Best Basketball Country Relative to Population

Chalk1 · Post #21 » by **Chalk1** » Tue Oct 18, 2011 1:52 am

Virgin Islands

Tim Duncan

nuff said

Post #22 » by **Livno** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 3:27 pm

What about Bosnia and Herzegovina?

There are many players born in BIH, but playing for other countrys!

donkki · Post #23 » by **donkki** » Fri Nov 25, 2011 8:22 am

Has to be Lithuania and Slovenia.

pohani komarac · Post #24 » by **pohani komarac** » Sat Jan 7, 2012 12:25 pm

Euroleague players – where they come from

Lithuania and Serbia are known as the hotbeds of European basketball. How about Bosnia & Herzegovina? With a ratio of 602 Euroleague minutes per 1,000,000 people, Bosnia & Herzegovina is fourth in the ranking behind Lithuania (786), Croatia (752) and Montenegro (692, very small sample). Slovenia (585) is fifth, followed by Serbia (403) and Greece (244).

http://www.in-the-game.org/?p=17434#more-17434

Perdi · Post #25 » by **Perdi** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 2:08 am

Former Yugoslavian nations have a natural or phyisical sense for sports.

They are small countrys with low population...ant they are always on top in Handball, Waterpolo, voleyball, Football, Basket, Tenis,... :lol:

Special mention to Slovenia!

That's amazing.

My top 5 is:

1-Slovenia
2-Lithuania
3-Spain
4-Croatia
5-Serbia

Brokejumper · Post #26 » by **Brokejumper** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 1:46 am

In terms of success vs population density I would go with Spain, Argentina, Greece, Macedonia, Lithuania, Puerto Rico, New Zealand. China would be the worst.

celticspierce34 · Post #27 » by **celticspierce34** » Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:50 am

New Zealand does pretty freakin good.

4million

JV4MVP · Post #28 » by **JV4MVP** » Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:50 pm

celticspierce34 wrote:New Zealand does pretty freakin good.

4million

Populations:

Slovenia: 2M
Lithuania: 3.2M

Both countries have significantly lower populations and consistently beat New Zealand.

Also, Spain has a population of 46M so while they are the strongest in Europe I wouldn't add them to this list.

Post #29 » by **Nuntius** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 3:25 pm

sorokii wrote:You should take into account other aspects apart from population. e.g. in Spain the space in media for basketball or other sports is nearly marginal, 90% in football (soccer). The biggest daily sports magazine last for around 45 minutes, 43 of them (no exaggeration) is football, the other 2 is "rest of sports".

That's exactly how the situation in Greece is as well.

To answer the OP, though. If we're talking about relative to population it's Lithuania by a country mile. Slovenia has some great talent is smaller but Lithuania is so much better than the little increase in the population does not matter a lot.

carloslisboa · Post #30 » by **carloslisboa** » Wed Apr 18, 2012 8:31 pm

Slovenia bearing in mind there is quantity, a weak league, and the political problems of the last 150 years.

The worst is India, for sure. 1/6 of the world population and I can't even name a player.

Mefisto · Post #31 » by **Mefisto** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:55 pm

Lithuania. END of thread. Name any slovenian close to caliber of Sabonis, Ilgauskas or Marciulionis, and we could continue.

carloslisboa · Post #32 » by **carloslisboa** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:06 pm

Mefisto wrote:Lithuania. END of thread. Name any slovenian close to caliber of Sabonis, Ilgauskas or Marciulionis, and we could continue.

There was no Slovenia nor Lithuania when Sabas, Marciulionis came out.
I mean right now, or at least the last five years.
Since then Ilgauskas, Jaskevicius (i'd add Praskevicius) and little else.

Timinskas looked good when young...

carloslisboa · Post #33 » by **carloslisboa** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:13 pm

A comprehensive list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fo ... BA_players

Post #34 » by **Nuntius** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 6:43 pm

carloslisboa wrote:A comprehensive list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fo ... BA_players

That list is not that relevant to this argument.

Certain basketball schools produce players that are more suited for the NBA than others. Take the French school for example. French players tend to be more suited to play in the NBA but they are not necessarily more successful from other European schools when it comes to European competitions (like the Eurobasket).

carloslisboa · Post #35 » by **carloslisboa** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 9:38 pm

Nuntius wrote:
carloslisboa wrote:A comprehensive list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fo ... BA_players

That list is not that relevant to this argument.

Certain basketball schools produce players that are more suited for the NBA than others. Take the French school for example. French players tend to be more suited to play in the NBA but they are not necessarily more successful from other European schools when it comes to European competitions (like the Eurobasket).

Despite being a European, I do not agree.
The best play with the best, and that is the NBA.

Post #36 » by **Nuntius** » Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:33 pm

carloslisboa wrote:Despite being a European, I do not agree.
The best play with the best, and that is the NBA.

Which is irrelevant with this thread for 2 reasons.

1) The thread takes into consideration population. France is big. Lithuania is a very small country.

2) Lithuania has proved several times that they are at least on par (if not better) with France.

Is France better than Spain? Because Spain is a powerhouse both in European and International basketball (Spain's national team is probably the second best worldwide) but Spain has produced less NBA players than France.

That's because France models its league after the NBA. Most other European basketball schools do not do that and thus produce less NBA players.

carloslisboa · Post #37 » by **carloslisboa** » Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:03 am

Nuntius wrote:
carloslisboa wrote:Despite being a European, I do not agree.
The best play with the best, and that is the NBA.

Which is irrelevant with this thread for 2 reasons.

1) The thread takes into consideration population. France is big. Lithuania is a very small country.

2) Lithuania has proved several times that they are at least on par (if not better) with France.

Is France better than Spain? Because Spain is a powerhouse both in European and International basketball (Spain's national team is probably the second best worldwide) but Spain has produced less NBA players than France.

That's because France models its league after the NBA. Most other European basketball schools do not do that and thus produce less NBA players.

Lithuania 3M€ people.
Slovenia 2M€.

Post #38 » by **Nuntius** » Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:12 am

carloslisboa wrote:Lithuania 3M€ people.
Slovenia 2M€.

True. However, Lithuania is a lot better than Slovenia. France is not so much better than Lithuania. Spain is better but the population is so much bigger that once can easily make the claim that Lithuania is the best relative to its population.

Mefisto · Post #39 » by **Mefisto** » Fri Apr 20, 2012 8:51 am

SLO and LTU are not even on the same list, just compare medal count in the last decade, wiki will help you. And slovenians have loser's mentality, they always have strong players and are in favourites list, but when important games come- they collapse, Lakovich is a joke. Not bad for a 2M country, but liths do soooo much better in basketball, that is not even comparable.

carloslisboa · Post #40 » by **carloslisboa** » Mon Apr 23, 2012 8:32 am

OK.
Let's talk about individual players.
Sabas was the best centre. No Divac or anyone other was even close.
Sarunas Marciulionis was one of the best 2 guards IN THE NBA behind MJ, Drexler, he just got injured when he could have been starter. His competitiveness was first line with Petro, but he was phisically stronger, quicker, and drove a lot to the basket. Petro was a far better shooter, and point scorer.
Then some other just go tlost. Karnisovas had everything to be in the NBA, but playing for.. Dijon one season out of Seton Hall? YEs he did go to Barça but played well only a couple of seasons.

What happened to Timinskas?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy18cpdbUGU[/youtube]

You'll love this, this is footage from the 1995, games for the under22 Euro1996 qualification:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3YjhlbkXz0&[/youtube]