The Onion Sports Network released a piece about the weirdest looking NBA players, referring to a purported report published by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport.

(Discuss the weirdest looking NBA players in our forum)

According to CFIDES, Europeans, for the eighth straight season, had the “highest percentage of bizarre and unconventional-looking NBA players…”

From OSN: “If a team is in need of a solid player with nasty hair, droopy eyes, a patchy beard, and a starkly pale body, Europe is the place to go,” said Brian Fisher, the director of the university’s study. “Over the years, it has consistently provided some of the weirdest-looking people the league has ever seen: Gheorghe Muresan, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, Hedo Turkoglu, and Pau Gasol, just to name a few. Oh, and Dirk Nowitzki. How could we forget that goofy-looking guy?”

Though European players occupied 25 of the report’s 30 spots, Chris Bosh, of the Miami Heat, was honored as the oddest-looking player in the NBA for the fifth straight year.

Read the full article at Onion Sports Network.

Behind Kevin Durant’s game -high 28 points, the United States of America beat Turkey 81-64 to win the 2010 FIBA World Championship (discuss the USA-Turkey in our forum).

The result ended a 16-year wait for the USA, who had not won this tournament since 1994.

In the first official game ever between the two teams, Mike Kryzewski’s team gradually pulled away as Turkey looked to be suffering the after effects of their hard-fought win over Lithuania in Saturday’s semi-final.

Down 17-14, the Americans reeled off 11 unanswered points in a stretch spanning the late part of the first quarter and early second for a 25-17 advantage and they stayed in front the rest of the way.

Kevin Durant gave his team their first double-digit lead, 31-21, midway through the second period. The Turks fought bravely but never got close enough to prove a real threat.

The teams went back and forth and Durant knocked down his second three-pointer of the night to put the USA up 12-7.

Hedo Turkoglu answered by hitting consecutive long bombs that edged Turkey in front 15-14 with 4:07 left in the first quarter.

However, he then picked up a knock and had to leave the game, going to the locker room before returning minutes later with a thick sleeve on the knee.

Omer Asik’s lay-up stretched the Turks’ lead to 17-14 with 3:28 remaining in the period, but the Americans then accounted for the last eight points of the period to lead 22-17.

Durant tied it at 17 all with a deep three-pointer, Stephen Curry, fresh off the bench, also connected from downtown and Russell Westbrook made a pair of free-throws in the dying seconds.

Turkey’s offense stalled and they were forced into two shot clock violations by their opponents’stifling defense.

Westbrook converted a three-point play early in the second quarter to cap the 11-0 spurt.

Ersan Ilyasova and Rudy Gay traded baskets before the USA yet again used some tough defense to force Turkey into another shot clock violation.

Turkoglu re-entered the game with 7:46 left in the half and Kerem Tunceri made a pair of free-throws that cut the deficit to 27-21.

Durant then made a foul shot and a three-pointer to put the Americans up 31-21. Turkoglu hit from downtown, but Durant countered with one of his own.

Semih Erden scored inside on two occasions, only for Durant and Billups to cancel those points out for 38-28.

Oğuz Savaş made three of four free-throws before Gay scored with a minute remaining before the break.

Ilyasova split a pair from the charity stripe and Westbrook made good on both his tries in the dying seconds for a 42-32 halftime lead.

Turkey had their fourth shot clock violation right after the break.

Durant then hit his sixth and seventh three-pointers consecutively for a 48-32 advantage just two minutes into the third quarter to account for more than half of his team’s points (26 of 48).

Turkoglu could only watch from the bench as his knee injury forced him back on the sidelines.

Ender Arslan drained a three-pointer for Turkey’s first points of the period with 6:36 to go.

Andre Iguodala then skied high for an offensive rebound and fed Odom for an easy two.

Omer Onan hit three of four throws and Arslan knocked another long bomb for six straight points that got the home side within 52-41.

Gay’s jumper ended the run, Westbrook then buried a rare three-pointer, Durant knocked a turnaround jumper and Lamar Odom got an easy dunk as the American pushed the advantage to 61-48 heading into the final frame.

Derrick Rose showed off his speed to score four quick points in the open court at the start of the fourth and Odom later scored inside for the USA’s first 20-point lead, 70-50.

He later had a tip-in off as Rose missed a free-throw for a three-point play.

Tunceri knocked down a three-pointer and fed Gonlum underneath for an easy two that got Turkey within 74-57 but at the other end he failed to close in on Odom who made him pay with a jumper for his eighth and ninth points of the period.

Westbrook and Turkoglu traded three-pointers for 79-62 and the former then threw an alley-oop to Iguodala to add some stylish finishing touches. (discuss the USA-Turkey match in our forum).

Read the original article at FIBA.com.

When Turkey was awarded the 2010 FIBA World Championship several years ago, every fan from Istanbul to Ankara to Kayseri to Izmir and everywhere else in this beautiful country hoped for one thing and one thing only.

They wanted a Final between Turkey and the United States.

Well, they’ve got what they wanted. (Discuss the USA-Turkey game)

After the United States’ 89-74 win over Lithuania on Saturday night, and Turkey‘s heart-stopping 83-82 victory over Serbia, the World Championship has a title game to savor.

It will be a battle of unbeatens and it promises to be exciting.

Turkey coach Bogdan Tanjevic, despite coaching the home team, says the United States are favorites.

“American basketball is first in the world,” he said. “(But) They have a handicap because they have to prepare in 21 days.”

Turkey’s performance against Serbia would not have frightened the USA.

If anything, their appearance in the Final is more down to good fortune than good play.

Tanjevic says it was a “miracle” that they won.

On their game-winning out-of-bounds play with four seconds remaining and Serbia leading 82-81, Hedo Turkoglu was supposed to catch the ball and work his magic but instead, he fumbled it away.

By the grace of the Turkish basketball gods, the ball fell into the hands of Turkey’s Kerem Tunceri who dribbled around Marko Keselj and scored with just 0.5 seconds remaining.

“It was nothing except luck,” Tanjevic said. “Our thoughts were simply on getting the basket. We were lucky tonight. They played better than us. It was a miracle drive.”

Turkey also needed a Semih Erden block of Serbia forward Novica Velickovic’s potential game-winner at the death to seal victory.

The Turks weren’t at their best and the biggest reason was because of Serbia.

The youngest team in the competition, with an average age of 23.6, showed poise, skill, determination and time after time, the ability to make big plays on both ends of the court.

The team made a few mistakes late in the game, like failing to stop Turkey on the play when Tunceri made the go-ahead basket.

Tanjevic needs better execution against the Americans.

“I believe we will play better (against Team USA) than today,” Tanjevic said. “If we lose the game, we are small champions of the world. We will play with less pressure tomorrow, hoping to find a better shooting percentage.”

At the time USA coach Mike Krzyzewski spoke to the media on Saturday, he didn’t know which team he’d be facing on Sunday.

What he did have to say about Turkey was this.

“All I know is that playing Turkey – if we played them – they are huge and they are on their home court,” Krzyzewski said.

If Turkey want to have a chance to win, it stands to reason they must limit Kevin Durant’s contributions.

The American superstar continued his scoring rampage at the World Championship by pouring in 38 points against Lithuania.

Durant knows it’s going to be a rowdy atmosphere inside the Sinan Erdem Dome.

“It’s going to be a tough environment,” Durant said, “but we’ve been playing in those types of environments our whole careers. Just about everybody here has been in the (NBA) play-offs and its going to be just like that.”

Durant’s play has been so good, so exquisite, so excellent, that it’s easy to forget the other important aspect that allows this young and hungry Team USA win.

Yes, Durant scored against Lithuania but it was something else that really brought home the victory.

“Defense is what really won this game,” USA’s Eric Gordon said.“We really played good defense and converted on the other end. That was a game where the flow of the offense wasn’t running that well but we really played good defense.”

One of the veterans in the USA side, Lamar Odom, says he and his teammates must turn it up a notch if they are going to meet their aim.

“We’re going to have to play better than we did tonight,” he said. “That’s going to have to be the focus … just striving for perfection … trying to be perfect.”

The bronze-medal game will also be hotly contested, an all-European affair.

Lithuania, who needed a wild card just to play at the World Championship, will take on a Serbia team that believes it should be playing for gold and not third place.

Serbia coach Dusan Ivkovic has to be applauded for turning his youngsters into a force.

He is going to have to forget the disappointment of Saturday night.

“We have to unite and prepare a small final for third place,” he said.

Lithuania, too, need to put the disappointment of the 15-point setback to the Americans behind them and try to leave Istanbul with a medal.

In Sunday’s first game will be a battle for fifth place between Spain and Argentina.

To see the Finals match-up between Team USA and Turkey, plus highlights and postgame reaction, go to FIBATV.com. Read the original article at FIBA.com. Visit the World Championships forum to discuss the USA-Turkey game.

Discuss Serbia vs.Turkey in our forum

After Hedo Turkoglu lost the ball, Kerem Tunceri picked up the ball and scored a game-winning lay-up as Turkey edged out Serbia 83-82 to set up a showdown with the USA in Sunday’s final of the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

(Discuss the Turkey-Serbia game in our World Championships forum)

Hosts Turkey make it through to the tournament’s decider for the first time and are assured of taking their first ever medal in the event.

Down 82-81 with 4.3 seconds to play, Bogdan Tanjevic’s men inbounded the ball to Hedo Turkoglu, who lost control on the left wing, but Tunceri got to the ball first and was a step ahead of the defenders as he drove hard to the hole for the biggest basket of his career.

Serbia had 0.5 seconds left and opted for a lob to Novica Velickovic, but his attempt was deflected as time ran out.

The defeat means Dusan Ivkovic’s team will go up against Lithuania in the Bronze Medal game.

Tunceri was clutch in the fourth quarter. With Turkey down 75-71 and a little over four minutes left to play, he scored five consecutive points to edge them in front and make a game of it.

The point guard drove to the basket and then buried a three-pointer on the next trip down the floor.

A free-throw shooting contest then ensued.

Omer Onan made a pair to stretch the hosts’ lead to 78-75, but Serbia got within 78-77 as Dusko Savanovic sank two of his own with 1:37 left to play.

Milos Teodosic then fouled Omer Asik hard and the big man left the game holding his face, seemingly getting swiped around his right eye area. Ender Arslan was subbed in for him and took the free-throws in his place, hitting one of two for 79-77 with 1:17.

Krstic split a pair from the charity stripe just inside the final minute. Marko Keselj was fouled with 28 seconds to go when he skied high for a rebound off a Teodosic miss and sank both foul shots to edge Serbia back in front 80-79.

Tunceri ran down the clock and drove the lane, sucking in the defense before feeding Semih Erden for a dunk and a foul with 16.8 seconds to go.

The big man missed the free-throw and at the other end Aleksandar Rasic passed it to Novica Velickovic for a lay-up and an 82-81 lead with 4.3 seconds to go.

That though proved to be enough time for Turkey to perform one last miracle.

The game was close for the most part but Serbia were in the ascendancy until Tunceri went on his mini run.

Serbia were up 15-8 on Novica Velickovic’s three-pointer before Turkey ran off seven straight points to tie it at 15.

Teodosic took over at the end of the first quarter to give Serbia a 20-17 lead.

Sinan Guler converted a three-point play that cut the deficit to 26-25 early in the second period before Savanovic went on a personal 7-0 run to push Serbia’s advantage to 33-25.

It was 35-31 when Arslan buried a three-pointer, but Keselj then sank one of his own for 38-31.

Nenad Krstic and Keselj made it a 42-35 score as the teams headed to the locker room.

Semih Erden, who will make the move to the NBA as a Boston Celtic this season, converted a three-point play to start the second half and Onan later dialled in from beyond the arc to tie the game at 46.

Teodosic racked up the assists – he finished with 11 – as he fed Aleksandar Rasic for an easy two inside and Keselj for an open three in an 8-0 spurt that pushed Serbia’s advantage to 54-46 midway through the third period.

Arslan connected from long range and Gonlum made a free-throw to cap a 7-0 run that got the hosts within 56-55.

Keselj and Arslan traded long bombs and Gonlum trimmed the deficit to 62-60. However, he then fouled Savanovic who made one of two attempts from the foul line as Serbia went into the final frame up 63-60.

Krstic picked up his fourth foul early in the fourth quarter but stayed in and made a pair of free-throws for a 65-61 advantage.

Turkoglu entered the game as Ilyasova picked his fourth foul and made his presence felt right away as he hit a three-pointer that got Turkey within 66-64.

Teodosic found Keselj for another clutch three-pointer that made it 69-64 with 6:32 to play.

Teodosic buried another long bomb and Kerem Tunceri answered with one of his own at the other end.

Savanovic put his team up 75-69 before Asik scored on a putback and Tunceri then went on his personal 5-0 run to edge Turkey back in front.

To see Turkey’s match-up with Team USA live as well as complete highlights of this game, and an interview with Kerem Gonlum visit FIBATV.com.

Read the original article at FIBA.com.

The 2009  European Player of the Year nominees have been announced by FIBA Europe and the list includes the likes of Pau Gasol, Erazem Lorbek, Dirk Nowitzki, Hedo Türkoğlu, Novica Veličković, Juan Carlos Navarro, and Nikola Peković (vote now).

• Dirk Nowitzki (Germany, Dallas Mavericks)
• Erazem Lorbek (Slovenia, F.C. Barcelona)
• Ersan İlyasova (Turkey, F.C. Barcelona, Milwaukee Bucks)
• Hedo Türkoğlu (Turkey, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors)
• Igor Rakočević (Serbia, TAU Cerámica, Efes Pilsen)
• Ioannis Bouroussis (Greece, Olympiakos)
• Juan Carlos Navarro (Spain, F.C. Barcelona)
• Lior Eliyahu (Israel, Macabbi Tel Aviv)
• Marcin Gortat (Poland, Orlando Magic)
• Miloš Teodosić (Serbia, Olympiakos)
• Nikola Peković (Montenegro, Panathinaikos)
• Novica Veličković (Serbia, Real Madrid)
• Pau Gasol (Spain, Los Angeles Lakers)
• Rudy Fernández (Spain, Portland Trailblazers)
• Tony Parker (France, San Antonio Spurs)
• Vassilis Spanoulis (Greece, Panathinaikos)

The list of nominees includes three players from Serbia and Spain, while Turkey and Greece each have two representatives. You can see summaries of the players’ accomplishments on FIBA Europe’s website. Vote for your nominee in our forum.

On a slow news day, we thought it would be nice to list out the top 15 international scorers in the NBA through 11/06/2009.

The list is certainly worth looking at, but obviously it’s not definitive as the most games any player has played has been five.

Definitely seeing some surprises on the list.

1. Dirk Nowitzki 26.2
2. Andrea Barganani 22.0
3. Steve Nash 19.6
4. Luol Deng 17.8
5. Marc Gasol 17.6
6. Danilo Gallinari 17.6
7. Tony Parker 16.3
8. Memhet Okur 16.0
9. Leandro Barbosa 15.7
10. Hedo Türkoğlu 15.3
11. Nenê 14.6
12. Manu Ginóbili 13.7
13. Andrei Kirilenko 12.8
14. Kelenna Azubuike 12.0
15. Oleksiy Pecherov 11.2

No surprise with Dirk Nowitzki at number one, and Steve Nash near the top. Pau Gasol hasn’t played a game for the Lakers yet, but could be back tomorrow when the Lakers take on Memphis.

Right behind Nowitzki is Toronto Raptors’ Andrea Bargnani, who is continuing his progress from his breakout last season and Luol Deng is back from injury for the Chicago Bulls, looking good and pulling in a career high 20 rebounds last night.

Two second-year players Marc Gasol and Danilo Gallinari have averaged 17.6 points in their first five games; the question is whether they will be able to maintain that pace. My guess is both players will fall off, and probably end up around 14-15 points per game.

Look for Gasol to continue pulling in double-doubles for the Grizzlies until his backups Hamed Haddadi and Hasheem Thabeet can pick up the slack.

Probably the biggest surprise is 7-0 Ukrainian center Oleksiy Pecherov, who didn’t have his contract extended by the Timberwolves. The 23-year-old Pecherov delivered a career-high 24 points in his third consecutive start.

Oleksiy is averaging 11.2 points and hitting 33.3% from the beyond the arc.

We’ll see what happens to Pechorov’s minutes when Kevin Love returns from a fractured right hand. One thing is for sure, I’ll miss Oleksiy’s weird looking three-point shots.

During the 2008-09 NBA season, a rejuvenated Shaquille O’Neal moved up five spots on the NBA’s all-time scorers’ list.

After scoring 1333 points, his highest total in four seasons, O’Neal is now #5 on the all-time list having surpassed Dominique Wilkins, Moses Malone, Elvin Hayes, Oscar Robertson, and international player Hakeem Olajuwon.

What of International Players’ Impact?
Shaq’s ascension past Hakeem got us thinking here at Interbasket, where do international players fit in on this list and who are the NBA’s current scoring leaders (total career points) amongst the foreign-born?

We decided to create that list.

Once you get to the list, you’ll notice that the international players are there because of their longevity in their league, and not because they were legendary NBA players and/or big-time scorers.

(Discuss the list in our forum)

That’s because international players are a relatively recent phenomenon.  Just twenty years ago, during the 1988-89 season, you could count the amount of international players on one hand.

Ten years later, in the 1998-99 season, you could add a hand and a few fingers, but international players were still an unknown commodity.

Today, for most teams, international players are an integral piece of the league’s makeup; there were 77 NBA players from different countries last season.

International players are not only playing large roles for their teams, but are the unquestioned leaders; Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash have both been named NBA MVP. Unschooled foreign-born players have been drafted with the #1 overall pick (Yao Ming in 2003 and Andrea Bargnani in 2007), something unheard of just ten year’s previous.

And with each passing NBA season, the globalization of basketball continues. And that is no more apparent than in the current composition of the NBA.

With international players now common on NBA rosters and not just relegated to role players – the true era of international players can be measured in the next 20 years.

Come 2030, the list below will have more big name scorers, recognizable all-stars, than the journeymen, role players, and semi-stars that currently fill up the top-30.

The list is a study of the impact of international NBA players, but more so, it reflects the recent struggle of international players, players from the early-1980s until roughly 2004-05, trying to find a way, a niche, an opportunity.

Here are the top-30 international scorers at the beginning of the 2009-10 NBA season.

1. Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigeria (26,946 points)
1238 games, career 21.8 ppg – Far and away, Hakeem Olajuwon is the leader in points scored amongst international players in NBA history. The 6-10 center from Nigeria is not only #1 on this list, but he’s #8 on the all-time list, and The Dream, whoretired in 2001-02, will remain number one for at least a few more seasons…

2. Dirk Nowitzki, Germany (19,084 points)
839 games, 22.7 ppg  – No surprise that the 7-0 German is #2 on the international list.  At age 30, Dirk has a few more peak years to pad his totals and is on the edge of perhaps overtaking  Olajuwon by the end of his career. Either way, from a of quick glance at the rest of the list, it doesn’t look as if Dirk will be relinquishing either spot anytime soon.

3. Detlef Schrempf, Germany (15,761 points)
1136 games, 13.9 ppg (00-01) – Two Germans in a row. Who knew? Detlef was under the radar, but the 6-9 forward who was an excellent sixth man, spent 16 seasons with four NBA teams, enough to put him third on the list with nearly 16,000 points before retiring in 2000-01.

4. Steve Nash, Canada (13,438 points)
934 games, 14.4ppg – It’s too bad that the now 35-year old Nash spent his first four seasons finding a right fit. Nash had the bad luck of starting out his career playing behind Kevin Johnson and Jason Kidd. Still, the two-time MVP took the #4 spot last season; Nash may catch Detlef, but the 6-3 Canadian is 5,000 points, and five years behind a younger Nowitzki.

5. Vlade Divac, Former Yugoslavia (13,398 points)
1134 games, 11.8ppg – Divac was never a scorer, so his position at #5 on this list is a bit surprising.  It’s more the fact that he came over as a younger player when Europeans weren’t common as they are today. It speaks to Vlade’s longevity in the league. Divac never torched the nets, but did average 11.8 points per game in 16 NBA seasons before retiring after the 2004-05 season.

6. Rik Smits, The Netherlands (12,871 points)
749 games, 14.8 points (1999-00) – The Dunkin’ Dutchman played his entire 12-year NBA career with the Indiana Pacers. With midrange jumpshots, one-handed dunks, and nice stroke from the free-throw line (77.3 career FT%) the 7-4 center averaged nearly 15 points per game as the interior presence to Reggie Miller’s outside shooting. Smits would retire after the 1999-2000 season.

7. Peja Stojaković, Serbia (12,583 points)
709 games, 17.7ppg  Right behind Divac is his fellow countryman, Peja Stojakovic.  The 6-9 sharpshooter has made a career making threes and moving without the ball.  Peja is no longer hitting for 18 points a game, but the 32-year old has at least a couple more productive seasons left, and with a healthy 2009-10 campaign, he’ll surpass Smits and Divac.

8. Dikembe Mutombo, Congo (11729 points)
1196 games, 9.8ppg – At 42 years old, Mutombo crumbled into retirement last season. In his last season with the Houston Rockets, Mount Mutombo scored just 16 total points all season. However, when you couple his 9.8 points per game with 18 seasons in the NBA, the finger-wagging Mutombo cracks the top ten of this list with solid consistency.

9. Pau Gasol, Spain (11,002 points)
584 games, 18.8ppg – The 28-year old Gasol has been amazingly consistent throughout his career. In eight seasons, Gasol has never averaged less than 17.6 points per game, and no more than 20.8 points; a point span of just 3.2 points.  By the end of his career, Gasol should be pushing 20,000 career points and will likely end up behind only Olajuwon Nowitzki, and probably…

10. Tony Parker, France (10219 points),
612 games, 16.7ppg – With the decline of Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, keep an eye on Tony Parker’s numbers. At only 26-years old, the 6-2 French PG has just hit his prime, averaging a career-high 22 points per game this past season. Two years younger than Gasol, Parker will certainly be top-five at the end of his career and will likely overtake Pau Gasol somewhere in the top four.

11. Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, Lithuania (10,142 points),
707 games, 14.3ppg – After a couple years dealing with injuries at the start of his career, the 7-3 center from Lithuania has been toiling in Cleveland through the ups (this year) and downs (pre-LeBron). Through that, Big Z has put 14.3 points a game in all 707 games he has played. Ilgauaskas will be 34 this season, backing up the newly acquired Shaquille O’Neal, so Z’s minutes will be going down, but even with his normal 29 minutes a game, the big guy won’t be catching up with Gasol or Parker anytime soon.

12. Rony Seikaly, Lebanon (9,991 points)
678 games, 14.7ppg (98-99) – Rony Seikaly is one of those forgotten international players that played in the 1990s without much notice. The Lebanese center played 11 seasons with some really bad teams in the Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, New Jersey Nets and Golden State Warriors, averaging 14.7 points, and retiring 1998-99.

13. Toni Kukoč, Croatia (9,810 points)
846 games, 11.6ppg – Kukoc came over with much fanfare, but played a tertiary role with the successful Chicago Bulls of the early 1990s. The Waiter not only served up nice passes but also 11.6 points a game with the Bulls, New Jersey Nets, and Milwaukee Bucks. The Croatian point forward retired recently in the 2005-06 season after 13 seasons in the NBA.

14. Yao Ming, China (9,196 points)
481 games, 19.1ppg – The 28-year old big man from China should be hitting his prime. With over  9000 points after this season, look for Yao to continue his 20 ppg pace for the another half-decade, after sitting out this next season, of course.  And barring injuries.

15. Rick Fox, Canada (8,966 points)
930 games, 9.6ppg (03-04) – Yep. Rick Fox. The 6-7 forward best known for his playoff tactics played 13 seasons, averaging 9.6 points per game with the Celtics and the Lakers. Born in Toronto, Ulrich Fox’s final season was in 2003-04 after winning three NBA championship rings with the Shaq-Kobe Los Angeles Lakers.

16. Hedo Türkoğlu, Turkey (8,355 points)
678 games, 12.3ppg – After several seasons as a reserve with the Sacremento Kings, Hedo Türkoğlu found himself in Orlando, averaging career highs and having a breakout season leading the Magic to the NBA Finals. The 30-year old Turk is entering his tenth NBA season with his third NBA team, the Toronto Raptors.

17. Mehmet Okur, Turkey (7,379 points)
531 games, 13.9ppg – The 30-year old Memo Okur started out in Detroit and won an NBA Championship. Over his seven-year NBA career, Okur has kept relatively injury-free, playing no less than 71 games a season while putting up 13.9  points per game over 531 games. The last four years of his career, Okur has hit roughly one three-pointer a game, and usually during crunchtime. Okur should crack the 10,000  point mark in the next 2-3 seasons.

18. Manu Ginóbili, Argentina (7,044 points)
478 games, 14.7ppg: Wow, this had to be one of the biggest shockers when I was coming up with this list. Seems as Manu Ginobili has been around for so many years, collecting championships and Olympic medals, hitting big shots that seeing him this far down the list is somewhat unbelievable, but there he is. Even more unreal is that the 32-year old Ginobili may not make it to 10,000 NBA career points, but I guess three NBA championships in seven seasons will make up for that.

19. Andrei Kirilenko, Russia (6,973 points)
559 games, 12.5ppg – The 28-year old Kirilenko isn’t known for his scoring, but the last three NBA seasons have been particularly offensively-unproductive for the 6-9 defensive player after several run-ins with Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. Still, Kirilenko was an NBA All-Star and is now in his prime. Ak-47′s progress on this list depends on whether he is getting along with Jerry Sloan.

20. Swen Nater, The Netherlands (5,943 points)
489 games, 12.2 ppg – The 6-11 big man from Den Helder, the Netherlands, lasted eight NBA seasons (and many more ABA seasons) shooting hook shots and averaged 12.2 points for his NBA career.

21. Arvydas Sabonis, Lithuania (5,629 points)
470 games, 12 ppg – It’s been chronicled much that Sabonis came over as a shell of his former great self.  Back in 1995-96, at age 31, 10 years after he was drafted, Sabas was working with two surgically repaired knees. Still, Sabonis managed 7 seasons in the NBA and 5629 points before retiring after the 2002-03. Sadly, Sabonis will fall out of the top-25 by the end of the season.

#22-30:

22. Leandro Barbosa, Brazil (5,456), 422 gms, 12.9
23. Rasho Nesterović, Slovenia (5,356), 769 gms, 7.0
24. Luol Deng, Great Britain (5,123) 333 gms, 15.4
25. Vladimir Radmanovic, Serbia (4,996), 548 gms, 9.1
26. Jamaal Magloire, Canada (4,764), 592 gms, 8.0
27. Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Lithuania (4,631), 363 gms, 12.8
28. Dražen Petrović, Croatia (4,461) 290 gms, 15.4
29. Andrés Nocioni, Argentina (4,436), 374 gms, 11.9
30. Nenê, Brazil (4,266) 370 gms, 11.5

THE BEST OF THE REST: Boris Diaw, France (4,242 459 gms, 9.2ppg), Michael Olowokandi, Nigeria (4,135, 500 gms, 8.3ppg), Luc Longley, Australia (4,090, 567 gms, 7.2ppg), Vitaly Potapenko, Ukraine (3,995, 610 gms, 6.5ppg), Dino Radja, Croatia (3,733, 224 gms, 16.7ppg), Gordon Giricek, Croatia (3670, 384 gms, 9.6ppg) Bill Wennington, Canada (3,301, 720 gms, 4.6ppg), Marko Jaric, Serbia (3193, 447 gms, 7.1ppg), Andrew Bogut, Australia (3,118, 262 gms, 11.9 ppg), Carlos Arroyo, Puerto Rico (3021, 433 gms, 7.0ppg), Gheorghe Muresan, Romania (3020, 307 gms, 9.8ppg)

When comparing the NBA’s all-time list and the all-time list for international NBA players, you can see that international players really haven’t had their chance until recently.

On the NBA’s all-time scoring list, you have players that have been out of the game for nearly 30 years, and only four active players in the top-30.

With the international NBA list, more than half of the players are still active (17/30), while the others have retired no more than 12 years ago.

International players that were lucky enough to come up in the last 5 to 7  years, players like Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Yao Ming, and Pau Gasol, have been given a fairer shake than their predecessors, with large roles in their team’s success that has reflected in their individual statistics.

The next generation, players that have come into the league the last few years, Andrea Bargnani, Danilo Gallinari, Marcin Gortat, and Rudy Fernandez, will have even more chances of success and assimilation; without the xenophobia, politics, negative stereotypes, and ignorance that their forerunners dealt with.

As time moves forward and basketball becomes more globalized, international players can then be judged on their individual talents and have more opportunity for success.

* Edit: AddedVladimir Radmanovic and Swen Nater in first list. Those of you that consider Tim Duncan an international player can list him at #2 all-time with 19,246 points in his NBA career, placing him right above #3 Dirk Nowitzki (19084 points).

Despite being down 19 points in the first quarter, France used 28 points and 10 assists from Tony Parker and a full day of rest to hand Turkey their second defeat in less than 18 hours (discuss).

Turkey tasted defeat for the first time when they were eliminated by Greece in yesterday’s quarterfinals.

“Because of the schedule, in not 24 hours we played two very tough games,” Turkey guard Kerem Tunçeri said. “The first maybe 15 minutes we played great, but after that because of our condition we went very bad down.”

Besides Parker, France had three other players in double figures. Nicolas Batum, Antoine Diot, and Florent Piétrus each scored 13 points for Les Bleus.

Hedo Türkoğlu once again scored 13 points in a Turkey loss, and Ömer Aşık added 11 points.

In the other classification game, Croatia defeated defending champion Russia 76-69 behind 18 points and 8 assists from Roko Ukic, giving them the final automatic bid for the 2010 Worlds.

On Sunday, Croatia will play France for fifth place, while Russia will face Turkey in the seventh-place game.

France was the last qualifier for the Eurobasket, having to play in an additional qualifying tournament against the likes of Belgium, Italy and Finland.

Since Turkey is hosting next year’s World Championships, they automatically qualify for the tournament and could be the reason they sat key Eurobasket components Ender Arslan and the team’s leading scorer Ersan İlyasova.

Had Turkey won against France, Europe would have qualified six teams, but since they lost, Europe, including hosts Turkey will bring seven teams to the tournament.

Behind Vasileios Spanoulis’s 23 points and 13 points from Nikos Zisis, Greece handed the prviously-undefeated Turks their first loss of the tournament 76-74 in the Eurobasket quarterfinals.

(Discuss the Turkey-Greece match in our forum)

Turkey‘s Ender Arslan hit a left-handed, underhand layup as regulation closed to send it into overtime tied at 65-65. From there, Spanoulis would hit two-crucial three pointers before Arslan’s three at the end of overtime was off.

Spanoulis’ 23 points came on six three-pointers and five free-throws. The 6-4 guard also added 7 assists for Hellas. Antonis Fotsis gathered a double-double for the Greek side with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Turkey was led by Hedo Türkoğlu and Ömer Onan’s 13 points apiece. Kerem Tunçeri, Ersan İlyasova, and Ömer Aşık each added 9 points, while Arslan and Oğuz Savaş contributed 8 points each. Ilyasova added team-highs of 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 3 steals.

Türkoğlu scored all of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to keep Turkey in the game, but was ultimately not enough.

With the win, Greece moves onto the Eurobasket semifinals.

The 12 giants from Turkey held their Serbian opponents without a point in overtime to win 69-64, to maintain their unblemished record at Eurobasket.

In the extra period, Semih Erden again split his free throws, Ersan İlyasova scored a layup, and Ender Arslan hit two free throws while Serbia missed all eight of their field goal attempts and turned the ball over four times in the extra five minutes.

Turkey outscored Serbia 5-0 in an anti-climicatic overtime.

(Discuss the Turkey-Serbia game in our forum)

However, the game was more interesting than the overtime led one to believe.

With 43 seconds remaining in the fourth, Serbia’s Miloš Teodosić scored a three-point attempt to give Serbia a one point lead 64-63.

On the following possession, Turkey‘s Erden hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 64-64.

The following possession saw Serbia run into a tough Turkish defense, forcing the shot clock to expire; leaving just 3.4 seconds on the clock. The game went into overtime when Kerem Tunçeri’s layup came after the buzzer.

İlyasova continued his fantastic all-around play; he was huge for the Turks with game-highs of 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 blocks – hitting 7-12 field goals and 4-6 from three. Ömer Aşık contributed 11 points and 6 rebounds.

Hedo Türkoğlu shot 1-16 from the field for four points. The NBA star is averaging 9.2 points on just 15-50 (30%) from the field through five games.

Serbia was led by Teodosić’s 15 points, followed by Novica Veličković’s 12 points and 7 rebounds and Nenad Krstic’s 11 points and 6 rebounds.

Łódź – Turkey held onto a 63-60 win over world champion Spain as Ersan İlyasova blocked Spanish guard Sergio Llull with on Spain’s penultimate possession.

(Discuss the Turkey-Spain match in our forum)

Down 61-60, Spain had a chance to win it with 13 seconds to play.

The 6-2 Llull drove to the basket; attempted to go strong to the hoop, with the intention to dunk the ball over the Turkish frontcourt of 6-9 Ilyasova, 6-11 Ömer Aşık and 7-1 Semih Erden.

However, Ilyasova was able to get a hand on dunk attempt and Turkey came up with the rebound. Erden would be fouled, and hit a pair of free throws to keep Turkey unbeaten at the tournament.

“It’s a big win for us against a good team,” said Hedo Türkoğlu, who had only 2 points for Turkey. “We played hard and played together and won, so I’m happy what we did and hopefully we can continue like this.”

Turkey was led by Ilyasova’s 15 points and 5 rebounds, Asik’s had 13 points. Kerem Tunçeri and Erden each contributed 11 points apiece.  Turkey will play against Serbia on Monday.

Pau Gasol and Rudy Fernández each had 16 points for Spain and Gasol also pulled down 9 rebounds. Spain will face Lithuania in their next match. The top four teams in in the two groups will advance to Eurobasket’s quarterfinals.

After three games of group play, three teams came out of the first phase of Eurobasket unscathed. France, Greece, and Turkey all were undefeated.

In Group A, Greece won their three matches by an average of 22 points per game. Without their veteran backcourt of Theodoros Papaloukas and Dimitris Diamantidis, Vasileios Spanoulis and Ioannis Bourousis stepped up to the plate; each averaging 15 points in wins over Macedonia, Croatia, and Israel.

Greece has a great supporting cast of players including Nikos Zisis, Antonis Fotsis, Kosta Koufos, and Sofoklis Schortsanitis all contributing 7-10 points a game as well as rebounding the ball.

Up next, Greece will play Germany on Friday, Sepetmeber 11, 2009 (discuss the game).

In Group B, France downed defending Eurobasket champions Russia, a tougher-than-expected German team, and Latvia led by their NBA trio of Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, and Ronny Turiaf.

Parker led Les Bleus with 19.7 points in the three wins, good for the second-leading scorer in the tournament. Turiaf averaged a double double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. The multi-faceted Diaw passed out a team-high 14 assists, as well as 10.7 points per game in the three wins.

France’s next opponent is F.Y.R. of Macedonia tomorrow, Sepetmeber 11, 2009 (Discuss the game, predict the winner in our forum).

Group D saw 2010 World Championships hosts Turkey round out a perfect phase one with wins over Lithuania, Poland, and Bulgaria. Turkey’s top-scorer in the trio of games has been Ersan İlyasova (17 ppg), who will return to the NBA this year.

Turkey’s success has been buoyed by the surprising play of point guard Ender Arslan, The 26-year old has hit for 14.3 points per game and has shot eight for eleven from three-point range.  Hedo Türkoğlu put up 13.3 points in the group phase.

Turkey will play Spain in their next match on September 12, 2009 (Discuss the match/predict the winner in our forum).

Just when Interbasket was getting all excited the Toronto Raptors and all the international players they had on their roster…

Now comes this rumour that the Canadian NBA franchise is trading away Argentinian Carlos Delfino and Croatian backup point guard Roko Ukić to the Milwukee Bucks for Amir Johnson.

If true, Toronto will no longer have as many international players.

However the Raps still have the potential for the first ever (?), all-international NBA lineup with José Calderón running the point, Marco Belinelli at shooting guard, Hedo Türkoğlu at small forward, Andrea Bargnani at the four, and veteran backup center Rasho Nesterović.

Belinelli and Nesterović would be backups, but as long as all five remain healthy, the situation is highly-likely this next season.

Delfino left the NBA at the beginning of the 2008-09 season to sign with Russian club Khimki. Delfino has since left Russia because the club could no longer afford to pay the 6-6 shooting guard.  The Raptors owned Delfino’s NBA rights.

The 6-5 point guard Ukic played 12 minutes a game for the Raptors and averaged 4.2 points and 2.1 assists in his first NBA season.  Ukic is 24 years old.

Amir Johnson is a 22-year old, 6-9 forward that was drafted by the Detroit Pistons #56 overall in 2005.  Johnson played his entire career with the Pistons before being traded to the Bucks this offseason as a part of a three-team trade that sent Richard Jefferson to the San Antonio Spurs.

2009 has been a good year for Marcin Gortat.

And it sounds as it will be getting better. Word is Gortat will be able to represent his country, Poland, as the hosts of the 2009 European Basketball Championships.

The tournament is being held in seven cities in Poland – Gdańsk, Poznan, Warszawa, Wroclaw, Bydgoszcz, Katowice, and Łódź, the city in which Gortat was born and raised.

The Polish Basketball Association are going through the final steps of bringing Gortat onto the Polish National Team, a team that includes Filip Dylewicz, former NBA player Maciej Lampe, Adam Wójcik, and naturalized guard David Logan of the United States.

Documents have been filed with the NBA asking permission and the organization has bought the requisite insurance policy, worth 55,000 złoty (18,500 USD), so Gortat can participate.

The last hurdle is David Stern’s permission, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem as every NBA player has to go through the commisioner before participating in non-NBA sactioned games.

“This is a standard procedure. [David] Stern signs the contract of every single player in the NBA.” says Filip Kenig, Gortat’s agent.

Poland has been placed in Group D, along with Lithuania, Turkey and Bulgaria.

The 2008-09 NBA Season
Coming into the season, Gortat was virtually unknown outside of Orlando and Poland, but the 6-11 center from Łódź, Poland had a breakout year with the Orlando Magic, backing up Dwight Howard.

Gortat, the  57th overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft, averaged career bests in his second season with the Magic – 3.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and nearly one block in just 12 minutes of play.  Not great numbers, but Gortat’s basketball IQ, defense, and willingness to mix it up opened some eyes.

This was especially true during Orlando’s playoff run, Gortat received great exposure in the NBA Finals despite the Magic being defeated in five games by the Los Angeles Lakers.

In the offseason, the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks came after the “Polish Hammer,” who was a restricted free-agent.  The Mavs eventually signed Gortat to an offer sheet worth $34 million over five years.

Meanwhile, the Magic were in hot pursuit of Hedo Türkoğlu and were unlikely to have enough money to bring back both international players.

When Türkoğlu ended up signing with the Toronto Raptors, Orlando’s wallet suddenly had enough złoty to match Dallas’ offer, bringing Gortat back to central Florida.

Links and Resources: Gortat to play in Eurobasket 2009 (Polskie Radio), Just kidding Portland, Hedo signs with Toronto Raptors (Interbasket), Orlando looks to re-sign Hedo Türkoğlu, Marcin Gortat (Interbasket)

NBA.com just released their top ten plays by international NBA players during the 2008-09 season featuring Marcin Gortat‘s left hand smash on Samuel Dalembert, Steve Nash abusing Anderson Varejão off the dribble, Yao Ming‘s flip shot over Marc Gasol, Hedo Türkoğlu blocking Kobe Bryant, Manu Ginóbili, Andrei Kirilenko, Rudy Fernández flying through the air, and Tony Parker‘s high arching buzzer beater.