As someone going to college in Virginia, I read the Washington Post quite a bit. Here's a excerpt from Micheal Wilbon's article today. Unforunately, I don't get to watch many basketball games where I live, so I can't comment on this myself. But what do you think about this? Do you think it's true? If it is, will one day the foreign pressure persuade US youngsters to work on their jump shot and fundamentals in the future?
Absolutely it is true. Most foreign players seem greatful to have the chance, while a lot of the American players have been coddled all their life and have a huge sense of entitlement. This is a generalization, but most of the foreign players seem more appreciative and less arrogant. DaDakota
and gasol isn't and of course our own country pride Dan Gadzuric,ok not our country pride but he is the only dutch player i the nba.
Gasol played in the Spainish league but was he from Spain? I know he played for F.C. Barcelona but don't know where he was born, anyone know?
This is so true. And then there is that small contingent of players (Nowitzski, Peja, soon to be Yao) who are excellentful.
He's Catalan, born and bred. I should explain that means he's from Catalunya, a semi-autonomous region of Spain
i agree that yao ming will soon to be one of those great foreign players and he has already made a huge impact in the NBA and will have a successful career in it too
The competitive spirit drives us all. This is why sports is great. This why shooting a basket is great. It just never gets old. We love to challenge ourselves over and over again.
There will be more and more great foreign players in the NBA. And thank Bird, Magic, Jordan, and most importantly, David Stern for that. They made the NBA THE most popular sports league in the world. No matter where you are in the world, when you think about basketball, you think about the NBA. European players used to play in a very different way before the 80s. It was the spread of the NBA culture (and the Dream Team) that changed their games. Nowadays you have foreign players who can run and jump just like the American kids. Since they know something that many American players don't know--how to shoot and pass , they become good players in the NBA.
