Re: NBA players in worlds


Gary Collard wrote:
Hollinger's comments on how NBA international players did in the FIBA
Worlds from

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&id=2573943


Great report, and funny too.

Where are the Italian players? Aren't one of them the No. 1 draft
choice?


The important one:

Ronny Turiaf, Lakers -- Played sparingly for France but was pretty solid
when he was out there, shooting 60 percent and rebounding well.

The rest of the article:

The World Championship is over, and despite all the hand-wringing over the
U.S.'s third-place finish, it wasn't a bad showing. Once you consider the
different rules, different ball and lack of familiarity with teammates, the
U.S. did fairly well. The Americans just ran into the wrong team on the
wrong night.

And if you think Mike Krzyzewski did a bad job, just be glad the U.S.
didn't have Argentina's coach, Sergio Hernandez. With a tie game in the
final seconds of the semifinal match against Spain, Hernandez decided to
foul Spain's Jose Calderon -- an 84.8-percent foul shooter for Toronto last
season -- rather than take his chances defending against a Spain team that
had Pau Gasol on the sideline. It basically cost the Argentineans the World
Championship. As an encore, Hernandez sat Manu Ginobili for the entire
third quarter in the bronze medal game against the U.S.

Of course, the 12 American pros weren't the only NBA talent on hand in
Japan, as Ginobili and several of the others league's stars wore uniforms
of other countries. As David Stern reminds us with nauseating frequency,
basketball is an international game now and the league is chock full of
players from around the world. By my count 34 of them took part in the
games in Japan, and here's a quick report on how they did:

Carlos Arroyo, Magic -- Averaged 21.2 points and was the key playmaker for
Puerto Rico, one of the tournament's best offensive teams.

Leandro Barbosa, Suns -- Left his stroke in Phoenix. He was 3-for-17 on
3-pointers and shot 51.7 percent from the line for a disappointing Brazil
team that failed to reach the medal round.

Andrew Bogut, Bucks -- Was the only Australian player to show up in the
rout by the U.S., but made too many turnovers in other games, (3.5 per
game) and averaged a modest 12.8 points.

Primoz Brezec, Bobcats -- Showed his usual combo of soft touch and soft D
for Slovenia, playing well offensively, 63.6 percent shooting) when he
wasn't on the bench with fouls, which limited him to 17 minutes of playing
time per game.

Jose Calderon, Raptors -- Ran Spain's offense very well, with only seven
turnovers all tournament, and shot 55 percent from the field for the world
champs.

Carlos Delfino, Pistons -- Shot well enough in international play (41.2
percent on 3s) for Argentina that it makes you wonder why he can't beg,
borrow or steal a bucket when he plays for Detroit.

Boris Diaw, Suns -- The Frenchman looked like he was wearing a Hawks jersey
again, averaging four turnovers a game for one of the tournament's least
effective offensive teams

Jorge Garbajosa, Raptors -- Scored 20 in the final to help Spain defeat
Greece but was his usual low-percentage self for the tournament, shooting
37.1 percent from the floor.

Pau Gasol, Grizzlies -- Won tournament MVP honors for leading eventual
champion Spain to the final before breaking a bone in his foot, a serious
bummer for the Grizzlies since he'll probably miss the start of the season.

Mickael Gelabale, Sonics -- Did a reasonable job at both ends to help the
French finish fifth.

Manu Ginobili, Spurs -- Looked a little tired, making the all-tournament
team largely on reputation while averaging a modest 15.1 points on 44.1
percent shooting for Argentina. He also got hosed in the bronze medal game
by the refs, who whistled him for his third foul late in the second quarter
when another player had committed it.

Walter Herrmann, Bobcats -- Had a decent tournament overall for Argentina
but looked completely overmatched in the bronze medal game. Great hair,
though.

Mile Ilic, Nets -- Played sparingly but impressively for Serbia-Montenegro
-- 10 rebounds and four blocks in 27 minutes.

Ersan Ilyasova, Bucks -- Played very well off the bench for Turkey and
plucked more than two steals a game before an injury kept him out of the
final pair of contests.

Linas Kleiza, Nuggets -- Shot very poorly for Lithuania -- 40 percent from
the field and 8-for-26 on 3s -- and averaged nearly three turnovers a game.

Darko Milicic, Magic -- Was Serbia-Montengro's go-to guy inside and had a
stronger effort on the boards than in NBA action, plus his usual impressive
blocked-shots tally. But the dude needs to get to the line -- he had only
12 free throws in six games.

Yao Ming, Rockets -- Was the best player in the tournament, leading all
scorers with an average of 25.3 points and shooting 63.9 percent from the
floor. Imagine what he'd do if his guards could get the ball over
halfcourt.

Bostjan Nachbar, Nets -- Didn't exactly leave Richard Jefferson quaking in
his boots. He hit a few 3s but otherwise was pretty brutal -- he went only
9-for-28 inside the line -- and I'm not sure why Slovenia played him so
much.

Rasho Nesterovic, Raptors -- Had his usual aversion to free throws (five
all tourney) but otherwise played very solid in the middle for Slovenia,
and even busted a 3 against the U.S.

Andres Nocioni, Bulls -- Might have been Argentina's best player, putting
together a 9-for-9, 22-point game in pool play and contributing his usual
hustle on defense.

Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks -- The German star appeared to be very weary,
perhaps because he was tired of playing with such lousy countrymen. Can you
imagine Dirk making only 12-of-42 on international 3-pointers?

Fabricio Oberto, Spurs -- Won the unofficial but prestigious Illegal Screen
of the Tournament award for a blatant backcourt hipcheck in Argentina's
semifinal against Spain that took place in full view of two officials but,
of course, went unpenalized. Otherwise, I thought he played a little soft
-- he had only six free throws the entire tournament.

Tony Parker, Spurs -- Broke his finger before the tournament, but the
French idol should be ready for training camp.

Kosta Perovic, Warriors -- Didn't see much action (25 minutes) for
Serbia-Montenegro and didn't build a case for more extended play.

Johan Petro, Sonics -- Was relegated to being Frederic Weis' backup --
never a phrase you want to hear -- and didn't perform well when he played
for France.

Mickael Pietrus, Warriors -- Should have played for the U.S. in Athens. He
tried 31 3-pointers and made six of them en route to a ghastly 24.2 percent
shooting performance for France.

Peter John Ramos, Wizards -- Got in a head *** on Yao Ming but otherwise
accomplished little as a reserve for Puerto Rico.

Sergio Rodriguez, Blazers -- Was great off the bench in Spain's semifinal
win over Argentina and looked the part of an NBA point guard ... except that
he had 17 turnovers in 92 minutes. Yikes. If you have front-row seats in
Portland, you might want to invest in a helmet.

Uros Slokar, Raptors -- Played sparingly but did a nice job on the boards
in his few minutes off the pine for Slovenia.

Darius Songaila, Wizards -- Was a free-throw machine for the seventh-place
Lithuanians, but his own foul trouble held his minutes down and he had too
many turnovers.

Vasilis Spanoulis, Rockets -- Also known to Krzyzewski as No. 7, Spanoulis
killed the U.S. in the semifinal ... partly because our brilliant scouting
department forgot to tell the players that he couldn't shoot. He went
11-for-42 on 3s, but the U.S. crowded him like he was Larry Bird and thus
allowed him to pick them apart. Spanoulis was Greece's leading scorer but
shot just 35.8 percent for the tournament.

Beno Udrih, Spurs -- Should have been Slovenia's best player but wasn't. He
was less aggressive offensively than he is in San Antonio and had a fairly
quiet tournament (11.2 points).

Anderson Varejao, Cavs -- Broke the face of a Greek player with a
questionable elbow in pool play, and was absolutely horrid (31.4 percent,
2.8 turnovers a game) otherwise for Brazil. He complained of tired legs
during the tourney.

In addition, several players in the tournament aren't in the NBA yet, but
were selected in recent drafts and have their rights owned by NBA teams:

Sofoklis Schortsanitis, Clippers -- Was a force in the middle for Greece,
although he can't jump over an olive wreath. He shot 86.4 percent for the
tournament -- that's not a typo.

Luis Scola, Spurs -- Looked like he lost some of his mojo since helping
Argentina win gold in Athens. He'll need some R&R after LeBron James and
Elton Brand played human pinball with him in the bronze medal game.

Cenk Akyol, Hawks -- Had a poor tournament for Turkey, shooting 38.6
percent off the bench and contributing little else.

Juan Carlos Navarro, Wizards -- Was a little shot-happy -- I thought Pau
Gasol was going to kill him at one point in the semis -- but he came up big
in the finale for champion Spain.

Robertas Javtokas, Spurs -- Played extremely well off the bench for
Lithuania, at least until he got to the free-throw line -- where he shot a
pathetic 8-for-36.

Sani Becirovic, Nuggets -- Led Slovenia in scoring but shot erratically
(40.6 percent).

Malick Badiane, Rockets -- Rebounded like crazy for Senegal but needs a lot
of work in the other phases.

--
Gary Collard
SABR-L Moderator
gmcollard@xxxxxxxxx
http://sarcastipundit.blogspot.com/

"The average football fan is a college graduate with an 8th-grade
education." -- Andy Rooney

.

Loading