Ron Meikle travels the world in search of future stars. He is one of over one hundred NBA scouts roaming the globe at any given time and this week arrived in Melbourne to preview the national league.

Meikle’s whistle-stop tour to Australia allowed just enough time to catch the South Dragons in action at The Cage last Wednesday night and at Geelong Arena on Sunday.

And Meikle was impressed with what he saw.

“Obviously it was a tough loss tonight but it was a good game at the end, they made a good run and tried to come back and it was a really good second half,’’ Meikle said after the Dragons’ loss to Cairns at the weekend.

It’s an enviable job but one that comes with a sizeable challenge.

“I travel all over the world and I watch the best ball players,’’ Meikle said.

“We have a list that we make at the beginning of the season and on that list we put the top 100 ball players in the world and we tear that list down to 60 by the end, right before the draft.’’

In watching the Dragons Meikle was especially excited by star rookie Joe Ingles who, given time, he believes can make it in the NBA.

“Joe was not on my list last year, I heard about him but I didn’t see him in person so now that I’ve seen him I can safely tell you he’s on our list of players to watch in the future.

“He’s a nice young player who’s very skilled offensively, his body just has to get stronger. He’s got to mature a little bit as a player, he’s got to become a better defender, but I think he can get those holes in his game fixed. Everybody has holes when they’re that age, everybody has weaknesses that they work on, but to be that tall and that skilled is a great thing.

“I don’t think he’ll be in this year’s draft, I think he’ll declare and he’ll stay and I think it’s in his best interests to stay because he still has to work on the strength of his body, he has to get stronger.’’

Miekle boasts an impressive record in the NBA, having been involved in the drafting of All-Star players Terrell Brandon, Gilbert Arenas and Antwoine Jamison.

In almost 20 years in the trade he has worked at the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden Sate Warriors and is now with the Atlanta Hawks.

And he knows what he wants.

“What we look for in a player depends on the position,’’ Meikle said.

“If he’s a point guard we want him to make good decisions, we want him to able to be a pure point, to make other players on his team better. Obviously we like our point guards to have some size and length.

“If you’re a shooting guard we want you to be able to score, we want you to think like a scorer and to want to put the ball in the basket. In the NBA the top players in the league are shooting guards – Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGradie, LeBron James – they’re guys that can score.

“In the small forward position we want a versatile player who can handle the ball a little bit and play point forward. We also want a guy that can step out on the floor and make an NBA three range shot, which is not easy to do - you’re asking him sometimes to guard three positions.

“You want your power forward to be down on the box. You have to have a rock on your team, a big, strong back to basket go-to scorer who can step out on the floor and make shots.

“At centre you want to be like Bogut, you want to be able to pass, rebound, run, pick and roll.”

So, armed with his list of who and what to watch, Meikle will return to the States to continue his hunt for the next generation of stars.