Every Wednesday during the NBA season, Interbasket takes a closer look at ten international NBA players that has caught our eye. (This week is for period 01/16/2008- 01/22/2008)

So the three of the top-four scorers off the bench are international players– Manu Ginobili (19.1), Leandro Barbosa (15.4), and Andres Nocioni (13.5). Jason Terry is the other player at 14.4 points off the pine. Here’s hoping that Nene gets better, the 25-year old Brazilian had a tumor removed. It’s crazy that someone so young has a tumor at such a young age. Another Nugget power forward, Linas Kleiza scored a career-high 41 points against the Utah Jazz, nothing to sneeze at considering he plays with jackers Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. Denver rode the Lithuanian to 120-109 win. Kleiza shot 13-21, was 4-8 from three, 11-14 from the free throw line and also had 9 rebounds. Jose Calderon was huge in leading Toronto to a win over the Boston celtics putting up 24 points and 13 assists, including a three-point play with 10.5 seconds left that gave the Raptors the final margin (114-112). Andris Biedrins had a four game stretch in which he shot a combined 6-25, which essetially handed over the FG% lead to Andrew Bynum. With bynum out for 2 months, he may no longer qualify for NBA leaders anymore… Another player in the top-ten for FG% is Samuel Dalembert. The Haitian center (with Canadian nationality) is quietly having his best season in the NBA averaging a double-double and putting up career numbers in minutes (33), point (11.5), rebounds (10.1), and blocked shots (2.5). With Mike Bibby back, Beno Udrih‘s breakout season is going to most-certainly take a hit. Early on, Udrih’s minutes certainly have dropped. Before Bibby, Udrih was getting about 35 minutes of burn, with Bibby back he is getting just 21 minutes. Beno’s stats have remained around the same levels since Bibby’s return; for the four games the Slovenian guard has averaged about 12.3pts, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds — compared to his season numbers 13.8 points, 4.6 assists, and 3.6 rebounds, that doesn’t look so bad, but it’s doubtful he’ll be able to keep his efficiency up and something has got to give. I don’t think Bibby is going to be happy playing 28 minutes a game because well, Mike Bibby has never played less than 33 minutes a game. That’s something we’re going to keep an eye on. Zaza Pachulia was suspended for the Hawks’ game against the Denver Nuggets for conduct detrimental to the team. It seems that Zaur wasn’t too happy with being pulled out of a game against Portland Trailblazers. He apparently had some words for his coach, Mike Woodson. After two productive seasons, Pachulia isn’t getting nearly the same amount of playing time this season. Not only has his minutes dropped this season, it’s been hugely inconsistent due to head and toe injuries.

Sources: Nene Hilario: Tumor Benign (Yahoo), Zaza Suspended by Woodson (USA Today),