Karl Malone was the first to predict it. In the months after he had played his last game for the Jazz and before he signed with the Lakers, while chowing down a pound of lettuce during an interview, Malone simultaneously looked into his bowser-sized salad bowl and into the Jazz's future and saw . . . Ach, du liebe Zeit! Foreigners. Lots of them. "You wait," he said, garden greens rolling around in his mouth, "the Jazz roster will be full of foreign players." Mailman absolutely nailed his Madame Zelda impersonation. That future came quickly in the months thereafter, the Jazz 2003-04 roster including Andrei Kirilenko (Russia), Gordan Giricek (Croatia), Sasha Pavlovic (Serbia-Montenegro), Raul Lopez (Spain), as well as Raja Bell (Virgin Islands), Carlos Arroyo (Puerto Rico), and Greg Ostertag (Texas). Just kidding about that last one. Everybody knows Ostertag hails from the States (Altered), and is a full-fledged American (even though he once claimed to have been abducted by aliens). Rest of the article ----------------------------------------------------------- Good article. Utah is a good fit for foreigners, Jerry Sloan will help their game immensly, and the project picks will develop. When Andrei Kirilenko was drafted, Utah knew he was a risky pick. It paid off, he's 23 and an all star. That is good reason to go for more. If they use all 3 of their first round picks in the upcoming draft, you can be pretty sure one will be from outside of the USA.
I don't care if the Jazz have 15 foreign players on their team, as long as they can win and play good basketball thats all that matters. Also, can someone answer this for me, why is Carlos Arroyo and Raja Bell considered international players when Carlos is from Puerto Rico and Raja is from the U.S. Virgin Islands? They both are U.S. citizens, but they are both considered international players. The same with Steve Nash and other Canadian players, the NBA has a team in Canada but they are being classified as international players. Would Steve Nash be classified as an International player if he played for Toronto? Just some thoughts from my mind.
^^ Tim Duncan is from the US Virgin Islands aswell. He can play for the USA national team(and has). Normally when they are going on about international players, anyone from the US Virgin Islands is classed as a foreign player just to make it sound better. Nash (and the other Canadians in the NBA)is an international, the fact that there's a team in Toronto doesn't matter. Canada is not part of the USA, which makes him an international.
But aren't they talking about International to the NBA, not the US? So, Canada shouldn't be considered International, I hope someone sees my point? Also, I've never understood why the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico gets their own national team, considering they are a Part of the USA? Also, guys like Duncan, Bell, Arroyo, etc. can pick which national team they play for, but once they pick they can't change. So Arroyo can never be on the US national team and Duncan can't be on the US Virgin Island team. I didn't know about that til the other day when Carmelo was asked to be on the Puerto Rico National Team (his dad is Puerto Rican), and he rejected on hoping to play for the US one day.
They're talking about international to the USA. So in other words any country other than the USA. It can get really confusing with the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
With them having this, it seems like they are giving the guys from PR and US Virgin Island a duel citizenship. Which is illegal in the constitution. I wish someone with more time than me could look this stuff up. But with the thing with these so called "international" players, I think the NBA is really trying to market the game as a global game, u get my drift?
^^ They are trying to market it as a global game, that's for sure. That's why the 50/50 guys are classed as international, just to make it look better. Tim Duncan isn't an international, but when they have a list of international player's you'll find his name on there, just to make it look better.
Yeah, thats what its all about. If you look back in the 80's and early 90's Olajuwon was from Africa, Nigera I think, and Ewing was from Jamica, but you never heard of them as international players. Heck, Dominique Wilkins was even born in France, but you never heard that. The NBA was doing good then with "American" Players, now the NBA is in a slump, so they have to come up with a new program to try to market the game, now its a "Global" or "International" Players that sell. I frankly don't care what they are, as long as they play with heart and fundamentals and help the Jazz win.
