Who Is The Best International-Born Player In The NBA Today?

Each year, the NBA is seeing more and more players that were born outside of the United States enter the league. Like any other group of players, these players have some duds (Darko Milicic, Hasheem Thabeet, Yi Jianlian, etc), but there have been a ton of standouts as well.

I'm going to take a look at the top 5 international born players heading into the 2013-2014 season. Keep in mind that I will be basing this on their current abilities, not their whole careers, as that would change the conversation completely. 

Honorable Mentions: 

Ricky Rubio- The Spanish-born point guard took the league by storm when he entered in 2011, dazzling everyone with his insane passing skills. He hasn't played quite enough to crack the top 5, however.

Nikola Pekovic- Born in Montenegro, Rubio's teammate in Minnesota was a highly sought after restricted free agent this offseason. He is a great all-around center, but has only seen full time starter's minutes for a year and a half, and he's also had limited playing time next to Kevin Love, so I will have to see how those 2 play together before I can put Pek in my top 5. 

Dirk Nowitzki- This omission from the list may surprise many, but it really shouldn't. The German-born big man is 35 years old headed into this season, and although he may be the most talented internationally-born player of all-time, you just can't expect him to produce at the level he has in the past. 

Nicolas Batum- This up-and-coming French-born wing for the Portland Trail Blazers is only 24, and has started each of his 5 years in the NBA. He is developing every year as well, but he just doesn't have one skill that stands out above the others, so it's hard to find a spot for him in the top 5. 

Marcin Gortat- "The Polish Hammer" has found a way to develop into one of the best centers in the NBA, albeit on a lackluster Phoenix Suns team. He has proved that with more minutes, he can continue his improvement, but with the selection of Alex Len in this year's draft, I think his minutes could see a little bit of a dip as the Suns look towards their future. 

5. Al Horford

The Atlanta Hawks big man, who was born in the Dominican Republic, has made a name for himself after being drafted number 3 overall in 2007. After a stellar career at the University of Florida, expectations were high, and he certainly has not disappointed. 

In his first season, he nearly averaged a double-double, and since then, it's been all uphill. Even though he has spent most of his career playing out of position (he plays center, but is a natural power forward), he had his best season this past year, putting up 17.4 points and grabbing 10.2 rebounds per game, and given the team that Atlanta has surrounded him with this year, he may be expected to put more of the weight on his shoulders. 

I expect the 27 year old Horford to be able to take the added responsibilities and run with them. 

4. Tim Duncan

If you would ask a casual NBA fan, they probably wouldn't have known that Tim Duncan was not born in the United States. He was actually born in the US Virgin Islands, and didn't come to the United States until he had committed to play for Wake Forest. 

We all know what happened after that; Duncan went on to become potentially the greatest power forward of all time, and has pulled in 4 NBA Championships with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. 

He really has not lost a step, even though he is 37 years old. That could be because of how Pop handles his minutes, and because of that reason (the fact that he'll play 30 minutes or less per game this year), prevents me from putting him any higher. 

3. Marc Gasol

I'm guessing that you didn't expect the Spanish-born Defensive Player of the Year to be anywhere but number 1 on the list of international-born players. I love Gasol's game, so don't take it as a disrespect to his game at all, you'll just have to see the rest of the list to see my reasoning. 

Back to his game, Gasol is potentially the most well-rounded center in the NBA, like I previously mentioned, he won Defensive Player of the Year this past year, and showed a variety of post moves on his way to averaging 14 points per game next to Zach Randolph. He fits perfectly on the Grizzlies, as their team is all about defense, with two of the best perimeter defenders in the league in Mike Conley and Tony Allen, as well as Gasol and Randolph down low, and the long-armed Tayshaun Prince on the wing. 

Since this will be the first full year without without Rudy Gay, I expect Gasol's offensive numbers to creep up a little bit, and he'll make the Grizz a team to watch out for. 

2. Tony Parker

Since being drafted from France in 2001, Parker has really developed and made himself into one of the NBA's top point guards. He is great a getting to the hoop, he has shown an improved ability to shoot from 3, and he is also one of the best assist men in the league. 

As with the last couple years, it is probably going to fall on him to pick up the load that Tim Duncan, and especially Manu Ginobili just can't do anymore because of their increased age, as well as decreased playing time. With role players like Danny Green, Gary Neal, the recently acquired Marco Belinelli, and fellow starters Kawhi Leonard and Tiago Splitter, there is plenty of other talent that should make this year a little bit easier on Parker than it has been in past years, and he also might see his minutes decrease a little bit. 

1. Kyrie Irving

Here's another player that many casual fans wouldn't know that he wasn't born in America. The young point guard was actually born in Australia, but then moved to the United States when he was two years old; although he is a dual citizen still. 

With the knowledge that he is internationally-born, he definitely takes home the prize of being the best international player headed into next season. After just 110 games, he has already forced himself into the conversation of best point guards, and is a legitimate threat to hit superstar status this season. 

He has one of the most complete offensive games that you will ever see in a 21-year old, scoring 22.5 points per game this past season, and also picking up nearly 6 assists. The Cavaliers continue to add solid talent around him, picking Anthony Bennett in this year's draft, as well as Dion Waiters last year, and Tristan Thompson in the same draft as Irving. All of these moves have been done to ensure that Irving has a good supporting cast, and now that it is clear that he does (especially with the intelligent pick-up of Andrew Bynum), he should be ready to breakout this year. 

I want to thank Brendan Taylor and everyone at Tru School Sports for the opportunity to write a guest column for them, it's truly an honor to do some work for a great up and coming blog like Tru School.

I actually run my own NBA website called theleaguenews.com where you can find the latest NBA news, as well as a ton of other interesting topics. Brendan will be writing a guest column over there, so when you all check that out, take a look at the rest of the site, hopefully you'll like what you see!

Thanks for reading.  

Kawhi Leonard: All-Star In The Making

The Career and situation of Kawhi Leonard is an interesting one at the fresh young age of 21 Leonard has earned rave reviews from players and coaches around the league. In his 1^st season in the NBA he became a reliable starting small forward that played a good amount of minutes on a team that went to the western conference finals. For all the accomplishments and accolades Kawhi has earned so far none maybe as important as what coach Popovich has said regarding his career.

“I think he’s going to be a star. And as time goes on, he’ll be the face of the Spurs, I think. At both ends of the court, he is really a special player. And what makes me be so confident about him is that he wants it so badly. He wants to be a good player, I mean a great player. He comes early, he stays late, and he’s coach able, he’s just like a sponge. When you consider he’s only had (two years) of College and no training camp yet, you can see that he’s going to be something else.” - Greg Popovich

Coach Popovich makes a lot sufficient points in that quote. Kawhi is a very good player at both ends of the floor in only his 2^nd season in the league he is regarded as one of the best all- around defenders in the league whether its man to man, zone defense or perimeter defense Leonard excels highly at all of them. The best example of Kawhi's defense would force you to look no further then last nights game 2 of the NBA Finals. Although the stat isn't 100% factual at this present moment checkout the job Leonard has been doing defensively on Lebron James in the tweet below.

LeBron James is 1-of-4 shooting in the 1st half when guarded by Kawhi Leonard, and 3-of-12 against him in the series.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 10, 2013

Obviously you aren't going to completely stop Lebron James but Kawhi has done a great job guarding the best player on the plant which is a testament to his defensive ability.

Then you have to look at Leonard on the offensive end. From his rookie season to his sophomore season he has increased his scoring average a whole 4 points from 7.9 to 11.9 Points per game as basically the 3^rd option in the Spurs offense behind Tony Parker and Tim Duncan. Those guys along with Manu Ginobli aren't getting any younger so you have to believe that as Leonard matures that he will grow into becoming the leader of the San Antonio Spurs.

Here is an interesting stat I came across after doing a little research. Of the 14 other starting small forwards in the western conference Kawhi Lenoard's Player efficeny rating is 16.46 which is higher then 9 of them. The 9 guys he is higher then are as folllows (Harrison Barnes-12.48, Caron Butler, 12.50, Metta World Peace,-12.55, Michael Beasley-10.91, Chandler Parsons-15.33, Tayshaun Prince, Al Faraqu Aminu-15.76, Nicholas Batum-15.76, Demarre Carroll-15.56). Pretty impressive for a guy who is the 3^rd and sometimes 4^th option on offense all depending on how Danny green is shooting the ball.

So lets put those numbers in perspective Kawhi Leonard’s Player efficiency rating is the 5^th highest of starting small forwards in the western conference. The only guys with higher ratings with him are as follows ( Tyreke Evans-18.16, Shawn Marion-18.02, Andre Kirlenko-17.67 and Kevin Durant-28.35). So all the guys that are higher then him are the 1st or second options on offense for their respective teams and one of them is an MVP Canidate. That’s pretty Impressive stuff from the second year man out of San Diego State.

If you look at just Kawhi the person and his demeanor you will see that he really has no change of demeanor. He is even keel which is what you want from a team leader. When you win you never want to get too excited but when you lose you don't want feel to down it's just good to stay in the middle and Kawhi does a great job of that. He posses a few quality's that current teammate and future hall of famer Tim Duncan has such as a calm demeanor, productivity, hunger towards success and quite frankly he is a guy most don't people pay attention to.

I think in due time we will see Kawhi Leonard mature into an all-star and leader for the San Antonio Spurs. He is in a great situation at 21 years old getting to be around guys like Greg Popovich, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli, Tracy Mcgrady. That’s a lot of greatness surrounding a guy who is very young, plays the game the right way and seems to have his head on straight. As long as he continues to work and soak in as much info as possible then the sky is the limit for Kahwhi Leonard.

Video Blog: NBA Finals 2013

The 2013 NBA Finals starts tonight a 9:00 as Lebron James and the defending champion Miami Heat take on Tim Duncan and San Antonio Spurs for the chance to wear the Crown in basketball world as champions of the NBA. For the Heat its just a step closer to achieving dynasty status. For the Spurs this could be the last run in what has been the best run of basketball this generation has seen. Get my thoughts on the 2013 NBA Finals by clicking the video below.

For All My Card Bloggers in the Blogosphere

Alright been wanting to write this for awhile but just haven't got to it so this is for my Baseball card bloggers and just card bloggers in general. I want to connect with each and every one of you. I want to know what type of cards you like, sets you prefer and players that you collect. I know you all have your lists of that on your blogs but I want you to comment in the box below so I can know without having to look and we can get to trading. I have a decent amount of Baseball cards but my collection isn't limited to just that I have much better artifacts that transcend cards so if the right amount of cards were ever presented my way, then I would part ways with it.

Let me tell you guys some of the Players and cards I like to collect. 2003 Marlins are my favorite team so any Marlins card you have of anyone on that team I will take, so that means Dontrelle Willis, Miguel Cabrera, Mike Lowell,Juan Pierre,Jeff Conine and Luis Castillo are all guys who will make me jump on a trade because I will always love my Marlins. Other players I like to collect are Ken Griffey Jr, Derek Jeter, Adam Jones and Justin Upton just to name a few.

If you are one of those bloggers who collects basketball cards here are some ballers I collect. Being a bigtime Charlotte Hornets fan (Happy about the name change) I obviously collect Muggsy Bouges, Dell Curry, Alonzo Mourning, Larry Johnson, Kendall Gill, Baron Davis, Jamal Mashburn, Glen Rice and Anthony Mason. Other Basketball Players I collect are Kemba Walker, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan,Oscar Robertson, Chris Webber, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Penny Hardaway and Magic Johnson.

So yeah there you go If you follow this blog comment if you have any Rookies,Autos or Jersey cards of any of the following players I just named. If you know any bloggers who don't follow this blog tell them about this post and tell them to follow it.

Now lets get to trading!!

Graduation Cards

As I am sitting here typing this it is 1:05 PM and I am less then 5 hours from graduating South Broward High School. Usually with graduation comes gifts, money and a bunch of hoopla from the family. My Mom chose to gave me money and being the avid Sports collector I am decided to take my behind to Hollywood Collectibles and spent part of my new found riches on some cardboard heroes of basketball, so lets begin!

Card #1 Sky Box 1990 Magic Johnson

People talk about how versatile Lebron James is and sometimes my man Magic gets lost in the shuffle. This man was also 6'9 played multiple positions and changed basketball with the offense he ran as point guard of the “ShowTime” Lakers. I found this card Digging through a dime box of assorted cards.

Price: 2$

Card #2: 1997 Topps Tim Duncan (Rookie)

The San Antonio Spurs are in the finals again and if Tim Duncan is to capture another ring it will make 5 and further cement him as one of the greatest the NBA has ever seen. Some people don't really appreciate his greatness the way I do so when finding this card I flipped. The Cards I gt is a rookie card and probably one of the best cards in my miniscule yet evolving basketball collection.

Price: 4$

Card #3: Sky Box 1991 Michael Jordan

Of all the cards I purchased yesterday none are as visually cultivating as this cardboard treasure which features MJ basking in the glory of what was his 1^st of 6 championship rings with the Chicago Bulls. The card speaks for itself.

Price: 2$

Card #4: 2007 Upperdeck Artifacts Jason Kidd Jersey Card

Of all the cards this one is definitely my favorite for many reasons. Its the only card I purchased not in a dime box. It was actually inside one of those shelfs with other nice expensive cards I can't afford. This was a steal though, I had a little more money then usual so I decided to splurge a bit. This card is rare numbered 12/100 so the feeling I have of purchasing something rare is comforting. Also Watching Kidd with the Nets growing up along with guys like Vince Carter,Keyon Martin and Richard Jefferson was some of the most fun I ever had watching basketball.

Price: 10$

So all in a another great day of purchases at Hollywood Collectibles. Now it's time to start practicing throwing my cap up in the air at the conclusion of graduation.

Playoff Time 2013: Tim Duncan

Greatness of certain players in the NBA sometimes get taken for granted because they get Classified as boring due to them not having a high flamboyant playing style like most stars in the league, Tim Duncan is one of those players. He has arguably been the best player in the last 15 years and a model of consistency for the San Antonio Spurs. He has 4 Championship rings to put that into perspective, the big 3 of the Miami Heat have that same number combined. He may be boring to the Casual fan but Tim Duncan is a Living legend.

This season for the Spurs star was pretty much the same he produced averages of 17 Points and 10 rebounds while helping the Spurs get 2nd best record in the Western Conference. While people are quick to point out his age they need to also acknowledge that fact that at 36 years of age he is still averaging a an efficient double-double.

As the San Antonio Spurs enter the Playoffs once again they will face the LA Lakers but this year it comes with a bit of a twist in the plot, there will be no Kobe Bryant due to an injury he sustained just before the season ended. The Spurs and Lakers have had many classic playoff battles before but with no Kobe it won't feel right they can't stop the game though we got basketball to play. The Lakers are expected to get dominated by some but some also believe  this will be an evenly matched series. I just know that as far as coaching goes that Greg Poppivich will not allow an undermanned Lakers squad to beat him.

At 36 Years of age Tim Duncan is getting closer to turning the page on his basketball career,  Can himself and the Spurs get him ring #5?

The Playoffs begin for the Lakes today April 21st as they take on the San Antonio Spurs.

Why Uncle Drew Needs To Coach Youth basketball

In Today’s ever Evolving world of basketball kids are becoming much more flamboyant, flashy and Athletic then ever. Media Outlets such as And 1 Basketball,Hoopmixtape.com and Sportscenter’s top 10 plays have always give kids motivation and incentive for exposure so in turn it leaves little to no wiggle room for fundamentals.

“These young bloods don’t practice fundamentals no more, to them its about fancy dunks and the jibby jaby fade away jumpshots…its about Buckets”. This quote was eloquently stated by fictional basketball phenomenon Uncle Drew. He has a point it really doesn’t matter if you break somebody’s ankles if you can’t hit a simple floater or bank shot. Kids Growing up in my generation these days are more unfundamentally sound then ever.

People appreciate the grace and sometimes uncontrollable inefficiency that Kobe Bryant plays with but don’t appreciate the Productivity and Longevity of Tim Duncan because he doesn’t have the flare and doesn’t fit the “showtime” description. It’s “boring basketball” but what is boring about 2 MVP’s 4 Championships and being regarded as the best to ever play the power forward position? If that’s boring then the City of Charlotte could use a large dose of boredom in it’s frontcourt.

“It’s about Buckets” Uncle Drew keeps things in perspective and doesn’t get lost in all the hype of today’s top media outlets or trends. It is these Reasons that Uncle Drew should be coaching our nation’s youth at every level from peewee, High School, AAU And College. Picture the most undisciplined kids on your son or daughters Basketball teams feeling the wisdom of an Uncle Drew, it would change the landscape of youth basketball for the next few decades. Things are getting to political in this new age of basketball and just the world in general there aren’t many people that have a no nonsense “Old School” mentality anymore, that’s a dying breed. Kids who are playing ball these days are more worried about when the new Jordan’s are coming out or where they can find the cheapest pair of Dr.Dre headphones He stays focused on what’s really important and that is getting Buckets…..By any means necessary

Uncle Drew isn’t real he is a fictional character in a Pepsi Commercial played by All-Star Cavaliers Point Guard Kyrie Irving but I’m sure there plenty coaches out there that have some Uncle Drew in them so Use that and help these kids learn how to really hoop it up!!

Watch the Uncle Drew series in the videos below