Are Non-American Players More Well-Behaved?

[mtron929]

So this can potentially be a controversial topic so mods, feel free to lock it if you deem.

I don't have concrete evidence of this but in terms of both on court and off court issues, is it fair to say that non-American players are for the most part more of model citizens compared to the American players? Here are some of the prominent non-American players playing in the NBA today (going by ESPN's top 50 foreign player list and excluding Americans like Kyrie Irving and taking just the top 20).

1. Giannis
2. Al Horford
3. Porzingis
4. Marc Gasol
5. Steven Adams
6. Rudy Gobert
7. Dirk
8. Jokic
9. Nic Batum
10. Wiggins
11. Goran Dragic
12. Jonas Valancicus
13. Joel Embiid
14. Pau Gasol
15. Ricky Rubio
16. Danilo Gallinelli
17. Serge Ibaka
18. Evan Fournier
19. Nurkic
20. Vucevic

I would argue that none of these guys are deemed to be trouble makers both on or off the court. To keep the thread short, I will just concentrate on on court behaviors off court behaviors deserve its own discussion.

- On court behavior

It is difficult to assert who behaves well and who doesn't on court. I will take one metric here that some of you might not agree with, which is technical fouls. The working hypothesis here is that guys who receive a lot of technical fouls have issues. I realize that it is weak, but let's go at it. Here are the leaders for technical fouls last season

1. Cousins
2. Draymond Green
3. Dwight Howard
4. Isaiah Thomas
5. DeAndrea Jordan
6. Blake Griffin
7. Markiev Morris
8. John Wall
9. Chris Paul
10. John Henson
11. Kevin Garnett
12. Alan Anderson
13. Andrea Drummond
14. Robin Lopez
15. O.J. Mayo
16. Marcus Morris
17. Nurkic
18. Jarrett Jack
19. Austin Rivers
20. Tyson Chandler

So this is a good working list and if I counted correctly, that is one foreign player (17. Nurkic) in the top 20 list. This is a list of some notable trouble makers, guys with a lot of passion, some ass holes, whiners, etc. So not a perfect list, but decent enough.
Without going into the maths, there are about 28% foreign players (or players born in foreign countries) in the NBA but only 5% of the top 20 technical fouls are committed by foreign players. This cannot be a mere coincidence and can support my notion that in general, foreign players are more well behaved on the court.

So if working hypothesis is correct, what would be some of the reasons behind this discrepancy? Again, mods feel free to shut this thread down but at least realize that I did not create this thread to troll or to irritate people.

[magnumt]

Bad Boy international players off the top of my head:

- Vitaly Potapenko
- Darko Milicic
- Sabonis

--Mags

[jbk1234]

Nurkic was sold of cheaply because he was headache. Adams had a bit of a reputation as dirty player his first couple years in the league. Horford dropped the people's elbow on Delly in a playoff game and got tossed.

[mtron929]

Nurkic was sold of cheaply because he was headache. Adams had a bit of a reputation as dirty player his first couple years in the league. Horford dropped the people's elbow on Delly in a playoff game and got tossed.

That is fine as I am not saying there aren't exceptions. After all, I am making a general statement here.

[Soupman]

Competitiveness.

Most good players are "alpha dog" personality types. They want to be the best,toughest, most successful at what they are doing and hate losing. Just some players can manage that competitive fire better(Kobe,MJ). Others struggle with it and let it get out of control(Metta World-Peace,Rasheed Wallace,Draymond Green).

[2LeTTeRS]

I'm not so sure I'd classify Batum as well behaved......

[Black Jack]

Anybody who has traveled knows Americans have a reputation as the yahoos of the rich world. Maybe Aussies are similar but they're more savvy. Arrogance is often observed.

YEAH there are many exceptions but on the travel circuit it's a bit of a joke how silly Americans act. It's noticeable and embarrassing as an American.

[MeestR]

I think it something to do with being an immigrant, or an honest worker in a non-native country. I'm sure you could find plenty of examples of ill-behavior in domestic European leagues. And you could probably find similar list of well behaved non-native players in those leauges.

I don't think it has anything to do with Euro/Chinese/Aussie/-vs-American. It probably has more to do with behaving as a guest vs otherwise.

[K_chile22]

I'm not so sure I'd classify Batum as well behaved......

It would be nuts to do so

[mtron929]

I think it something to do with being an immigrant, or an honest worker in a non-native country. I'm sure you could find plenty of examples of ill-behavior in domestic European leagues. And you could probably find similar list of well behaved non-native players in those leauges.

I don't think it has anything to do with Euro/Chinese/Aussie/-vs-American. It probably has more to do with behaving as a guest vs otherwise.

This might be an interesting take. Although I am not sure this applies in the European soccer leagues. I don't get the sense that in the Premier league (for example), the foreigners are much more well-behaved than the Brits. But I might be talking out of my ass here as I only watch 2-3 matches per month.

[Soupman]

Anybody who has traveled knows Americans have a reputation as the yahoos of the rich world. Maybe Aussies are similar but they're more savvy. Arrogance is often observed.

YEAH there are many exceptions but on the travel circuit it's a bit of a joke how silly Americans act. It's noticeable and embarrassing as an American.

Most working class Americans can't afford to travel internationally regularly.Only 36% of the US population has valid passports(because traveling can be expensive) We are locked into our work schedule and flying across an ocean to another country is expensive.

I believe it has more to do with control of emotions, and competitiveness than it does US player vs non-US player.

[Dr Aki]

Anybody who has traveled knows Americans have a reputation as the yahoos of the rich world. Maybe Aussies are similar but they're more savvy. Arrogance is often observed.

YEAH there are many exceptions but on the travel circuit it's a bit of a joke how silly Americans act. It's noticeable and embarrassing as an American.

Most working class Americans can't afford to travel internationally regularly.Only 36% of the US population has valid passports(because traveling can be expensive) We are locked into our work schedule and flying across an ocean to another country is expensive.

he's talking about perceptions of americans overseas

he's not talking statistics

[GlenRiceARoni]

Foreign players used to be very demonstrable.

In the late 1980's i went to a UNC vs the Soviet Union exhibition game. I was 6 or 7 years old and a big Duke fan (shout out to Danny Ferry and Quin Synder) at the time. So naturally i was cheering loudly for the Soviet Union amongst a bunch of North Carolina blue democrats. I wasn't too hip to the Cold War Arms Race or Space Monkeys yet.

Oh yeah my point was holy crap that Soviet team behaved poorly. It was like a team full of Dray's and Cuz's

My Jokic Progression Signature
-2014 2nd Rd Draft Pick
-2016 All ROOK 1st Team
-2017 All NBA 3rd Team
-2018 All NBA 2nd Team
-2019 All NBA 1st Team

[mtron929]

Competitiveness.

Most good players are "alpha dog" personality types. They want to be the best,toughest, most successful at what they are doing and hate losing. Just some players can manage that competitive fire better(Kobe,MJ). Others struggle with it and let it get out of control(Metta World-Peace,Rasheed Wallace,Draymond Green).

So you think foreign players are not as competitive as Americans?

[Soupman]

Anybody who has traveled knows Americans have a reputation as the yahoos of the rich world. Maybe Aussies are similar but they're more savvy. Arrogance is often observed.

YEAH there are many exceptions but on the travel circuit it's a bit of a joke how silly Americans act. It's noticeable and embarrassing as an American.

Most working class Americans can't afford to travel internationally regularly.Only 36% of the US population has valid passports(because traveling can be expensive) We are locked into our work schedule and flying across an ocean to another country is expensive.

he's talking about perceptions of americans overseas

he's not talking statistics

The perception of Americans overseas is skewed a little by their media. Just like our media skews almost EVERYTHING that is outside of the US. Negative news sells. Positive(or moderate) news does not sell.

[Devassa]

You can't T them up if they're cursing you out in a language you don't understand, can you?

[Soupman]

Competitiveness.

Most good players are "alpha dog" personality types. They want to be the best,toughest, most successful at what they are doing and hate losing. Just some players can manage that competitive fire better(Kobe,MJ). Others struggle with it and let it get out of control(Metta World-Peace,Rasheed Wallace,Draymond Green).

So you think foreign players are not as competitive as Americans?

No. Most players are competitive.

Most foreign players(like most domestic players) can control their competitive drive better. Most players overall can control(or focus) those emotions.

Only select few struggle with this. But that is part of what makes them so good. People have diverse personalities.

[RaptorsLife]

Anthony Bennett was a lazy ass of what a Canadian is

[Jables]

In specifically basketball I think so but why do you think they aren't more well behaved in Soccer? When you grow up with incredible talent in a popular sport in your country you are going to grow up as a more arrogant and self absorbed person. Your random European basketballer doesn't have the profile in his country that a Soccer player does, so they tend to be a bit more humble and mature.

Even if a Dirk type for example obtains a huge profile in his country he didn't grow up like a Luis Suarez would have. British Soccer players aren't exactly known for being gentlemen either these days.

I don't follow the sport but believe it or not rugby players here in Australia have been in occurrences where they do a number two all over their hotel rooms. As in that has happened more than once. They are kind of well known to have horrific behaviour in general.

[Pass_the_rock]

I'm not so sure I'd classify Batum as well behaved......