Top 5 Euro-International Players (All-Time)

[Mefisto]

Gasol is just lucky. There is no Yugoslavia and NBA is way far from what it was in the 80s and 90s. In big tournaments he has the referees giving him asists.

Clueless or not...
Never Gasol.

Petrovic, Gallis or if you prefer Gallis, Petrovic .-

+1 , puss Pau is not even close to these players.

[gadiegolo]

Very sensible and thoughtful argument, yes, yes......

[DeBlazerRiddem]

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

Galis was UNREAL. Amazing what a 6'1" guy could do.

Wow, I had never heard of him and just watched some youtube....


Crazy body control. Would shift his shot like 4 or 5 times in mid-air and still get the shot off (with a VERY high release) through like 3 or 4 arms. I'm sitting there in awe like... does this guy play in slow motion?

[Greco21]

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

Galis was UNREAL. Amazing what a 6'1" guy could do.

Wow, I had never heard of him and just watched some youtube....


Crazy body control. Would shift his shot like 4 or 5 times in mid-air and still get the shot off (with a VERY high release) through like 3 or 4 arms. I'm sitting there in awe like... does this guy play in slow motion?

He won Yugoslavia and USSR 2 times. And he was pretty on his own... facing almost 12 stars on the opposing sides.

He did amazing things with his club too. A real winner. He started his career in Seaton Hall but he was cut from the Celtics due to his size. He is a myth.

A coach once answered on the question "how do you plan to contain Gallis?"

We will lock him in his lockeroom

[droponov]

Dirk
Sabonis
Pau Gasol





The rest.

Pau is far away from top 3, put Petrovic instead.

Nonsense, he's absolutely right. Dirk, Sabonis, Gasol, large gap, the rest. Petrovic, Bodiroga, Parker, Kukoc, Belov, etc., in some order.

Petrovic wasn't even in the same planet of Gasol. I think Drazen is overrated these days because of his premature death. Also because he was a scorer and people tend to underrate non-scoring contributions. Petrovic was a very good player but not an All-NBA type like Gasol. A very good scorer and good shooter with awful defense and rebounding and pedestrian playmaking. Not sure who would be a good comparison among active players... maybe Michael Redd. Not exactly the same player, but he was at that level.

[gadiegolo]

Dirk
Sabonis
Pau Gasol



The rest.

Pau is far away from top 3, put Petrovic instead.

Nonsense, he's absolutely right. Dirk, Sabonis, Gasol, large gap, the rest. Petrovic, Bodiroga, Parker, Kukoc, Belov, etc., in some order.

Petrovic wasn't even in the same planet of Gasol. I think Drazen is overrated these days because of his premature death. Also because he was a scorer and people tend to underrate non-scoring contributions. Petrovic was a very good player but not an All-NBA type like Gasol. A very good scorer and good shooter with awful defense and rebounding and pedestrian playmaking. Not sure who would be a good comparison among active players... maybe Michael Redd. Not exactly the same player, but he was at that level.

Yeah, I'd even say that Stojakovic deserves definitely a place on the top5:
1. Dirk
2. Pau
3. Arvydas
4. Predrag
5. Drazen

Sabonis and Petrovic didn't achieve the other's success in the NBA but they represented a lot for their countries in international competitions, whether they were the former USSR or Yugoslavia or the after separation Lithuania or Croatia.

Galis was revolutionary in Greece at that moment and a lot of the popularity of basketball there is due to him but he was basically a good American NBA player playing in Europe in a moment in which the gap between those 2 basketball worlds was unbearable.
At that moment, if you took any random 6-10th rotation guy with a little bit of brain and common sense out of an NBA roster and place him in Europe he was a star. McAdoo did it with 37 yo, when he wasn't able to play in the NBA anymore, and played well past his 40's (and no, McAdoo wasn't any random NBA player but he was well past his prime when he went to Milan).

A special mention should be done to Sarunas Marciulionis and Detlef Schrempf, whom both succeeded in the NBA in a moment were doing that for a European was really difficult.

[jinxed]

Just Europe or all international...

Olajuwon..Nash..even Tim Duncan..could be considered international. Pat Ewing grew up in Jamaica.

But if we are not including those guys...

1. Dirk
2. Sabonis
3. Ginobili
4. Pau
5. Drazen

Including ALL international BORN players

1. Olajuwon
2. TD
3. Dirk
4. Ewing
5. Nash ---maybe Sabas..

[Eimiss]

Just Europe or all international...

Olajuwon..Nash..even Tim Duncan..could be considered international. Pat Ewing grew up in Jamaica.

But if we are not including those guys...

1. Dirk
2. Sabonis
3. Ginobili
4. Pau
5. Drazen

Including ALL international BORN players

1. Olajuwon
2. TD
3. Dirk
4. Ewing
5. Nash ---maybe Sabas..

Since when Manu is from Europe?

[gadiegolo]

Just Europe or all international...

Olajuwon..Nash..even Tim Duncan..could be considered international. Pat Ewing grew up in Jamaica.

But if we are not including those guys...

1. Dirk
2. Sabonis
3. Ginobili
4. Pau
5. Drazen

Including ALL international BORN players

1. Olajuwon
2. TD
3. Dirk
4. Ewing
5. Nash ---maybe Sabas..

Since when Manu is from Europe?

Ha, ha, ha, I guess Argentina is the next member of the EU, innit?
Come on! General geography ain't that difficult!

[brassviews]

Giniboli is of Italian descent as are most Argentines.

[Eimiss]

Giniboli is of Italian descent as are most Argentines.

Manu and other argentinians plays for Argentina NT NOT Italian, nuff said..

[gadiegolo]

Giniboli is of Italian descent as are most Argentines.

As well as most US citizens are of European descent, does that mean they're European? No

[jinxed]

Giniboli is of Italian descent as are most Argentines.

As well as most US citizens are of European descent, does that mean they're European? No

No, they are not European because they are USA citizens. Ginobili holds duel citizenship in both Argentina and Italy. He also started his career in Italy, where he won the euroleague final four mvp and the euroleague championship.

However that is not what I included him on the list.

The reason Nash, Olajuwon, Ewing and TD are not considered international on these lists is because they played college ball here in the US.

IMO it seemed as if the OP was asking about stars over in Europe. People who played in Europe. Either in the Euroleague or in international competition. Ginobili was a star in Europe before he came to the US.

[jinxed]

Ginobili highlights from playing with Italian team Virtus Kinder Bologna. Some nasty dunks in there.

[gadiegolo]

Giniboli is of Italian descent as are most Argentines.

As well as most US citizens are of European descent, does that mean they're European? No

No, they are not European because they are USA citizens. Ginobili holds duel citizenship in both Argentina and Italy. He also started his career in Italy, where he won the euroleague final four mvp and the euroleague championship.

However that is not what I included him on the list.

The reason Nash, Olajuwon, Ewing and TD are not considered international on these lists is because they played college ball here in the US.

IMO it seemed as if the OP was asking about stars over in Europe. People who played in Europe. Either in the Euroleague or in international competition. Ginobili was a star in Europe before he came to the US.

Yeah, you're right about the international/European but then the main difference I'd make would be separating players between those that went through the US basketball training system and those who were trained outside of the US, FIBA system (despite playing in the NBA afterwards).

Ginobili holding the Italian passport is just one example of something that is a very common practice in Europe due to limits in the number of foreign players that a team can have in national leagues. Plenty of Argentinian player get Italian or Spanish passports through their agents to facilitate their entrance into the European leagues and increase their market value at the same time. I'm sure that if the Argentinian league were the one attracting players from Europe (e.g.) a lot of Italian players wouldn't have a lot problems getting Argentinian passports to play there, not meaning that they were less Italian than before.

Note: and Ginobili played some years in Italy (very successful ones) but he came out of the Argentinian basketball scheme.