Reeko wrote:Shai played basketball in America (outside of his time in the NBA) for a grand total of 3 years, his junior and senior years of high school and his lone college season at Kentucky. He played for the World Select Team at the Nike Hoop Summit, he plays for Team Canada. This is akin to calling LaMelo Ball an international player because he played professionally in Lithuania in what should have been his junior year of high school, and then played in Australia in what should have been his freshman season of college.
Luka played in Spain from the ages of 13 to 18, so isn't he really more of a product of Spain than Slovenia and therefore actually a Spanish player? The answer is no, he is a Slovenian player who developed his skills in Spain, the same way LaMelo is an American that developed his skills in Lithuania and Australia, and the same way that Shai is a Canadian who developed his skills in the USA.
That's cool and makes sense.
The rub is when these arguments about international and U.S. players are used to rip the U.S. for its inability to develop players. People want their cake and to eat it, too.
