NBA: International Players Drafted But Never Played

[CKR13]

Let's keep tabs on the International Players drafted by an NBA team but
under circumstances, never played for the said team or the league. I have
initially compiled International Players drafted within the span of 3
decades (2000 and Below). Will be posting the 2k Decade International
players drafted list soon.

*Note: Summer Leagues & Pre-season do not count as the NBA does not tally official stats from the said games.

You can contribute through the following:

1. Are there mistakes on the info I have posted? Do tell me and post so
I can make the necessary adjustments or corrections.

2. Do you know the reasons why the said players could have not played
for the teams that drafted them? Do cite the reasons so others can
also be informed and we can make this thread informative.

3. Post the International Players drafted but never played from 2k1 above.
Once again, let's keep tabs and harness knowledge and info.


4. Say something about the players, add info or trivias or player profiles.


Hereinafter are the initial list of international Players (2k and below)

Format is (Name/Country/NBA Team/Year/Lottery-No./Round)

example-(MC Hammer/USA/LAL/80/1/1)



Josip Sesar/Croatia/SEA/00/47/2


Frederic Weis/France/NY/99/15/1


Serge Zwikker/Netherlands/HOU/97/31/2


Alain Digbeu/France/ATL/97/50/2


Ben Pepper/Australia/BOS/97/56/2


Roberto Duenas/Spain/CHI/97/58/2


Doron Sheffer/Israel/UTA/96/30/1


Dejan Bodiroga/Serbia/SAC/95/51/2


Eurelijus Zukauskas/Lithuania/SEA/95/54/2


Andrei Fetisov/Russia/BOS/94/36/2


William Njoku/Canada/IND/94/41/2


Marcelo Nicola/Argentina/HOU/93/50/2


Jorge Gonzalez/Argentina/ATL/88/54/2


Hansi Gnad/Germany/PHI/87/56/2


Song Tao/China/ATL/87/67/3


Fanis Christodoulou/Greece/ATL/87/90/4


Jose-Antonio Montero/Spain/ATL/87/113/5


Riccardo Morandoti/Italy/ATL/87/136/6


Franjo Arapovic/Croatia/ATL/87/159/7


Augusto Binelli/Italy/ATL/86/40/2


Valerie Tikhonenko/Russia/ATL/86/157/7


Anicet-Richard Lavodrama y Ondoma/Africa/LAC/85/77/3


Gunther Behnke/West-Germany/CLE/85/101/5


Oscar Schmidt/Brazil/NJN/84/131/6


Joe Kazanowski/Canada/UTA/83/146/7


Panayotis Giannakis/Greece/BOS/82/205/9


David Coulthard/Canada/DET/82/214/10


Yasutaka Okayama/Japan/GSW/81/171/8


Jay Triano/Canada/LAL/81/179/8


Perry Mirkovich/Canada/POR/80/125/6


Mickey Fox/Canada/POR/79/56/3



Manuel Raga/Mexico/LAC/70/157/6


Dino Meneghin/Italy/ATL/70/182/11[/LEFT]

[rikhardur]

Bagarić, Tarlac and Anstey did play in the NBA.
Fetisov and Valery Tikhonenko are Russians.
Arapović is Croatian.

[CKR13]

Bagarić, Tarlac and Anstey did play in the NBA.
Fetisov is Russian.

I see, thank you. Will edit.

edit: removed

Bagarić
Tarlac
Anstey

and edited info of Fetisov, Arapovic and Tikhonenko.

[pohani komarac]

from croatia barac and tomic also didn't play. tough thes still young, but do go into this category

i think rakocevic have played some minutes in minesota

[CKR13]

i think rakocevic have played some minutes in minesota

Ah yes, Rakocevic was with MIN in 02-03. Thank you.

Edit: Removed Rakocevic.

[JGX]

Rentzias played for the Sixers in 02-03:

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/efthimios_rentzias/index.html

Surely lots of guys were drafted in the second round (or lower, in the old days) but were never brought over.

[CKR13]

Rentzias played for the Sixers in 02-03:

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/efthimios_rentzias/index.html

Surely lots of guys were drafted in the second round (or lower, in the old days) but were never brought over.

Thanks.

Edit:

Removed Rentzias

[CKR13]

Added 2001 - 2002

Robertas Javtokas/Lithuania/SAS/01/56/2

Milus Vujanic/Serbia/NY/02/36/2

Federico Kammerichs/Argentina/POR/02/51/2

Miladen Sekularac/Serbia/DAL/02/55/2

Peter Fehse/Germnay/SEA/02/49/2

[Franz]

from croatia barac and tomic also didn't play. tough thes still young, but do go into this category

i think rakocevic have played some minutes in minesota

I think the thread is more about players over 30 who haven't played.

[mvblair]

2. Do you know the reasons why the said players could have not played
for the teams that drafted them? Do cite the reasons so others can
also be informed and we can make this thread informative.

4. Say something about the players, add info or trivias or player profiles.
Oscar Schmidt/Brazil/NJN/84/131/6

Schmidt never played in the NBA because he was afraid that the NBA-style game wouldn't fit his game and he'd heard about international players being "frozen out" of the game. The Nets tried for years and years to convince him, but he was happy playing in Italy.

In his professional career, Oscar scored 49,703 points. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leads the NBA with 38,387. They used to call him "Mão Santa," or "Holy Hand," because of his shooting ability.

In 1987, he won the Gold at the Pan-American Games in Indianapolis, beating the USA with 46 points.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, he is one of the best basketball players in history. Absolutely a fantastic player who belongs with the ranks of Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, and other greats.

[Tabone1]

It's a shame Schmidt never made it to the NBA. Saw him in the Pan-Am games in Indy.

Same for Bodiroga. He did well in Indy too

[Mojado]

Behnke

http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/be/gunther-behnke-1.html

NBA Draft 5th Round 1985

http://www.basketballreference.com/draft/draftyear.htm?lg=N&yr=1985

Lavodrama

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anicet_Lavodrama

NBA Draft 3rd Round 1985

Raga

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Raga

NBA Draft 10th Round 1970 (First International ever to be drafted)

[CKR13]

Thank you sir, will add them to my database.

Edit: Added Lavodrama, Raga to the initial list

[Mojado]

Its safe to say, that the first two wont ever play in the league.

Badiane

http://www.nba.com/draft2003/profiles/BadianeMalick.html

Gnad

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansi_Gnad

NBA Draft 3rd Round 1987 Philadelphia

Zwikker (does he count? He never played a game...)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serge_Zwikker

[CKR13]

Indeed Zwikker will count.

Will add the said names sir. Thanks for the feedback.

Edit: added Gnad and Zwikker to the initial list.

will include Badiane when I post the 2003-2004 lists.