NBA= National Balkan Association?

What was the level of Basketball in Europe at the time of young Arvydas? Did Arvydas ever face a Dream Team level opponent in his youth?
 
East Euro players have always been a big part of the NBA
 
Madmick said:
I'm not so sure about that. I think basketball is more popular than soccer in a few countries like Croatia and Serbia.
Click to expand...

Nah, the only European countries where it's #1 over soccer are Lithuania and Estonia.

Soccer is easily the top sport in all the Balkan countries. Which makes the appearance of these NBA players all the more impressive. Small population, relatively poor, secondary sport... and they still produce lots of NBA-caliber players.
 
SSgt Dickweed said:
I was watching the 76ers vs. Heat game last night, and both teams had Euro dudes for their lead scorers. Has that ever happened before?

edit- Šarić was not the scoring leader for Philly but Dragić was for Heat. This is the first time I am aware of that African-Americans were not scoring leaders for both sides in ANY playoffs games (since the 1970's?). Add Bogdanović for the Pacers as well.

I'm not trying to sound racist but you know what I mean.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_NBA_Playoffs
Click to expand...

You never heard or Larry Bird, Chris Mullin, or Dirk Nowitzki? Maybe Nash a couple times too idk, I’m sure there’s others
 
The game has grown and a lot of that falls on David Stern's plan for making basketball global and the '92 Dream Team. Eventually scouting became better, also thanks to Popovich looking at overseas talent.

If you listen to Kobe's take, who grew up in Italy, he says fundamentals are more important than in the US. Add to that that Euro pro leagues pay minors and you'll eventually get more NBA-level talent due to number of participants worldwide.
 
Not sure if you guys know but the guy scouts considered possibly the best Euro prospect ever, Luka Doncic is a 19 yr old Serb tearing up the second best league in the world like no one his age has done before. He's probably not going to go number one over 7 footer Ayton but he might.
 
Newsflash, Lithuania is not part of the Balkans...........
 
orangecuse said:
Not sure if you guys know but the guy scouts considered possibly the best Euro prospect ever, Luka Doncic is a 19 yr old Serb tearing up the second best league in the world like no one his age has done before. He's probably not going to go number one over 7 footer Ayton but he might.
Click to expand...


ESPN article about him today-

Luka Doncic Is No Darko Milicic
"Wonder Boy" is heading to the NBA, and he's out to change how we think about European imports.

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/23051130/will-luka-doncic-next-star-nba-player-europe
 
Have to wonder how good Telletovic could have been had it not been for the injuries he's eaten over the years.
 
Madmick said:
Click to expand...


John Thompson was retarded. He did two dumb things: (1) he tried to teach team defense in 90 days which by all accounts is damn near impossible, and (2) he took one scorer to Seoul, Hersey Hawkins, who was injured :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,917
Messages
55,454,952
Members
174,786
Latest member
Gladiator47

Share this page

Back
Top