In depth: NBA draft prospect Bobi Klintman on Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes, NBL Next Star’s program, Cairns Taipans
It’s been three months since Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes lashed out after Swedish phenom Bobi Klintman left the US for the NBL. The Next Star has finally had his say.
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Cairns’ Swedish phenom Bobi Klintman still can’t understand why his former college coach in the US fired an extraordinary broadside in the wake of his decision to leave school for the NBL.
It’s been nearly three months since Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes wanted to “get some thoughts out” in a 20-minute online video call that was prefaced with “this isn’t going to be like a normal presser”.
In a wide-ranging interview with Michael Randall, the 20-year-old has addressed his former coach’s move and revealed what went into his decision to choose a move to the Australian league.
‘WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?’
Wake Forest is among the elite basketball programs in the ACC, spawning the likes of NBA legends Tim Duncan and Chris Paul.
Forbes is one of the ACC’s premier mentors, named the conference’s coach of the year in 2022.
So when, in July, he publicly admonished Klintman’s agent Michael Tellem over dealings he labelled “disrespectful, deceitful, conniving and underhanded”, it naturally made headlines in the US.
Klintman had gauged NBA draft interest with a number of workouts in the hope he could convince a team to commit to selecting him in the first round. Initially, if that didn’t happen, he planned to return to college. But that all changed when the NBL opportunity arose and Klintman was in disbelief when the coach he said he loved aired the dirty laundry.
“I was watching it and I was thinking the same thing as everybody else: ‘why would he do that? it don’t really make no sense?’,” Klintman told Code Sports.
“I don’t understand it. Everybody I talk to be like ‘why would he do that?’
“He was a great coach. I don’t know why he would hold a press conference like that.
“I guess everybody operates in their way, so, if he felt like he got something out of that, that’s cool.
“All I can say is, I don’t know.”
Forbes had lost his unique 208cm multi-positional talent who was likely to play a huge role in the Demon Deacons’ program in the upcoming college season and felt compelled to detail why his professional dealings with Klintman’s agent had left a sour taste in his mouth.
Klintman took umbrage at Forbes’ insinuation that others were making decisions on his behalf.
“In the interview, coach Forbes was basically saying I can’t make my own decisions,” Klintman said.
“At the end of the day, I’m the decision maker.
“My agent is just coming with options for me.
“I’m a grown man. I make my own decisions.”
AN EXPERT IN MAKING TOUGH DECISIONS
Now, you might think, ‘sure mate, you’re still a kid’ — but Bobi is no ordinary kid.
He’s already had more worldly experiences men double his age couldn’t lay claim to and faced several life-shaping decisions.
There could already be a movie in the works — and he’s still only a couple of chapters into his book of life.
Born in the coastal city of Malmo to a Swedish mother and Senegalese father, Bobi’s first love was soccer before an invite to the basketball court from his cousin changed the trajectory of his life.
Already tall and seemingly growing by the day, Klintman’s stepfather eventually gave him an ultimatum: soccer or basketball?
It was a big decision but not a hard one.
From there, his domestic feats helped him land at the prestigious RIG Mark Academy where he was part of trips to the US and Spain, his first real adventures outside his home country.
Two years there were ended prematurely by the Covid pandemic and Klintman’s focus shifted to the US and Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas, where he played alongside eventual Toronto Raptors’ first-round pick Gradey Dick.
“I lived there by myself as a 17-year-old, I didn’t have my family with me, I didn’t have nobody else. It was just basketball,” he recalls.
From there, the college offers began to roll in, 30-40 of them, and another big decision loomed — one he’d end up having to make more than once.
“It was a little up and down, I ain’t going to lie, which was tough, but, at the same time, it ended up working out pretty good for me,” Klintman said.
You could be forgiven, again, for thinking Bobi was prone to flip-flopping, but there were genuine reasons beyond his control that twice forced him to re-open his college recruitment.
He initially decided on Maryland but, when coach Mark Turgeon and the school parted ways, Bobi was back to square one.
“What am I going to do now? I’ve got to go through the whole recruiting process again?,” he said of his thinking process at the time.
The offers flooded in again and, this time, he chose Colorado — but he said administrative issues thwarted that opportunity.
You guessed it, back to the drawing board.
“With three weeks left of school, I had to either find a new college or go pro,” he said.
“I opened up my recruiting again and I got 15-20 new offers and it was crazy doing it for a third time.”
Another big decision made — Wake Forest.
Bobi reels off every player from each of those colleges and his high school who made it to the NBA or turned pro and spends time detailing the nuanced reasons behind why he made those choices, suggesting he does his homework and his decisions aren’t made on a whim.
Which brings us to the NBL.
‘DOING WHAT YOU FEEL IS BEST’
The feedback from NBA teams was encouraging but, without a first-round promise, Klintman knew he had to find a way to get better and make it impossible for them to ignore him in 2024.
He was ready to go back to school but another factor was at play: the labour of study.
Don’t think, for a moment, Bobi isn’t an intelligent young man — coach Forbes, in his press conference, even said his grades were fine — but he’s not the first and he won’t be the last athlete to choose the sporting arena over the lecture room.
“School hasn’t been my favourite thing, basketball has always been my No.1,” Klintman admits.
“I’ve always tried to think like a pro but it was hard for me in college to do that, having to focus on schoolwork, practice, more schoolwork, tutoring.”
A Zoom call with Taipans’ coach Adam Forde, NBL commissioner Jeremy Loeliger and Next Stars guru Liam Santamaria irreversibly shifted his focus to Australia — and another big life decision.
Given his time at Wake Forest was spent primarily at power forward, part of the NBL’s pitch involved Klintman operating where he is most comfortable: on the perimeter, in order to showcase the breadth of his skills.
“Fordey had the presentation about the style of play, everything he knew about me, what he wanted me to do and the opportunities he had out here and I was blown away,” Klintman said.
“I had a great opportunity to get to the NBL and show what I can do, go against pros every day and I felt like I was ready for that.
“My mum and my agent all heard it and it just felt right.
“At the end of the day, you have to do what you feel is best for you and I felt like it would help me more than the college route.”
CLASH OF COLLEGE V NBL
Seeing the likes of Josh Giddey (Adelaide to OKC), Lamelo Ball (Illawarra to Charlotte), RJ Hampton (NZ to Denver, via Milwaukee) and Excel Sports Management stablemate Ousmane Dieng (NZ to OKC via New York) become first-round NBA draft picks out of the NBL also played into Klintman’s decision.
Those four are the poster children for the Next Stars program, which is still in its relative infancy — Klintman is among a record eight players in the pathway this season.
Coach Forbes, though, took aim at the NBL. He said, in the last 10 years, 60 players who left ACC colleges had been first-round picks.
“The NBL’s had four — and not one of those guys left college to go play there, those four went there right out of high school,” Forbes said.
“I’m sure there’s going to be those who disagree with me, which is fine, but you’re not going to convince me that a player will receive more exposure to the NBA playing in a league that’s a 15 hour plane ride from the United States of America than playing at Wake Forest in the ACC.”
The facts are there and, he’s right, there will be people who agree and people who disagree, but the flipside of that is it gives Klintman a chance to be the first to do something no one else has ever done before.
Here’s a little more nuance that applies to Bobi’s situation.
Klintman will play against battle-hardened professionals every night — the first consistent test of his mettle.
He’ll also step out for the Taipans on the Gold Coast for the NBL Blitz, which begins this weekend. There are more than 45 NBA scouts registered to attend the week-long pre-season tournament.
A couple of weeks after that, Klintman will be on a plane to the US and then Canada for games against NBA clubs Washington and Toronto. Expect a scout or two to be there, too, with Bobi likely to be the main attraction.
BOBI, THE PLAYER
We’ve talked a lot about Bobi, the person, but what is it about the lanky, positive kid that had colleges clamouring, a coach angered and a league on the other side of the world wooing him?
“You talk about unique players — Bobi’s a legit 6’10” wing and, when you project towards that NBA level, he has that positional size that is so sought after,” Santamaria muses about Klintman, who has represented his country at U20 level.
“He can do such a variety of different things, he can really shoot it, he can attack off the bounce, he can handle the ball, pass, operate out of pick and roll and he can push it in transition.
“He has a really good feel for the game and a great basketball IQ that helps him make really smart reads and smart plays.”
NBL Next Star, Bobi Klintman can get up 🆙
— NBL (@NBL) August 26, 2023
Watch live & free on the NBL app 👉 https://t.co/idlXlpXDyA 📲 pic.twitter.com/xqjcnFUThm
If it all comes together, NBA teams will be salivating, but, more immediately, Santamaria can see Klintman occupying a similar role to that of the departed DJ Hogg, who was a force for the Taipans last season but has signed in Sydney for NBL24.
“What DJ brought to the Taipans last year, being a big forward who can face the basket and operate from the perimeter, they’re some of the things Bobi can bring to this team,” Santamaria said.
Coach Adam Forde says Klintman has “exceeded expectations”, comparing his young charge to former Perth import James Ennis — who was an MVP-candidate in 2013-14, Forde’s first season as an assistant with the Wildcats, and went on to have a long NBA career.
“There’s a lot of resemblance to James Ennis … in a sense of his ability to push the break, get downhill, create for his teammates,” Forde said.
“Just like James Ennis, he’s a great knockdown shooter and he’s a great defender.”
Best of all, Fordey says, “he’s a great dude.”
“The guys really appreciate having him in the change room.”
NEW DIGS, NEW MATES
The Taipans have set Klintman up five-minutes from their home gym, so he can get his work in whenever he wants, and he’s loving the warm weather in far north Queensland
“Cairns isn’t too big, so there’s not a lot of distractions, I feel like the people out here are really nice, my teammates have been great and so has coach Forde,” he said.
“We have a very young team, the locker room is very fun and we’re coming together on the court.”
Klintman’s struck up close relationships with fellow new arrivals Akoldah Gak, Taran Armstrong, Alex Mudronja and Kian Dennis.
“They are the guys I’m closest with right now but everybody’s really cool on the team and they made me feel very welcome,” he said.
“Lat (Mayen) is the funniest guy, he’s got a lot of funny jokes, we’ve got the same sense of humour.”
Bobi’s become a sponge around the more-seasoned veterans, eager to soak up every little detail that might help him edge closer to the ultimate goal of having his name called in the first round of next year’s NBA draft.
“Coming out here, I want to win games and I know coach Fordey wants to win too,” he said.
“I want to learn as much as possible from him and these veterans that I play with like Taj (McCall), Patrick Miller coming in, Sam Waardenburg, Bul Kuol, all these guys
“At the end of the day, whatever I can do to get to the next level is really lethal for me.”
LEAVING COLLEGE IN HIS WAKE
Coach Forbes was asked last week about Klintman and chose to wish his former charge well in his new pursuit Down Under.
“I hope it works out for him. I love him,” Forbes said.
“His NBL team’s coming over here to play the Wizards and the Raptors — I hope he gets 30.
“I hope he gets drafted in the first round next year.
“I hope everything works out for him.”
For Klintman he’s ready to move on, too.
“I talked to my agent, he told me, ‘we’re not going to put focus on this, let’s just let it go’,” he said.
“I’m really thankful for how coach Forbes helped me.
“But, now, I just want to focus on getting wins this season and getting better.”
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Originally published as In depth: NBA draft prospect Bobi Klintman on Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes, NBL Next Star’s program, Cairns Taipans
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