Talent Upgrade

Songaila (Photo courtesy of Wake Forest)

Demos Dikoudis, a 6-9 Greek forward who plays for AEK Athens, Jaka Lakovic, a 6-foot shooting guard from Slovenia, Milan Gurovic, a 6-9 small forward Yugoslavian native who now plays for Pallacanestro Trieste in Italy, and Martin Muursepp, a 6-9 European star who has had a cup of coffee with several NBA clubs, are all expected to play for Boston at the summer league – which runs from July 15 through the 22 at Umass-Boston.

Whether other teams follow the Celtics lead in bringing in foreign talent for a look is yet to be seen. But with the amount of 2002 draftees expected to participate, the addition of this foreign contingent gives the league an even greater talent upgrade.

As many as 22 players selected on Wednesday night could appear for their teams at the Shaw’s Pro Summer League, eight of which are first round picks including Indiana’s Jared Jeffries (Washington), Tennessee’s Marcus Haislip (Milwaukee), Maryland’s Juan Dixon (Washington), Notre Dame’s Ryan Humphrey (Orlando), Illinois’s Frank Williams (New York) and Gonzaga’s Dan Dickau (Atlanta).

Local prep product Dan Gadzuric, who was selected out of UCLA by the Bucks in the second round, also could appear.