International crossovers: more and more basketball artists are coming to the NBA from overseas, and there seems no end to the talent flow

Basketball Digest, Feb, 2002 by Tom Kertes

EXCUSE US FOR ASKING, BUT what exactly in the name of James Naismith is going on here?

Basketball, a game as all-American as motherhood and apple pie, an American-invented sport on the verge of surpassing baseball and football as America's National Pastime, and a game that's seen by zillions of American kids practicing avidly on every American inner-city playground as the ultimate vehicle to the American Dream, is becoming less and less American even as we speak.

In fact, in recent years the foreign influx into the NBA has been nothing less than stunning. While just six or seven seasons back there was no more than a scintilla of a smattering of "aliens" in the pros--a couple of random accidents here and there, most of them making little or no impact on the game--now there are well more than 40 foreigners playing for pay.

With a total of just 348 active spots available in the pros at any one time, such an increase is startling. And the trend is made even more revolutionary by the fact that the more and more of these foreign "invaders" are no longer some marginal jokes sitting at the end of the bench, keeping their teammates in stitches by speaking with a funny accent.

In fact, they are anything but.

"You know what would be a most fascinating matchup I'd pay to watch?" NBA and Spanish League scout Walt Szczerbiak ponders. "Have an all-foreigner team play an All-Star team from the rest of the NBA. As long as you leave out Shaq, I couldn't even venture a guess on the outcome of that game."

Neither could we. Not while the Chris Webber-less Sacramento Kings, led by a trio of funky foreigners who've learned their hoopskies on the shady streets of Brozgovodorsk, are one of the very best teams in the NBA.

Really, wasn't C-Webb a leading MVP candidate in the league just last year? And if he was, shouldn't his absence be something of a deal-breaker for the Kings?

"Sacramento is playing like a great European team right now," Detroit Pistons director of player personnel Tom Hammond says. "The ball is whipping around like it's on a string, everyone's looking out for everyone else, and the team is only taking the highest quality shots.

"No doubt Webber is a great player. Shoot, we know that better than almost anyone--we tried to get him over the summer the worst way. But the proof is in the pudding--and basketball is all about chemistry and a style. Truthfully, most experts don't want to say so but, behind the scenes, they think that that team is better without Webber."

And all experts--behind, in front of, or on the scene--agree that the foreign players are no longer just a bunch of slow-footed sharpshooters: They are bringing a sense of team-orientation -- as well as outstanding fundamentals--to an NBA that seems to be lacking overall in the basics right now. "All those early entries are clearly dehydrating our play these days," New York Knicks chief scout Dick McGuire says. "Let's face it, our product is not as good as it used to be. There are just too many too-young kids playing at the professional level who are extremely talented physically but basically don't have a clue."

The foreigners do--and then some. "They grow up and learn their basketball under a totally different system," Szczerbiak, who played professionally in Spain for years himself, explains. "From a very early age, kids in European countries attend basketball clinics where, under close supervision, they are constantly drilled in fundamentals and teamwork. And the focus is very heavy on handling, passing, and shooting the ball." As opposed to driving to the basket no matter what, or dunking as spectacularly as possible, as it is in American high school and (even worse) AAU summer-league ball.

Then there is the growing exposure to the all-American game in foreign lands. Starting around 1992, when the unmatchable greatness of the Dream Team was matched by a new commitment to world-wide marketing by the league, TV exposure for the NBA around the planet began to grow exponentially. Foreign kids, watching Michael Jordan and Co. in awe, began to dream the American Dream as well, believing that perhaps they could also change their lives by playing basketball for (humongous) pay. "As those kids saw more and more foreigners getting a chance to play in the league, it created something of a snowball effect both in improvement and interest," Szczerbiak says.

Naturally enough, NBA teams--hungry to get the best talent, no matter where it came from--responded by beginning to take a closer worldwide look as well. First, because there never seems to be enough quality seven-footers around, "it was just the really big guys we were looking at," according to Hammond. But over the past few seasons, the pros began to consistently seek out foreign forwards--and lately even some guards--as well.

The laws of hoops evolution say the next step was pretty much inevitable. "Because they were more fundamentally sound and better-schooled, once they gained some NBA experience some foreign forwards and guards began to show some really freakish tendencies," Szczerbiak says.