I saw that too. He got twice the love from Denver that Plums got from Portland. At least from what the TV showed. There was a question asked who got the betterdeal, NO or us in the two large trades this summer. Hands down I now believe it is us.
Rise of Euro big man: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/with-t...caught-up-to-the-european-game-175315716.html
Good article. this caught my eye: "In another telling twist of fate, it has been the Nuggets – with their general manager, Tim Connelly, a former international scout, and his Lithuanian assistant, Arturas Karnisovas – who have done much to raise the bar for the tall men from abroad after contributing mightily to their ridicule earlier in the century........" We need our Euro scouts back!
Fun note, here are some starting centers around the league: POR- Nurkic-- Bosnia DEN-Jokic-- Serbia UTA-Gobert--France OKC-Adams--New Zealand MIN-Dieng--Senegal All starting Cs in our division were born overseas. Around the west: GSW- Zaza- -Georgia SAS-Pau-- Spain (defacto starter) HOU-Capela-Switzerland MEM-Marc- Spain PHX-Len-Ukraine LAL-Mozgov/Zubac- Russia/Bosnia Not as prevalent in the east, but this is staggering. Interesting trend. @Mediocre Man has something about WABCs. Maybe we need to consider WF(foreign)BCs.
Fun game: connect Karnisovas to the Blazers in 2 steps. Spoiler He played for Seton Hall for coach PJ Carlesimo.
Easy enough to explain: If you're a good athlete in the rest of the world you go in for "soccer". Unless you're too tall. Also, you can be an NBA player at C even if you don't start the game till your mid-teens. And there are a lot more non-US 7-footers than US 7-footers. (What is a bit weird is how many there are in the Balkans. Did they cross-breed with ACTUAL giants back in the time of Middle Earth?) This is obviously not true for guards. The best guards from overseas are from anomalous countries where Basketball > Football (basically Lithuania) or have an American parent (Tony Parker). Remember previous #1 pick Michael Olowokandi? I don't think he picked up a basketball until he decided he wanted a scholarship for an American University. And he knew so little about them that he picked Pacific because he assumed it would be by the sea. Dikembe Mutombo didn't even come to Georgetown to play basketball. He was going for, y'know, the education. He just happened to arrive at the airport at the same time John Thompson was there to pick up another recruit and Thompson offered him a place on the spot.
Vonleh is way to shy. I just would like to see him gainesome gangsta confidence and fly and give us some fun above the rim. He could be best dunker in our team. If I'm wrong - fuck it - I want to see more courage from him, thats all he needs. Some of you have traded players one week and love them next and then trade them again on this forum. Vonleh was lost cause here not so long ago, so I'm just happy he plays much better now.