Europe's best players generally stay in Europe. A few have come over but certainly not many. For the best European player of all time, Arvidas Sabonis, the NBA was merely a place to go when he was too far past his prime to keep up with the quicker pace of the game in Europe.
Amidst all the silliness, Maris is right about one thing. Viktor was too raw when he came to Portland. If he got a second chance at the NBA today, he would make it.
Khryapa was like Blake--not a star, but played with so much effort that he was good enough at everything and had no weaknesses. He was the opposite of Aldridge or Webster or Outlaw, in that he was improving fast under McMillan. By now he'd be better than Przybilla, easily. I just looked him up and he's listed at 6-9, 210. Either that's wrong, or he played bigger than his size. He seemed 6-10, 230. He missed the first half of his rookie year, then from his first game onward, played like a hero. He made my All-Effort Team, like Kirilenko or Nocioni. If he came back, that's the last you'd hear about Webster, Cunningham, or Pendergraph.
