Pitimiquel wrote:Sedale Threatt wrote:CSKA Moscow just won the Euro title with two Americans playing key roles who I have literally never heard of, Kyle Hines and Cory Higgins. Granted, I barely follow college basketball. But given that they went to Colorado and UNC-Greensboro -- not exactly hoops hotbeds -- they wouldn't seem to be prime prospects. And they can go over the Europe and thrive. Yet somehow players like Paul George, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green would struggle. OK...
Well, you have to know that big teams in Euroleague and domestic competition when they are facing teams that are not at the same level, players rotate a lot, so statistics in Euroleague don't say always the truth. Every player is a different world. For example Ingles, played as a 11th or 12th player in Barcelona during 3 years (my team), and now plays as a starter in the NBA. Other example would be Patrick Beverly who played in Euroleague very bad. Then we have Americans or Europeans that havent played or succed in the NBA but here are stars like Vesely, De Colo, Malcolm Delaney, Tyrese Rice, Ayon, Darius Miller...
Ingles started two games last year and is not a good player.
Otherwise, there are always going to be exceptions. Guys like Jasikevičius and Spanoulis were clearly fantastic players who for whatever reason didn't pan out over here. Maybe they came too late or didn't stick it out. Players like Diamantidis, Papaloukas and Teodosic probably would have been very good, if they'd tried. Some of the very best players we've ever had -- Olajuwon, Nowitzki, Ginobili, the Gasols -- are foreign. (Sabonis would have been top 10-20 had he came earlier and been healthy.)
Hell, I think something like 25 percent of the NBA now hails from outside the country. So there's clearly a lot of talent outside the U.S. A
lot.
But when you have idiots making blanket statements about how NBA players don't play defense or lack fundamentals based on a handful games in a competition for which we might have four or five practices (and still win anyways)...I have a problem with that.
It's not an apples-to-apples comparison. As was stated, the best players in the world aren't trying to play in Europe, they're trying to play here -- and it's not just the money. The average U.S. player is going to have far, far more success overseas than the average European player would in the NBA. And there has never been an NBA All-Star who wouldn't be at least very good in Europe. It's just dumb to try to argue otherwise. If you have a different preference, that's fine. There's a lot to like about the so-called "FIBA style." But that's where it should end.
Don't take it further and make stupid/insulting statements that don't stand up to even the tiniest amount of scrutiny.
