( www.interbasket.net ) -- With a week or so into the NBA season behind us, interbasket is here to
report on the international players making news in the NBA.
Luis Scola
hasn’t shown much with the Houston Rockets thus far (3.4ppg, 4.6rebs,
1ast in 18 min) and all the xenophobes are out. I’ve already heard
this sentence many times “Look at Luis Scola, he is supposed to the be
the best player outside the NBA and…” It is a little shocking to me
that Scola hasn’t done more than he has, making the Spurs keeping Fabricio Oberto
over Scola look genius, but I am very confident that his name will be
in the rookie-of-the-year running by the end of the year. And teams
have better look out because when the 4-1 Houston Rockets mesh him into
their offense (and figure out their point guard situation), they’ll be
a very very tough team to beat.
Speaking of the Houston Rockets, one of the knocks against Rocket’s center is that Yao Ming
has been his lack of toughness, and one can infer that the critics are
looking at Yao’s size and then looking at his career rebounding (8.9)
and blocked shot numbers (1.8) as evidence. Now I understand that he
isn’t the fastest nor most-atheletic person on the court, but
admittedly Yao’s rebounding and blocked shot numbers should be much
better than they are. If the first four games are any indication (and
they normally aren’t) Yao Ming is finally getting it; hitting the
boards (11rpg) and blocking shots (2.6), it looks like Yao may average
a double-double this year, and for only the second time in his six-year
career,
Luis Scola isn’t the only international rookie struggling; he can
take some solace in a a couple other foreign rookies that were expected
to start off a little quicker this season. Spaniard Juan Carlos Navarro of the Memphis Grizzlies was supposed to come in and give familiarity and help to Pau Gasol,
and thus far he has only given the former. La Bomba is only averaging
4.0 on 23% shooting, all four of his field goals in his first three
games have been three-pointers, c’mon Navarro, where’s the floater?
Marco Belinelli
of the Golden State Warriors made waves, no shockwaves, during the NBA
summer league with his smooth quick-release jumper and he surprised
many with his ability to get to the basket on his way to a 37-point
outing. So far, Belinelli is struggling as much as the Warriors are
(0-4). Once the Warriors right the ship, Marco should have time to
adjust and improve on the 13.7 minutes, 4.3 points and 33% from the
field he’s shown early on.
Instead, the mystery of the 2007 draft, Chinese forward Yi Jianlian
has taken the lead as far as international rookies performing. After a
rough first couple games — Yi is showing he can hit the jumpshot, block
a few shots, and gather a lot of fouls in a short amount of time. The
latter can be worked on, but the Bucks love the potential that he has
shown, particularly his ability to hit the long-range jumper. He is
currently third in rookie scoring, behind Kevin Durant and Daequan
Cook, averaging 9.8ppg on 44% shooting as well as 4.8 rebounds, 2.0
blocks (4 fouls) in 26 minutes. Yi was #2 in Nba.com’s rookie report
for the first week of the season. Not bad!
Hey, anyone remember Peja Stojakovic?
Let me refresh your memory, Stojakovic was THE international player
several years ago. But now four years later, a couple injuries, and
two teams removed from his glory days in Sacramento, Peja’s reputation
has since suffered. Though his stats arent’t bad, Peja is no longer
mentioned in the top ten international NBA players, and maybe not even
top-15. How the three-time all-star is getting a fresh start and
running small forward for the New Orlenas Hornets. Peja has been
inconsistent in his first five games, but his game against the Lakers
deserves a mention, Peja went off for 36 points in their win. With
Chris Paul running the show and dishing, Peja hit 10-13 threes to set a
Hornets franchise record and to let the league know that Peja is still
around. Peja is only 30 years old, I hope he finds his way back up the
ladder to one of the elite international NBA players.
Manu Ginobili
is playing like a man possessed. Despite coming off the bench;
everyone in the league knows that Ginobili will be there to finish the
game. In just under 30 minutes per game, Manu is putting up 20.8
points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.6 steals. He spent the summer
resting instead of playing for his National Team and his performances
this season is showing what a rested Ginobili brings to the table “At
this point, I can really tell the difference” Ginobili said about how
rested his body has felt from taking the summer off. --Stuart Leung
News Around the World 10/31/2007: Belinelli, Scola Debut
( interbasket.net ) -- NBA Season Commences (International NBA Players Recap) - The NBA started it’s 2007-08 season last night with three games on the schedule.
The San Antonio Spurs received their 06-07 championship rings and
defeated the Greg Oden-less Portland Trailblazers 106-97. The Spurs
international players were huge in the win; Frenchman Tony Parker
scored 19 points, Manu Ginobili (Argentina) had 16 points, 8 assists and 5 steals, and Francisco Elson (Netherlands) scored 9 points with 5 rebounds.
Argentine superstar Luis Scola
made his debut with the reloaded Houston Rockets in their 95-93 win
over the Los Angeles Lakers. The former Tau Ceramica superstar played
only 8 minutes and accumulated 3 personal fouls, 3 rebounds and 1
turnover. “The court is different, the rules are different, the
players, everything is different,” Scola said. “But at the end of the
day, it’s just basketball.” I’m confident that Scola will find his way
- after all he was the ACB MVP and Fiba America’s MVP in 2007. Source: Luis Scola Set for NBA Debut (FIBA)
Yao Ming scored two critical baskets towards the end of the game and
finished with 25 points, 12 rebound, 3 assists and 3 blocks helping the
Rockets to overcome 45 points from Kobe Bryant.
Andrei Kirilenko
was back with the Utah Jazz and showed little effect from his
publicized trade demands over the offseason. The Russian 2007
Eurobasket MVP put up a typical statline — 9 points, 9 rebounds, 8
assists and 5 blocks in a 117-96 win over the Golden State Warriors.
This game also featured the debut of Marco Belinelli.
The rookie from Italy had an eye-opening summer league for Golden State
averaging 22.8 points (including a 37 point summer league debut), but
Marco only saw 12 minutes in his NBA debut and scored 6 points. French
hold-out Mickael Pietrus score 17 points and grab 5 rebounds for the Golden State Warriors.
