NBA sees ebb of international talent?

NBA teams drafted eight international players into their ranks in the first round of the 2003 draft.
Since then, not as many. The NY Times examines why, and brings up an interesting stat:

Teams appear to be straying from the recent trend of drafting overseas players because many of them have not lived up to expectations. Of the 39 international players selected in the first round since 2002 with no prior experience playing in the United States, only Yao Ming has surfaced as an All-Star. In that same time, 14 of 171 American players drafted in the first round made at least one All-Star team.

There are international players who have been productive (Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa), quality role players for playoff teams (Nene and Mickael Pietrus) and full of untapped potential (Rudy Fernandez and Danilo Gallinari).

Is Sonny Vaccaro Basketball's Version of Rasputin?

Visionary, schmoozer, crusader, master manipulator - the 69-year-old former basketball tournament organizer and shoe marketing executive with been called them all.
His creations are legion, his vast influence undeniable: Vaccaro formed the first national all-star game in 1965, first paid college basketball coaches for exclusive apparel deals and signed Michael Jordan to Nike in the early 80s. As a trusted adviser to nearly every high schooler that successfully jumped to the NBA, Vaccaro has helped Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James amass droves of wealth by securing endorsement deals and lucrative contacts. He claims he never took a cut. The NBA barred such jumps in 2005, saying it needed more mature entrees. Vaccaro has called the rule a sham, accusing the league of funneling players into the "The Machine," or N.C.A.A, to exploit them. Instead, the money should go to the players directly, he told ESPN Magazine in 2002. "Amateurism lost its virginity a long time ago," he told USA Today in May. Vaccaro today rails against the entities that made his career - the NCAA and NBA - on a college lecture circuit including the likes of Harvard, Yale, Columbia. As he works toward his ultimate goal of destroying the NBA's age-limit legislation, basketball's arch-influencer has cast his eye toward a new horizon. In Europe, he sees a destination for America's top-flight prep talent, now for the short-term, but one day possibly for much longer.

P.S. The above was written as a sidebar for an upcoming article I'm writing about how high school basketball players' circumventing college for Europe may affect Arkansas. It's not going in, though - my editor and I have decided to not focus so much on Sonny.

A Small World

The name popped out on Friday morning when I checked online for the results of the second half of the NBA Draft - aka, the draft dregs, selections nobody outside of a few fanatics care about:

Emir Preldzic, taken with the 57th pick by the Phoenix Suns.



And the past came rushing back.

November, 2007: I was attending a Euroleague game, featuring Preldzic's Fenerbahçe Ülker team, with some friends. Ülker, the eventual Turkish league champion, lost that game, but I remember being impressed by the Slovenian/Bosnian Preldzic's game. A 6'9" point forward, he showed exceptional body control and unspooled a sweet, sweet driving finger roll that would have translated to "I've got game" in any language. The game came easy to him, and you got the sense that he could develop much further.

Afterward, as my friend and I exited the arena, we ran into Emir and another player outside. They were huddling in their warm-up hoodies. We small talked about where they were from, where we were from. I congratulated Emir on his nice game, and the slick finger roll. He was cordial, unassuming, just a 20-year-old kid in a new country, with a job that happened to be played in front of thousands. A few minutes, and our little path-crossing was over.

I have occasionally run across scouting reports about him this last year, and also mused to myself that the player I "discovered" is now known by basketball heads all over. Of course, that's far from accurate - Emir, a former All-Adriatic League member, burst onto the scene in the U-20 World Championships in 2006. The NBA types had tabs on him long before I ever knew I would live in Turkey for a few months.

Emir, who since the draft has been traded to the Cavaliers, may never make an NBA roster due to his lack of athleticism and consistent shooting. Whether he makes the team or stays in Europe, his future seems bright. It's always fun to recall that once I saw a star streaming upward from the darkness.

More than a Trickle? More Ballers Headed to Europe

Looking for updates about Jeremy Tyler for my side-project, www.jeremytylereurope.com, I learned that two more American basketball players are bound for Europe.

Here are their quick biographical sketches, their prospects and a discussion of whether their decisions indicate an emergent trend.

Nick Calathes - a 6-6, 194-lb. Florida Gators combo guard.

He averaged 17.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.4 assists, while shooting 39% from three-point range as a sophomore, but was not able to return Florida to national prominence since the program won consecutive national championships. The Gators have missed the NCAA tournament the last two years.

A dual citizen of Greek background, he played for the Greek FIBA 20-and-under national team last summer. Interestingly, his older brother, Pat, spent last year playing for the Greek team Maroussi, reportedly one of Jeremy Tyler's possible destinations.

Calathes entered the NBA draft, but wasn't a sure-fire first-round pick. Still, several NBA executives told FOXSports.com that he had a 50-50 chance of getting a guaranteed contract in the $1 million per season range by being picked in the first round of the June 25 NBA Draft.

But could have easily slid into the second round, which would have left him with a non-guaranteed contract.

For him, Europe appeared to be a much stronger option.

According to DraftExpress.com, he has signed a 3-year, 2.1 million with Euroleague champion, Panathanaikos. Jonathon Givony points out that he also has received a "very comfortable buyout" situation that would allow him to return to the states as early as next season.
His NBA draft stock would improve in the next year, meriting him a higher selection in next year's draft.

The fact that Calathes will play for one of the most decorated coaches in the world in Zeljko Obradovic on someone else’s coin and come back a much better player in one year has to look attractive. With Sarunas Jasikevicius reportedly on the way out of Panathinaikos, a decent amount of playing time will be opened up for him.

The Orlando Sentinel broke down the specifics of contract :

around $1.1 million per year, in addition to providing him with a home, car and tax credits, making for a total package commensurate to what the NBA rookie salary scale provides a late-lottery selection. Golden's State forward Anthony Randolph, the final lottery pick of 2008 at No. 14, made $1.424 million as a rookie.

European teams crave Americans sporting dual European citizenship because they generally only have roster spots for two Americans, have a few more for non-American foreigners, and give the rest of the roster spots to natives. Calathes' Greek passport puts no stress on Panathanaikos' roster quotas.

The citizenship, money and likelihood of leavening his NBA prospects make Calathes' decision "sound about as convenient as a weekend jaunt to Cancun," according to Yahoo blogger Eamonn Brennan.

Terrance Oglesby - a 6-2, 190-lb. Clemson Tigers guard

He averaged 13.2 ppg as the third-leading scorer for the Clemson Tigers. He led the team with 92 3-pointers, and frequently flashed far-flung range in shooting 39% on 3-pointers. However, he does not possess the wide suite of skills and size Calathes does, and likewise did not project to land with an NBA squad.

Although he didn't enter the NBA draft, he recently suprised his coach by announcing he'll pursue playing for a Spanish or Italian team for around $500,000 per year.

Like Calathes, he possesses a perimeter-oriented game which portends success in Europe.

Also like Calathes, he possesses dual citizenship which makes him more attractive to European teams with limited roster spots for Americans. Oglesby's father, Tony, played basketball in Europe. Terrence was born in Norway and played for that country in the FIBA under-20 championships in 2008.

Unlike Calathes, and Jennings and Tyler before him, Oglesby doesn't figure to use Europe as a launching pad for the NBA. He says playing professionally had always been a goal - one he was able to attain through his defection.

"Kids dream of playing here when they are dribbling in a playground, not in Italy, Greece, Spain or anywhere else," said Jeff Goodman of Foxsports.com. Oglesby, again, appears to be an exception. One wonders if more top-shelf American basketball players and players find success playing in European leagues, and their Euroleague jerseys come to be marketed to American inner-city youth, will Goodman's statement still be true 5, 10 years down the road?

So what do these two recent defections mean for the future?

No earth-shaking as of yet. Calathes and Oglesby, after all, are exceptional because of their dual citizenship. Still, one wonders if their success will influence more players - dual citizens or not - to consider jumping collegiate ship for European waters. I doubt there are many players like Calathes - dual citizens and borderline 1st-round picks for whom it makes more financial sense to "apprentice" in Europe for a short period. A "one-passport" American collegiate underclassman good enough to take one of the top Euroleague teams' American roster spots would also likely be good enough to warrant selection as an NBA lottery pick, meaning more riches - and comfort - by staying in America.

Still, publicity following decisions to play abroad by Jennings, Tyler, Childress, Calathes and Oglesby have explosed more and more talented high school and collegiate players to consider Europe as a legitimate alternative to the NCAA en route to the NBA, or as a lucrative destination itself.

Each player who chooses Europe chips away at what some see as an NCAA sports industrial-complex churning out millions of dollars for predominanltly older white men swirling around mostly black teenagers handling an orange ball to entertain tens of millions. The ones sweating the most earn the least money (at least officially) .

Recent developments hit this point home.

Investigations of academic fraud of players under former Memphis Coach John Calipari hint at the moral rot beneath the telegenic gleam and shine of big-time basketball, as the NY Times' Pete Thamel recently wrote:

And when stars like Rose project a net worth of more than $100 million while still in high school, should we really expect them to smile and play only for the good of Old State U? This is while the coach is making millions, the universities are dicing up millions from TV deals and the N.C.A.A. is making billions.

The European tours of players like Brandon Jennings, Jeremy Tyler and the recent Florida defector Nick Calathes show that players are tiring of the N.C.A.A. caste system.

Vujacic Immortalized in Parody Music Video

Sometimes, a ridiculous basketball-related music video parody is all we need.
Following is a good one - a spoof done by two L.A. fans of the Lakers' Serbian shooting guard Sasha Vujacic, who a few years ago dubbed himself "The Machine" after a series of intense summer work-out sessions with Kobe Bryant.




Mad props to interbasket.net, where I discovered it, and also to the creaters for including a hilarious scene from "Along Comes Polly" where Philip Seymour Hoffman's horribly unathletic character careens across a blacktop with a basketball, bludgeoning all that is beautiful with the game.

Here is another from the series:

New Web Site

With all the hubbub about Tyler jetting to Europe, I thought it would be interesting to start a website to track his progress (or lack thereof) and what the blogerati are saying about it. His success or failure will determine how much pull uber-agent Sonny Vaccaro will have in the future in convincing other similarly gifted teenagers to try their hand at Euro ball, and the bling it brings.

So have at it, people: www.jeremytylereurope.com

Would Ron Paul get along famously with Jeremy Tyler?

Probably - at least when it comes to selling one's basketball skills on the free market.
Basketball stud Tyler, after all, has decided to slap the Establishment across its face by jettisoning not only college to play in Europe, but also his senior year at dear ole' San Diego High.
If Texas congressman Ron Paul isn't twirling his libertarian noodles right about now, then that freshly-minted colloquilism hasn't the slightest meaning.

Jeremy Tyler is, after all, living a centuries-old American ideal - pursuing individual happiness by exercising liberty to go where you will, and do what you want, as long as you don't infringe on others' rights.
Except this young man isn't heading West - he's bolting east, back the Olde World, whisked away by the American dream of self-fulfillment.

With rapt attention, I'm following Tyler's story as he prepares to leave behind one world to embrace another. Hell, I'm creating a website devoted to following his progress (or lack thereof) and the media's commentary on it. In a following post, I'll examine how (and why) most media seem to support his decision.

But I'll postpone such meta-commentary for now to flesh out some of my own thoughts on the matter. I support what he's doing. I've lived in Europe, am half-Turkish and studied Greek and Roman culture in college. I'm a humanities junkie. How can I not like the idea of somebody shedding plastic, reheatable American monoculture for the clinking cafes, salads and wines of history-rich Spain or Italy?

It will be interesting, however, to see if Tyler will try to immerse himself in the culture around him. He and his family have said that he will try to learn a new language, come back with expanded perspective and work on his bachelor's degree abroad after securing his G.E.D.

If he does that, and avoids squirreling away with his laptop and family in an apartment after most practices (as Jennings seems to have), then all power to him. Hell, I wouldn't have been able to fully appreciate another culture at 17 and 18.

The hermetically-sealed apartment living lifestyle brings to mind another entertainer who took his talents overseas to maximize profits from them. I am referring, of course, to the aging movie star Bill Murray played in Lost in Translation who voyaged to Japan to film whiskey commercials. Entertainers in the eve of their careers often make such mercantile jaunts to film commercials or perform in Asian and European countries where they may still be considered cool (think of David Hasselhoff's chest expanding whenever he alights in Germany).

Tyler, like Brandon Jennings before him, are entertainers who have given such financially-motivated ventures a new twist. The youngsters aren't using foreign grounds to break their fall into obscurity but as an anvil to hammer out their game, which they hope translates to even greater monetary gains upon their American homecoming.