymore.

In Europe, the power forward position is much less “powerful” than it is in the NBA. Power forwards are more versatile and are better shooters than their NBA counterparts, but they are also smaller. Moldoveanu’s current size – 6’10” 230 lbs – fit a European power forward.

The workouts have given Moldoveanu a chance to prove to NBA teams that he can fit that style of play. Although he has spent all spring tinkering with his game, at this point, with six days left until the NBA draft, Moldoveanu is keeping it simple.

"You're not really going to show something that they haven't seen before,” he said. “These guys have been scouting you for years. They go to games, sometimes they go to practices, they talk to a lot of people about you, and it's not something where you're going to come and just blow their minds. You just got to be confident and you got to do what you do and do it really well. That's what it is about the NBA; every guy is really, really good at what they do."