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Found this and thought it was interesting. Kind of amateur but, it's good for passing some time - http://thefastertimes.com/nba/2009/0...world-happens/
What do you think?
What do you think?
10. Slovenia- Well represented with four players. Unfortunately, the only guy that has made a nice impact has been Beno Udrih. He has averaged double figure scoring the past two seasons and at least 4.3 assists in each season. These days, those are the kind of numbers that make sure your great grandchildren are set for life. Sasha Vujacic made a name for himself by virtue of playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and having something about him that just automatically makes you want to punch him in the face. He is also a self-nicknamer. He calls himself “The Machine.” With a 39.2 career FG percentage, apparently “The Machine” manufactures bricks. The other two guys are Rasho Nesterovic and Goran Dragic. Don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of Dragic. Most people haven’t. Slovenia has definitely brought more quantity than quality to the league.
9. China- Yao Ming has put China on the map. Most importantly, Yao has the game to give his popularity credibility. His career stats of 19.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.9 blocks on 52.5 % FG and 83.2 % Ft have made him the best big man in the NBA. Hopefully, he’s not done. Yi Jianlian hasn’t made a big impact on the NBA yet, but at the tender age of 21, it is hard to complain too much about a 7 footer that can knock down threes and has averaged 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds on 81.2% ft at the line. Sun Yue has had no impact in the NBA, but it is cool that a guard from China is in the NBA.
8. Canada - (Steve Nash, Jamaal Magloire, Samuel Dalembert and Joel Anthony) Canada only has one all-star on the list. He is obviously more than an all-star, but he can’t make up for the fact that the other three guys are scrubs. Not to mention that after a confrontation with Mo Taylor back in the day, Magloire did inspire Taylor to utter the greatest quote in NBA history. After the game, Mo said of the skirmish, “He didn’t go to college. I can’t even conversate with that guy.”
7. Serbia- Serbia is well represented in the NBA with six players. Unfortunately, the only guy that has made much of an impact in the NBA is Peja Stojakovic. Peja has been gradually declining since joining the Hornets; last season was his worst season since 1999-2000. Also, he appears to be a mouth breather. Has anybody ever seen that guy with his pie hole closed? The other five Serbs in the league are Marko Jaric, Nenad Krstic, Darko Milicic, Aleksander Pavlovic, and Vladimir Radmonovic. Krstic has had his moments, but I’d sooner pick Earl Boykins in a Sumo match against Oliver Miller than I would an NBA roster made up of those guys to ever win a game.
6. Lithuania- There are three players in the NBA from Lithuania. All three of them have been serviceable. Zidrunas Ilgauskas has been very consistent throughout his NBA career. He is not a guy that will dazzle the box score or be an all-star, but he is an above-average center most teams would love to have on their roster. He has averaged at least 11 points and 1.3 blocks in every year of his entire 11 year NBA career. His career numbers of 14.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks are solid. Darius Songaila has never had big minutes on the teams he played on, but his career averages of 7 points, 3.5 rebounds, on 50% FG, and 85.1% FT in 18.9 minutes per game are nothing to be ashamed of. Linas Kleiza is another guy that hasn’t been able to get big minutes yet. The 24 year-old is a solid shooter and a good scorer when he gets minutes. His time will come.
5. Brazil- There is another country besides Argentina in South America represented by good NBA players. Nene had a career year last year with 14.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.23 steals, and 1.31 blocks, on 60.4% FG. He is 26, so he has many good years left. Nene also did it at the five spot, where even the scrubs are getting five million dollar per year contracts. Nene will be getting $10.5 million next year. Not too shabby. Leandro Barbosa is another young 26 year old Brazilian that has been solid in the NBA. Despite only averaging 25.9 minutes in his career, Barbosa has put up very respectable numbers of 12.9 points, 1 steal, on 47.1% FG, 40.4% 3’s, and 82.4 ft. The third guy from Brazil is Anderson Varejao. Coincidentally enough, he is also 26. He is not as talented as the other two guys, but he is a tough competitor and is valuable enough to the Cavs that they have forked over a lot of cash for him. Next year Varejao will be banking $6.6 million. Plus he has neat hair. Considering that each of the the three Brazilians is only 26, it is likely that they will all be around for at least the next five years. By that time, it is possible another Brazilian stud will be in the NBA.
4. Argentina- They have a starting five that would give an NBA team match-up nightmares. A few players would play out of position, but Argentina can adjust. Manu Ginobili is such a great defender and has such great ball control, he could run the point with the other four on the floor. Andres Nocioni would be out of position as well at shooting guard, but he is a tough competitor so he would adjust and be effective while giving the guy guarding him a headache. Walter Herrmann is a big man that can hit threes, so obviously he will be annoying for a classic big man to guard. Luis Scola is slowly becoming a star in the league and has a great post-up game. The starting five has enough guys playing out of position that even though Febricio Oberto is not an Argentinian player to brag about, he is a serviceable center that could round out their starting five. With a few rolls, I would even give these guys a chance against the original Dream Team. Did I mention that I am half-Argentinian?
3. Spain- Spain has recently had a lot of talented players make it to the NBA. Their national team will be giving USA Basketball headaches for years to come. Pau Gasol is an all star, an NBA champion. He has been a consistently good NBA player his whole career. He has averaged at least 17 points and 7 rebounds in every year of his eight-year career. Marc Gasol is not as talented as his older brother, but he is already making a nice contribution in Memphis. He averaged an impressive 11.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and played all 82 games last year. Rudy Fernandez made a great impact on the Blazers in his rookie season. His explosive athleticism makes him fun to watch. I am not sure what is in the sangria in Spain, but they seem to produce a lot of good point guards. First there was Jose Calderon. He has been a phenomenal point guard. He has been getting minutes lately and his numbers last year should not be overlooked: 12.8 points, 8.9 assists, 49.7% FG, 40.6% 3’s, and 98.1% FT, which is the new NBA record. A point guard averaging 20 points per game gets more publicity, but Calderon’s numbers are ridiculous. He is much more valuable to team chemistry then a guy that scores 20 points and doesn’t do much else. Last year, rookie PG Sergio Rodriguez had flashes of brilliance when given a chance to play. Ricky Rubio is the exclamation point for Spanish point guards. He is only 18 years old and has already received so much hype that one would think he is a young stud that plays on Barcelona’s soccer team. Time will tell if he can live up to it, but with Spain’s ability to produce solid NBA talent, Ricky Rubio might end up being the cream of the crop.
2. France- France doesn’t have any all-stars besides Tony Parker, but they have so many other good players that it would be ridiculous not to put them on top of the list. Everyone knows how talented Parker is, but there are other French players that are making a name for themselves in the league. Mickael Pietrus showed in the Eastern Conference Finals that he is not only a good defender, but he is also a clutch shooter too. At age 27 he still has many years left in this league. Boris Diaw had amazing stats for the Bobcats: 15.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists on 49.5% FG, and 41.9% 3’s , which is almost good enough to make Americans stop making “If it weren’t for us, they’d all be speaking German” cracks. France’s other six guys in the league (Ronny Turiaf, Johan Petro, Ian Mahinmi, Yakhouba Diawara, Nicolas Batum, Alexis Ajinca) are all 26 or younger, so it is very possible that France will be represented by double digit players very soon. And many of them will likely be impact players. Viva La France!
1. U.S.A- Duh. The U.S. national team is nowhere near as dominant as it used to be, but obviously, we still produce the most talent by far. I don’t even have to put together any stats. I just have to list 10 players of the top of my head and no argument can be made. Kobe Bryant. Lebron James. Chris Paul. Carmelo Anthony. Kevin Garnett. Chris Bosh. Dwight Howard. Paul Pierce. Deron Williams. Brandon Roy. Any questions?
9. China- Yao Ming has put China on the map. Most importantly, Yao has the game to give his popularity credibility. His career stats of 19.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.9 blocks on 52.5 % FG and 83.2 % Ft have made him the best big man in the NBA. Hopefully, he’s not done. Yi Jianlian hasn’t made a big impact on the NBA yet, but at the tender age of 21, it is hard to complain too much about a 7 footer that can knock down threes and has averaged 8.6 points and 5.3 rebounds on 81.2% ft at the line. Sun Yue has had no impact in the NBA, but it is cool that a guard from China is in the NBA.
8. Canada - (Steve Nash, Jamaal Magloire, Samuel Dalembert and Joel Anthony) Canada only has one all-star on the list. He is obviously more than an all-star, but he can’t make up for the fact that the other three guys are scrubs. Not to mention that after a confrontation with Mo Taylor back in the day, Magloire did inspire Taylor to utter the greatest quote in NBA history. After the game, Mo said of the skirmish, “He didn’t go to college. I can’t even conversate with that guy.”
7. Serbia- Serbia is well represented in the NBA with six players. Unfortunately, the only guy that has made much of an impact in the NBA is Peja Stojakovic. Peja has been gradually declining since joining the Hornets; last season was his worst season since 1999-2000. Also, he appears to be a mouth breather. Has anybody ever seen that guy with his pie hole closed? The other five Serbs in the league are Marko Jaric, Nenad Krstic, Darko Milicic, Aleksander Pavlovic, and Vladimir Radmonovic. Krstic has had his moments, but I’d sooner pick Earl Boykins in a Sumo match against Oliver Miller than I would an NBA roster made up of those guys to ever win a game.
6. Lithuania- There are three players in the NBA from Lithuania. All three of them have been serviceable. Zidrunas Ilgauskas has been very consistent throughout his NBA career. He is not a guy that will dazzle the box score or be an all-star, but he is an above-average center most teams would love to have on their roster. He has averaged at least 11 points and 1.3 blocks in every year of his entire 11 year NBA career. His career numbers of 14.3 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks are solid. Darius Songaila has never had big minutes on the teams he played on, but his career averages of 7 points, 3.5 rebounds, on 50% FG, and 85.1% FT in 18.9 minutes per game are nothing to be ashamed of. Linas Kleiza is another guy that hasn’t been able to get big minutes yet. The 24 year-old is a solid shooter and a good scorer when he gets minutes. His time will come.
5. Brazil- There is another country besides Argentina in South America represented by good NBA players. Nene had a career year last year with 14.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.23 steals, and 1.31 blocks, on 60.4% FG. He is 26, so he has many good years left. Nene also did it at the five spot, where even the scrubs are getting five million dollar per year contracts. Nene will be getting $10.5 million next year. Not too shabby. Leandro Barbosa is another young 26 year old Brazilian that has been solid in the NBA. Despite only averaging 25.9 minutes in his career, Barbosa has put up very respectable numbers of 12.9 points, 1 steal, on 47.1% FG, 40.4% 3’s, and 82.4 ft. The third guy from Brazil is Anderson Varejao. Coincidentally enough, he is also 26. He is not as talented as the other two guys, but he is a tough competitor and is valuable enough to the Cavs that they have forked over a lot of cash for him. Next year Varejao will be banking $6.6 million. Plus he has neat hair. Considering that each of the the three Brazilians is only 26, it is likely that they will all be around for at least the next five years. By that time, it is possible another Brazilian stud will be in the NBA.
4. Argentina- They have a starting five that would give an NBA team match-up nightmares. A few players would play out of position, but Argentina can adjust. Manu Ginobili is such a great defender and has such great ball control, he could run the point with the other four on the floor. Andres Nocioni would be out of position as well at shooting guard, but he is a tough competitor so he would adjust and be effective while giving the guy guarding him a headache. Walter Herrmann is a big man that can hit threes, so obviously he will be annoying for a classic big man to guard. Luis Scola is slowly becoming a star in the league and has a great post-up game. The starting five has enough guys playing out of position that even though Febricio Oberto is not an Argentinian player to brag about, he is a serviceable center that could round out their starting five. With a few rolls, I would even give these guys a chance against the original Dream Team. Did I mention that I am half-Argentinian?
3. Spain- Spain has recently had a lot of talented players make it to the NBA. Their national team will be giving USA Basketball headaches for years to come. Pau Gasol is an all star, an NBA champion. He has been a consistently good NBA player his whole career. He has averaged at least 17 points and 7 rebounds in every year of his eight-year career. Marc Gasol is not as talented as his older brother, but he is already making a nice contribution in Memphis. He averaged an impressive 11.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and played all 82 games last year. Rudy Fernandez made a great impact on the Blazers in his rookie season. His explosive athleticism makes him fun to watch. I am not sure what is in the sangria in Spain, but they seem to produce a lot of good point guards. First there was Jose Calderon. He has been a phenomenal point guard. He has been getting minutes lately and his numbers last year should not be overlooked: 12.8 points, 8.9 assists, 49.7% FG, 40.6% 3’s, and 98.1% FT, which is the new NBA record. A point guard averaging 20 points per game gets more publicity, but Calderon’s numbers are ridiculous. He is much more valuable to team chemistry then a guy that scores 20 points and doesn’t do much else. Last year, rookie PG Sergio Rodriguez had flashes of brilliance when given a chance to play. Ricky Rubio is the exclamation point for Spanish point guards. He is only 18 years old and has already received so much hype that one would think he is a young stud that plays on Barcelona’s soccer team. Time will tell if he can live up to it, but with Spain’s ability to produce solid NBA talent, Ricky Rubio might end up being the cream of the crop.
2. France- France doesn’t have any all-stars besides Tony Parker, but they have so many other good players that it would be ridiculous not to put them on top of the list. Everyone knows how talented Parker is, but there are other French players that are making a name for themselves in the league. Mickael Pietrus showed in the Eastern Conference Finals that he is not only a good defender, but he is also a clutch shooter too. At age 27 he still has many years left in this league. Boris Diaw had amazing stats for the Bobcats: 15.1 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists on 49.5% FG, and 41.9% 3’s , which is almost good enough to make Americans stop making “If it weren’t for us, they’d all be speaking German” cracks. France’s other six guys in the league (Ronny Turiaf, Johan Petro, Ian Mahinmi, Yakhouba Diawara, Nicolas Batum, Alexis Ajinca) are all 26 or younger, so it is very possible that France will be represented by double digit players very soon. And many of them will likely be impact players. Viva La France!
1. U.S.A- Duh. The U.S. national team is nowhere near as dominant as it used to be, but obviously, we still produce the most talent by far. I don’t even have to put together any stats. I just have to list 10 players of the top of my head and no argument can be made. Kobe Bryant. Lebron James. Chris Paul. Carmelo Anthony. Kevin Garnett. Chris Bosh. Dwight Howard. Paul Pierce. Deron Williams. Brandon Roy. Any questions?
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