Last 20 years....European players..top 20 picks in draft: '96 Stojakovic '98 Nowitzki '98 Nesterovic '00 Turkoglu '01 P Gasol '01 Radmanovic '02 Tskitishvili '02 Nachbar '02 Welsch '03 Milicic '03 Pietrus '03 Cabarkapa '03 Pavlovic '04 Biedrins '05 Vasquez '05 Korolev '06 Bargnani '06 Sefolosha '06 Pecherov '07 Belinelli '08 Gallinari '08 Ajinca '09 Rubio '11 Vesely '11 Motiejunas '12 Fournier '13 Adetokoubo '13 Nogueira '13 Schroder '13 Karasev '14 Nurkic '15 Porzingis '15 Hezonja Out of this list.....I count 2 HOF players (Nowitzki, P Gasol), 9 NBA regular starter (Stojakovic, Nesterovic, Turkoglu, Nene, Sefolosha, Gallinari, Rubio, Motiejunas, Porzingis). The rest (22) were role players or bench warmers or never bothered to suit up.
Sigh. Why do I allow myself to get sucked into this bullshit? Well, here we go. Okay, so that's totally arbitrary right there. Why look at the top 20 picks? Why not actually look at the rosters of the teams? Euro players are often picked lower than they should on talent for various reasons, not least that they might not come over. So, for example, your list misses out Tony Parker and Rudy Gobert. Isn't that colossally stupid? Oh, so Giannis is a "role player or bench warmer"? Okay...
http://www.nba.com/global/nba_rosters_feature_100_international_players_2015_10_27.html The only list that matters is that on opening night, 100 foreign players were on NBA rosters. That's 2 of every 9 NBA players. 100/(30 x 15) reduces to 2/9. If foreign players disappeared, 2/9 of the teams would need to disappear to maintain the same player quality per team. The last 7 (30 x 2/9) expansion teams can thank the infusion from Europe for their existence. In NBA history, average player quality leapt twice...in the 1960s from the black infusion, and in the 1990s from the foreign invasion. This allowed for future, or compensated for past, league expansion.
I used to back you up in every thread like this till you basically said that I stink. Then I lost interest. No need to create lists. They are here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_basketball_players_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign_NBA_players And don't forget revenue from foreign fans watching their countrymen in the NBA. The foreign presence makes U.S. owners and players richer. http://www.nba.com/global/
Ohh I see because I said that they rarely equate to more than bench players, I am trying to put series numbers on the ones that are here and close the border to new ones coming in... gotcha.
A lot of truth to this. Kristaps did OK in Europe last year, and his predraft workouts drew comparisons of Yi Jinlian. But put him the starting lineup in the NBA, the dude is balling out on his way to become the ROY. Goes either way with scouting European players. They seem to place a lot of emphasis on seniority in doling out PT over there, rather than on talent (not unlike the Lakers apparently), so it's hard to get a grasp on who will be good, and who will bust. I'm reassured however, about Neil because he was the very first NBA GM to meet with Porzingis in the predraft process this summer. He seems to know what he's doing. Really curious to see our interest in Dragan
The ignorance in this article makes my blood boil: Seriously? How about the player that Yao idolized, hm? (Apart from that glaring omission the article's actually worth a look.)
